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Chapter 156 - The Corridor of Time (XII)

Editor: Humu & Kitty

It was Feng YuLan.

Luo Jian stood in front of the alley with an umbrella. He saw that person slowly walking into the alley. He was very short and was about seven or eight years old. He wore his school uniform and short length pants. He carried an interesting Mickey school bag. However, he was awkwardly walking forward. His foot seemed to be injured, and his body was slightly slanted as he walked.

Luo Jian’s father and Ah Lan’s parents were close friends. They met when they were very young and were classmates in the first and second grades of elementary school. At that time, they were neighbors. However, Luo Jian was sent to the countryside by his parents to nurse him because he was ill. Later, when he was in junior high school, he returned to the city.

Therefore, to be exact, it was only in junior high school that Luo Jian really got to know Feng YuLan. In elementary school, there was a large time gap before they really communicated. At that time, Feng YuLan was someone Luo Jian did not know.

Was he often bullied when he was a child?

Luo Jian held his umbrella and approached the child, Feng YuLan. Little Ah Lan kept his head lowered. There were blue and purple marks around his mouth, arms, and legs. Luo Jian could tell that he had fought with others. This was hardly strange because Ah Lan had always been soft tempered and not as strong as other boys. Although he was very cheerful, there were still some people who felt that he didn’t look pleasant to their eyes.

When Ah Lan and Luo Jian were together, they often beat people who came to find trouble with them. Usually, Luo Jian was the one who was more talented in fighting, so he was the one who stood in front of Ah Lan to protect him. However, each of them had their strengths. For example, in academics, Ah Lan had always been more intelligent, and he remembered things very quickly. Even if he never studied anything before the exam, he just needed to cram everything in his head the night before the exam. This fool would then be able to get a high score.

Thinking about it now, Luo Jian thought that the extraordinary ability to remember and learning ability of Ah Lan was also a kind of embodiment of spiritual power. After all, the power that the secret chamber felt was a reflection of Ah Lan’s capabilities was magic.

Oh right, Ah Lan seemed to somewhat have split personality disorder, but he did not know when it started.

Luo Jian thought about problems like this. He held an umbrella to keep up with little Ah Lan’s footsteps and ran to his side. What made Luo Jian a little surprised was that he seemed to notice something and suddenly turned his head to look in Luo Jian’s direction.

When he was a child, Feng Yulan’s face was tender, pink, and plump, and his eyes were dark and bright. In all manners, he was very cute. However, his expression on his face was too stiff and rigid, which didn’t look like an innocent child...... On the contrary, seeing Feng YuLan’s expression, Luo Jian couldn’t help but recall the expression of Owl in the punishment chamber.

Although little Ah Lan seemed to be aware of Luo Jian’s existence to a certain extent, he actually could not see anything. He looked around to the left and to the right. Seeing that there was no one around him, he continued to walk deeper into the alley. He could not see that there was a distinct living person trailing behind him.

Little Ah Lan headed deeper into the alley. There was a small door in the innermost part of the alley. Inside, it was an empty abandoned room. The room was very small and narrow, and there was nothing in it. There were even some sundries from the former owner. On the ground, there was an old cotton wadding and an old bed sheet. There was a person lying on the simple ‘bed’.

Little Ah Lan entered the room. The first thing he did was to close the door, and in the moment when he turned to close the door, Luo Jian crept into the room behind him. But Ah Lan did not notice. Instead, he nervously looked around the surrounding environment and saw that there was no one around the abandoned and dirty alley, so he closed the door firmly.

Then the room darkened instantly.

Little Ah Lan groped around in the room for a long time. There was no electric light in the abandoned house, so he directly lit the candlestick on the ground, and the light illuminated everything in the room.

The room was left unattended to. It was estimated that this was the sundry room of a certain owner. It was specially used for stacking sundries, boxes, and large bags. There were some tools, supplies and parts, but they were all covered with thick dust. No one had used it for a long time. There was also an old bicycle in the corner of the room, which was parked against the wall.

