Hiding Evil in Shadow and Darkness

A strong hand grabbed the arm he had reached toward the car door with. His slender arm was like a brittle branch in their hands.

"Don't be afraid, child."

A gentle voice sounded beside him. He shifted his gaze and met those faintly smiling eyes.

"We'll protect you."

It made him feel as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.

Hiding Sin Beneath Shadows and Night

"Priest, you're getting more and more careless. You actually let two children escape from you... Aren't the people above going to kick you out?"

The officer standing beside Priest looked at Xi Wang, who was struggling relentlessly inside the police car not far away, and smiled indifferently. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket, courteously offered one to Priest, and asked whether he wanted one.

"That child is already mine."

Priest waved a hand, indicating that he did not smoke. At the same time, he watched Xi Wang, who could no longer resist and was being dragged from the police car by the wrist by other officers, and spoke with a soft laugh.

"Really? Those greedy freaks actually let you keep him? That's rare."

The officer did not care either way; he had only asked out of politeness. He put the cigarette between his lips, then took out several more and handed them to the colleagues around him. He lit one with practiced ease and took a blissful drag.

"Still, you got lucky today. We sent our meddlesome chief home to rest... He's been working overtime every day lately. If he'd been here, you'd really have been in trouble. He's stubborn as a mule."

"I see... It seems Heaven is watching over us too."

"Not us. Just you."

The officer waved a hand in distaste, apparently uninterested.

"Hehe..."

"Enough with that laughing. It's disgusting..."

The officer watched Xi Wang being hauled along by his colleagues, watched him go from struggling to giving up, then finally settle into a despairing calm. He curled his lip and looked at Priest.

"Hand it over. Otherwise, we won't release him."

"Of course. This time, your help was invaluable. I won't shortchange you."

Priest seemed to have prepared long ago. He brought the boy who had kept his head lowered the entire time and no longer dared look at Xi Wang back into the church. When he came out again, he carried a briefcase in his hand.

"Woohoo~"

Several officers suddenly let out cheerful whistles.

"Cash this time? That sure makes things a lot easier~"

"Split between us, it should still be quite a bit."

"..."

Xi Wang remained silent. Only the image of police officers in his mind—officers who would definitely help him—had cracked a little...

No, they were different... This thought suddenly surfaced in Xi Wang's mind, pasting the nearly shattered image back together.

"That's quite a lot."

The officer took the briefcase with practiced ease, checked the stacks of cash inside, nodded in satisfaction, and signaled his colleagues to release him.

"Of course, we won't shortchange you. After all... we'll still need you to help cover things up."

Priest smiled as he took Xi Wang. When he noticed that Xi Wang's wrists had been tied with rope, his smile became even more satisfied.

"We'll have to trouble you for a while longer~ If you find any bad children trying to sneak away, please bring them back so we can properly educate them~"

"Tch..."

The officer curled his lip, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Priest's words, and merely called for his colleagues to leave.

Until every police car had driven far away, none of those officers looked at Xi Wang again, much less turned back.

Not a single one.

"...All right. Now it's time for matters between us, isn't it, Hope?"

Priest lowered his head and smiled, gently patting Xi Wang's head as he always had.

"..."

"What I like most about you is this... You're obedient. You understand your situation well and don't make any... pointless, boring attempts at resistance. Compared to those children before you, you're so much better."

Priest spoke gently as he dragged Xi Wang toward the inner part of the church.

"That is exactly what makes you interesting. That is exactly why I kept you from those people."

They did not head toward the sleeping area, but farther back, toward the place called the warehouse.

When the tightly locked door opened, what lay before him was an almost sealed... warehouse.

It was dark, truly dark. It felt even darker than the night outside. The few windows had been sealed with thick wooden boards and iron bars, and even the moonlight had to squeeze itself through the narrow cracks.

"Ah... How awful. I forgot this place hasn't been cleaned in a long time."

Priest seemed somewhat troubled, though he did not really care.

He merely brought Xi Wang inside and switched on the lights, revealing the somewhat empty interior.

There was only a rather terrible mattress inside. It seemed that, because it had gone unused for so long, mice from who knew where had gnawed away more than half of it.

This did not seem to be a warehouse at all...

It was a place even more like a prison than the room for "bad children."

"Though I'm sorry, from now on, this will be your room."

Priest locked the door behind him and pressed Xi Wang onto the tattered mattress. As he slowly, gently, bit by bit untied the rope binding Xi Wang's hands, he spoke.

"As for the officers who brought you back, I hope you won't hate them. Our area isn't very wealthy, after all, and they need to make a living too."

