Chapter 9: The Tearing Floss Method: The Cano Family

Time passed slowly in peace, and in the blink of an eye, a week had gone by.

It turned out that although this world contained all manner of strange things and supernatural forces, human societal order still dominated the mainstream—during this time, Louis saw no signs of the sinister.

During this period, due to his child’s body, Louis could not investigate his own abduction, so he focused his efforts on magic, diligently practicing the contents of the book.

Since these were merely folk customs, learning them was actually quite simple; he had already mastered five of the six newly emerged earth methods, leaving only the Ash Method.

Even the Life Borrowing Method, which emphasized speed, was straightforward and easy to understand!

Of course, it might also be that the Folk Canon deemed this technique unnecessary for Louis, its inheritor, and thus passed him over.

Now he was trying to buy a statue of the Kitchen God, enshrine it, and obtain some kitchen ash to complete the Ash Method—but for a six-year-old child, this task was difficult, and he had not yet succeeded.

Meanwhile, his relationship with Emma had changed over the past week, and this could only be attributed to David, Emma’s father, being a good man—he seemed to regard Louis as a nephew, providing him with new clothes, delicious food, pocket money, and frequently asking what Louis wanted to play; aside from not telling him bedtime stories, his treatment of Louis was nearly identical to Emma’s.

Yet this seemed to stir subtle emotions in Emma; though she showed no outward sign, Louis sensed it, and he didn’t care.

He knew Emma was this way—a sociopath who harbored hostility toward anyone who threatened her survival, but she wasn’t yet ready to act against him, not out of affection, merely because his threat level was still insufficient.

Half a month later, David finally smoothed things over with the Community Committee and got Louis enrolled in Emma’s school.

The Community Committee was a grassroots self-governing body in the United States with considerable power; without its approval, you couldn’t even find a place to live in the neighborhood—you couldn’t buy a house—and it also maintained ties with nearby schools, which was why Louis could be sent to school.

School.

Although it was only a public elementary school, its facilities and educational resources were surprisingly good.

“Emma, is this your brother?”

“Oh, of course,” Emma said with a perfect smile.

Louis smiled amiably in response, offered no correction, and had no interest in playing with the brats—he sat alone at his desk, studying the Tearing Floss Method.

Though these earth methods were crude, there was always a difference between mastering the basics and achieving proficiency; Louis intended to practice several useful techniques to increase his own safety.

The origin of the Tearing Floss Method is lost to history; it first appeared on a large scale during the Ming and Qing dynasties, when children frequently went missing, and those responsible were known by many names: flower-pickers, human brokers, tooth-women, and so on.

These were also the people who commonly used this dark art.

The basic level of the Tearing Floss Method merely involved preparing a snack, mixing hallucinogenic foods like mushrooms into it to lure children—it hardly even counted as a technique.

But once mastered, it was entirely different: food became merely auxiliary; the key was the suggestive language, which carried sinister power and could even affect weak-willed adults.

The difference between basic and mastered levels was obvious.

Bored, Louis traded some food to a black, chubby boy beside him.

Let's be honest, normal kids are easy to fool; the greedy little fat boy readily agreed.

“Alright, let’s begin.”

Louis patted his shoulder and smiled warmly.

…

While Louis was staying at Emma’s house and having fun playing with the chubby boy at school.

Miami.

The old man, who had not yet found his grandson, sat on a chair, staring at his eldest son, the current gang heir.

“Max, you know what our Italian Mafia stands for.”

“Of course I do. Family—nothing matters more than family.”

“Good.” The old man nodded slowly. “So today, keep beating up your third brother. Also, go into town and hire someone—her name is Ilis. She might help us find Little Louis.”

Max frowned. “Dad, isn’t that Ilis a medium? Do you believe in that?”

“Cough, cough, Max—you must believe that many inexplicable things exist in this world. Show reverence. When you find her, treat her with respect.”

Max said nothing. Though he didn’t believe, he would obey his father’s words.

Watching his son leave, Karl Cano closed his eyes and lay back in his chair, lost in thought.

After a long while, he rummaged through a wooden cabinet and pulled out a severed finger with two joints and a sharp claw. He stared at it, hesitating.

In the 1970s, Miami experienced a strange event: a bizarre creature hunted down enemies for people, even killing them from thousands of miles away, but due to careless actions and obvious blood trails, it was eventually exposed. The man was imprisoned; no one believed him, dismissing him as a lonely man who imagined a monster.

It was all his delusion.

But that strange creature later truly came to rescue him—and was finally obliterated by a hail of gunfire. Afterwards, one of their family members retrieved the fragments and handed them over to him.

Experiments revealed that this claw could absorb nutrients to grow and regenerate. Out of caution, he sealed it away; for all these years, even during gang vendettas, he never used it.

Now, he was hesitating whether to use it.

“Mystical power—is it a demon? Or a malevolent spirit?”

The old man murmured, placing the severed finger into a drawer.

…

Time passed quickly, and Christmas arrived.

This year’s Christmas, Louis spent with Emma’s family.

In the living room, Christmas lights wound around the tree; the dining table held a steaming roasted turkey, a cake interwoven with white and purple, and an array of dishes exuding fragrance.

David looked at Louis and Emma in their new clothes and nodded approvingly.

Louis’s appearance was truly impressive: his pale blue eyes, like crystal, shimmered; his small black suit accentuated his upright posture; paired with his jet-black hair and sharply defined features, he exuded a mysterious, boyish charm.

Emma, meanwhile, had abandoned her usual black, white, and gray attire, wearing a red dress, a ribbon tied in a bow at the end of her shoulder-length hair, and a string of white pearl beads around her neck—like a little princess stepped from a fairy tale.

(End of Chapter)