Chapter 376: Shishi

"Is… is this really a place where people live?" Yao Yirong stared at the earthen house before her and couldn't help but exclaim.

After walking a winding path of nine curves and eighteen bends, we finally arrived at the corner of an unnamed alley. As soon as we saw where Granny 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 the corner of an unnamed alley behind the lane, there stood a dilapidated earthen house as shabby as a dog kennel; thick weeds grew on both sides of the house, and the old walls were cracked in several places, giving a feeling that it might sway 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 there were two small bedrooms; the one on the left was filled with paper scraps and junk, empty beer bottles—things Granny Zhao had picked up outside, braving sun and rain. Perhaps she feared rain would seep in and dampen these scraps, so she had covered them with a tarp.

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

"You don't know, once I forgot to lock the door and went out; when I came back, Shishi was gone, and I was terrified, searching all over the street… Fortunately, the Bodhisattva blessed me, and I found Shishi at someone's restaurant." Granny Zhao muttered while she fished out a key and felt for the keyhole on the lock.

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

"Shishi, Shishi, Grandma's back—where are you? Don't play hide-and-seek with Grandma!" Granny Zhao searched here and there, calling Shishi's name affectionately.

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…" Granny 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." Granny Zhao, anxious, beat 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 this dark little house, calling Shishi's name while searching for her.

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

"Under the bed… under the bed," Yao Yirong pointed at the space beneath the bed, panicked, and shouted: "Something seems to be under the bed; just now when I reached my hand in, it touched me."

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

The room's light was already insufficient, and the space under the bed was pitch black; even after I searched with my eyes for a long time, I still couldn't see anything.

I reached my hand in and felt around under the bed; suddenly, I felt something grab my arm, followed immediately by a piercing pain that shot up from my arm to the bone.

"Pangzi, help quick, something's bitten me!" In pain, I held onto the bed's edge with one hand and strained to pull my right hand, which had gone in, outward.

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

Frankly, at the moment I was bitten, resentment surged in my chest; especially when I saw the round tooth marks on my arm oozing fresh blood, I became furious beyond measure.

But when I saw clearly what had been pulled out and who had bitten me, my heart held no resentment at all—only 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 up in a corner, trembling, looking at us strangers with a frightened expression.

When the little girl was pulled out, Granny Zhao's wrinkled face couldn't help but burst into loud sobs; she held the girl, patted her back, and comforted her anxiously: "Shishi, don't be afraid, Grandma's here."

This tender little girl was exactly Granny Zhao's granddaughter Shishi.

As Granny Zhao patted Shishi's back to comfort her, Shishi's dirty little hand also patted Granny Zhao's back and even wiped away the tears that had welled at the corners of Granny Zhao's eyes, behaving very sensibly.

Watching this grandmother and granddaughter comfort each other, I and Pangzi and the others felt our eyes redden, almost bursting into tears; it seemed something was lodged hard in our hearts, and we wouldn't feel relieved unless we cried.

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

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

Perhaps because she hadn't had contact with outsiders for a long time, Shishi was very shy; her childish mind resisted anyone besides Granny Zhao, even if that person 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 Granny Zhao.

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

Surprisingly, though 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.

I and Pangzi hurriedly fetched a basin of water, and 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 softly coaxed her several times, she finally got her into the tub.

When Yao Yirong wiped her dry and put on a fresh set of clothes, everyone in the room couldn't help but brighten at the sight.

Dressed in new clothes, Shishi was like a lovely little princess come to life—her face pure and clean, her eyebrows clear and bright. Only her tiny body was extremely frail, her arms as thin as matchsticks.

Besides Yao Yirong and Granny Zhao, she refused to let anyone else approach her; looking at us, her eyes remained filled with intense wariness.

"Hai Sheng, activate your spiritual eye and take a look—I feel like there's nothing on her!" Pangzi stared for a while and called out to me.

I nodded, then chanted an incantation to open my spiritual eye.

After opening my spiritual eye, I grew even more doubtful, for when I looked at Shishi, I saw nothing related to yin substances on her.

"How strange… not possession, not a ghost hit?" Pangzi stared for a while, also utterly puzzled.

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

"Yes, look, we must look… Sister Jingjing's words are simply outstanding, like a crane among chickens, adding the pupils to a dragon, a spring breeze in March— they 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 gooseflesh from disgust—not just me, but Yao Yirong also couldn't help but cross her arms and shiver with a chill; as for Silijing, her face flushed slightly from all that flattery.

"What are you saying?" She gave Pangzi an annoyed glance; that look's charm made Pangzi stare, eyes wide.

"You two immortals, what exactly is wrong with my granddaughter?" Granny Zhao asked anxiously from the side.

"Grandma, don't worry…" As I was saying that, I suddenly felt a cool wind sweep up from my feet, chilling me from soles to crown, and my heart tightened.

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

I saw Shishi's tender face twitch slightly; the gust of wind made her hair flutter, she first lowered her head, then slowly lifted it, and when she raised her head again, the corner of her mouth curled into a strange arc—though a child's smile should be innocent and infectious, Shishi's smile sent a chill down our spines.

Uh-oh… seeing Yao Yirong still holding her little hand, a dangerous thought flashed through my mind. But the moment that thought arose, Shishi lunged and bit Yao Yirong's hand viciously.

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

I and Pangzi 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 appeared on her wrist.

Meanwhile, Shishi even licked her lips with 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 petite body leapt up and landed steadily on the table; she then seized one of the big red candles, bit off a chunk, chewed it slowly, and ate it with relish, as if gnawing on a chicken leg.

Everyone in the room froze; I even involuntarily swallowed my saliva—this candle, is it really that tasty?

With my spiritual eye, combined with experience, I naturally knew that the cool wind rising from the ground earlier meant Shishi was possessed by a spirit. Though such cases are rare, we usually only get called in for exorcisms when the spirit has already latched onto the victim and ordinary means can't drive it away.

But this time there was a bit of an accident; Shishi didn't have any problems for a long time after we arrived, but suddenly she was possessed by a spirit, which is indeed 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 popped into my mind.

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

This voice belongs to Red Granny; she is hidden in one of the jade pendants I keep in my bosom.

"What is she? Red Granny, what are you saying?" I asked, a bit 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 Red Granny spoke, her voice grew louder and her tone became more agitated.