Chapter 264

"Hey! Brother Xu, look, see what my dog dug up!"

Shang Shaoyang squatted down; underneath was a large pit dug three feet deep, where even the tree roots had been painstakingly cut away.

What kind of important thing could this be, to be buried so deep?

Shang Shaoyang leaned down, just about to reach out and fish out the old box in the pit, when he suddenly shivered.

"Strange, why does this place feel so chilly, just like someone is clawing at me with little hands..."

Shang Shaoyang looked around suspiciously; besides Xu Qing and Chen Liuer, there was no one else.

Xu Qing glanced at the little girl who was clawing at Shang Shaoyang's arm and climbing out of the pit, but didn't say a word.

Beside them, Chen Liuer said full of confusion: "Guai-Guai, when did you go into the pit? I didn't see you jump in!"

"..."

Shang Shaoyang looked sideways at Chen Liuer, who was talking to the air; besides feeling the surroundings becoming even more eerie, there was also an indescribable sense of familiarity...

He remembered! This familiar feeling was just like going to Xu Qing's shop to cool off at high noon!

"Little Liuer, one must be honest, you can't lie; there's no one else here! Brother Xu, can you see?"

Xu Qing shook his head.

"Really can't see?"

Shang Shaoyang pressed.

"Can't see." When Xu Qing spoke, he kept staring at the air in front of Chen Liuer.

Looking at his own little native dog, it had already burrowed under his robe, only revealing a dog head looking in the same direction, and kept barking.

"..."

Shang Shaoyang always felt that among the three people present, at least one was being played for a fool!

"Brother Xu, can you tell me the truth?"

"What truth do you want to hear?"

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and turned to look down at the old box in the pit, lost in thought.

"What exactly does that Guai-Guai look like? Is she human or a ghost?"

Xu Qing pondered for a moment and said: "She looks very well-behaved; she's a little girl of two or three years old."

"Why can't I see her?" Shang Shaoyang opened his eyes wide; in front of him, besides Chen Liuer, there was still only Chen Liuer.

Xu Qing said lightly: "Children's hearts are pure and flawless, and they can see some things that ordinary people cannot; it's not strange that Chen Liuer can see her."

"Then why can you see her too?"

"Because my heart is just as pure."

Xu Qing didn't blush or pant when he said this.

Shang Shaoyang had a breath stuck in his throat, unable to squeeze out a single word.

So he was the only one with a dirty heart!

"Inside this box..."

Shang Shaoyang fished out the old box with the mottled lacquer, feeling somewhat hesitant.

By common sense, a box containing important things would certainly not be so worn out, and the box in front of him looked like a broken container fished out of a pile of discarded junk to hold waste.

Xu Qing stopped Shang Shaoyang, who wanted to open the box, with his eyes, and then turned to look at the bear child who was standing on tiptoe and watching curiously: "Chen Liuer, turn your back; if I don't tell you to turn around, don't turn around, you know?"

Finally, Xu Qing said a word to the little girl who had invited Chen Liuer to the big locust tree:

"Guai-Guai, you and Brother Liuer turn around together, don't look back, be a good girl."

The little girl had no friends other than Chen Liuer, and she might not listen to outsiders, but for some reason, after hearing Xu Qing's words, she subconsciously felt very close to him and wanted to listen.

So she nodded subconsciously, took Chen Liuer's hand, and the two children turned around just like that, and even sensibly closed their eyes tightly.

Since she had promised Uncle Xu not to peek, she had to do it, otherwise Guai-Guai wouldn't be a good girl.

Here, Xu Qing and Shang Shaoyang squatted in front of the small box, leaving only their backs toward Chen Liuer and the others.

Blocking the box, the two looked at each other; Shang Shaoyang took a deep breath, took out his sword, and pried it open bit by bit along the edge of the lid.

When the lid fell to the ground and dust splashed up, Xu Qing and Shang Shaoyang saw what was in the box.

They saw a tiny little girl lying in the old box, which was less than three feet long; the girl looked to be two or three years old, and if she stood up, she might be over three feet tall, but this box was less than three feet, so how could it hold this child?

Xu Qing saw two four- or five-inch-long lower legs placed separately on both sides of the little girl's body; on the foot of one lower leg was a small embroidered shoe, while the foot on the other lower leg was exposed, full of bruises, and it was unknown where that shoe had been lost.

Looking at the little girl's face, besides being somewhat pale, there were no other abnormalities; the little girl's eyes were naturally closed, without a smile or sadness. At first glance, it was as if she had fallen into a deep dream, peaceful and unstained by dust.

However, looking closely at her complexion, it revealed a layer of indelible paleness, as if covering the death of this young life with a chilling cold light.

Shang Shaoyang had seen dead people, but he had never seen such a young little girl with her lower legs severed and placed in this narrow, cramped, and dilapidated box.

His wife was just pregnant, and the extra feelings brought by being a parent were much stronger than those of ordinary people!

"She is the friend Guai-Guai that little Liuer made, right?"

Shang Shaoyang, who had been silent for a long time, spoke with difficulty; he lowered his voice, as if not wanting the two children behind him to hear.

"Yes, Guai-Guai should be her nickname; I don't know her real name. Chen Liuer often brought her to my shop, and I once tried to ask the two children, but I didn't get any useful clues."

Xu Qing carefully lifted the little girl's body; the body wrapped in a small white floral dress was ice-cold, revealing an incredible tranquility and fragility, as if she were just sleeping too sweetly...

"Brother Shang, I'll trouble you."

Xu Qing tore off his long gown and tore it into two pieces; he covered the body simply with one piece and handed it to Shang Shaoyang.

A child of only about three years old wasn't heavy, just a light, tiny thing; Shang Shaoyang took the cloth bundle, and although the child in front of him was just a corpse, he was also at a loss, fearing he would wake the child from her deep sleep.

Xu Qing freed his hands and used the other piece of cloth to wrap the child's two lower legs.

"How does Brother Xu plan to resolve this matter?"

"Report it to the authorities!"

"How could a child from a normal family be treated like this?" Xu Qing picked up the dilapidated box on the ground and said: "I once learned corpse examination from Senior Brother Wang of the mortuary; this child's body is not yet cold, and she died of suffocation, yet there are no obvious signs of struggle. There must be some unknown filth hidden in this."

Xu Qing did not choose to perform funeral rites for the body to see the little girl's "lantern of life," because he understood that once the "Sutra of Saving People" was performed, the little girl's ghost would cease to exist.

Now that the road to heaven is broken, even if people in the world have great magic power, they don't have the ability to go to the underworld to interrogate.

Xu Qing didn't have it either; he wanted to know the little girl's true cause of death, but at the same time, he didn't want the girl to be forcibly transcended before her obsession was gone.

Ghosts exist because of their obsessions; what exactly is Guai-Guai's obsession...

Xu Qing carried the old box, Shang Shaoyang held the cold, uncorrupted corpse, and Chen Liuer and the little girl held hands and followed the two toward the government office.

When they arrived at the entrance of the government office, the little girl stopped; Chen Liuer seemed accustomed to it, waved his hand, and let Guai-Guai wait outside, and the latter also waved her hand, as if saying goodbye.