Chapter 1068 – The Ninth Child
”Calm down!”
Chen Ge quietly touched the embankment, he slowly approached the mother and child and shouted when he was five or six meters away from them.
At this distance even if the other party did something impulsive, he would have enough time to save them.
Hearing Chen Ge’s voice, that mother was surprised and glanced behind her, she seemed to not expect anyone to come here early in the morning.
”Can we have a chat?” Chen Ge extended his hand forward as he stopped where he was, maintaining a suitable distance so as not to bring too much psychological pressure on the other party.
After going through so much, Chen Ge was now similar to a professional suicide interventionist.
”Did you misunderstand something?” The woman laughed a little as she held the boy’s hand and wanted to return to the embankment, but the boy disagreed, whimpering noises coming out of his mouth and resisting with all his strength.
The woman’s tone of voice, as well as her demeanor when she spoke was normal, not like those who had been pushed by life to the point of no return.
With a sigh of relief, Chen Ge slowly walked towards the mother and child, ”How can you take your child over the flipping guardrail? It’s too dangerous, what if your foot slips and you fall? This reservoir is very deep, and it is said that there are big fish nearly two meters long living inside.”
”I’m really sorry, I’ll pay attention in the future.” The woman held the boy’s hand, her body blocking in front of the boy, as if she didn’t want Chen Ge to see the boy’s face.
”Don’t get too close to the water, especially small children.” Chen Ge knew that there were water ghosts inside Donggang Reservoir, this little boy was standing at the edge of the embankment and had been trying to reach out and touch the water, if the water ghosts appeared at this moment, the consequences would be unimaginable.
It took a lot of effort for the woman to drag the boy behind the fence, the boy didn’t seem to be able to speak, making slurred noises in his throat, his hands grasping the railing, and constantly making noise.
”He seems to like water?” Chen Ge felt something abnormal.
”It’s not that he likes water, this kid just likes to play at Donggang Reservoir, I don’t know why, if he doesn’t come to Donggang Reservoir once a day he will make a mess for the whole day.”
”Your child ……” Chen Ge’s gaze leapt over the woman and looked at the child who was protected behind her.
That child had a very cute face, except that probably because he cried a lot, his eyes were especially red, and there was blood under his eyes, unlike other children’s eyes that were so clear.
”I will pay attention in the future.” The woman didn’t answer Chen Ge’s question, she didn’t want to discuss her child with others.
Taking the boy’s hand, the woman very gently rushed to the child and said, “It’s time to go.”
There was a hint of heartache and care in her voice, and it was evident that she loved this child, even if this child was different from other children.
”I’ve heard the reservoir manager say something before, and I don’t know if it’s true or not.” Chen Ge said softly, “He told me that there are water ghosts inside this reservoir, and there is also a sunken coffin, some children see a tuft of black grass floating by the water’s edge, and are curious to go over and check it out, but in fact, those water grasses are the hair of the water ghosts, and when the children get close to the water’s surface, they will be dragged and dragged down by the water ghosts, and locked up in the middle of the coffin.”
Chen Ge had been keeping an eye on the child as he said these words, and he hadn’t noticed any unusual reactions from the boy.
”You still believe in this, huh? The administrator should be trying to warn the kids who come to play in the reservoir from just going into the water to swim.” The woman didn’t believe in these legends about ghosts and monsters.
”I have some photos here.” Chen Ge took out his own cell phone, and he found the photos of the police recovering the bodies from the reservoir in the beginning, as well as those of the large number of mannequins that had been taken out of the coffins.
The early sun slowly rose, the faint mist on the reservoir dispersed, the scenery here was beautiful, but the few people on the embankment didn’t care to enjoy it.
Chen Ge held his cell phone and displayed the photos he had saved.
In the eyes of onlookers, Chen Ge was also a very strange person, stopping a passing mother and son early in the morning, telling scary stories, and taking out horrible photos.
A normal person’s reaction should probably be to put off a few sentences with their mouth and then leave with an excuse, but the mother’s approach was a bit different, as she was constantly rebutting Chen Ge in front of her own child.
Even after seeing the photos, the woman still didn’t believe in any legends about ghosts and monsters, and she was constantly emphasizing to Chen Ge that all legends about ghosts and monsters were lies.
Chen Ge didn’t care at first, but he slowly felt something was wrong.
This woman wasn’t acting like she was convincing Chen Ge, it was more like she was convincing herself over and over again.
