Evil God's Curse, the Female Lead Appears

"Line up. Don't rush, and don't shove."

"You, Xiaomei, no cutting in line."

The donations from kindhearted people included fruit and toys. Huang Bai led several volunteers in handing them out to the children on the spot.

"Thank you, Director. Thank you, Auntie."

"Thank you..."

Some of the children thanked them obediently in clear, bright voices. Others were shy; after taking their things, they could only lower their heads and squeeze out two quiet words.

A few children even split their peeled oranges in half, stretching up on tiptoe as they tried to press them into Huang Bai and the volunteers' hands.

"Director Brother, you eat first."

Huang Bai looked down at the half-segment of orange, and for some reason, felt himself relax.

Most of the children in the orphanage had disabilities and had been abandoned by their parents. As for the rest, either both parents had died, or one parent was unable to support them due to illness, so they had been sent here.

Being around these little ones made Huang Bai feel much lighter instead.

These past few days, it had been either ghosts or evil gods, either corpse liberation or ritual combat. Moments of peace like this were rare.

After everything had been handed out, the children remained noisy for quite a while before finally settling down. Then came their academic lessons.

Though Huang Bai bore the title of director, the place was short-staffed to begin with. When classes started, he had to get personally involved too.

For example, helping with homework.

He stood before a little girl's desk, staring at the arithmetic problem in her notebook.

"One box of matches costs three yuan. How many boxes can you buy with fifteen yuan?"

The girl gripped her pencil, thought for a long time, and quietly answered, "Three boxes."

Huang Bai's temple twitched.

"What do you mean, three boxes? Calculate it again."

The girl lowered her head and counted on her fingers for ages. When she looked back up, she seemed even less certain.

"Two boxes..."

Huang Bai took a deep breath.

"Fifteen divided by three equals five. Five boxes. Remember that?"

"I... I remember."

"Then work it out again."

Huang Bai moved from desk to desk. At first, he was fairly patient, but by the end, irritation had clearly crept into his voice.

When he finally endured his way to activity period, he walked outside into the courtyard, stood by the corridor, and let out a long breath.

"Great Black Buddha Mother, why don't you come out and have a go at me instead?"

"Taking care of children is more torturous than fighting vicious ghosts."

He had barely finished cursing in his heart when he spotted a little girl squatting in a corner.

She looked around six years old. Hugging her knees, she timidly watched the children playing in the distance, a faint trace of envy in her eyes.

Huang Bai walked over, crouched down, and reached out to pat her head.

"What's your name?"

"Why aren't you playing with them?"

At his touch, the little girl's shoulders shrank. Her fingers unconsciously twisted the hem of her clothes.

"I... I'm Duo Duo." Her voice was very soft. "I'm scared."

"Why are you scared?"

"They... they don't want to play with me."

She did not dare raise her eyes as she said it.

Duo Duo often had nightmares and always said she saw a dark shadow. Children were quick to talk and bad at keeping secrets. Over time, the other children began to think she was strange and became reluctant to go near her.

"Duo Duo..."

Huang Bai looked at the child, his heart stirring slightly.

So this was the child Great Black Buddha Mother had set her sights on?

She looked so well-behaved, too timid even to speak loudly. What a pity. With a mother like that, she had been marked by that thing from the moment she was born.

The original plot flashed through Huang Bai's mind.

Not knowing one's true name could avoid the Buddha Mother's curse. But someone like her, already firmly marked—when the time came, she would still be taken away.

Though he thought this, Huang Bai did not let it show. He merely smiled at her.

"Come on. I'll take you over there."

Huang Bai took Duo Duo's hand and led her over to the other children.

The children at the orphanage all respected him. Seeing the director personally bring her over, they were still a little awkward at first, but before long, they were playing together.

Standing nearby, Huang Bai silently recited the Brightsight Curse.

A faint layer of dark light rose in his eyes.

Sure enough.

He saw darkness gathering between Duo Duo's brows. Fine black threads were also wrapped around her back, extending upward into the depths of the void, their ends nowhere to be seen.

This was not ordinary yin energy.

It was more like a curse.

"Trouble."

Huang Bai stared for a while, and his brows gradually furrowed.

Curses were troublesome precisely because of this. They were not as simple as dispersing a mass of ghostly energy. They involved rules and karma, and were sometimes even harder to deal with than direct ritual combat.

As he was thinking, the voice of a female volunteer came from behind him.

"Director, a parent is here to apply to take a child home."

Huang Bai turned around.

"Whose child? Why was she sent here in the first place?"

