"That guy named Bai Liu (6) has been weirder lately..." The children whispered in fear, heads bent together.
After the dean said that Xie Ta had escaped from the welfare home, they transferred their fear of Xie Ta to Bai Liu.
The other children looked with horror and curiosity at Bai Liu, who was sitting at the end of the long table, far away from the others and eating silently. This was the place where Xie Ta used to eat.
"Newcomer, your name is Lu Yizhan, right?" A child blinked at another decent-looking, older child. He pointed to Bai Liu and said, "The child sitting at the end is Bai Liu. Remember to stay away from him."
The young Lu Yizhan looked back doubtfully. "Why? Did he do something?"
"It's because he is a monster!" The talking child gestured with his teeth and hands, making a strange whine. "He ate his only friend. Of course, his friend was a monster as well, a bleeding-pinpricks monster. If you make friends with him, he will eat you too!"
The child threatened Lu Yizhan with a serious air.
Lu Yizhan frowned and looked at Bai Liu at the end of the long table. Bai Liu was a child who looked normal on the surface. He was even a bit too thin. Lu Yizhan didn't think there was anything to fear or be wary of in such a child.
Bai Liu looked as if he had never eaten enough. The flesh on his cheeks was sunken. He looked really hungry as he ate quickly.
But—Lu Yizhan's eyes fell on Bai Liu's plate. There was the staple bread on his plate that he hadn't touched. It seemed he wasn't ready to eat it.
Bai Liu finished eating quietly and quickly, then took the bread he hadn't touched to the lake at the back of the church.
Lu Yizhan followed Bai Liu to the church and stopped. His eyes became increasingly bewildered as he looked at Bai Liu curiously.
What was this person doing?
Why did these children of the welfare home reject him so much?
—————————————————
Nighttime.
Lu Yizhan was the new child in the welfare home, so he was assigned to the bed where Xie Ta had slept previously. The moment he lay down, Lu Yizhan turned his head and saw Bai Liu standing by the head of his bed with an expressionless face, holding bedding in his arms.
Lu Yizhan was startled. He sat up in a panic and covered his chest with his quilt. "What are you going to do, Bai Liu (6)?!"
The other children in the bedroom were frightened by Bai Liu's sudden appearance. They screamed and fled everywhere. "Bai Liu (6) has come to eat people! He is coming to eat us!"
Lu Yizhan could barely maintain his composure. He looked at Bai Liu standing motionless by the head of his bed with a lot of bedding. He figured out Bai Liu's meaning, so Lu Yizhan pointed to his bed and then the bedding in Bai Liu's hand, asking tentatively, "Do you...want to change beds with me?"
Bai Liu looked quietly at Lu Yizhan. He seemed to be in poor spirits, and his eyes were dazed. At present, there were thick dark circles under his eyes. Bai Liu heard Lu Yizhan's question and slowly nodded.
Lu Yizhan sighed with relief. This person really came to change beds.
Lu Yizhan didn't care about the ownership of the bed. He kindly gave the bed to Bai Liu and reminded him to change it back tomorrow. It was because the teachers here recognized children by their beds. The children could secretly change beds by themselves, but it wasn't a good thing if they were discovered.
After discussing with Bai Liu the time to change back tomorrow morning, Lu Yizhan picked up his bedding and went to sleep on Bai Liu's bed.
Before leaving his bed, Lu Yizhan glanced back at Bai Liu. He saw Bai Liu making the bed silently. He held a strangely slender, faceless doll on the bed and quietly closed his eyes.
Bai Liu didn't look like a child who would sleep with a doll at such an age, yet he obviously cherished it. Not only did he give up most of his bed to the doll to sleep, but he also covered the doll's body with the quilt, exposing half his own body.
It was obviously a bit cold at night, but Bai Liu didn't seem to feel it, just like he didn't feel hungry. He fell asleep soon after holding the doll.
However, it was a doll. In the eyes of ordinary people, it didn't need to be cherished or protected like this. There were many patches, rough workmanship, broken lines on the edges, and no face. It was just like a semi-finished product.
Bai Liu curled up in a small ball and slept next to the doll. The body of the doll was positioned to curl around Bai Liu, and the two of them fit together tightly, as if they were sleeping in a very narrow, oval bathtub.