Could she know something? But wasn’t willing to believe it?
Chen Ge had a good impression of this woman, and after going through those doors in the Underworld Fetus Quest, he now respected those parents who were very good to their own children.
While Chen Ge and the woman were trying to convince each other, the little boy inexplicably cried again, grabbing the guardrail and shaking it hard, trying to get closer to the water.
”Has your child ever encountered something here?” Chen Ge turned his gaze back to the child, feeling that he couldn’t get any words out of the adult.
”No, this child has been like this since a long time ago, he can only calm down here, and I can’t figure out exactly why.” The woman’s voice softened when she mentioned her child, you could tell her didn’t want to hurt her child or make outsiders think that her child was different from other people’s children.
”I had worked in an orphanage for a while before and had seen a similar child, but the place that child particularly wanted to go was a haunted house.” Chen Ge walked over to the boy and squatted in front of him, following the boy’s gaze towards the distance, “Are you looking for something? Is there something underwater that you care about?”
The woman didn’t want Chen Ge to talk to her child much, she pulled her own child behind her, but the boy had a death grip on the railing and wouldn’t let go, crying and screaming.
However, the woman had probably gotten used to this a long time ago, even if the boy cried and fussed she didn’t get angry, it was just that the worry in the bottom of her eyes couldn’t be hidden anymore.
”Can you tell uncle, what’s your name?” Chen Ge had always felt that he was very childlike, but the boy in front of him completely ignored him and just kept crying.
”Uncle here has toys, do you want to play?” Chen Ge opened his backpack and looked at it, then silently closed it again.
”Sorry, we’ve been out long enough, it’s time to go back.” The woman picked up the boy who was still crying and wanted to take the child away by force.
Chen Ge, on the other hand, continued to look at the water and tentatively asked, “Are you looking for past memories?”
Seeing that the woman was about to take the boy away, Chen Ge stood up as he added, “Are you looking for the past of the Underworld Fetus?”
He was just casually testing the waters, thinking that there was something strange about this child, that’s all. But what he didn’t expect was that after he said the words Underworld Tire, that child actually stopped crying.
It was so sudden that even the child’s mother didn’t expect it.
As the river wind blew across the reservoir, the child’s eyes moved to Chen Ge for the first time, as if the two words Underworld Fetus had some kind of special meaning to him.
”Sir, what did you just say?” The woman stopped and turned to look at Chen Ge.
”Nothing.” Chen Ge’s expression was grave, giving off a very scary feeling, as if the patient went to the hospital suspecting that he had a terminal illness, and after the examination, the doctor held the case with a single serious face just not saying anything.
That woman was feeling this way right now, the more Chen Ge was unwilling to speak, the more curious she became, because such a situation had never occurred before.
”Alright, if you don’t want to say it, forget it.” After a long stalemate, the woman owed a little towards Chen Ge and was about to leave when Chen Ge’s voice suddenly came from behind her again.
”Are you willing to go ahead and trust me?”
Stopping once again, the woman’s expression was somewhat helpless, “What exactly do you want to say? Can you not sell the story?”
”Your child may not be your child.” When Chen Ge said this, the woman was obviously angry, she no longer cared about Chen Ge and turned around, ready to leave.
”I know you’ll be uncomfortable if I say this, but I don’t want to lie to you, it seems like there’s another person living inside your child’s body.” Chen Ge just wanted to try it out at first, he didn’t expect that after he said the words Underworld Fetus, the little boy would react, indicating that there were memories of those two words deep in his mind.
In other words, Chen Ge felt that he might have found the last child chosen by the Underworld Fetus.
Assuming that all of the previous guesses were correct, and that the Underworld Tire had buried his past in the middle of the cave under the reservoir, the boy would subconsciously come over every day, obviously attracted by the memories and wanting to trace his past.
The probability of the fetus being in him was high, and of all the chosen children, only this boy was attracted to the memory of the fetus.
Of course this was all Chen Ge’s own speculation, and the possibility that the Underworld Fetus had set up a scheme to mislead him could not be ruled out.
”I know that my own child is indeed not quite the same as other children, but I think it’s really excessive for you to say that.” The woman was holding the boy, she had a hint of fatigue in her eyes, it seemed like she had explained this to a lot of people before, and now she was too tired and lazy to do so.
”Calm down, I don’t mean any harm to you or your child, and frankly I have a lot of experience in rescuing children.”
