Urban Tales of Demons and Spirits
Vol 1 Book of Thunder - Chapter 40 Adversary
Translator: Linc
Editor: Draygan
First Published on Chaleuria.
Chapter 40 Adversary
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
The woman's voice was ear-splittingly loud as if she was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was uglier and more terrifying than any other time like this and there didn't seem to be a reason for why she was yelling so loudly.
A young boy crouched on the floor, using his arms to protect his head. He wasn't crying, more because he didn't have any energy left to cry. He was focusing all of his energy in trying to find a way to avoid being brutally hit, but even so, he still couldn't escape her hand.
The woman picked the boy up easily and then roughly threw him aside. The boy couldn't keep his balance, tripping and falling to the floor. As soon as he landed, a heavy slap landed on his face.
"What did you say? I dare you to repeat it again!"
The boy hurriedly covered his face but instead got kicked in the stomach.
"I raised you all this time by myself! And you! What do you do to repay me?" The woman's loud screeching voice asked. "What is the point of you being alive? Hurry up and go die!"
Faced with the woman's anger, the boy could only shrink into himself, curling up into a little ball. He managed to avoid the rain of hits she landed down on him.
"You dare to avoid me, you little bastard!"
The boy could only resign himself to his fate, letting her fists hit him, not making a single noise.
After a while, the woman seemed to get tired of hitting him. She stood up and went into another room to pour herself a cup of water, gulping it down.
The boy continued to crouch in the corner, shivering. He didn't even dare to open his eyes.
He was familiar with her anger and feared it. She was prone to fits of anger that made her seem almost inhuman. Her twisted features and crude words made it seem like she could destroy him at any time.
The woman suddenly sighed and crouched down in front of the boy. The boy shook, backing up a step.
The woman didn't seem to mind, her tone the complete opposite of what it was before. "Yu-er… does it hurt?"
He shook even more from fear of that pet name.
"You need to know, mom only wants the best for you, understand? Your father is a bastard, running off and leaving the two of us behind. I worked really hard to raise you, you know, and it wasn't easy! Mom wants you to have a bright future, better than mom's, you know? So you need to listen to me, and that way you'll grow up to be a great adult, understand?"
He nodded numbly, out of primal fear, and didn't actually hear a single word she said.
"Okay then, come here and let me have a look at you." The woman reached out her arms to the boy.
But… he didn't dare. He was still too scared from the bottom of his heart to accept her invitation. He took another step back, instead of moving forward.
Her eyebrows rose, as did her voice, "Come here!" she said sharply.
The boy was startled into crying, running towards the woman.
"Good, that's the way." The woman held the boy close, petting his hair affectionately. "That's my good boy, Yu-er…" she murmured softly.
Yan City is a small city. Because it's so small, as soon as something happened, everyone seemed to know.
Especially when it came to college students, who had nothing better to do, but more than enough curiosity. As soon as something happened, within a day everyone would be discussing it.
"Hey, did you hear? A murderer apparently escaped to Yan City."
"No way! Are you for real? What murderer?"
"Of course it's real, it was all over the news. I think he escaped from a nearby city. He was a serial killer responsible for seven murder-rape cases involving young girls."
"Shit, that's terrifying. I don't want to lose my life just because I'm studying here."
"You're such a scaredy cat. That escaped murderer is already dead."
"Dead? What happened?"
"I'm not too clear either, but it seemed like he was planning to commit some crimes here in Yan City and was discovered. Then he was shot dead by the victim's family."
"Seriously? Sounds so fake."
"Man, it's all true, I watched the news. Also, I think there was someone from our school who was involved!"
"No way, who?"
I was sitting close to the table who were discussing this, eating my food. I could hear every word clearly, but I just quietly ate my dumplings, unmoved.
After such a big incident, discussions like this were naturally to be expected. It wasn't the first time I had heard people surrounding me discussing this topic. I figured it would be best to finish eating fast and then leave.
"Oh, didn't you know?"
At this point, a new voice suddenly joined into the discussion at that table. The speaker was a handsome-looking guy with fine features. Even without looking, I knew he was wearing designer brands from head to toe, standing out amongst the poor students surrounding him.
I glanced at him with vague disgust. His name was Liang Kaifeng and he was in my language studies course, majoring in foreign languages. I heard that his family was very rich, but no one knew why a rich boy like him would choose to attend school in such a remote place. To be honest, I didn't really care either.
I had originally thought that an average student like me wouldn't ever have any sort of interaction with a rich kid, but unfortunately, we did end up crossing paths like something out of a novel.
Approximately three days ago, not long after the case with Wang Zhong, he accidentally bumped into me when I was on my way to pass my homework to my teacher. However, not only did he not apologize, he actually had the gall to ask if I wasn't looking where I was going. At that point, I was already in a pretty bad mood and faced with such an accusation, I obviously started arguing with him. During our argument, we ended up finding out each other's names and classes.
"Gu Yu, is it? From the language department?" Liang Kaifeng glared at me, that expression was almost as if he wanted to bite me. "You're a bastard who doesn't care about anyone else. Do you know who I am? I'm telling you now, I'll get you for this sooner or later!"
At the time, I was only vaguely amused by this primary school level threat and didn't bother with him, leaving with a roll of my eyes. I didn't expect him to actually appear here, clearly going to spread rumors and cause trouble.
"The one who killed that murderer was Gu Yu from class 16. Didn't you guys know?" Liang Kaifeng asked with a surprised expression, speaking extremely loudly on purpose. "I heard that he was there at the scene and was taken away by the police for questioning. After he came back, he didn't talk at all and his hands were covered in blood."
The boys eating at the table probably knew who he was, they looked at him doubtfully but couldn't help their curiosity. "Oh… that can't be, right? Who did you hear it from?"
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