Chapter 10
Edward Quan ·
"Stop fighting."
I clutched my belly.
It felt as though thousands of invisible threads were pulling taut inside me.
The baby kicked over and over.
"Mommy!"
"Run!"
I gritted my teeth and stood.
Mr. Lu shook the bronze bell hard.
Clang!
The pain eased immediately.
Then Dr. Lin drove in the needle a second time.
I crumpled.
Mr. Lu clenched his teeth.
"They already have something to bind the spell to!"
I gasped.
"What?"
"Hair. Blood. Anything carrying your essence."
I remembered my prenatal examinations.
Dr. Lin had taken my blood so many times.
My teeth ground together.
"Her!"
Mr. Lu said no more.
He took a red talisman from his robe and pressed it onto my belly.
Warmth spread through me.
The pain slowly subsided.
"Go!"
He pushed me toward the stairs.
I stumbled down into the basement.
Behind me, the wooden door burst apart.
Bang!
Mingyuan's voice followed.
"Qinghe!"
"You can't get away!"
I ran into the room with the seventeen coffins.
The iron door slammed behind me.
I leaned against the wall, panting.
Mr. Lu stayed outside.
I heard the bronze bell.
Crashes.
Shouts.
Then everything stopped.
Shaking, I called, "Mr. Lu?"
No answer.
"Mr. Lu!"
Silence.
I reached for the door.
The child spoke at once.
"Don't open it."
I stopped.
"But he…"
"Mommy."
Her voice was very small.
"He isn't a good man."
I stared.
"What?"
"He's lying to you."
My thoughts tangled.
"But he saved us."
"Yes."
"Then why…"
A long silence.
At last, she said, "Because he needs you to open the seventeenth coffin willingly."
I turned sharply.
The last coffin stood in the corner.
The same words marked its lid.
【Mommy, I don't blame you this time.】
I stared at it.
Suddenly, I realized something.
Since we'd entered this room, Mr. Lu had never actually told me to open a coffin.
But he'd kept deliberately drawing my attention to the seventeenth.
Why?
Slowly, I approached.
"Mommy, don't touch it."
I stopped.
"What's inside?"
No answer.
"Is it your body?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Her voice trembled.
"A lie."
I froze.
Just then, Mr. Lu's voice came from behind the door.
"Qinghe!"
I turned.
"You're alive?"
"No time to talk!"
He sounded urgent.
"Open the seventeenth coffin!"
I went cold.
"There's something inside that can save you!"
I looked from the coffin to the door.
"Mr. Lu."
"What?"
"Why do I have to open it?"
"There's no time to explain!"
"I want to know."
He fell silent.
Slowly, I said, "You told me the Chens wanted to use my child to break the seal."
"Yes!"
"But now you're telling me to open a coffin."
"It's the only way!"
"What if I don't?"
Silence outside.
After a very long time, his voice changed.
No longer old.
No longer hoarse.
Young.
Cold.
"Qinghe."
"You're as clever as you were the last seventeen times."
I backed away.
He laughed.
"What a pity."
"No amount of cleverness will help."
The iron door shook.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Holding my belly, I retreated against the wall.
Suddenly, the baby spoke.
"Mommy."
"There's something I haven't told you."
Trembling, I asked, "What?"
Silence.
Then she said, "The last seventeen times…"
"You didn't always kill me."
I went numb.
"Then why did you say that?"
Her voice caught.
"Because I wanted you to be afraid."
I didn't understand.
"If you were afraid of me, you wouldn't trust anyone else."
"If you didn't trust them, you wouldn't hand me over."
I stood motionless.
"You lied to me?"
"Yes."
"Then the marks on you…"
"They're real."
"But you didn't make them."
I covered my mouth.
Tears poured down my face.
Her voice was tiny.
"Mommy."
"I'm sorry."
I shook my head.
"No."
"You don't need to apologize."
I held my belly.
"I'm the one who couldn't protect you."
The iron door took another heavy blow.
A crack appeared.
Mr. Lu's voice rang out.