Chapter 1003 – The Boy Who Searched for Snails

　　Bigger clothes and shoes, dirty face, clear eyes full of surprise, the boy hid behind the old man’s clothes, revealing a small half of his face.

　　”You can hear me?” Chen Ge put down his backpack and gently stretched out his hands towards the child, “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.”

　　The child hiding behind those clothes in the closet, timidly looked at Chen Ge, he looked at Chen Ge’s hands, hesitated for a long time, and slowly stretched out his hands.

　　The cold little hand was placed in Chen Ge’s palm, and the long-lost warmth made the boy’s eyes slowly widen.

　　”Have you been staying here all this time?” Chen Ge pointed to his feet, he was trying to ask the little boy if he had stayed behind the door all this time, but the little boy misunderstood what he meant and waved his hands, desperately gesticulating.

　　After watching for half a day Chen Ge realized that the boy was originally playing a game with his buddies, everyone was playing hide and seek and he was hiding here to avoid the others.

　　Looking at the little boy who was struggling to express himself, Chen Ge gently shook his head, those children were not prepared to look for him at all, he was just the object of being caught.

　　He seriously hid in the closet, finally opening the door to find him was not expected to be those kids, but the owner of the house calling him for dinner.

　　”Have you ever thought of making more friends, have you ever thought of opening the window and looking at the world outside?” Chen Ge finds Jiang Ming, the key figure in the world behind the door, but he can’t figure out what the relationship is between this Jiang Ming and the Jiang Ming outside the door.

　　The Jiang Ming inside the door could be the lost hearing of Jiang Ming outside the door, but the probability was not high.

　　Combined with the existing clues, the door would only appear when Jiang Ming outside the door was asleep, so the Jiang Ming inside the door was probably Jiang Ming’s own consciousness.

　　”In this imaginary world, all behaviors and characters are related to reality, Jiang Ming hid in the room he felt warmest in with the idea of playing with his friends, this should already be considered his fondest memory.”

　　Chen Ge was still about to say something of something, but Jiang Ming’s eyes suddenly changed, from surprise to horror, and tears sprang to his eyes almost instantly.

　　”He’s looking behind me!”

　　The smell of alcohol rushed into his nostrils, and without saying a word, Chen Ge stomped his legs to the ground and dodged to the side with the little boy in his arms.

　　The bottle smashed against the closet, glass shards flying, but no sound was made.

　　Thick veins protruded from his face, and the rotund monster ran over at some point, he should have heard Chen Ge’s voice as he spoke.

　　”This guy is really shady, and the most troublesome thing is that he can’t be killed.” Chen Ge held the skull crushing hammer in one hand while holding the little boy with the other, the boy was terrified, and like a flaky kitten, his body was constantly trembling with fear.

　　”The fear of the drunkard’s father is rooted in the bottom of his heart, and it is this fear that is continuously increasing the drunkard’s power, making him stronger and stronger.” Chen Ge had a plan in his head, “If I can help the boy overcome his fear and show him with practical actions that the drunkard father is not invincible, the situation should improve.”

　　It was easy to say, but it was too difficult to change the memories rooted in the bottom of the heart.

　　”Jiang Ming, don’t be afraid, uncle is here, no one can hurt you.” Chen Ge placed the child on a chair and held the skull crushing hammer with both hands, “At this rate of his strengthening, I can still hammer him ten times.”

　　Having made preparations, Chen Ge was about to make his move when the door of the rented house was suddenly opened, and there was a gray-haired old woman carrying a bowl of noodles that was walking inside.

　　The old man was hunched over and was at least seventy years old.

　　She had a kind expression on her face, but just when she saw the rotten drunken man, she instantly changed her face, put down the bowl full of noodles, grabbed the walking stick beside the bed and swung it at the drunken man.

　　The originally horrible and terrifying drunkard panicked at the sight of the old lady, and dared to have a sense of hand-to-hand combat.