The debris was cleared and stacked aside, and the empty space was covered with old cotton wadding and old sheets, and a temporary bed was set up. The person lying on the bed was covered with a blanket, and the person curled up and put his head underneath the blanket. Judging from the figure of the person, it seemed that he was not an adult, but a teenager.

This was the first time Luo Jian had come across such a hidden place. He had never heard Ah Lan mention it before. Come to think of it, Ah Lan also kept some secrets and he did not tell Luo Jian those secrets. However, although Luo Jian felt that it was not good for him to pry into the secrets of his good friend, he was unwilling to leave. He put his sight on little Ah Lan.

Luo Jian felt that he had not seen his friend for a long time.

Although he was able to see him using such mystical methods today, the other party couldn’t know the existence of Luo Jian. He couldn’t communicate with him directly, couldn’t shout out his name, and couldn’t hug him.

And he didn’t know in which year and month their next meeting would be.

Luo Jian couldn’t help sighing. He looked at the movements of little Ah Lan. Ah Lan lit the candle and rummaged around in his school bag. He dug out a lot of things, such as water and some snacks as well as gauze and medicinal liquids.

Little Ah Lan seemed to move in an orderly way. He took out a towel and wet it with water. Then he went to the man who was lying on the bed. He knelt at the edge of the cotton wadding and slightly lifted the blanket covering the person. The person lying in the bed seemed to have noticed and had keen senses. He suddenly reached out, and in his hand was a shiny blade.

In that instant when the other party’s knife swung forward, little Ah Lan was suddenly startled. Luo Jian took a step forward. He thought that the other party wanted to hurt Ah Lan, and he instinctively wanted to move into a protective position. However, before the action was taken, the man lying on the bed withdrew the blade and sat up with much difficulty.

He was a teenager, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with long black hair...... His hair, which seemed to have not been cut and tidied for a long time, scattered in front of his forehead. His clothes were a little dirty and stained with blood. Luo Jian felt he looked like a vagabond.

But even so, Luo Jian still recognized this young man...... It was Duan Li.

Luo Jian could not help blinking. He realized that Duan Li and Ah Lan had known each other since a long time ago.

But it seemed that after this, they once again encountered each other, but they drew their knives, pointed them at each other, and pretended that they didn’t know each other. Luo Jian remembered that Duan Li had also chased after Ah Lan in an attempt to slaughter him, which was why he didn’t like Duan Li very much, but...... was that why?

Little Ah Lan was not afraid that the boy in front of him would sheath his knife and stab him. He held his wet towel up, climbed up to Duan Li’s body, and wiped the other party’s cheek with a towel. Duan Li did not resist as he held the child’s waist with one hand and let him hold a towel to wipe his face.

Duan Li had not been disfigured at this time. After wiping his face clean, a handsome face was revealed. His hair was too long and too disorderly. Moreover, there was a bloody wound at the corner of his mouth, which seemed to have been cut by some sharp weapon. When he wiped Duan Li’s face, little Ah Lan would be very considerate as he avoided the wound.

“I brought you water and snacks.” A smile finally appeared on Little Ah Lan’s stiff face, slightly showing the naivety and innocence a child would have. He also rubbed against Duan Li’s chest to show his dependency on him.

Duan Li’s attention was not on what he said. He touched the child’s face and frowned: “Did you fight with your classmates again?”

Little Ah Lan frowned unconsciously. Thinking of this, his small face was wrinkled into a ball. Ah Lan said, “They scribbled on my exercise book and put glue on my chair. I told the teacher and they came to beat me up.”

“How useless.” Duan Li bad-temperedly pulled Ah Lan’s face, “Why didn’t you beat them back?”

“There were too many of them. Alone, I can’t beat them all, but it doesn’t matter.” Little Ah Lan showed a cunning smile, “Anyway, what I told the teacher will pile up, plus the class monitor will testify for me, the teacher will definitely call their parents individually, and they will be beaten by their parents when they return home.”

