"Idol"
Zhongli Chun swept her hand fiercely, driving back the evil ghosts before her.
The evil ghosts had never imagined someone so formidable was on this street, and they all fled.
Only then did she reach out and help the little girl up from the ground.
The girl looked seven or eight. A mob of evil ghosts had been beating her, and the sight had reminded Zhongli Chun of Xiao Xia, prompting her to intervene.
"Can you still move?" Zhongli Chun asked.
"Yes..."
The girl's face was covered in injuries, and blood kept streaming from her nose, but she did not cry. She merely pressed her lips together and said, "Thank you, Boss."
Zhongli Chun surveyed their surroundings and found the place particularly run-down. "Where is this?"
"Boss, this place is called the Inner Yellow Springs," the girl said.
The Inner Yellow Springs? Zhongli Chun had never heard of this place. She had been chasing an evil ghost who looked rich, intending to rob him, and had somehow stumbled in here?
"People say this is where those who've crossed the Bridge of Helplessness but don't want to be reincarnated live..." the girl explained to Zhongli Chun.
"People who don't want to be reincarnated? I see... Sounds like it would suit me nicely."
"Boss, do you live on this street too?"
"No, I don't." Zhongli Chun shook her head, then looked again at the seven- or eight-year-old girl before her. "What about you? Why won't you be reincarnated?"
"Because I..." The girl's expression dimmed. "I was born a monster. My mother died giving birth to me, and my father saw me as a bad omen. I have nowhere to go back to..."
"Then wouldn't it be better to start a new life?"
"A new life..." The girl shook her head slightly.