It was a... very peculiar sleeping position.
This strange sleeping position with the doll made Lu Yizhan want to laugh a bit. He took another look before withdrawing his gaze and walking toward Bai Liu's bed.
Lu Yizhan judged in his heart that Bai Liu (6) was a very strange child.
Still, it seemed that he wasn't as difficult to get along with as other children said. He was quite reasonable.
Lu Yizhan paid more and more attention to Bai Liu, a child who was strange and gloomy to other people.
On the seventh day after Lu Yizhan's arrival, Bai Liu almost fainted at the dinner table. It was Lu Yizhan who first noticed something was wrong. Lu Yizhan gave him a piece of sugar and forced him to eat half of Lu Yizhan's own meal. Bai Liu obviously had low blood sugar.
This person obviously hadn't eaten well at all. Every day, there was a lot of food left that he sneaked away with. It wasn't known what he was doing, but every time he came back at night, his mental state became worse.
Lu Yizhan was a bit worried about Bai Liu and started to give his food to him, intentionally and unintentionally.
Yet most of the time, he would be refused by Bai Liu with a cold expression, stating that it wasn't necessary.
At the same time, a strange and gloomy atmosphere started to permeate the welfare home. More and more children fled. Some really fled, while others were 'forced' to flee. Lu Yizhan was keenly aware of the wrong atmosphere. This welfare home didn't seem that bright or safe.
As more and more children disappeared, Lu Yizhan's worries became heavier. He found that Bai Liu also started to have a bloody smell after his blood was drawn, and he made up his mind. He would take Bai Liu and the other children to escape.
Before going to bed, Bai Liu came over to find Lu Yizhan to change the bed. Before leaving, Lu Yizhan grabbed Bai Liu's arm and whispered in his ear about the discovery. He reminded Bai Liu that this welfare home wasn't safe and asked if he wanted to run away with him.
"I know a public welfare home that is safer than here. We can go there." Lu Yizhan spoke softly. "It is close to the police station, and someone will protect us."
Bai Liu replied coldly, "I won't go."
"Why?" Lu Yizhan was a bit anxious. "There is really something wrong here!"
Bai Liu looked at him with drooping eyes. There was no focus in his pupils, and his voice was dull. "I am waiting for someone to wake up. Once he wakes up, I will take him with me."
Maybe it was curiosity, or maybe it was Lu Yizhan's eagerness to take Bai Liu away. After another baptism, Lu Yizhan finally broke his principle of not easily spying on other people's secrets and followed Bai Liu to the back of the church.
The back of the church had always been a forbidden area in the welfare home. The dean strictly forbade any children from going there, stating it wasn't very safe. It was an undeveloped forest with shrubs and a small lake. It wasn't developed or transformed. In the past, it was easy for children to drown or sink in the mud pit. Therefore, the church was locked on weekdays to prevent children from coming over.
However, Bai Liu seemed to have found a remote path that led straight to the back of the church.
Lu Yizhan followed Bai Liu, watching as he skillfully and lightly slipped through a broken window behind the side door of the church. Bai Liu crossed the church, exited through the back door, and walked without hesitation through the lush grass behind the church that could engulf him in an instant.
Bai Liu skillfully maneuvered around the shrubs and stone obstacles that cut at his feet. Finally, he came to a small lake full of duckweed.
Lu Yizhan hid behind the grass and trees doubtfully. What did Bai Liu (6) come to this pond to do? Swimming?
If it were normal, Bai Liu would definitely be able to detect Lu Yizhan behind him. It was just that his long-term hunger had seriously reduced his condition, and his attention was consumed. Thus, he didn't notice that someone was following him not far away.
Bai Liu had his back to Lu Yizhan and took off his shirt in a defenseless manner, revealing his sharp, white back. He bent down and put his bread on the clean clothes. Then he turned and dove into the pond.
Lu Yizhan was hiding in the grass and quietly observing. He had a feeling that he would soon understand what Bai Liu had been doing all this time.
Lu Yizhan waited and waited. Almost a few minutes passed, and Bai Liu didn't float up. Lu Yizhan realized something wasn't right. He didn't even have time to take off his clothes and plunged fiercely into the lake, searching for Bai Liu everywhere at the dark bottom of the lake. Finally, he saw Bai Liu being swallowed by mud and sand. His hands were suspended in the water, and there were obvious signs of drowning.
