Shrouded Seascape

"What was their relationship like? 315 and that child," the man said, repeating Nightwatch's question.

After contemplating for a moment, Li Lu slowly said, "At first, Anna treated him very well. She would even give him a bath and watch him eat. She treated him in a way that can be called excessive, even for a biological son.

"That's when I realized that the madwoman is actually capable of empathy.

"When she returned from abroad, however, Anna's attitude toward him did a complete hundred and eighty degrees. She even choked the boy until his neck turned blue. Back then, it was like she really wanted to kill him."

Staring at Li Lu seemingly lost in her own thoughts, Nightwatch pondered for a moment before asking other questions.

"Stop asking me about their relationship because I really don't know! I was basically a hostage there, so why would that madwoman tell me anything?!" Li Lu cried out, looking somewhat frenzied.

She appeared to be losing control of her emotions, but this was actually an act on Li Lu's end to conceal something. It was true that the relationship between Anna and that boy was unknown to her, but her child Tobba was definitely privy to it.

For some reason, that madwoman would discuss everything with her son; she didn't treat him as an outsider at all. To make matters worse, her child had kept all of those details a secret.

He was so serious about keeping those pieces of information a secret that he wasn't willing to divulge them to everyone, including even his own mother.

Li Lu even felt a bit jealous of Tobba's relationship with Anna. Tobba's attitude toward his own mother had always been perfunctory. Of course, Li Lu could never say anything about that. Otherwise, her child would be in even more danger.

"Since you lived with them under the same roof, have you ever seen 315 teaching that child any special knowledge?"

Li Lu froze, feeling that perhaps this question was the point of today's interrogation.

"No, never. Anna never taught him any special knowledge or anything like that. She didn't even introduce herself to that child and only made him call her 'Big Sister,' but I really don't know why she did that."

Although Li Lu was a captive, Nightwatch felt much more at ease upon hearing her words. He took out his phone and made a call.

"There aren't any results on this side either. I personally think that we can lower his threat level and just let the shadows look for him. Based on the intelligence that we've gathered thus far, that child didn't even know how to write when 315 brought him back home.

"I'm afraid there won't be much to gain even if we find him.

"Mmhm, mmhmm, I know what you're worried about. But don't you think that we should be more worried about the possibility of whether Anomalies like 315 might appear instead of worrying about that child becoming the next 315?"

Nightwatch's worries weren't unfounded, as there was already a precedent. There was this time when they executed a certain Anomaly, but two Anomalies similar to the executed Anomaly ended up popping up somewhere.

Those two Anomalies gave the IMF a big headache, and since then, the IMF had been refraining from summarily eliminating Anomalies. If 315 hadn't been so destructive, then they wouldn't have resorted to eliminating her outright.

"And hey, old pal, shouldn't our top priority be finding out what exactly 315 had summoned?" Nightwatch said. The speaker on the other end of the line fell silent.

Nightwatch's remark seemed to be as heavy and as oppressive as a towering mountain, as it made the person on the other end of the line feel like they were suffocating.

After a while, the person on the other end of the line spoke once again.

—Mmhm, got it. You go deal with the Feathered Serpent in Africa. There are professionals handling the aftermath of this incident, so don't worry about it."

With that, Nightwatch ended the call. As he turned around and walked toward the door, he said, "Send that woman back to her cell. Remember to keep asking the same questions every few days to see if there are any contradictions in her story."

"Wait!" Li Lu's voice echoed from the speakers. "I've answered your questions, so you're going to let me see my son, right?"

"Please just let me see him once! Just once, please! I'm begging you. I really miss him.

"Why?! I already told you everything I know! Why won't you believe me?!"

***

There were quite a few people out for an evening stroll down a bustling night market. Considering the foot traffic, it wasn't strange that there were many food stalls lining up the streets.

A disheveled boy was standing on his toes in the corner of the street, rummaging through a smelly dumpster with his hands. In no time, he fished out a watermelon rind.

Eyeing the tiny bit of red on the rind, the boy ravenously bit into it. When the sweet juice entered his belly, the boy felt a bit of his hunger going away. He had yet to eat today, so he was incredibly hungry.

The juice from the watermelon rind had washed off some of the grime on his face. The boy noticed it and hurriedly smeared his face with his blackened hands.

The masked uncle had told Gao Zhiming that bad people were looking for him, and he was also told never to let those people find him.

It was true. Many people had been searching for him over the past few days.

Gao Zhiming could have never imagined that his experience as a homeless vagrant would come in handy one day. He had memorized which shortcuts he could use to escape as well as the good places to hide.

Through those shortcuts and alleyways, Gao Zhiming managed to avoid being found.

Returning to his former companions would allow him to live much more comfortably than now, but he was afraid that those bad people were lurking around that place, thus he dared not go back there.

In fact, he was so scared of being found that he had been minimizing his time spent searching for food to avoid any attention to himself.

After looking left and right, Gao Zhiming placed his hands on the greasy edge of the dumpster and leaped in before closing the lid. There were rats in the dumpster, but Gao Zhiming didn't mind them at all.

Rats were good, as wherever rats went, there would be food.

Gao Zhiming's actions hadn't gone unnoticed by the people nearby. The boy could feel the heat, so he hurriedly climbed out with a large black trash bag slung over his shoulder before dashing into the adjacent dark alleyway.

He opened the black trash bag and peeked into it using the dim moonlight. The trash bag seemed to contain a hodgepodge of everything—chicken bones, broken skewers, oyster shells, an unknown soup in a foil container, snot-covered tissues, and even a half-empty can of cola.

Gao Zhiming took out a plastic bag from his coat and put everything that looked edible into it.

Soon, Gao Zhiming was thrilled to find some cold mutton chunks among the trash. Of course, the mutton had become quite rank, but he didn't mind it at all. He gave one of the chunks a quick lick and shoved everything into the bag upon discovering they hadn't spoiled yet.

Gao Zhiming spent a long time sorting the trash, but he barely found anything to eat. He gazed longingly at the distant dumpsters, but he dared not go again. Gao Zhiming hugged his plastic bag full of food and left in a hurry.

Gao Zhiming left the lively street and darted nimbly between the buildings. Thirty minutes later, he arrived at a sparsely populated unfinished building. He looked left and right, ensuring that no one was around before running inside with the plastic bag in hand.

Jogging all the way to the top floor, Gao Zhiming breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that the pile of garbage in the bare, empty room hadn't been disturbed by anyone. He knelt on the ground and pushed aside the pile of junk, revealing Anna's face.

The boy was staring at Anna's other fleshly body.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!