Chapter 104: Chapter Twenty-Seven: Shishi

"Is... is this really a place where people live?" Yao Yirong stared at the earthen house before her, unable to hold back an exclamation.

After walking a winding, twisting path, we finally arrived at the corner of an unnamed alley. Upon seeing where Grandma Zhao lived, everyone's nose filled with a sour feeling, and we couldn't help but want to tear up.

In front of our view, in a nameless corner beyond the alley, stood a dilapidated earthen house as shabby as a dog's kennel, with thick weeds growing on both sides, and the old walls were cracked in several places, giving a feeling that it might topple and collapse at any moment.

Such a house is frightening to look at, let alone living in it.

The earthen house had two rooms and a hall; its roof was punctured here and there with several large holes. When noon came, the scorching sun slanted in through the roof. In hot weather it's bearable, but if it rained, we'd probably end up soaked like drowned chickens.

On each side of the house were two small bedrooms; the one on the left was filled with paper scraps and junk, empty beer bottles—things Grandma Zhao had picked up outside, braving sun and rain. Perhaps she feared rain would seep in and dampen these items, so she added a tarp.

The opposite small bedroom had an old-fashioned little lock on its door; Grandma Zhao said her granddaughter Shishi lived in this room. To keep Shishi from running around, she would lock the door with a small lock each time she went out, so she could leave feeling at ease.

"You don't know, once I forgot to lock the door and went out, and when I came back Shishi was gone—I searched all over the street in panic… Fortunately, the Bodhisattva blessed me, and I found Shishi at someone's restaurant." Grandma Zhao muttered while fumbling for the key and feeling for the keyhole on the lock.

With a creak, the door was pushed open gently; Grandma Zhao walked in, looking around.

"Shishi, Shishi, Grandma's back—where are you? Don't play hide-and-seek with Grandma!" Grandma Zhao called Shishi's name affectionately while searching around.

Compared to the hall and the left bedroom, this small room was relatively clean. However, the light remained dim, and there was still a lot of clutter.

"Shishi, Shishi..." Grandma Zhao called repeatedly, her expression growing more panicked, her tone increasingly urgent.

"Shishi couldn't have run out again, could she? Impossible—I clearly locked the room." Grandma Zhao, anxious, kept pounding her hands.

Seeing her so anxious, Silijing comforted her: "Grandma, don't rush; we'll all help you look. This house is full of clutter, and Shishi is so small—she might be hiding under some of it."

So we all stood in the dark little house, calling Shishi's name while searching for her.

Just as everyone was frantically moving debris to look for Shishi, Yao Yirong suddenly let out a loud cry and grabbed my shoulder tightly.

"Under the bed... under the bed," Yao Yirong cried in panic, pointing under the bed and shouting: "Something seems to be under the bed; when I reached my hand in just now, it touched me."

"There's something under the bed—could Shishi be hiding in there?" I said half-doubtingly, then crouched down and peered under the bed.

The room's light was already insufficient, and the space under the bed was pitch black; even after I strained my eyes searching there for a while, I still couldn't see anything.

I reached my hand in and fumbled around under the bed; suddenly, I felt something grab my arm, followed immediately by a sharp, bone-piercing pain shooting up from my arm.

"Pangzi, help quick—something's bitten me!" I winced, holding onto the bed's edge with one hand while pulling my right hand out with all my strength.

Pangzi quickly grabbed my waist and pulled hard outward; with a clatter, he yanked me to the floor, and as we both leaned back, whatever was under the bed was dragged out as well.

Honestly, at the moment I was bitten, resentment surged through me—especially when I saw the round, bloody tooth marks on my arm, I was furious beyond measure.

But when I saw clearly what had been pulled out and who had bitten me, my resentment vanished, replaced only by pity; indeed, when we all saw clearly what it was, we froze in place.

The one who bit me was a tender little girl, her hair disheveled and face grimy, her clothes covered in patches; she was curled in a corner, trembling, looking at us strangers with a frightened expression.

When the little girl was pulled out, Grandma Zhao's wrinkled face could not hold back a wail; she hugged the girl, patted her back, and comforted her anxiously: "Shishi, don't be afraid—Grandma's here."

This tender little girl was none other than Grandma Zhao's granddaughter, Shishi.

As Grandma Zhao patted Shishi's back to comfort her, Shishi's dirty little hand also patted Grandma Zhao's back and even wiped away the tears trickling from the corners of her eyes—she was remarkably sensible.

Watching this grandmother and granddaughter comfort each other, I and Pangzi felt our eyes redden, almost bursting into tears, as if something hard had lodged in our hearts—we wouldn't feel relieved unless we cried.

"What a poor child!" Silijing sighed, walked over, and prepared to take Shishi from Grandma Zhao's hands.

At the same moment, Shishi sharply shrugged off Silijing's outstretched hands and shrank behind Grandma Zhao.

Perhaps because she had had little contact with outsiders for a long time, Shishi was very shy of strangers; her childish mind resisted anyone other than Grandma Zhao, even if they meant her no harm.