Duan Li also laughed and pinched Ah Lan’s cheek. He whispered, “You cunning boy.”

“Big brother, don’t get into fights with others.” Ah Lan looked at Duan Li who was in a good mood and said: “You bleed every time, and you don’t want to go to legal hospitals. The black-hearted clinic there must have charged a lot more money when you visit there every time.”

Duan Li smiled and touched Ah Lan’s head: “It doesn’t matter. I, your big brother, have money.”

Ah Lan saw that his persuasion failed, and he angrily puffed up his cheeks, “All your money will be squandered away, seeing how fast you spend them.”

Luo Jian stood quietly at the corner as he listened to their conversation. He carefully looked at Duan Li in front of him. The distance between them was still very small. Duan Li did not give him good vibes. Luo Jian knew that Duan Li had already entered the secret chamber because as a child of that age, he began to emit the smell of blood.

Luo Jian couldn’t help but sigh. He did not know whether it was good or bad for the two children to have a relationship, but Luo Jian was powerless to stop anything because he found that the two children seemed to have known each other for a period of time. Little Ah Lan couldn’t help but call out to his big brother and climb on his body.

Duan Li also allowed him to do so. At this time, Luo Jian could not see the slightest hint of Duan Li’s distorted personality in the future. Duan Li was so gentle now it was unlike him. The duo conversed for a while, and they seemingly became bored. The child dug out Gobang from his bag and began to have a match with Duan Li.

“Where did you get this Gobang?”

“It rained in P.E. class so it was changed to chess class. The sports committee members took many of these board games so I secretly took one as well.”

“How absurd!” Duan Li began to pull Ah Lan’s face: “This is stealing.”

“Not really. I indicated to the sports committee member that I will return it secretly next time.” Ah Lan shook the chess pieces out and turned the black and white chess pieces on the ground over. The two people begin to pick up the chess pieces under the dim lighting of the candle.

After that, the two began to childishly play Gobang and discussed certain not-so-marginal topics.

Luo Jian, who was beside them, stayed silent in the dark corner with his umbrella not leaving his hand and watched the two people playing chess by candlelight. This scene seemed a little far from Luo Jian. He felt that he and the duo were like people from two different worlds. No matter how much Luo Jian wanted to head over, he could not.

However, Duan Li’s casual statements suddenly attracted Luo Jian’s attention. And when he talked about this topic, Luo Jian was even given a shock by him because he heard Duan Li say, “I played an interesting and terrifying game, you know, the one I told you before.”

Little Ah Lan incessantly nodded: “En, en, I know, you told me before.”

Duan Li seemed to be struggling about whether he should or should not talk about these with Ah Lan. However, he thought that Ah Lan was still so small, and he couldn’t remember much of what he said. Moreover, if he coincidentally intentionally divulged to someone, most of them couldn’t understand it. Now, Duan Li couldn’t wait to find someone to talk to.

So Duan Li said: “That terrifying game, it seems that a huge group is responsible for it. Ah Lan knows what the word group means?”

“A big family consisting of many, many people.” Ah Lan tilted his head to think about it, and answered Duan Li: “The teacher said that our school is funded by some kind of group, so the school was established!”

Duan Li rubbed Ah Lan’s head with a smile: “Almost, but this group is terrifying. There are many, many bad people in it. There are also some good people in it. They were caught by the group and forced to do certain things. I have encountered such a...... He was crazily seeking for help, hoping someone can help him.”

“Caught by bad people? Why can’t we call the police uncles?” Little Ah Lan asked innocently.

Duan Li’s face darkened: “Because even a police uncle is one of the members involved in this terrifying organization.”

What Duan Li had said made Luo Jian feel anything but reassured.

It seemed that there were some problems Luo Jian constantly did not perceive.

T/N: Thank you ChrysAmans for your kofis ! Three bonus chapters will be published by this week.