In just a few minutes, my uncle cleaned up the bloodstains on the ground, leaving no trace as if nothing had happened. Huang Jiu squatted on my backpack and grinned, "Your uncle's tough, and you're no softie either. Both of you kill with one strike. Looks like I misjudged you before."
His remark made me realize that I was still covered in blood, and my hands began to tremble. Although these people had done terrible things, they were still living beings!
Seeing my hands shake, Huang Jiu commented, "You really can't handle compliments, can you?"
I ignored him and kept thinking about Tingting's face and what the man had confessed in the end. That was the only thing that gave me some peace of mind.
After a while, my uncle finished cleaning up and approached me, noticing my pale face. He asked, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" I gritted my teeth and replied. I then asked him, "Uncle, should we look for Tingting's mother's body?"
My uncle glanced at the distant mountains and said, "The murderer has been brought to justice, and she has no other relatives. Whether we find her body or not doesn't matter much. Let her rest in peace."
He patted me on the shoulder, then changed the subject. "Yangyang, not all bad people in this world get punished. What you did today was a good deed. Don't feel guilty."
I clenched my fists. These people deserved to die.
Still, the quiet disappearance of five lives made me more wary of the mystical world. Today it was others; tomorrow, it could be me.
My uncle helped me out of my bloody clothes and made me wear his coat. As he cleaned my clothes, he used a black talisman. Curiously, I asked him about it, and he handed me one, saying, "I can't explain the origins of this talisman, but it's easy to find in our circles. It's only about 200 yuan each. It's used for cleaning up bodies and blood stains, and it leaves no trace."
The disappearance of a life costs just 200 yuan—perhaps this is the cheapest thing in the mystical world.
When we got back to the foot of the mountain, I fell into a drowsy sleep as soon as I got into the car. Huang Jiu, hungry, shouted for food when we passed a barbecue stand. My uncle went down and bought plenty of skewers, but I couldn't eat a single one.
At home, Aunt Su Yimei was there. She almost rushed into my uncle's arms, but stopped when she was close, her face looking pale. Clearly, she smelled the blood on us.
After a full day and night, my uncle was exhausted. He didn't explain anything but just smiled at her. When Aunt Su Yimei looked at me, her face turned even paler because the blood on me was heavier than my uncle's.
After a long pause, she cautiously asked, "Did you really kill someone?"
I was about to confess when my uncle interrupted, saying, "No, we just had a fight, and there was some bloodshed."
Since my uncle said it, I just nodded and agreed, "Yeah, it was just a fight."
But when Old Song gave me the blood dagger, he made it clear—he told me to kill those people.
Aunt Su Yimei couldn't believe it.
My uncle took out the blood axe, and we all gathered around. Old Song carefully approached the mark on Tingting's chest with the axe. Blood mist seeped from her skin, quickly collecting on the axe before merging into it. After a while, the red marks on her chest disappeared, and Old Song swiftly pulled up the blood axe.
But just as he did, some of the blood mist that hadn't fully merged with the axe shot out, forming a blood beam aimed at Aunt Su Yimei's forehead.
Fortunately, I reacted quickly, pulling out the blood dagger and swinging it to scatter the blood mist. Aunt Su Yimei was terrified, her face turning white, and my uncle hurried over to comfort her.
Huang Jiu, sitting on the coffee table, watched my uncle and Aunt Su Yimei embrace, grinning broadly and laughing lewdly.
Old Song returned the blood axe to the box and said to me, "Yangyang, let me borrow your blood dagger for a moment."
I hurriedly handed it to him. Old Song took the dagger and quickly carved a talisman on the wooden box. The box was as soft as tofu under the blade, and he carved with great fluidity, smoother than I could write.
After finishing the talisman, Old Song handed the box to my uncle, who was comforting Aunt Su Yimei. He said, "The blood of a thousand-year-old zombie is rare. It's a shame to destroy it. Keep it at your store, but don't let it fall into the wrong hands."
My uncle took the box, and as Old Song packed up his tools, my uncle hurriedly handed him a few hundred yuan.
Old Song accepted it without hesitation and stuffed it into his pocket, then hobbled away with his toolbox, saying, "The little girl will be fine. I should go back to the shop now. Yangyang, my shop is right across from your uncle's. Come by when you have time."
I nodded and saw him off on the elevator.
Back at home, Tingting was wrapped in a small blanket and held by Aunt Su Yimei. My uncle followed behind, ready to leave. They looked like a family of three.
After sending them off, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Huang Jiu had finished the barbecue and was already gone.
I took the woman's jewelry upstairs but didn't put it in the box. It still smelled of Huang Jiu, and if mixed together, the woman's spirit might come back and exact revenge on him.
I took a shower, threw myself onto the new bed, and slept like the dead.
The next afternoon, I woke up to the sound of knocking on the door. When I opened it, it was Aunt Su Yimei and Tingting. Tingting was wearing a princess dress, but no amount of fancy clothing could hide her frail body. Even her eyes seemed dull, no longer as lively as before.
But I believed that under Aunt Su Yimei's care, she would recover quickly.
I invited them in, took Tingting in my arms, and played with Huang Jiu to cheer her up. Aunt Su Yimei sat for a while and asked about the adoption process. She was worried it might not go through, but my uncle had already confirmed it with divination, and it was all set.
I brought out the cat bag and reassured her that Huang Jiu would take care of everything.
After they left, I watched Tingting's small figure and sighed deeply. After today, her name would be Li Tingting, and she would belong to our family.
The outcome wasn't perfect, but it was the best result I could think of.
As for her biological mother, that was something for her to learn when she grew up. I believed my uncle and Aunt Su Yimei would tell her when the time was right.
I changed my clothes, grabbed my keys, and went to the store. When I passed Old Song's shop, I noticed the door was closed. The aunt next door selling buns told me that Old Song had gone out to deliver goods.
I opened the store and was there for about an hour before Aunt Su Yimei came in, carrying Huang Jiu and Tingting. They sat for a while, and then Aunt Su Yimei said she was going to take Tingting to the amusement park.
Just as they left, Zhang Ying and Wang Yingying walked in.