”Who the hell are you? Have you seen us mother and child here before?”
”I know it’s useless to say any more, I just hope you can trust me once.” Chen Ge opened his own cell phone and clicked on the past news of the local legal channel in Hanyue: “This is a report about me, and I don’t have any malice towards you as well as your child.”
It was hard to gain a stranger’s trust, but Chen Ge had an advantage: his “reputation” in the public security system of Hanjiang, and with the Legal Channel’s guarantee, most people would be willing to trust Chen Ge.
The woman’s attitude eased a little bit, she looked at a news article, even suspected that these were forgeries, she took out her cell phone and searched the Internet, and found Chen Ge’s real job – haunted house owner, which made it even more interesting.
”I didn’t lie to you, did I?”
”You’re quite famous.” The woman appeared to be gentle, but after spending some time together Chen Ge realized that gentleness was just her protective color, this woman wasn’t willing to trust others, she had always seemed to rely on herself.
”Now we can talk properly.” Chen Ge looked at the child, “From when did he become like this?”
”I don’t know when it started, it’s possible that he was born different, I don’t think it’s his fault, it should just be that we haven’t learned to accept him the way he is.” The child is one of the softest points in the woman’s heart, one that makes her strong, and one that is most disturbing to her: “The doctor said that my child is autistic, and suggested early treatment, but I feel …… hey, forget it, the doctor should be right, it’s me who thinks too much. ”
The woman hides certain things, she is still not willing to say it, Chen Ge did not force it.
”Can you take me to the place where this child usually lives?” Chen Ge wanted to go to the other party’s home to see if he could find any clues, but it wasn’t very polite to say this directly, so he used a more euphemistic set of words.
”That’s not a problem, but I should get to work, how about I see you at noon?” The woman handed Chen Ge a business card, then didn’t want to delay for a moment and left at a fast pace.
”Housing agent?” Chen Ge glanced at the business card and put it into his backpack, “The New Century Paradise is also about to open, so it’s not practical for me to go inside the reservoir by myself.”
He carried his backpack and found a place with a backdrop of sunlight, flipping through the anime albums and summoned Xu Yin, Boo, Men Nan, and Water Ghost Redcoat.
”There’s something I want to ask you for.” Chen Ge stared at Water Ghost Redcoat, “Later on, you take the three of them Redcoats with you into the reservoir, I need you to look for a coffin, there is a big hole underneath that coffin, so enter the hole and explore it to see if there is anything hidden inside.”
”I’ll be fine going alone, there’s no need to bother them.” Water Ghost Red Dress had a great attitude, it was a world away from when she first met Chen Ge.
”Don’t think that I let them follow you because I’m worried about you escaping. I was trying to get them to protect you, that cave is very dangerous, don’t be careless.” Chen Ge sent them into the reservoir, then stood beside it and waited.
After half an hour, the few red clothes still hadn’t returned.
”Could it be that there was an accident? It can’t be, with Boo here, even if they encountered a top-notch redcoat, they can still retreat in one piece.”
After waiting for another long time, just as Chen Ge was flipping through the anime albums and preparing for the other Redcoats to go and explore as well, the smell of blood in the air thickened, and several Redcoats silently appeared beside Chen Ge.
”Any findings?” Chen Ge saw that the Water Ghost’s face looked very poor, and he had a vague bad feeling in his heart.
”That hole seems to be connected to several other large rivers of the Hanyang River, and there are many internal forks in the road, and we didn’t reach the end even after walking for a long time.” Men Nan was the first to speak up, “And there seems to be a very terrifying thing inside the cave, even Boo feels threatened.”
”Even Boo feels threatened? That’s not something an ordinary red coat can do.”
”The thing emitting that terrifying aura doesn’t seem to be a red coat.” Water Demon Redcoat’s face was very poor, he was initially thinking of finding a chance to escape, but after entering the cave he instantly became honest and followed closely behind Boo.
”Then what do you think it might be?”
”Not sure, but it shouldn’t be ghosts or obsessions. By the way, we also found this …… in the cave,” the red-clothed water ghost took out two rough hand-carved statues, a man and a woman, with Chen Ge’s parents’ names vaguely engraved on them.
”Which location of the cave did you find this?”
”There are statues of the two of them all over the inside of that cave, but all of them are mutilated, as if they were carved and then intentionally smashed, we searched for a long time before we found two that were still intact.”