"...Of course, I don't think you care about that right now. What you care about more is why I seemed to have been prepared already, right?"

With a hint of showmanship, or perhaps some twisted amusement, Priest smiled as he spoke.

"..."

"You seem to have guessed it... Such a smart child. I like that very much."

When Xi Wang did not move, the smile on Priest's face deepened.

"Just as you guessed, Wright and the others told me."

Still, Priest said it aloud, as though he took malicious pleasure in tearing away the final veil. His tone remained as gentle as ever, as if he had never been angry.

"You heard correctly. It was them."

He emphasized it deliberately.

"The moment you voiced this plan, this idea, I already knew."

In other words, Priest had watched every move he made. Those so-called companions had only come to help him at Priest's instruction.

That was why Wright had volunteered. That was why that boy had seemed so guilty.

"But don't hate them either. They were having a hard time too... Many children are afraid of pain, so I promised them that as long as they cooperated with me, caught you, and locked you up, I wouldn't touch them for a while afterward. After all... I have a better target now~"

Priest tucked the thin rope that had bound Xi Wang into his pocket, then reached out and pinched his cheek, forcing him to raise his head and look at him.

His eyes were still so clear, like a tranquil lake. That was what Priest liked most—breaking that calm and sending ripples across the lake's surface, painting it with whatever colors he desired.

"...So, will you keep your promise?"

But Xi Wang merely asked calmly, without the slightest ripple, as if Priest's earlier words had not affected him at all.

"..."

This time, it was Priest who fell silent. He saw neither resentment nor complaint in Xi Wang's eyes, only... calm, as though Xi Wang had already accepted the situation.

"I truly hope you'll remain this calm afterward... But I think you certainly will, won't you?"

However, Priest quickly smiled again. His smile was still gentle, but the movement of his hand was not—he viciously squeezed Xi Wang's cheek, jerking it to one side, then backhanded him hard across the face from the other direction, leaving a bright red mark.

"After all, you already belong to me."

It seemed Priest was not as incapable of anger as he pretended to be.

"We have a very, very long time ahead of us."

Priest stood and walked toward the door. He did not restrain Xi Wang in any way, apparently unconcerned that he might run, or perhaps... he had other ideas?

"Oh, right."

When he reached the door, Priest seemed to remember something. He turned back to look at Xi Wang, who remained where he was without making any movement. A trace of disappointment flashed through Priest's eyes, but it was soon replaced by a smile—one that was clearly gentle, yet especially vile in Xi Wang's eyes.

"Keeping promises is impossible. Breaking promises is what adults like us do best... Besides, you don't have the right to negotiate with me, do you, Xi Wang? You bad child who tried to run away and slander the benefactor who fed and housed you?"

He smiled, then slammed the door shut with a bang, locked it, and cut off the power. Only after hearing the dull thudding from the other side of the door did he leave in satisfaction.

"Ah... Then which bad child should I punish today? Hmm... Wright, I suppose. After all... betraying a friend isn't something a good child should do~"

Priest chuckled softly and deliberately murmured loudly enough for those inside to hear before walking toward the room for "bad children."

After all, dawn had not yet come~

Because your friend betrayed you, you were caught and brought back, then locked by Priest in a warehouse that was more like a prison.

Although you had guessed all of this, you did not hate your friends, because you knew that children often could not endure pain. If they could push that pain onto someone else and avoid suffering it themselves, they would certainly do it. After all... it hurt. It really, really hurt.

You understood. You had also vaguely guessed that Priest's actions followed some principle he had set within his heart, so when he left, you obediently stayed where you were and gave him no excuse to hurt you.

It was just that he had no intention of keeping his promise. Or rather, that promise had never existed in the first place.

As long as he wanted to, he could always find a reason.

Not eating properly made you a bad child—even though he had locked you in the warehouse for three whole days; not greeting him properly made you a bad child—even though you had already fainted from hunger at the time.

Being greedy for food made you a bad child—but you had been so hungry, and you did not know whether there would be food the next day; not sleeping properly made you a bad child—but the candle wax was scorching when it dripped onto your skin, and the knife hurt so much when it cut across your flesh.

Fire hurt when it touched your body. Hot iron brands hurt too when pressed against you.

Needles hurt when they pierced your body. Forks hurt too when they went through your skin.

You could see the increasingly undisguised greed in Priest's eyes, that filthy desire so disgusting it made you sick, yet Priest still did not do "that kind of thing." It seemed he was waiting, waiting for you to willingly submit to him.