At that moment, Yao Yirong said to Silijing, "Let me try." After speaking, she reached out to hug Shishi, who was hiding behind Grandma Zhao.

As she reached out, she smiled and coaxed Shishi: "Shishi, come on, sister will take you to wash up."

Strangely, although Shishi normally resisted strangers fiercely, she actually allowed Yao Yirong to hold her—though she wasn't exactly obedient, her reaction was far less violent than when Silijing tried to hug her.

Pangzi and I scrambled to fetch a basin of water, while Silijing went to buy a new set of clothes and a towel. The two women then began to bathe little Shishi.

At first, Shishi seemed to resist the bath, but after Yao Yirong gently coaxed her several times, she finally let herself be lowered into the basin.

When Yao Yirong wiped Shishi dry and changed her into fresh clothes, everyone in the room couldn't help but brighten at the sight.

Dressed in her new clothes, Shishi looked exactly like a cute little princess—her face pure and clean, her eyebrows clear and bright. Yet her tiny frame was extremely frail, her arms as thin as matchsticks.

Besides Yao Yirong and Grandma Zhao, she refused to let anyone else approach her; her gaze toward us remained thick with wariness.

"Hai Sheng, open your Spiritual Eye and take a look—I feel like there's nothing on her!" Pangzi stared for a while and shouted at me.

I nodded, then chanted the incantation and opened my Spiritual Eye.

After opening my Spiritual Eye, I grew more doubtful, for when I looked at Shishi, I saw nothing related to yin substances on them.

"How strange... not possession, not a stray pang?" Pangzi stared for a while, equally puzzled.

"Could this child have some strange illness? If not, let's take them to the hospital to get checked!" Silijing gazed fondly at Shishi, then turned to us and said.

"Yes, look, we must look... Sis Jingjing's words are simply outstanding, like a crane among chickens, adding the finishing touch to a dragon, a spring breeze in March—she's awakened me, this lost lamb."

"Damn Pangzi, if you keep spouting nonsense, will you die?" I glared at him fiercely; his words made me break out in goosebumps of disgust, and not only me—Yao Yirong couldn't help but cross her arms, shivering with a cold chill. As for Silijing, being flattered like that made her cheeks flush slightly.

"What are you talking about?" She gave Pangzi an annoyed look; that glance's charm left Pangzi staring, eyes wide.

"Two immortals, what exactly is wrong with my granddaughter?" Grandma Zhao asked anxiously from the side.

"Grandma, don't rush..." I was saying when suddenly a cool wind blew up from my feet, chilling me from soles to crown, making my heart tighten.

"Uh-oh..." Pangzi and I shouted in unison, then hurriedly looked at Shishi; at that moment, we both witnessed this unbelievable scene.

I saw Shishi's tender face shift slightly; the gust of cool wind made her hair flutter. She lowered her head, then slowly lifted it, and when she raised her head again, the corner of her mouth curled into a strange arc. A little girl's smile should be innocent and infectious, but Shishi's grin sent a chill down our spines.

"Uh-oh..." Seeing Yao Yirong still gripping her little hand, a dangerous thought flashed through my mind—but just as that thought arose, Shishi lunged and sank her teeth fiercely into Yao Yirong's hand.

"Ah..." The sudden attack left Yao Yirong barely able to react.

Pangzi and I rushed over, pulled them apart, and when we struggled to yank Yao Yirong's hand from Shishi's mouth, a row of angry red tooth marks suddenly appeared on her wrist.

Meanwhile, Shishi licked her lips with apparent relish, then walked toward a table in the west corner of the room.

On that table lay some yellow paper candles used for daily worship.

In our astonished gaze, Shishi's small body leapt up steadily onto the table; she then seized one of the thick red candles, bit off a chunk, and chewed it slowly, relishing it as if gnawing on a chicken leg.

Everyone in the room froze; I even found myself swallowing involuntarily. These candles—could they really be that tasty?

Using my Spiritual Eye, combined with experience, I naturally realized that the cool wind rising from the floor meant Shishi was possessed by a spirit. Such cases, however, are extremely rare. Normally when we go to exorcise, the spirit has already latched onto the victim, and ordinary people can't drive it away no matter how hard they try—that's why they call us in.

But this time there was a slight accident; Shishi had no problems for a long period after we arrived, but suddenly she was possessed by a spirit, which indeed is somewhat contrary to common sense.

When I and Pangzi walked over, preparing to pull Shishi, who was vigorously chewing candles on the table, down, a voice suddenly sprang into my mind.

"Hai Sheng, it's her, it's her."

This voice was Hong Nainai's; she was hidden in one of the jade pendants I kept in my bosom.

"What is she? Hong Nainai, what are you saying?" I asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Do you still remember what you promised me? When you took me in as a soldier, you promised me that you would find a disciple for me." As Hong Nainai spoke, her voice grew louder and her tone became increasingly agitated.