Last Bus of Route 13

Old Lady Qiu’s sudden glance sent a chill down Shuilian’s spine, causing her to cry out in fear.

Realizing we had been spotted, I quickly grabbed Shuilian’s hand and we dashed away.

We ran all the way to the edge of the village. Only when we were sure no one was following did we dare to catch our breath.

Panting heavily, Shuilian asked, “Brother Li, Old Lady Qiu always seemed normal before. Why did she look so terrifying just now?”

I calmed myself and replied, “That old lady was cutting Paper Men in the middle of the night. It’s creepy, and I suspect those men in white working in the fields are somehow connected to her paper cutting.”

Shuilian frowned, her voice tense. “So, does that mean the little girl was really taken by Old Lady Qiu?”

I sighed and nodded. “There’s no proof, but I’d say it’s very likely.”

Shuilian fell silent, but I could see her eyes welling up with tears, on the verge of crying.

We had made noise by the window earlier, and I wasn’t sure if Old Lady Qiu had seen our faces. Fearing she might come after us, I quickly sent Shuilian home without further discussion.

Back at my place, I couldn’t shake off my unease. If those men in white were indeed Paper Men crafted by Old Lady Qiu, it meant she had some real skills. Rescuing the little girl from her wouldn’t be easy!

I barely managed to sleep until dawn. Early in the morning, Shuilian came to me, worried, to discuss how to save the little girl.

We didn’t know the extent of Old Lady Qiu’s abilities and couldn’t act recklessly. First, we needed to confirm where she was keeping the little girl.

After breakfast, Shuilian and I went to stake out near Old Lady Qiu’s house.

Her home seemed ordinary. After some smoke rose from the chimney in the morning, there was no further activity. We waited until noon, but Old Lady Qiu never left the house.

I started to wonder: the smoke meant she was inside, but why wasn’t she coming out? What was she doing in there?

Shuilian was getting restless and whispered, “Brother Li, why don’t we just go in and check? She’s just an old lady; what are we afraid of?”

I shook my head. “No, she’s got something strange about her. We don’t know enough. If we rush in, not only might we fail to save the girl, but we could also get into trouble.”

Shuilian bit her lip, unsure of what to do, and sighed repeatedly in frustration.

Just then, the door to Old Lady Qiu’s house creaked open.

Wearing her red scarf, she shuffled out. First, she fed the chickens in the yard, then took some grain from the storage room to lay out in the sun.

After finishing these chores, she headed straight for the gate and walked out.

Shuilian and I ducked our heads, watching her cautiously.

Old Lady Qiu’s face was stern, her pace unhurried. As she turned onto the village road, I thought I saw a strange smile flicker across her lips.

Had we been discovered?

My heart skipped a beat, but then I reasoned: we were hiding far enough away, and she hadn’t looked in our direction. She shouldn’t have noticed us. So why was she smiling?

Once Old Lady Qiu was out of sight, I whispered to Shuilian, “Keep watch here for me. I’m going inside to see if the little girl is there.”

Shuilian nodded nervously.

I didn’t dare to waste any time and quickly slipped into the courtyard, opened the door, and entered the house.

The layout of rural brick houses is quite similar, and Old Lady Qiu’s house had three rooms. The room where we saw her cutting Paper Men last night was the easternmost one.

Upon entering the door, I found myself in the kitchen, with a west room to the left and another room facing north at the back of the kitchen.

I hurried to the door of the west room and pushed it open, only to be startled.

Inside the room was a large Black Cat, entirely black without a single speck of color, not even a hint of white in its eyes.

The Black Cat lay lazily on the kang, and upon seeing me, it didn’t react like other cats by scurrying away in fright. Instead, it simply closed its eyes without moving.

I steadied myself and carefully examined the room.

Besides the large Black Cat on the kang, there were several bags of various sizes, all open and filled with assorted grains.

I sighed; the little girl wasn’t here.

Just as I was about to close the door and check the room in the kitchen, the Black Cat suddenly opened its eyes, its pupils narrowing with a fierce gaze, revealing fangs sharp as needles!

Was this cat going to bite?

Panicked, I quickly shut the door. Through the corridor window, I saw Shuilian in the courtyard, anxiously gesturing for me to come out.

Old Lady Qiu must have returned.

There was no time to check the room in the kitchen. Regretfully, I glanced towards the door and seemed to spot some long strands of hair on the floor!

Although the little girl was young, her hair wasn’t short. Could this hair belong to her? Had she been harmed?

A surge of impulse made me want to rush into the kitchen to find out, but Shuilian, seeing I hadn’t come out, pressed against the window, fearfully pounding on the glass.

In the end, I swallowed my urge, deciding to find another opportunity, and pushed the door open to leave.

