Chapter 11
Xu Yizhuo’s expression grew serious. She circled Miss Yang and examined her for a long time.
The little girl’s face was completely bloodless, and her body was especially thin and weak, as if a gust of wind could blow her away.
She looked at the falling dead leaves, then occasionally looked at the washed-clean sky. Xu Yizhuo stood in front of her, but it was as if she were only a mass of air. The little girl’s gaze remained distant.
Xu Yizhuo crouched behind the little girl and looked at her back for a long time, but she could not find anything wrong. It was as if there was not half a person growing out of her back at all.
Xu Yizhuo soon discovered that she could touch every dead object in the courtyard except Miss Yang. And no matter how much she messed around, how she ravaged the plants in the courtyard, or how she climbed onto the roof to tear off tiles, the little girl made no response to anything happening in the courtyard.
It was as if, in her eyes, the courtyard remained the same as always. Only Xu Yizhuo could feel the changes that had occurred.
Xu Yizhuo finally stopped.
After messing around for a while, she even felt a little tired. Xu Yizhuo sat down beside the little girl, propped up her chin, and stared unblinkingly at Miss Yang.
She had some guesses about her current situation. Xu Yizhuo did not think she had come here because Miss Yang had done something. The current situation was more like when one played a game and followed the story, and the game showed the player the backstory of a character.
What she was seeing now was probably Miss Yang’s past.
She did not know how large the complete residence was, but there was only one narrow path leading to this courtyard. The courtyard walls were very high, the wooden door was half-closed, and aside from three trees and overgrown weeds, there was nothing else in the courtyard. It gave off an indescribably bleak and desolate feeling.
No human voices could be heard.
Was Miss Yang the only person in this remote courtyard?
Here, one could only hear the rustling wind and the soft sound of fallen leaves drifting down. Even Miss Yang made no sound.
It was easy to infer that Miss Yang had been treated as a monster and locked in this remote courtyard. Such a young girl, with no one to take care of her, and not even anyone to speak to her. Children at this age were usually the most restless and noisy, yet Miss Yang could patiently watch leaves slowly fall.
Even knowing that Miss Yang and the blood-robed person later killed many people, Xu Yizhuo still felt somewhat sorry for her at this moment.
Right, where was the blood-robed person?
Xu Yizhuo’s gaze fell on Miss Yang’s back. Why was there no movement from the blood-robed person?
In a courtyard like this, where there was no one except him and Miss Yang, why did the blood-robed person not come out from inside her clothes?
Just as Xu Yizhuo was thinking this, Miss Yang suddenly spoke.
“Father and Mother haven’t come to see me in a very long time.”
The little girl lowered her eyes. Perhaps because she had been disappointed too many times, there was not much disappointment left in them.
She said softly, “Only you will always stay with me.”
Miss Yang took off her outer garment. There were still clothes underneath, but now Xu Yizhuo could see the outline of a human body printed against the fabric. A person with only half a body was curled up in a strange position, his face turned directly backward. His still-childish features could faintly be seen.
“Father and Mother both say you’re already dead. That you died in Mother’s womb—but I feel like you’re still alive.”
Miss Yang’s words startled Xu Yizhuo.
The face on her back had both eyes tightly closed. There was no movement from his mouth or nose, and Xu Yizhuo could not sense any breathing.
Miss Yang’s voice was very soft, like a plea. “Elder Brother, can you talk to me?”
The blood-robed person’s eyelashes seemed to move.
Xu Yizhuo suspected it was her imagination and leaned closer to take a careful look. But at that moment, several leaves drifted down before her eyes and blocked her vision. By the time the withered leaves fell, the courtyard was still the same courtyard, but the season was no longer autumn.
Everything was desolate, and snowflakes drifted down one after another.
Miss Yang had grown a little older. She was still sitting beneath the steps, but now there was a mistress and maid standing opposite her. The maid held an umbrella for the richly dressed woman. They would rather stand in the snow than walk beneath the eaves.
It was as if they were avoiding a monster.
The woman glared hatefully at Miss Yang.
“Why is my life so bitter? To have given birth to a calamity like you! Was killing your elder brother not enough? You even cursed your father to death…”
Miss Yang seemed not to hear the woman’s curses. She looked at the woman, her gaze so calm that it did not seem like the eyes of a child.
Xu Yizhuo was kneeling behind Miss Yang.
The clothes on Miss Yang’s back had been cut open, revealing half of a boy’s body. The boy’s eyes were open, filled with ferocity.
The woman trembled with anger. “I should have listened to Doctor Yu long ago and cut that thing off. I’ve already made arrangements with Doctor Yu. Three days from now, the knife will fall. Whether you live or die will depend entirely on your own fate!”
“And him?” Miss Yang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly asked. Her eyes, like a dried-up well, finally rippled.
“Him?” The woman froze for a long while before realizing who Miss Yang was talking about. Her expression instantly twisted. “He was dead to begin with!”
Miss Yang’s gaze turned cold.
The oiled-paper umbrella fell onto the snowy ground.
Xu Yizhuo’s entire body stiffened. She stared blankly at the scene happening before her, unable to do anything. She could not move at all.
Fresh blood slowly flowed out, staining the flawless snow red.
The maid screamed in terror and crawled toward the courtyard gate in a panic. The snow-covered ground was slippery, causing her to fall again and again.
The person growing from Miss Yang’s back silently put down the woman who had been sucked into a dried corpse and walked step by step toward the maid.
The maid’s hand finally touched the threshold. Hope burst out in her eyes, but immediately afterward, only dead ashes remained in them.
The blood-robed person grabbed her ankle and dragged her back bit by bit.
The blood-robed person’s feeding was silent. For a time, the only sounds between heaven and earth were falling snow and the dying wails of a person. Miss Yang and the blood-robed person seemed to be sitting back-to-back in the snow. Xu Yizhuo was facing Miss Yang’s face directly, and she saw a pair of hollow, numb eyes.
Another dried corpse was thrown onto the snow.
The blood-robed person said hoarsely, “Zishuang, let’s go.”
Miss Yang said softly, “Mother is dead too.”
The blood-robed person said, “You will live.”
Miss Yang asked, “Will you always stay with me?”
In his hoarse voice, the blood-robed person promised, “I will always stay with you.”
They slowly walked out of the courtyard that had imprisoned them for who knew how long. Miss Yang did not hold an umbrella, and soon, snowflakes covered her hair and clothes.
After they had walked a little farther, a servant sweeping snow saw her and asked in confusion, “Whose child are you? Why aren’t you holding an umbrella?”
Miss Yang stopped walking.
The servant saw the person growing from her back clearly and let out a terrified scream.
Miss Yang turned around, letting the blood-robed person look at that servant with a chilling gaze.
Xu Yizhuo, who was following behind them, instinctively wanted to stop them, but her hand passed straight through Miss Yang. She stared blankly as the blood-robed person pounced toward the frightened-stiff servant and realized that these were all things that had already happened.
They could not be changed. Even the corpses had already become dry bones.
After he sucked another person’s blood, Xu Yizhuo discovered that Miss Yang’s complexion had become much rosier.
They abandoned the servant who had become a dried corpse and continued walking outside. Not far ahead, voices appeared again.
Miss Yang asked softly, “Do we have to kill people?”
The blood-robed person only said, “You have to live.”
Miss Yang asked, “If I live, will you live too?”
The blood-robed person answered her, “We were born together, and we will die together.”
Because of ranking-list reasons before VIP, I’ll keep the word count down a little—around 15,000 words a week. Thank you for your support.
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