"The child's name is Duo Duo," the woman said. "Her mother is Li Ruonan. She previously had mental health problems and couldn't raise the child on her own, so she sent her here. Now she says she's recovered and wants to take the child away."

"Duo Duo?"

That mother had come after all.

In the office, Li Ruonan had already been waiting for quite some time.

Her face was haggard, her nerves stretched tight. At first glance, she seemed normal enough, but a closer look revealed something off about her. Her eyes always seemed unable to focus, and her emotions felt as though something were being forcibly suppressed, ready to collapse at any moment.

The moment Huang Bai entered, she immediately stood up.

"Director, can I take my child home today?"

Huang Bai did not answer right away. He simply looked at her first.

Yin energy hung heavily above Li Ruonan's head like a layer of dark clouds, and there was a faint dullness in her eyes.

Someone like this might look like a mother on the surface, but in truth, she was already a fanatic who would push her own child into a pit of fire.

Handing Duo Duo over to her would be little different from sending her straight to an evil god as an offering.

Huang Bai withdrew his gaze.

"By the rules, you need to undergo a psychiatric evaluation first."

"Go get a certificate tomorrow, and leave an address as well. In a few days, the orphanage will make a home visit. Only after the procedures are complete can you take the child away."

Li Ruonan immediately grew anxious.

"Director, I'm really fine now. I'm doing very well, I..."

Huang Bai gave her no chance to continue.

"Whether you're fine or not isn't something you get to decide with a single sentence."

He turned to the volunteer at the door. "See her out."

Li Ruonan still wanted to explain, but Huang Bai refused to listen. Since the director had spoken, the volunteer could only half-persuade, half-escort her out.

By nightfall, the sky had gone completely dark.

Dark clouds covered the moon, and the wind outside was strong.

Li Ruonan sat alone in her rented apartment, muttering endlessly to herself.

"It's fine... it's fine..."

"The curse won't come again..."

"When Duo Duo comes back, I'll teach her her own name... she's already a child with a name..."

As she kept talking, she was nearly convincing herself.

Click. Click.

The light above her suddenly flickered twice.

Li Ruonan's entire body went rigid. Almost by reflex, she recited the Incantation that had long been carved into her bones.

"Fire Buddha cultivates one, Heart Sa Wu Mou."

After the Incantation left her lips, she did indeed feel calmer, and the light stopped flickering.

Li Ruonan had just breathed a sigh of relief when the room suddenly went dark.

Then, a mass of black energy slipped in through the crack beneath the door.

It hit the floor and swiftly condensed into a tall figure.

It had a blue-green face, vicious fangs, and fiery red hair. Nearly eight feet tall, it stood in the cramped living room like a wall, blocking out all the light.

A strange low sound came from Yaksha's throat, like laughter, yet also like bubbles rising to the surface. It made every hair on Li Ruonan's body stand on end.

It walked toward her step by step.

The instant Li Ruonan saw the thing clearly, all color drained from her face.

"A... a ghost!"

"Don't come over! Don't come over!"

She backed away trembling, babbling the Incantation in panic.

"Fire Buddha cultivates one... Fire Buddha cultivates one..."

Unfortunately, that set of words was completely useless against Yaksha.

Yaksha did not slow down, forcing her all the way to the kitchen entrance.

"Don't come over!"

Terrified, Li Ruonan grabbed a kitchen knife and swung it wildly through the air. But her little strength and courage were a joke before Yaksha.

Yaksha raised a hand and seized her wrist.

The moment that icy, brutal force clamped down, Li Ruonan screamed.

"Ah!"

Only then did she realize that she was not dreaming.

The next second, she fainted from sheer terror.

Her scream had been so shrill that it alerted all the neighbors. Before long, someone called the police.

The next morning, in the orphanage office.

Huang Bai was sitting at his desk handling paperwork when his phone suddenly vibrated. It was a message from the female volunteer.

"Yesterday's parent had another episode. This time, she attacked the police with a knife and has now been forcibly sent to a psychiatric hospital."

After reading it, Huang Bai replied with only three words.

"Got it."

Then he set his phone aside.

He had sent that Yaksha over the previous night.

If someone like Li Ruonan were really allowed to run around outside, sooner or later she would keep spreading Great Black Buddha Mother's curse. Sending her to a psychiatric hospital was the simplest solution.

What evil gods liked most was having people spread their curses for them.

The more people who knew, the more people became tainted, and the harder it became to deal with them.

Huang Bai felt not the slightest sympathy for this "mother."

When it was time to throw someone away, they had to be thrown away. Keeping them around would only cause trouble.