Chapter 61: “Sister Xiaoxia looks a little strange…”

Mo Yidong could sense different energies flowing through the room, among which two of them were quite similar to Xia Yu’s aura.

To his eyes, the flow of energy was like threads, each differing in color and shape, much like reading a person’s pulse.

The brightness and wear of the threads indicated how well or poorly someone had been doing lately.

Such a method was hard to explain to outsiders.

Most times, when asked, people would simply avoid the topic.

Following the threads, Mo Yidong led Zhang Wenshan to a secluded room in the corner of the top floor.

The door inside was blocked by piles of clutter, which explained why Sars couldn’t find the child’s hiding place.

“What are you doing here?”

“There’s a door here. Mo Yidong says the little one is hiding inside.”

Shangguan Xiawan and Xia Yu had already searched the rooms along the hallway without finding any trace of the child.

As they reached the upper floor, they saw the two boys moving the clutter.

“Let me help.”

Xia Yu noticed the injury on Mo Yidong’s wrist and worried that lifting heavy things might tear the wound open.

But as soon as she stepped forward, the two boys rejected her.

“It’s not much. There’s a lot of dust here. You girls should stay back so you don’t dirty your dresses.”

“Sister Xiao Xia, let’s just stand here.”

“…Alright.”

Xia Yu hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing, turning to stand beside Shangguan Xiawan, nervously watching Mo Yidong’s bandaged arm.

For a moment, she forgot her current identity, still thinking of herself as the schoolgirl Xia Yu who occasionally chatted with Mo Yidong and Zhang Wenshan.

After turning into a girl, the unfamiliarity and discomfort started to surface in small details like these.

“This side’s cleared. Want to go in and take a look?”

Zhang Wenshan covered his nose with a napkin and pushed the door open.

Just by the hallway’s light, they could see layers of thick dust inside.

On the floor, dust-covered footprints extended further in, showing that the person they were looking for was indeed inside.

Zhang Wenshan reached the wall switch by the door and tried pushing the buttons up and down, but nothing happened.

“This room probably hasn’t been noticed by the owners. It hasn’t been used in a long time, so the light’s likely been broken for ages.”

Mo Yidong said this as everyone pulled out their phones, switching on the flashlight function before entering and searching for the child’s whereabouts.

Inside, there were wooden shelves arranged vertically, a dusty desk piled with items, and even bedding, mops, and plastic buckets scattered about—it was clearly being used as a storage room.

Right after Zhang Wenshan opened the door, Mo Yidong noticed a subtle change in the color of the threads inside the room.

They turned vivid, almost the color of blood.

He had a bad feeling.

Shangguan Xiawan had only asked a simple question about the child’s appearance, ignoring a crucial detail.

How many days had the child been missing?

Two people were using their flashlights as a cover—Mo Yidong and Xia Yu exchanged glances, both clearly aware that the child was hiding beneath the dust-laden desk.

Just as Shangguan Xiawan moved closer, a flash of bright red suddenly lunged at her.

Hearing the noise, Mo Yidong immediately grabbed a heavy object nearby and threw it toward the red figure.

Everyone only heard the sound of the object hitting something and someone falling to the ground in the darkness.

Dust scattered in the air.

Shangguan Xiawan coughed a few times from the choking dust, unable to see what had attacked her from behind.

Mo Yidong hurriedly said:

“Quick, come here.”

About two meters away from where the figure was knocked down, Xia Yu clearly saw the silver-haired child in front of her, wearing tattered clothes, barefoot, struggling to lift the clutter in front of them.

The child’s eyes glowed red, and their young face showed a fierce expression, not only resenting the intrusion but seemingly seeing those present as prey.

As a member of the blood clan, Xia Yu didn’t have as pure a bloodline as this child.

Her heart gradually tightened.

Her mind began to wonder why she was alone here.

“Don’t just stare…”

Mo Yidong’s words snapped Xia Yu back to reality.

She locked eyes with the child, whose gaze was brighter and more vivid than hers, as if stained with blood.

Even the four fangs protruding from their mouth were sharper than Xia Yu’s, and a faint but distinct scent of blood wafted from the child.

This kid had fed on blood…

Too many questions flooded Xia Yu’s mind.

One thing she could be sure of was that the owner of this house had deliberately placed the estate deep in the mountains to hide this child.

Who exactly had hidden them here?

With doubts swirling, Xia Yu ignored Mo Yidong’s objections.

The moment the child opened their mouth to pounce on her, she immediately raised her right arm.

A sudden sting made her frown, and accompanied by unwanted words in her mind, her vision began to blur with illusions, as if she were about to faint.

Images from the past flashed in her mind.

“Let me go! I don’t want to stay here!”

Suddenly, familiar yet childish voices echoed in her ears.

Xia Yu seemed to have heard them before and experienced this scene.

Was she hallucinating?

She heard the silver-haired child angrily shout at someone.

“Let me go! I don’t want to stay here!”

On the floor knelt a silver-haired child, crying and begging to be let out.

Their knees were scraped raw, and their thin arms bore bruises in purple and blue.

“I spent money raising you, so you can earn me some cash! What’s the problem!?”

“I don’t want to stay here. I want to go back to Grandma’s…”

The silver-haired child’s eyes brimmed with tears as they glared fiercely at the man reeking of smoke before them.

“Your grandma took in your mom and raised you, but now your grandma’s dead. You can only stay with me, got it?”

The man yanked the child’s hair roughly, leaning close to hiss into their ear.

The child was too weak to break free from the man’s grip.

Apart from some scrapes on the face, old wounds were reopening.

“Tch… Why are you a boy again? When will you finally turn into a woman, hmm? Speak up…”

The man clicked his tongue when the child hung their head in silence.

“When you never change again, you’ll go earn money for me, understand?”

When she couldn’t hold on any longer, Xia Yu wondered why she had come into this world and what meaning there was to living…

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

The silver-haired child bit Xia Yu’s arm for a moment.

Feeling something, they immediately released her.

Their fierce aura weakened, replaced by panic and helplessness.

Xia Yu hadn’t even reacted yet when a tall young man tightly grabbed her hands from behind and quietly ordered her to stay put.

Mo Yidong frowned, looking at Xia Yu who sat motionless on the ground, head bowed low, oblivious to the bleeding on her wrist.

She seemed like a puppet, lifeless and abandoned.

He wanted to go over, but the child in his hands looked even more dangerous.

Shangguan Xiawan gently placed a hand on Qin Yixia’s shoulder, but the latter quickly recoiled.

In the darkness, her expression was unreadable, only her slight trembling shoulders betraying her fear of the surroundings.

Not daring to approach, Shangguan Xiawan quickly called another person over to check the situation.

“Brother Mo Yidong, Sister Xiao Xia looks a bit strange…”