"Was it time? Why weren't you asleep?"
The nun's voice sounded muffled by a layer of cloth, with gurgling noises rolling in her throat.
Yin Chao grabbed the little boy and started running.
Wind howled past his ears. He ran all the way to the fourth floor before stopping, panting heavily.
Something was wrong!
Yin Chao held the little boy's icy wrist, which offered no resistance at all.
He turned his head inch by inch, only to see a severed arm trailing a membrane of flesh.
In the shadows cast by the moonlight, Yin Chao saw a figure on his back, her head tilted sideways. Writhing feelers grew from her mouth, probing toward his neck.
A chilly breeze brushed the back of his neck.
"Why, weren't you asleep, gurgle, gurgle, disobedient children, gurgle, gurgle, wouldn't be blessed, by God."
Cold sweat poured down Yin Chao's body. He pulled an item at random from his storage space and smashed it behind him.
Amid his panic, he finally came to his senses.
It was a nightmare.
He had apparently passed out the moment he entered the Orphanage.
Yin Chao sat dazed on the ground, gazing at the unusually tranquil night sky. Only belatedly did he raise his hand to inspect the wound on its back.
When had he scraped it?
It was exactly the same as the wound he had received the first time he entered the Orphanage.
No two leaves in the world were identical, and neither could two wounds be exactly alike.
Everything was becoming strange.
Yin Chao shook his head, trying to clear it.
Afraid of encountering the nun with the severed head from his dream, he summoned Anna.
"Can we use the Long-Handled Lamp here?" he asked.
Anna did not answer. She merely looked up at the dark