The phone rang in the distance. It wasn't coming from the early childhood center's office.
I glanced in that direction, then turned back to Liu Yingjie.
Liu Yingjie shuddered, but, just like me, he looked toward the sound and then met my gaze.
"I don't know. I don't know anything..." Liu Yingjie cried incoherently.
I ignored him. The chains around him hadn't changed at all. He was still an ordinary person.
I took Mu Ai and headed toward the office. I'd barely taken a step when Xiaotian and Liu Yingjie both grabbed me.
"Um, um..." Liu Yingjie stammered, unable to get a word out.
Xiaotian was still crying, clutching me like a lifeline.
"Either come with me or wait here." I left them with that and pulled free.
They wanted to hold on to me, but fear had left them too weak to grip me. Their bodies were slack.
There was a rustling behind me.
When I left the early childhood center, I glanced back and saw the two of them supporting each other. Like refugees fleeing disaster, they struggled to follow me.
The phone kept ringing. The closer I got, the more grating it sounded.
I reached the elevator and saw the office space Liu Yingjie had rented.
Compared to the office space I'd passed earlier, this one showed a little more sign of use. The trash left inside wasn't just packing boxes and plastic wrap anymore. There were also drink bottles and coffee cups.
The ringing came from the first office.
Like the office in the early childhood center, one wall was made entirely of frosted glass, and there was a row of windows inside. The layout was the same, but instead of rows of desks and chairs, this office had sofas and a projector. Unopened snacks and