Chapter 494: Returning to the Old Place, Help Me

Late at night, wind carrying the stench of decay swept through the alley; Feng Yuhuai stood before the Black Zhensuo, and across the street, the neon sign of Jiejiu Fang cast multicolored light onto her empty eye socket where the eyeball was gone.

Memories from over a month ago surged in like a tide:

how she limped into the clinic, how she fearfully walked into the underground basement, and how on that blood-stained surgical bed she... was reborn!

"It feels like another lifetime, hehe!" Feng Yuhuai curled her lips into a strange, slightly mad smile.

She looked at the tightly closed rolling shutter door before her, gently brushing her hair ends.

At the same time, a red thread seeped from her fingertip, like a living thing drilling into the gap of the rolling shutter door, and she hooked her finger slightly—

"Clatter!"

The entire rolling shutter door was violently lifted, revealing the misty glass door behind it.

The red rag doll hanging above the door had an empty single eye socket, its other eye with a loose thread exposed cotton thread, and from its split mouth spat out a bright red cloth tongue, swaying gently with the airflow.

Feng Yuhuai's breath paused for a moment, staring blankly at the rag doll above her head.

"Hah—"

She slowly pushed open the glass door, walking in following that night's blurred yet profound memories.

She groped to pull open a hidden door, revealing stairs leading downward.

Feng Yuhuai's heels stepped on the wooden steps, making hollow echoes.

With every step down, the smell of decay mixed with disinfectant in the air grew stronger.

Feng Yuhuai reached the basement door, took a deep breath, and gently pushed it open.

The basement scene was just like that day:

On the ceiling, dozens of "Dolls" were hanging.

Hooks sank deep into their collarbones, their eyes half-open, covered with a layer of grayish-white film, their gazes turbid and empty, lips trembling slightly, yet unable to make any sound, their eyes frozen with eternal fear.

Some "works" had their abdomens cruelly split open, revealing internal mechanical parts or alien organs.

Feng Yuhuai walked in, her expression forming a sharp contrast with the panic when she first stepped in; now her heart was calm as water.

She coldly surveyed these hanging Doll puppets, merely covering her nose slightly, a trace of disgust showing in her eyes:

"These crude works have no artistic beauty at all."

Under the Shadowless Lamp on the surgical bed, the body of a young man was displayed like a disassembled toy.

His chest cavity was wide open, his internal organs placed on an iron tray, forming a small hill, dripping blood beads striking a gloomy rhythm on the ground.

The man suddenly widened his eyes, Feng Yuhuai's figure reflected in his pupils.

His mouth could make no sound, yet still wriggled with difficulty, blood slowly dripping along his chin, silently conveying his despair and plea for help:

"Save—save me—"

"Who?!"

Ge Qingming suddenly turned around, the Shoudao drawing a scarlet arc in the air, blood drops from the blade tip splashing onto the wall.

When he saw clearly who had come, his tense shoulders relaxed, and an expression almost like paternal love appeared in his turbid eyeballs.

To some extent, Feng Yuhuai could be considered Ge Qingming's most perfect work; it was he who gave Feng Yuhuai another kind of rebirth.

Ge Qingming grinned, hooking a strange smile at the corner of his mouth, asking: "Is it you? How did you come back?"

Feng Yuhuai did not answer immediately, but first swept her gaze over the man on the iron bed, a trace of nostalgia showing in her eyes.

"Is this another container prepared for Puppet Mother?" she asked in a cold voice.

Ge Qingming waved his hand, smiling:

"How could such a failed product be worthy of Puppet Mother? It's just a little toy I use to pass the time."

The last glimmer of hope in the eyes of the man on the iron bed was extinguished; he understood that this female high school student and that devil-like Doctor were in cahoots.

After exchanging two sentences of small talk, Feng Yuhuai answered Ge Qingming's question.

A sweet smile appeared on Feng Yuhuai's face, which looked especially strange in this terrifying space.

She said:

"I've been exposed; the Executive Government will soon send people to catch me. I must leave the Nine Districts. But I'm just an ordinary high school student, so, I need you to help me..."

It must be said, Feng Yuhuai is indeed a daughter raised and educated by Feng Ju.

When encountering danger, they would both first go to the person they trust most for help.

The person Feng Ju trusts most right now is Feng Mu, and the person Feng Yuhuai trusts most right now can only be... Ge Qingming, who has been as kind to her as a rebirth and is like a second parent to her.

Ge Qingming's Shoudao fell into the iron tray with a "clang," the skin on his relaxed face twitching violently, a trace of panic flashing in his turbid eyeballs:

"Are you crazy? Then why do you still dare come to my place?"

Feng Yuhuai curved her lips into a sweet arc, tilting her head like a child begging for candy, and answered as a matter of course:

"Why not? I'm already homeless; you're the only person I can trust now."

I'm so grateful for your trust!

Ge Qingming gritted his teeth, the fatherly smile on his face disappeared, and he said gloomily:

"I can't help you; you have to figure out how to escape on your own."

Feng Yuhuai's brow furrowed slightly, this expression making her look especially innocent:

"We both belong to Puppet Mother; it was you who personally offered me to It."

Her voice carried a trembling tone of grievance:

"In my heart, I've long regarded you as a second father; can you bear to watch me be taken away by the Executive Government?"

Ge Qingming suddenly laughed, that laugh like a rusty blade scraping against bone:

"Poor child, you misunderstand Puppet Mother's rules."

As he spoke, he lowered his head to suture the man on the iron bed,

"Puppet Mother is the most fair; I saved your life, you offer your body, we're even."

The man on the iron bed let out a silent scream, his limbs flailing weakly, while Ge Qingming continued threading the needle with practiced ease, ignoring him completely, and went on:

"As for mutual aid? That word doesn't exist in the Puppet Mother's teachings. We don't need accomplices, and we certainly don't need family..."

The ceiling suddenly shook violently, those hanging 'cured meats' all swiveling toward Feng Yuhuai in unison, their shriveled lips wriggling simultaneously, speaking in unison to replace Ge Qingming with a rustling susurrus:

"We have puppets for company, that's enough!"

The smile on Feng Yuhuai's face stiffened slightly, yet she still refused to give up and said:

"But you said I was special, that I was the one chosen by the Puppet Mother, you..."

Ge Qingming didn't wait for Feng Yuhuai to finish, cutting her off ruthlessly:

"That's right, you are the seed chosen by the Puppet Mother. That's precisely why I can't help you."

Feng Yuhuai frowned: "Why?"

Ge Qingming's withered fingers lightly stroked the freshly stitched 'work' on the iron bed, grinning as he said:

"You're the seed, I'm the gardener. The gardener's task is to sow the seed, but the seed must break through the soil alone, survive through competition, until it becomes the last, the only seed."

Ge Qingming paused for a moment, then spoke like a kindly father admonishing his daughter:

"So, my dear, either you break through the soil on your own;"

"Or you rot in the soil and become fertilizer;"

"That is the Fate the Puppet Mother chose for you..."

(End of Chapter)