Chapter 32: 31. Bird Calls

31. Bird Calls

Li Jiahong had a strange dream last night. In the dream, he saw a bird he had never seen before. Because the distance was somewhat far, or perhaps because dreams are always such indistinct things, he could not see the bird's specific appearance clearly. However, he was certain that the bird seemed to have a torso similar to a human's, as well as an incredibly long, large face.

Although its appearance was somewhat chilling, Li Jiahong felt an inexplicable sense of trust toward it, always feeling that it would not harm him.

Just as he was inexplicably opening his arms, wanting to welcome the embrace of that nameless bird, he suddenly woke up.

"Is it... is it morning already?" Li Jiahong got up from the side of his wife's bed. The sunlight entering his eyes stung a little. He rubbed his eyes, and the image of his wife sitting up against the headboard gradually became clear.

"Look at you, sleeping like that must be very uncomfortable, really... you could have just squeezed in with me." Seeing her husband, who had just woken up, rubbing his waist with a pained expression, Jiang Gu could not help but put on a reproachful look.

Li Jiahong stood up and stretched his limbs, laughing: "That's just because I didn't shower last night; I was afraid my dirty, smelly body would make you unclean too."

"We're old married folks now, when have I ever disliked you?" Jiang Gu glared slightly.

Li Jiahong could not help but chuckle. Looking at Jiang Gu's girlish manner at this moment, he could not help but think back to when he and his wife were young and dating. Although her appearance had changed, she still made his heart race to this day.

Li Jiahong gently stroked Jiang Gu's face: "You look much better today."

"Mm, perhaps it's because that Feather Amulet took effect, and with you by my side, I slept very soundly last night, with an unprecedented sense of peace." Jiang Gu took the initiative to hold Li Jiahong's hand, rubbing her face gently against his rough palm.

Just as they were being affectionate, Jiang Gu heard her husband's stomach let out a roar of hunger. She immediately laughed out loud, then turned to get out of bed: "Are you hungry? I'll go get you something to eat."

"Wait, you haven't recovered yet, lie back down, I'll go." Seeing this, Li Jiahong hurriedly supported his wife, who was preparing to get out of bed, fearing she might accidentally fall.

Jiang Gu froze for a moment after hearing her husband's words, her expression stiffening for an instant. She then obediently lay back down on the bed, looking at her husband with tender, watery eyes: "You're right, I was just too impatient for a moment, thinking we were still in the past."

"Wait for me to come back." Li Jiahong smiled as he tucked the quilt in for Jiang Gu, stroked his wife's hair, and after saying this, he left the hospital room, looking back every few steps.

While going downstairs, Li Jiahong's eyes could not help but brighten, and he muttered: "That Feather Amulet might really be useful..."

After buying breakfast and enjoying it with his wife in the hospital room, Li Jiahong borrowed the room's bathroom to take a shower. Only after Jiang Gu's parents came to accompany her did he feel safe enough to leave. Before leaving, he did not forget to tell his wife that "he shouldn't be leaving Shenzhou for a period of time; Mom and Dad are getting old, and night shifts are too exhausting, so he will come to accompany her every night from now on."

Under his wife's reluctant yet tender gaze, Li Jiahong left the hospital room. As he got off the elevator to leave the inpatient department, the elevator stopped on the third floor midway, and a mother and child entered—a young mother with her child who was only about one or two years old.

The woman held the child tightly. Although she appeared normal on the surface, her eyes never dared to meet anyone else's in the elevator, trying her best to avoid them, with a trace of lingering fear in her eyes.

"Xiaonan, wait!" Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a young man dragging luggage chased over right before they shut, carrying a bag of baby supplies in his hand. He walked into the elevator, and while panting, he said helplessly to the woman, "You're being too sudden; the doctor said it's best for Xiaobao to stay in the hospital for observation for a day."

Upon hearing this, the woman said with sudden shock and anger: "Stay in the hospital? I don't dare stay here for even a day!"

Seeing his wife's agitated expression, the man raised his hands in surrender and cast an apologetic look at Li Jiahong in the elevator. Li Jiahong returned a light, understanding smile.

The man lowered his voice a little and said: "It was just a nightmare, isn't Xiaobao right here with you, safe and sound?"

"That wasn't a dream!" The woman called Xiaonan probably realized it wasn't good to speak so loudly in a public place. After shouting that, she immediately gritted her teeth and whispered: "You don't know how scared I was last night. Xiaobao suddenly disappeared for half an hour, and I was so anxious I looked everywhere..."

As she spoke, the woman began to sob quietly. The child in her arms was ignorant and innocent, giggling as he curled and played with his mother's hair.

The man sighed and embraced his wife and child.

Li Jiahong watched all of this from the side, feeling somewhat emotional.

"I don't want to hear that kind of bird call again, it's too terrifying..." The woman gradually calmed down in her husband's arms and let out a complaint.

Whether it was because he was too sensitive or not, when Li Jiahong heard "bird call," he was startled and raised his voice in surprise: "Bird call? What kind of bird call?"

Hearing Li Jiahong's puzzled voice, the woman turned her head and revealed an embarrassed expression: "Sir, don't mind me, maybe it's just that I was too nervous at the time and heard it wrong."

The man explained: "My wife said it sounded like a woman imitating a strange bird call, making a sound like 'guo-guo-guo.' It sounded quite silly..."

Li Jiahong walked out of the hospital and looked out at the surroundings of the inpatient department across the hospital wall. A suffocating feeling that was hard to calm began to grow in his heart.

He always felt that the tallest tree in front of the inpatient department looked so similar to the one he saw in his dream...

In order to continue investigating matters regarding the Huogu and the missing children, Li Jiahong headed to the address provided by Wei Jiang. He wanted to see if the person who supposedly escaped from the side of such a bizarre life form as the Huogu had left behind any useful clues.

Since they were able to escape, it meant there must be a way to go back, right?

If the child was still alive in the Huogu's nest, he would save him no matter what.

If... if he was already dead, then bringing other people's children back would also be a good thing.

It could be said that when Li Jiahong learned that the existence that took his child away years ago was not human, but a strange creature he had never seen before, he had already prepared for the worst.

The address provided by Wei Jiang, although not in Shenzhou, was in the neighboring Huigang City. It would not take more than two hours of driving from where he was now.

After arriving at his destination, Li Jiahong discovered that he had come to a village.

This village seemed to have only one road going up and down the mountain. The villagers had built their houses on the top and slopes of the mountain, and every household had decorated their homes quite well, looking like individual private villas.

There were quite a few people living here, and some had even opened farmhouses, presenting a peaceful scene.

Li Jiahong had dressed neatly and cleanly today; after all, he might be paying a visit, so he had to look presentable. He followed the house numbers, searching one by one, and gradually discovered that he seemed to be slowly drifting away from the human crowd, stepping onto a forest path that had not been paved with asphalt, and entering the forest.

He thought he had found the wrong place, but soon, as he looked up, he discovered a dilapidated two-story flat-roofed house hidden among the lush trees not far away.

When he approached the dilapidated small building that exuded an ominous aura, Li Jiahong compared the house number and confirmed that the address provided by Wei Jiang was indeed here.