"What a huge mushroom..."
"Well, this... kidnapping means..."
Officer Xu was both amused and exasperated, but with immense patience, he finally explained the meaning of "kidnapping" clearly, then looked at Ya Ya's expression.
However, the little girl didn't seem frightened at all. She tilted her head and thought for a moment, then said softly, "No, Chen Xiao will be alright, won't he? He's very capable."
"Uh?" Officer Xu didn't know what to say.
Logically, he should be comforting the victim's family and trying to reassure them. But now...
It seems that the girl in front of me doesn't need my comfort at all.
Just as he was hesitating, his phone rang. Officer Xu answered and heard his subordinate report excitedly:
"Boss! The victims have been found! Just ten minutes ago, the boy from the Xu family and the female victim who was kidnapped along with them appeared on a street in the east of the city, not far from the old abandoned factory area. They called the police for help. I've already sent my colleagues from nearby areas there as quickly as possible..."
Upon hearing this news, Officer Xu jumped up immediately: "What did you say?"
"The victim has escaped!" the police officer on the other end of the phone exclaimed excitedly.
"..." Officer Xu was silent for a few seconds: "You said you found two? What about the other one? What about the boy named Chen Xiao?"
The voice on the other end of the phone lowered: "Still haven't found it... But I just got a call saying there was an explosion in the abandoned factory area..."
After listening, Officer Xu's face turned ashen. He hung up the phone and turned to look at Ya Ya, the girl sitting in front of him. She still had a blank expression on her face.
His brows were furrowed: "Young lady... please come with me. Since you are Chen Xiao's only family member, then... there are some situations where your presence is necessary."
He sighed inwardly—an explosion? He wondered if something had happened to that kid named Chen Xiao.
Looking at the delicate-looking girl in front of him, Officer Xu took a deep breath: "Let's go. I'm taking you to the district police station just so you can stay calm. No matter what happens, stay calm, okay?"
Chapter Sixty-Eight: [Grandma]
There seems to be a figure moving in front of me...
A bright light... then darkness returned.
I seemed to hear someone speaking, but the voice wasn't clear.
"He... Autumn Fall... Black Knight... Blood..."
The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but Chen Xiao couldn't make it out clearly.
My body finally regained a little feeling, but then I felt excruciating pain all over my body.
There was no sound of voices in my ears anymore, only some strange noises coming from time to time...
It started with a hissing and rattling sound, like some kind of electric drill, followed by the sound of some kind of gas cutting...
Then came some electrical crackling sounds...
The sensations in my body come and go. Often, I feel a little bit of sensation, but I'm quickly tormented by the excruciating pain all over my body, causing me to fall into a coma again—and then wake up, only to faint from the pain once more…
This repetition was so numerous that even Chen Xiao himself couldn't remember how many times it had happened—three times? Four times?
However, gradually, he at least became more certain of something.
I'm not dead!
I'm alive!
This... is a stroke of luck.
Immersed in a warm liquid, the liquid seemed to seep through his skin and into his body. The gentle warmth spread throughout his body, quickly dispelling the excruciating pain that had tormented him to the point of wanting to die. Suddenly freed from the intense pain, Chen Xiao had a strange feeling, a sense of relief he had never experienced before.
He still couldn't open his eyes, but he could feel a tube inserted into his mouth. A cool, sweet liquid poured into his throat, flowing down the tube and nourishing his nearly broken body.
This feeling... seems to be a memory ingrained in every human being's instincts, like returning to the womb...
Curious, the fat man tapped the glass cover with his club-like fingers, opened his mouth wide, and stared dumbly at the naked young man inside.
This was a container resembling a giant aquarium tank, filled with a viscous, emerald-green liquid. Chen Xiao, completely naked, was immersed in it, with thin tubes connecting his wrists, ankles, and about a dozen other parts of his body. A thick tube, similar to those used for endoscopy in hospitals, was inserted directly into his mouth.
He was curled up in the liquid, like a baby in the womb.
Bang!
The fat man was staring blankly with his mouth agape when he was struck hard on the back of the head.
"You fatso, spacing out again! Get to work! Don't you want dinner tonight?!"
Upon hearing the cloying voice, the fat man turned pale with fright, his chubby face jiggling as he forced a fawning smile: "Big sister, I didn't slack off. I..."
"What are you calling me, 'Big Sister'? You should call me 'Grandma'! I'm old enough to be your great-grandmother! Calling me 'Grandma' is just you taking advantage of me! I only picked you up on a whim!"
"Yes, yes, yes, I took advantage of you, Grandma. And Grandma, I'm a person, so could you please not use 'one' to describe me?" The fat man cried, and hurriedly got to work. First, he checked the wiring around the huge container, then he grabbed a bucket and a broom and rushed out to clean up.
Chen Xiao was immersed in the container. Because his body was submerged in liquid, the surrounding sounds were somewhat distorted, creating a strange sensation in his ears.
but……
Those two voices sounded so familiar...
Hmm, that woman... she sounds like... Zhu Rong? Whose voice is that? Huh? Why does it sound so familiar?
Hmm... Zhu Rong. Could it be that they rescued me? Four days have passed since my eyes regained their ability to see clearly.