As soon as I stepped out, Shuilian grabbed my wrist and hurriedly pulled me towards the courtyard exit.

While running, she anxiously said, “Old Lady Qiu is back. I saw her carrying a big sack. I’m scared.”

We ran out of the courtyard and hid again.

She couldn’t wait to ask, “Brother Li, is the little girl inside?”

I shook my head and said, “I checked one room, but no one was there. I suspect she might be in another room.”

Shuilian nodded silently.

Soon, Old Lady Qiu appeared from the village entrance, carrying a bulging sack into the courtyard, and during the process, a piece of white paper fell from the sack.

I stared at the white paper on the ground, puzzled. The sack seemed to be filled with such white paper. Was she planning to cut all these papers into Paper Men?

We waited there for several more hours, but after Old Lady Qiu carried the paper into the house, she didn’t come out again.

I guessed she was inside cutting Paper Men and wouldn’t be coming out anytime soon, so I told Shuilian to go home for dinner while I continued to keep watch.

Initially, Shuilian was reluctant to leave, but after my repeated persuasion, she agreed to go home. As she was leaving, she suddenly thought of something and said, “Brother Li, waiting for her to come out like this isn’t a solution. How about I go find someone to help us?”

I knew it was somewhat foolish to just wait blindly, but when Shuilian suggested seeking help, I became intrigued and asked:

“Get help? How?”

Shuilian whispered:

“Uncle Zhou has the best relationship with Old Lady Qiu in the village. I’ll go ask Uncle Zhou to lure her away, and then you can go into the house to save her.”

Delighted by the news, I had originally thought Old Lady Qiu was a reclusive oddball, but it turned out she also had friends.

Seeing my agreement, Shuilian hurried off to seek Uncle Zhou’s help.

The longer the little girl stayed inside the house, the more dangerous it became. Fearing that I might not hear any sounds from inside, I quickly stepped out and hid at the corner of the courtyard wall.

I thought to myself, if I could just hear the little girl’s cries for help, I would risk my life to confront Old Lady Qiu!

However, from morning till evening, the house remained eerily quiet, with not a single unusual sound emanating from it.

I don’t know how long I waited, but the sun had set, and although I was concerned for the little girl’s safety and had not eaten all day, I felt no hunger.

Had Uncle Zhou refused to help after all this time?

I was becoming truly impatient. There was long hair in front of the room door in the kitchen; the little girl must be inside. Night had fallen, and how much longer could I just wait?

The little girl was so adorable; if Old Lady Qiu really put her in a pot to cook…

I dared not continue with that thought and, gritting my teeth, stood up ready to rush into the house.

Just as I took a step, I suddenly heard a low shout from behind:

“Brother Li! Come here!”

Turning around, I saw Shuilian coming back, beaming with excitement.

I hurried over to her, and before I could even ask, Shuilian quickly said:

“I begged Uncle Zhou for a long time, and he finally agreed to help. Uncle Zhou will be here soon from behind, and he will draw Old Lady Qiu to his home. When that happens, you hurry and rescue her.”

Finally, a breakthrough! I nodded excitedly and hid with Shuilian on the side.

Sure enough, after about three to five minutes, a tall middle-aged man hurried from the village entrance and entered Old Lady Qiu’s house.

After a short while, he and Old Lady Qiu came out together.

Seeing that the plan had worked, I was overjoyed. Once the two of them disappeared at the village entrance, I asked Shuilian to keep watch and quickly slipped back into the house.

This time I had a clear goal, heading straight for the kitchen door that was tightly shut.

Reaching the door, I noticed more hair than I had seen during the day.

My heart tightened, and I quickly tried to push the door, but to my surprise, it wouldn’t budge despite being unlocked.

Sweating profusely, I knocked on the wooden door and whispered inside:

“Little sister, it’s Uncle who borrowed your mobile phone, are you in there?”

There was no response.

After several calls with no reply, I felt even more anxious. Had the little girl passed out?

I looked around and found a piece of firewood, which I grabbed and started smashing and kicking the wooden door.

But the door still wouldn’t open even a crack.

As time ticked away, I didn’t know how long Uncle Zhou could keep Old Lady Qiu away, and I grew more panicked. I searched the kitchen again and found an ax in the pile of firewood.

Clenching my teeth, I began to hack at the door with the ax, and after a fierce bout of chopping, I finally broke a large hole in the door.

With one kick, “squeak,” the door finally opened.

“Little sister!!”

I shouted inside and was about to rush in, but what I saw in the room stopped me dead in my tracks, and the ax fell from my hands.

There was no little girl in the room; it was completely empty.

I had clearly seen Old Lady Qiu follow Uncle Zhou out of the house, but now she was standing in the middle of the room, staring at me with a disturbing smile!!!