[Alliance] Punch Him

"No, big brother." The little girl's voice was thick with tears. "Daddy is so scary, everyone is so scary, waaah—!"

As if emotions she had hidden for a long time had suddenly burst out, the little girl began to wail.

Ren Yi froze for a moment when he heard her, a trace of unease stirring in his heart.

Did she see it? Is that why she came to me, because I look relatively normal?

So she kept staring at us before because Ren Man, Doctor Lin, and I all look more like humans?

Just then, Ren Yi noticed that things had gone rather quiet around him.

He looked up and saw that the argument had stopped. At some point, Ren Man, Doctor Lin, and the shopkeeper had turned around and were staring straight at them.

No, everyone around them, in circle after circle, had gone expressionless. All of them had twisted their heads at various angles and were silently watching them—or, more precisely, the little girl in front of Ren Yi.

Just as Ren Yi's scalp began to tingle, Doctor Lin was the first to break the silence.

"Let's see who's worse at looking after a child," he said with a sneer.

The shopkeeper's beard bristled. "What are you going to do to her..."

"Move. I'm the community doctor." Doctor Lin walked straight toward the little girl.

The closer he got, the quieter her cries became. The fear in her eyes rapidly faded, as if it had been drawn out of her, leaving only bewilderment.

At the same time, Ren Man pulled Ren Yi to his feet and motioned for him to move aside.

"Brother?" Ren Yi looked at Ren Man questioningly.

"It's his job," Ren Man explained mildly.

Doctor Lin crouched down to look the bewildered little girl in the eye.

Snap.

He snapped his fingers.

The little girl shuddered and rubbed her eyes as if she had just woken up.

Doctor Lin ruffled her hair. "All right, big brother won't argue with your daddy anymore. Go home and get some rest. Don't sleep in the shop."

The crowd around them, which had been frozen in place, also looked away and dispersed as if nothing had happened.

Doctor Lin glanced back at the shopkeeper. "Someone from the Alliance Parent-Child Education Association will come talk to you later. Don't go running around for the next couple of days."

The shopkeeper hurried forward and picked up the little girl. Only after looking her over from head to toe for a while did he let out a long breath.

"I... I'm sorry."

"Say it to the kid," Doctor Lin said, sounding somewhat impatient.

The shopkeeper froze for a moment, then looked at Ren Yi behind Ren Man. "Sorry."

Before Ren Yi could respond, Ren Man pulled him outside, with Doctor Lin following close behind them.

Ren Yi realized that his brother still seemed a little angry.

Rattle. The rolling shutter came down behind them. After ushering all the customers out, the furniture shop owner quickly closed the shop.

"What will happen to that shopkeeper?" Ren Yi couldn't help asking as he looked back at the descending shutter.

"He'll just have to attend Instance training once or twice. If he still doesn't pass, I suppose that little girl will need a 'mother.'" Doctor Lin caught up with them from behind and answered Ren Yi's question.

His tone was light, and his manner seemed a little... well-behaved.

"Working?" Ren Man stopped and looked back at Doctor Lin.

A somewhat stiff smile spread across Doctor Lin's face, and his awkward tone carried a hint of ingratiation. "Ahaha, you know how it is. I'm in charge of this whole area."

As he spoke, his eyes involuntarily flicked toward Ren Yi at Ren Man's side, then quickly away.

Ren Man's gaze lingered on him for two seconds before he spoke again. "Are you finished?"

"Huh?" Doctor Lin froze for a moment, then quickly nodded as he understood. "Yes, yes! I'm done here. All that's left is to wait for the people from the Parent-Child Association to take over. I'll go right now, right now."

"Good." Ren Man's voice was still unruffled, but Ren Yi keenly sensed that the air around him seemed to have grown a few degrees colder.

The next second, Ren Man released Ren Yi's hand, which he had been holding all this time, and motioned for him to take two steps back. His voice was so steady it was almost cold. "I'm going to hit you."

Ren Yi belatedly realized that Ren Man's dark mood all the way here had not been directed at the shopkeeper, but at Doctor Lin.

Thud!

A dull sound suddenly rang out, and Ren Yi's vision blurred. When he focused again, Doctor Lin, who had been standing upright a moment ago, had already dropped to his knees with a thump.

"I was wrong, big brother. I just sensed that something was wrong with a child over here. I really didn't know someone had left a mirror lying around where she could see it! If I'd known, there's no way I would've let our little Yi get near that area!"

Ren Man looked down at him, his brows slightly furrowed, as if considering where to start beating him.

After a long while, he turned to Ren Yi.

"Punch him."

"Huh?" Ren Yi froze, his mouth slightly open, and instinctively looked at his own hand. Yes, it was still a human hand, with five distinct fingers.

With his little frame, there was no way he could hurt a major eerie like Doctor Lin, right?

So does my brother mean I should just go through the motions?

He turned to look at Doctor Lin on the ground again. The man was already crying so miserably that tears and snot streamed down his face.

But when Ren Yi looked up at Ren Man, his brother was watching him quietly, as if urging him to hurry up and do it.

Ren Yi hesitated, then stepped forward and landed an entirely ordinary punch on Doctor Lin's shoulder.

Watching that punch, which probably wouldn't even have hurt an ordinary person, much less an eerie, Ren Man kicked Doctor Lin away in satisfaction.

"Get lost."

"Sure thing, brother!" As if he had been granted a special pardon, Doctor Lin instantly stopped crying and scrambled to his feet. Without even brushing the dust off himself, he turned and ran.

Ren Yi stared, dumbfounded. Doctor Lin was astonishingly fast; after a few afterimages flashed past, he vanished around the corner.

Ren Yi even suspected that the speed Doctor Lin had just used was a little beyond human.

Ren Yi looked at Ren Man, struck by an absurd feeling, as if they were playing house.

On this trip out, he had encountered a little girl who could suddenly "see" and witnessed Doctor Lin's exaggerated reaction. The questions in his mind surged up like a tide, too many to count.

Ren Yi opened his mouth, about to voice the questions on his mind, but saw Ren Man lower his head slightly. The corners of his mouth seemed to turn up a little. Was he smiling?

"Do you know his name?" he asked, looking at Ren Yi.

Ren Yi froze for a moment and instinctively shook his head. It suddenly occurred to him that he seemed to have always called the man "Doctor Lin" and had never thought to ask his name.

After all, humans were in the habit of addressing people in professions such as doctors and teachers respectfully by their surname and profession.

"Lin Xinyan." Ren Man had no intention of keeping him in suspense and gave him the name straight away.

"Lin Xinyan..." Ren Yi repeated the name under his breath and fell silent at once.

If the "Xinyan" in his name was the "Xinyan" he was thinking of...

He clenched the fist he had just used to punch Doctor Lin, his face full of regret. "Brother, I was wrong. If I'd known that was his name, I should've hit him harder."