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Chapter 622  GONE

Has his words finally gotten to her?

Clem Shi\'s heart soared, hope blossoming in his chest… But then, like a candle snuffed out, it was gone. The emptiness returned, somehow even more terrifying than before.

"Yes, you\'re right," Liana spat the word like a curse. "I should do the best for my son, even if it means dying for him. So, Brother Shi, I won\'t be fooled!"

NO!

She took a step backward, and Clem Shi\'s world narrowed to a pinpoint. Her heels were at the very edge now, five stories of empty air yawning behind her. Little Hai\'s cries grew louder, more frantic, as if the baby sensed the danger.

"Brother Shi, I\'ll end this! I\'ll send this creature back to wherever it came from, so we can find our real son together."

"Liana, no!" The words tore from Clem Shi\'s throat, raw and desperate. "Give… Give him… Please, give him to me. I know you\'re sick, Liana… Whatever\'s happening, whatever you\'re feeling, we can face it together. But I\'m begging you… please, don\'t hurt our boy!"

She keeps forcing him to choose between her and his son every single day.

Tears streamed down Clem Shi\'s face, hot and bitter. His legs trembled, every muscle coiled to spring forward. But he remained frozen, terrified that any sudden movement would send Liana over the edge.

Heh.

Liana looked down at Little Hai, her face a mask of conflicting emotions. Doubt, fear, love, and revulsion warred across her features. "He\'s not..." she began, but her voice faltered.

How could Brother Shi not see that this was not their son? She felt pain for her son when seeing his father act this way.

\'Here\'s my chance!\'

Clem Shi seized on her hesitation, taking another careful step forward. He was close enough now to see the tears glistening in Liana\'s eyes, to smell the familiar scent of her shampoo. So close, yet she still felt so terrifyingly far.

"Look at him. He is Liana. I want you to take a hard good look at him," Clem Shi\'s voice was a caress, gentle yet insistent. "He has your nose, remember?" Clem Shi attempted a weak smile, though his heart kept threatening to burst out from his chest.

Liana\'s gaze remained fixed on Little Hai, her brow furrowed in concentration. \'Almost there…\'

Clem Shi held his breath, the moment stretching into eternity. The city around them faded away, leaving only this rooftop, this family balanced on a knife\'s edge between salvation and tragedy.

Slowly, achingly slowly, Liana\'s expression began to change. The emptiness in her eyes gave way to confusion, then dawning horror. She looked up at Clem Shi, and Clem Shi in turn saw his wife – truly saw her – for the first time since this nightmare began.

"Brother Shi?" she whispered, her voice small and broken. "Why don\'t you believe-"

Clem Shi\'s knees buckled, and he had to fight to remain standing. "It\'s okay, I believe you now." he soothed, his voice thick with emotion. "You\'ve done all this to make me believe. Dammit woman, do you know we\'re on the roof now? Believe me, everything\'s going to be fine. Can you come towards me? Slowly?"

Liana nodded, looking dazed and terrified. And for some reason, she chose to believe in her husband. Her Clem Shi didn\'t know the first thing about lying.

So if he said he believed, then he definitely believed.

Oh my Mother of Pearls! It was only now that she truly looked at her surroundings well. She felt she was quite courageous to come on the edge of the roof. The fall would definitely leave some bones cracked.

Taking a deep breath, she took a tentative step forward, then another. Clem Shi\'s arms ached to grab her, to pull her and Little Hai to safety, but he forced himself to remain still. One wrong move could shatter this fragile moment.

.

What a night.

As Liana reached him, Clem Shi gently wrapped one arm around her waist, guiding her away from the edge. With his other hand, he cradled Little Hai\'s head, sandwiching their son between them in a protective embrace.

"I\'ve got you," he murmured, pressing a kiss to Liana\'s forehead. "I\'ve got both of you. You\'re safe now."

For a moment, they stood there, a \'family\' reunited. Clem Shi could feel Liana trembling against him, and could hear Little Hai\'s soft whimpers. He closed his eyes, offering a silent thanks to whatever willpower deep within him that had brought them back from the brink.

But as he opened his eyes, ready to guide his family back to the safety of their home, he felt Liana stiffen in his arms.

