Chapter 3: Foolish Child, Where Could a Monster Possibly Come From?

Grandma Wang’s voice was old yet carried a sharp edge, her movements swift and forceful.

Qiu Yiyao felt a sudden pain in her neck from the unexpected grip, and the words whispered in her ear tightened her chest with disbelief. She turned her head cautiously to look at Grandma Wang.

To her astonishment, the once cloudy eyes were now crystal clear, the lines on her face vanished, revealing the visage of a young woman. Even the roughness of her palm had disappeared.

“Ah...” Qiu Yiyao cried out in shock, instinctively trying to free herself from Grandma Wang’s grip, but then a young man’s voice came from behind her: “Yiyao, your father is calling you.”

In a panic, Qiu Yiyao glanced back. A young man stood a few meters away, hands in his pockets, looking detached from the situation.

“Help!” she shouted.

Not knowing the man but too frightened to care, she forcefully shook off Grandma Wang’s hand and ran toward him.

“She... she can transform...” Qiu Yiyao hid behind the man, clutching his shirt with one hand and pointing at Grandma Wang with the other. “There’s... there’s a monster...”

She buried her face in the man’s back, afraid to look at Grandma Wang again, terrified she might faint from fright.

“Silly child, where would a monster come from?” Grandma Wang’s voice suddenly sounded right beside her shoulder.

“Ah...” Qiu Yiyao screamed again. How had this old lady managed to circle around silently and so quickly behind her?

“This child, for an old woman like me to be called a monster—how rude,” Grandma Wang said with a stern look tinged with reproach. Then she turned and left, leaving Qiu Yiyao clinging tightly to the man.

The man allowed her to hold him, neither comforting nor pushing her away, until Qiu Shengming came out of the house.

Seeing the scene before him, Qiu Shengming patted Qiu Yiyao’s shoulder and joked, “I say, daughter, haven’t even graduated from college and already bringing home a son-in-law?”

Hearing Qiu Shengming’s voice, Qiu Yiyao cautiously opened one eye. Seeing that it was indeed her father, she breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly let go of the man.

She glanced around and, finding no sign of Grandma Wang, relaxed further. Grabbing Qiu Shengming’s arm, she lowered her voice: “Dad, just now... just now...”

She tried to tell him what she had seen, but her throat felt as if something was blocking it, and the words wouldn’t come out.

The man spoke up with a mocking tone, “Young and already suffering from delusions, what a pity.”

His sarcasm grated on Qiu Yiyao’s ears, making her feel defiant.

“Who are you calling delusional?” she stepped closer. They were already near each other, and now she could clearly see the small pimple on the man’s forehead.

“Whoever’s in a hurry, that’s who,” the man replied, hands still in his pockets, chin slightly raised, eyes full of disdain.

He glanced at Qiu Shengming and softened his tone: “Uncle Qiu, I have to go now. Don’t forget to leave the door open for me tonight.”

“All right, you go ahead,” Qiu Shengming replied with a smile.

To Qiu Yiyao, their conversation was utterly strange. She watched the man’s retreating figure and asked suspiciously, “Who is he? Why do you have to leave the door open for him?”

“Xiaobai is here for a trip. Something happened, so he’s staying here for a while,” Qiu Shengming explained. “He’s a guest, so you mustn’t be as rude as you were just now.”

Qiu Yiyao stuck out her tongue carelessly, thinking that whether she was polite depended on whether the person in front of her was human or ghost.

Qiu Shengming took Qiu Yiyao into the bedroom and then went to the kitchen alone.

Though she had long lost all memories of this home, seeing the bedroom arranged like a princess’s chamber—the pink sheets, pink curtains, and the yellowed childhood photos framed on the wall—choked Qiu Yiyao’s heart, and her eyes reddened.

She set down her backpack and quickly left the bedroom, heading downstairs to the kitchen.

Qiu Shengming was washing vegetables, his back slightly bent, with strands of white hair among the black that moved her to tears.

She hated herself for being so willful and careless, leaving her father to bear the pain of losing loved ones alone.

Quietly, she approached and wrapped her arms around Qiu Shengming from behind, whispering, “Dad, I’m sorry.”

Qiu Shengming was startled, the dampness on his back making him instantly understand what Qiu Yiyao meant.

He gently patted her hand in reassurance. “Silly child, the important thing is you’re back. Go sit on the sofa and watch some TV; dinner will be ready soon.”

Qiu Yiyao shook her head, wanting to help wash the vegetables to be useful, but in the end, she was coaxed into the living room.

Against the wall in the living room sat a small desk with an old, bulky television with a large rear casing.

Turning it on, a news broadcast was playing—footage of the rescue efforts for the train Qiu Yiyao had been on.

Though she was now in Yue Li Town, the shock and terror from that moment still left her feeling powerless.

Recalling what Qiu Shengming had said earlier—that all nearby forces had been mobilized for the rescue, but no survivors had been found, and the prospects were grim—her heart welled with sorrow once more.

Life is so fragile against the forces of nature. Who could have imagined that such an ordinary trip would turn into a one-way journey to death?

At this very moment, their loved ones must be drowning in despair and anguish.