　　Being smashed in the head by the skull crushing hammer, the drunkard didn’t even feel the pain, but after being hit by the old man’s cane a few times, he couldn’t stand it a little bit and fled out of the hut in a hurry.

　　The old man chased him out a good distance with his cane before returning.

　　She angrily closed the door of the rental house, then walked into the bedroom, came to the child, and gently rubbed Jiang Ming’s head.

　　The old man told Jiang Ming to go to the table to eat, where there was her freshly made noodles, steaming hot, looking very appetizing.

　　Jiang Ming ran over to eat, and only then did the old man look at Chen Ge, the surprise in her eyes was no less than Jiang Ming’s.

　　”Granny, can you hear my voice too?”

　　The old man nodded.

　　”You still retain your sanity? Can we communicate with each other? It’s fine if we don’t talk!” Chen Ge took out the ballpoint pen wrapped in tape from his pocket, and took out the comic book from his backpack, complete with pen and paper.

　　Looking at Chen Ge, the old man said a few words, but Chen Ge couldn’t hear a sound at all.

　　She pushed away the ballpoint pen in Chen Ge’s hand and turned toward the living room.

　　Staring at the old man’s back, Chen Ge suddenly realized that this old woman was different from all the others in the scene behind the door.

　　Her body was illusory, as if she might dissipate at any time, and more critically, Chen Ge felt a chill from her.

　　Using his pupils, Chen Ge realized that this old woman didn’t seem to be distorted from Jiang Ming’s memories, but rather a remnant thought that would soon dissipate!

　　Without a host, obsessions could only exist for a limited amount of time, and the same was true even behind the door.

　　Although the old woman had overlapped with Jiang Ming’s memories, this only prolonged the time of her existence.

　　When a certain day came, she would still dissipate. At that time, the old woman in the world behind the door would be completely molded based on Jiang Ming’s memories, and that person might still protect Jiang Ming in the world behind the door and make him hot noodles, but ultimately, she would no longer be the same person as before.

　　Chen Ge was getting more and more curious about the truth, he walked over to the old man, at this time, the old man was taking out a pen and paper from the drawer, she was sketching on the paper.

　　With every word she wrote, her body would become one point more illusory, after the old woman finished writing, she handed the paper to Chen Ge, there were only four words on it – beware of snails.

　　”Snail?”

　　Chen Ge had entered the back door many times and was considered to know the world behind the door very well; the most terrifying thing in this place was the Red Clothes, and even more terrifying than the Red Clothes was the Fierce God, but the old lady told him to be careful of the snail.

　　”Is the snail scarier than that drunkard who can’t be killed anyhow?” Chen Ge asked in a low voice, and the old lady nodded.

　　”I see, so how are we going to get out?”

　　Hearing Chen Ge’s voice, the old lady first gestured a silent gesture, then nodded the word snail on the paper.

　　”The key to getting out is also in the snail? Is this snail a nickname for some stern ghost? Or does it refer to something?”

　　Chen Ge was still thinking, Jiang Ming at the table had already finished his noodles, he held his rice bowl and was ready to go out, seemingly wanting to wash the dishes, but was stopped by the old man.

　　The old lady lovingly rubbed Jiang Ming’s head and wiped Jiang Ming’s mouth clean with her apron, then stood in front of Jiang Ming and pointed at Chen Ge.

　　Jiang Ming immediately understood what the old lady meant, and he took Chen Ge’s hand, happily preparing to run towards the door.

　　”What are you going to do?” Chen Ge knew that the old man had no malicious intent, and looking at the old man’s actions just now, it should have been her telling Jiang Ming that she was going to take Chen Ge to accomplish a certain thing.

　　Jiang Ming heard Chen Ge’s voice and had an innocent smile on his face, and as if he was going to share his secret with others, he quietly put his hand into his pocket.

　　A moment later, Jiang Ming took out a snail’s shell from his pocket.

　　He carefully held the snail shell as if it was the most precious treasure to him.