"No," she whispered, her voice suddenly hard again. "No, this isn\'t right."

What again, woman?

Before Clem Shi could react, Liana shoved him away with surprising strength. He stumbled backward, his arms pinwheeling as he fought to keep his balance. By the time he regained his footing, Liana was already halfway across the roof, Little Hai clutched tightly to her chest.

What sort of trials and tribulations was this?

"Liana, stop!" Clem Shi cried out, his voice raw with renewed fear and desperation.

"Please, just stop, Liana"

But Liana didn\'t stop. She ran to the far side of the roof. With one arm holding Little Hai, she began to climb down the vines on her own. But where? Where was she going?

Clem Shi sprinted after her, his bare feet slapping against the rough surface of the roof. Each step was agony, but he barely felt it. All he could focus on was Liana, climbing lower and lower with their son dangling precariously in her grasp.

Soon, he reached the bottom and chased after her with the spirit of a lion. But because he was barefoot, Liana was faster than him, running on stones, twigs, bushes and whatnot.

Behind their home a little further away, was a forest with a well. In the olden days. As he pulled himself onto the platform, gasping for breath, he saw Liana standing at the far edge. Little Hai was no longer in her arms.

"Liana," Clem Shi said, his voice a ragged whisper. "Where\'s Little Hai?"

"Brother Shi, did you lie to be back then on the roof?"

Liana turned to face him, and Clem Shi felt the last shreds of hope wither and die. Her eyes were completely black again, reflecting the starlight like twin pools of oil. But now her face was split in a rictus grin, a parody of joy that chilled Clem Shi to his very soul.

"Brother Shi, how many times must I tell you," she questioned, her voice distorted and inhuman. "He-is-NOT our son."

With those words, Liana stepped backward off into the woods. What was she trying to do? The direction she ran off to was towards the old mine cliff.

"Liana!" Clem Shi lunged forward, a scream tearing from his throat. Following her, he witnessed exactly what he feared. And without wasting a second, he threw himself to the edge, looking down, expecting to see Liana\'s broken.

Instead, he saw... nothing. No sign of Liana, no sign of Little Hai. Just the empty woods, bathed in cold, indifferent moonlight.

What should he do now?

.

Clem Shi sank to his knees, a keening wail building in his chest. "This can\'t be happening. It has to be a nightmare... I\'ll definitely wake up any moment now, and find Liana and Little Hai safe in their beds."

Yes! And in the morning, he will wake up, and they would also laugh about this over breakfast, just another strange dream to be forgotten in the light of day.

Clem Shi desperately wished it was a dream.

But as the cool night air raised goosebumps on his skin and the distant sounds of the city reached his ears – so normal, so oblivious to the horror that had just unfolded – Clem Shi knew this was no dream. His wife was gone. His son was gone. And he was alone in the woods with no idea what had just happened or what to do next. Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn

As he sat there, numb with shock and grief, Clem Shi noticed something glinting on the platform.

What was that?

He reached out with a trembling hand and picked it up.

It was the bracelet he had given Liana, the one with their names on it. This bracelet brought in immense joy in the past. But now it felt different – heavier, somehow, and thrumming with a strange energy that made his fingers tingle.

Clem Shi clutched the bracelet tightly, feeling it pulse against his palm like a tiny, metallic heartbeat. And as he stared out at the skyline, the town he thought he knew so well, suddenly seemed vast and unknowable, full of shadows and secrets he had never imagined.

Whatever had happened here tonight, Clem Shi knew one thing with bone-deep certainty: he would not rest until he found them and brought them home… even if it meant bringing the entire police squadron over to look for his wife and son!

The night wind whispered around him, carrying the faint echo of Liana\'s otherworldly laugh. Clem Shi stood, the silver bracelet now coiled around his fist like a lifeline.

Clem Shi didn\'t know how he got home, but when he did, he heard the faint sound of a baby-crying in the kitchen.

"Liana?" Tears fell in a blink of an eye as he reunited with his Little Hai. However, after searching and searching for his ill wife, he couldn\'t find a single being in sight.

Gone— His wife, Liana, was gone. And in a place where he couldn\'t see, Little Hai\'s eyes now glowed with a vicious light.

\'Human, don\'t let me catch you, or… heh-heh-heh\'