I was still in a terrible mood.
The dream hadn't lasted long, and much of what I saw had flashed past in an instant. I'd seen the three ghost girls do horrible things before I'd had much of a chance to pity them. It felt absolutely awful.
Deep down, I knew they'd suffered terribly. They'd faced tragedy both in life and after death, and they deserved sympathy. But what they did afterward made me hate them, scattering what little pity I'd felt.
I felt something soft land on the back of my hand and whipped around.
The one-legged teddy bear stood on the bed, bending over to touch my hand. When it noticed me looking, it straightened up and stared at me with its two glass eyes.
I let out a breath, sat up, and patted its head.
"Is Lü Qiaolan asleep? How did you get in here?" I asked the teddy bear.
It let me pet it obediently. Of course, it couldn't answer.
I'd long since understood that Lü Qiaolan's teddy bears were gentle toys. Teddy bears were made to keep children company, filled with love for them. As the brand grew, like many other children's products, it expanded its market to adults as well.
The cruelest thing they'd probably ever done was eat the souls of children who had entered their bodies.
Thinking about it, if Lü Qiaolan hadn't held on to herself, these teddy bears might have become evil spirits too.
I sighed again.
Before long, the sky grew light.
Zhuang Huai contacted the people at the police station and organized a team.
I didn't bother to wake Chen Zi'an. Lü Qiaolan and I went with the police to Crooked-Neck Village.
Zhuang Huai told the police station they'd found a lead on the missing person: the cave.