Lu Yizhan held his breath and swam over quickly. He grabbed Bai Liu by the shoulder and lifted him up.
Bai Liu seemed to be dragging something, but he was too weak. With Lu Yizhan's help, Bai Liu barely dragged it out. Finally, Lu Yizhan held it with one hand and pulled Bai Liu and the thing he was dragging out of the water.
Lu Yizhan lay on the edge of the lake, gasping for breath.
Bai Liu shook physiologically and vomited a few mouthfuls of lake water. There was a long pause before he leapt up from the ground.
Just now, Bai Liu had almost drowned at the bottom of the lake. Due to low blood sugar and general weakness, the intensity of this physical activity was extremely difficult for him to endure.
"What are you thinking?" Lu Yizhan scolded Bai Liu while gasping for breath. "If you can't drag it out at once, don't you know to come up and take a breath before continuing? Do you have to drown yourself?"
After saying this, Lu Yizhan turned to look at the thing dragged out by himself and Bai Liu. The sight made Lu Yizhan instinctively stand up, his expression becoming difficult to look at.
Lying next to Bai Liu was a corpse with a clean face and a rope tied around its ankles to prevent it from sinking.
"You hid a body in the lake?" Lu Yizhan was truly going crazy. "You really have a lot of courage to think that no one will find it here. What is with this corpse? Why are you dragging him out every day?"
Bai Liu knelt down silently next to Xie Ta, as if he hadn't heard Lu Yizhan's words. He broke the bread he had placed on his clothes and rubbed it against Xie Ta's cold lips like he was feeding fish.
He told Lu Yizhan what he had come to do with his actions—he had come to feed the underwater corpse.
Lu Yizhan fell into an eerie silence and watched as Bai Liu calmly finished feeding the bread.
Bai Liu patted the bread crumbs off his hands, looked up at Lu Yizhan, and explained lightly, "He is a monster, not a corpse. He isn't dead. He will come back to life, so I can't let him go hungry."
"Bai Liu (6), do you know?" Lu Yizhan's tone and expression were incredibly complicated. "You are more like a monster right now."
As he said this, Lu Yizhan's eyes fell on Xie Ta's corpse. The right hand of the corpse had started to decay. It could be imagined how long Bai Liu had been 'feeding' it.
"It doesn't matter if he is a corpse or a monster. You have to let him go." Lu Yizhan felt that his brain was going to explode. He crouched down, held Bai Liu's shoulder, and looked at him, trying to explain the current situation in a language that Bai Liu could understand. "You can avenge him when you grow up and find out the culprit who killed him. But right now, you can't bury yourself in the water with him."
"He isn't breathing, and he doesn't have a heartbeat. It isn't known when he will wake up." Lu Yizhan sighed. "Bai Liu (6), you can't go to sleep with him."
Xie Ta was still lying quietly on the ground, the pinpricks on the back of his hand still not yet healed. Yet in a trance, Bai Liu seemed to see Xie Ta open his eyes and say to him, 'Get out of here, Bai Liu (6). We will meet again one day.'
We will meet again in the endless horror games and stories that we have seen, played, and shared.
So for now, let me go and let yourself leave. It is only when you say goodbye that we can meet again, Bai Liu (6).
Bai Liu muttered, "You swear that we will be reunited?"
Xie Ta smiled very shallowly. He held Bai Liu's hand with his rotten right hand. "I swear."
Lu Yizhan turned his head doubtfully. He looked at Xie Ta's motionless body with goosebumps. "Bai Liu (6), who are you talking to?"
Bai Liu slowly released the hand holding Xie Ta. He looked down, the water on his body dripping onto the soles of his feet. Then Bai Liu took a knife out of his pocket and cut off the rope tying Xie Ta's ankles. Bai Liu picked up Xie Ta's body in a laborious and difficult manner. He walked step by step to the pond and calmly placed Xie Ta in the water.
Xie Ta's hair fluttered as he was immersed in the water.
Bai Liu stared at it with keen eyes. The moment Lu Yizhan was sighing with relief, he saw Bai Liu blink twice, and two drops of water fell from his eyelashes.
Then Bai Liu took a deep breath and jumped into the pool again.
