Golden Shanshan, who had been consumed by hatred just moments ago, suddenly froze. She stared at the child, at a loss. Her hatred came to an abrupt halt, and Xu Zhou and Hao Zhiyi stopped hurting themselves and trying to kill themselves.
The child had probably just woken up. Seeing strangers, she was startled and stared at the three of them in confusion. Then she turned and saw what her parents looked like, and was startled again. Her little mouth hung open, but not a sound came out. She stared blankly with wide, round eyes.
"Oh no." Mo Xiaoling let out a quiet, frustrated cry.
The child shivered. She looked at the three of them, then at her parents. Her mouth puckered and opened, her little face scrunched up, as if she was about to burst into tears.
Only one thought flashed through Shanshan's mind: she'd been discovered. Someone had seen her. Once Xu Zhou and Hao Zhiyi's bodies were found, the three of them would...
As soon as the thought occurred to her, Shanshan instinctively felt afraid.
The child wailed and clumsily ran to Xu Zhou, who was closest to her, throwing herself into her arms and calling her Mommy.
"This is a problem," Black Sister said, though her voice was calm, as if she weren't facing any difficulty at all.
Shanshan panicked. She watched the child clutch Xu Zhou's hand, which was clamped around her throat, and cry for Mommy, unsure what to do.
"Honestly..." Mo Xiaoling suddenly murmured, her voice finding its way into Shanshan's ears. "You really look like... the way you were when your cousin died..."
The words struck Shanshan like a bolt of lightning.
She remembered the scene of her cousin Bao Jiaxiu's death.
How stunned and horrified she had been then, how terrified.