I looked in the direction of the sound.
There, a thick black mist condensed into shape behind the three children. It was the young man in the long gown and mandarin jacket, wearing a top hat.
He still looked the same as when he was alive, except his face was even paler.
"Uncle... Uncle Wu!"
The three children visibly trembled and quickly squatted on the ground, covering their heads. The little girl lowered her head and said obsequiously, "We... we've been waiting here all the time. We were afraid of missing our new mom and dad when they came to pick us up."
A smug look appeared on the face of the man called "Uncle Wu".
"That's my good kids," he grinned sinisterly and reached out to touch the little girl's head. "When your new dad comes later, he'll love you all very much."
"Didn't they die already?"
I stared at Si Jiangchen in surprise. "How... are they still waiting here?"
"Some people want flesh and blood, while others want souls," Si Jiangchen said calmly, his eyes fixed on the far corner of the alley. "This is a cannibalistic world."
As he spoke, there came a faint sound of footsteps from the corner of the alley. A Taoist priest in a gray robe walked into our sight under the setting moonlight.
The Taoist priest was quite young. The bun on his head was black and shiny. He was wearing a yellow backpack diagonally across his body. He slowly walked up to the door of the orphanage.
Si Jiangchen put his arm around me and sat in the shadow beside the wall of the main gate. Neither "Uncle Wu" nor the young Taoist priest could see us.
The Taoist priest looked around. After making sure he was alone, he knocked on the tightly closed gate.
The sound of "knock, knock" echoed. The three children inside the gate exchanged excited glances, and there was a glimmer of excitement in their eyes.
"Are they here?"
The little girl's eyes were wide open, looking extremely excited. "Uncle, are they our new mom and dad?!"
"Yes, they are," Uncle Wu smiled. Without moving his feet, he was already beside the gate.
"Click!"
The gate made a sound but didn't open.
Uncle Wu was stunned for a moment. He reached out and pushed the iron gate again, but only the sound of "click" came out.
Granny Bai had just told me about this situation. The souls of those who had died less than seven days ago hadn't completely dispersed. They still had some influence in the mortal world and could occasionally move small objects like wind chimes or pieces of paper. But for Uncle Wu to push open such a thick iron gate was completely impossible.
"Mr. Wu?"
The Taoist priest also heard the strange sound from the gate and couldn't help but call out softly.
"... Click!"
Uncle Wu pushed the gate harder. His arm went through the iron gate, and then half of his body passed through. His pale face almost touched the Taoist priest outside the gate.
The Taoist priest was also a capable person. He quickly reached into his yellow cloth bag, took out a talisman, and slapped it on Uncle Wu's forehead.
"Aaaah!!"
Amid a shrill scream, Uncle Wu suddenly split apart. Like a torn - apart doll, he fell to the ground in pieces.
"Why is he dead?!"
The Taoist priest frowned and cursed under his breath. "Damn it! I've spent a whole year's worth of money on this!"
"Master Li, what... what's going on..."
Half of Uncle Wu's face was still stuck inside the gate. He cried out in terror, "I... I just went to ask for money. How did this happen to me?"
"You stupid fool! It means they didn't want to be blackmailed by you, so they got rid of you!"
The Taoist priest wasn't surprised at all. He just sneered and took out a small gray bottle. He pinched the talisman on Uncle Wu's head with his right hand and pulled him up from the ground like a slug.
"What are you going to do? Master Li, I don't want to die!"
Uncle Wu's eyes bulged out of their sockets. Looking at the small bottle, he pleaded, "Don't put me in the bottle. I... I don't want to be refined into a little ghost!"
The Taoist priest named Li grinned and said, "You can't be refined into a little ghost!"
Watching Uncle Wu's soul being sucked into the bottle, Master Li curled his lips. "You're not a virgin boy or girl... Do you think you can be my servant ghost? You're only fit to be food for those little ghosts!"
As he spoke, he casually sealed the bottle with a yellow talisman. Looking around and seeing no one, he took out a half - foot - long knife and picked the bolt through the crack of the gate a few times. The iron gate creaked open slowly. As soon as he opened the gate, he saw the three floating children in the yard.
"Yo! You're quite trustworthy. You left three for me!"
A smile finally appeared on Master Li's originally gloomy face.
"Are you here to pick us up?"
The talkative little girl didn't seem to notice what Master Li had just done to Uncle Wu. She eagerly stepped forward and asked carefully, "Are you our new dad?"
"I'm here to pick you up," Master Li grinned. "But I'm your master, not your dad!"
"Master? What does that mean?"
The little girl was stunned. She was too young to understand what Master Li meant.
"Hehe!!"
Master Li suddenly took out a two - meter - long whip from his waist. There was a tuft of fur from some unknown animal at the end of the whip. He whipped it hard at the little girl.
"Ouch!!!"
The little girl was just a small soul. When the whip hit her, she instantly turned into a hazy mist and rolled towards the house.
How could Master Li let her get away? He whipped again. The fur at the end of the whip exploded in the mist like it had encountered static electricity. The little girl let out a shrill scream and returned to her human form, but there was already blood oozing from her body. The whip had torn her clothes, revealing her cut - open belly...
"Ah!! My heart! Where's my heart?!"
The little girl was in so much pain and fear that she couldn't think about running away. She sat on the ground and rummaged through her belly, muttering like she was looking for a lost toy.
"Your heart was eaten by those so - called new moms and dads!"
Master Li whipped the little girl's face again, leaving another bloodstain. "Now, obey the Taoist priest and do things for me!!"
"No!!"
Before the little girl could say anything, Little Stone, who was behind them, shook his head desperately. "I won't obey you. I'm looking for my mom! She said she'd take me away!!"
Saying that, he ran out of the half - open iron gate with his short legs.
"Hehe!!"
Master Li sneered. "I've already set up a magic formation. Little ghost! Where can you run?"
In his sneer, Little Stone had run out of the gate. There was clearly nothing outside, but he seemed to have run into a charcoal fire. His whole face turned from pale to black like charcoal, and there were countless blood holes on his skin where the flesh had been burned, showing the bones...
"Aaaaah!!!"
Little Stone's scream was even more shrill than the little girl's. He suddenly turned his head. His eyelids had burst from the burning, and his eyes were hanging on his face. He stared at Master Li fiercely. His childish voice had turned into a ghostly howl. "If you don't let me out, I'll kill you!!"