"Bai Liu (6)!" Lu Yizhan shouted with horror and also jumped down.
Bai Liu moved his limbs vigorously and reached out to the submerged Xie Ta.
He watched as the mud and sand flooded Xie Ta's face like the irresistible arrival of darkness.
The black sand climbed like vines along the bridge of Xie Ta's nose, his lips, then his chest and arms. Finally, only a frighteningly white hand was loosely exposed outside the mud.
Bai Liu struggled to grab the hand.
The touch of the hand was both cold and warm. He felt Xie Ta's hand grip his for a moment before releasing it again. Finally, Xie Ta disappeared completely at the bottom of the lake.
Bai Liu placed his hand into the mud and sand, stubbornly wanting to cut through it to look into this person's eyes again. Then Lu Yizhan seized him by the shoulder with gritted teeth and started to pull him up.
Bai Liu's lungs were running out of oxygen. The air was quickly disappearing under the water, as if it had been sucked away. Bubbles continuously rose from Bai Liu's mouth and nose, but he didn't seem to feel suffocated. He just opened his eyes and mechanically searched the bottom, looking for the person who had been completely swallowed by the darkness.
The picture book that was torn apart and pieced together, the patched doll, the unfulfilled agreement, and the face that was already covered by hair.
The things that Xie Ta left him were always broken and incomplete.
These imperfections seemed to be reminding Bai Liu that Xie Ta wasn't real.
Would this person really come back?
Did this person really exist?
This person... did he really appear?
Or was it just an illusion that Bai Liu (6), a child judged as mentally ill by everyone, made up to fill his loneliness and deceive himself?
If there were no god in this world, why was there a monster who was always waiting for him in the church to read books, play scary games with him, make him a doll, and hug him?
[Bai Liu (6), why are you willing to believe that monsters exist but aren't willing to believe that gods exist?]
[It is because God has never been kind to me.]
Bai Liu looked at the pitch-black bottom of the lake with open eyes. He instinctively opened his mouth, bubbles gushing out.
He said, "Xie Ta, I'm leaving. Goodbye."
Bai Liu felt that before Xie Ta left, they hadn't seemed to have said a formal goodbye. If he didn't say goodbye, they wouldn't meet again. This was what Xie Ta had just said, so Bai Liu jumped down, wanting to say a serious goodbye.
Water flowed into Bai Liu's mouth and nasal cavity and started to choke him. The snowflake-like foam rose from both sides of his mouth.
Bai Liu slowly lowered his eyelids, his limbs losing strength. They spread back and were suspended in the water like dead duckweed.
He fell into a dizzying white light.
In the white dizziness, Bai Liu saw countless memory fragments flashing back. At the end of the brilliant white light, someone sat quietly and upright in the front row of the church, wearing the worn-out doll suit of the Slenderman and holding the picture book that had been pieced back together, reading it page by page very slowly.
The man seemed to see Bai Liu sitting behind him and held up the book, as if wanting to ask Bai Liu if he wanted to read it together.
In fact, even before the man turned his head, Bai Liu was ready to agree to this person's request to read the book together.
It was because Bai Liu liked this book very much. The book seemed a bit tattered, but Bai Liu didn't care. He had been sitting behind the man, accompanying him, and peering at it page by page for a long time.
Yet the instant the man turned his head, the white light disappeared.
Lu Yizhan's worried face appeared in front of him, and he called out while patting Bai Liu's face, "Hey! Hey! Bai Liu (6)!"
Bai Liu coughed and spat out a lot of water. He woke up in a daze. He lay on his back on the ground, his eyes dazed and his chest rising and falling silently. Meanwhile, Lu Yizhan was covered in water and stood aside, his hands on his knees as he gasped with exhaustion.
"Bai Liu (6), we will have to change your name after leaving here," Lu Yizhan said. "It is to prevent the teachers of this welfare home from discovering you again. This incident was too big. If the other welfare homes recognize you, it will be more difficult to accept you under the obstruction of the teachers of this welfare home."
Bai Liu was silent for a few seconds. "I don't accept changing the name too much."
Lu Yizhan wondered, "Why?"
Bai Liu looked sideways, his eyes blank as he stared at the pool in a trance. His voice was hoarse. "I don't know. I always feel that someone might... come to me under my original name."