The frog, that had been trapped for so many years within the stone and just released recently, couldn't come into contact with the dirty air outside. Taking this into consideration, Fan Jialuo bought a glass aquarium for it. It was a three-foot long square-shaped aquarium that could be covered from the top to isolate its interiors from any external factors.

In truth, a common aquarium couldn't be regarded as a good habitat for the frog, because there would only be sloshing water, without any land for it to stay on.

Such an environment wouldn't be good for the frog's health.

For this reason, Fan Jialuo headed to the flower and bird market in the middle of the night, and bought some rockeries, water plants, fine sand, shells, along with other items to make some bedding.

It was three or four o'clock in the morning when he finally finished setting all this up. The little frog was then placed in a cave among the rockery. It curled up its short limbs, closed its big eyes, and simply lay there motionless.

If someone unaware of the entire incident looked at it, they would treat the frog as nothing more than a plastic product. Like the water plants, fine sand, and snail shell; it would look just another one of the toys used to decorate the aquarium.

Only people with keen eyesight would discover that the scorched yellow film, which had covered the surface of its skin for years, had now begun to turn into a sticky gel-like film, after being moistened by the humid air.

Once the gel completely dissolves, which could be tomorrow, or maybe the day after tomorrow, this creature, who had been imprisoned for a hundred years, would finally be able to wake up from its slumber.

It might not understand what it had experienced, for its lack of intelligence would not be able to reason about the dark and hopeless past that it had endured, but the survival instinct rooted in its genes should have already prepared it for the opportunity of a rebirth.

It was indeed a miracle of life.

This empty apartment, temporarily rented by Fan Jialuo, finally had some life.

He placed the aquarium on the small tea table placed in the balcony, and wrapped a magnetic field around it to further isolate it from the dirty air of the outside. Then he sat to the side and watched it with fascination, not missing a single moment of the process— as the layer of yellow film turned into a gel-like substance and melted into the humid air.

He quietly experienced the whole process of life that was taking place in front of his eyes— going from nothingness to existence, from the state of death to that of brimming with life.

Instead of spending his time sleeping in the bathtub as usual, that night, Fan Jialuo sat quietly on the balcony, all the way until the morning dew wet the tips of his hair.

While he was obsessed with this vigor of life, Mother Xu, who lived downstairs, felt trapped, and every second that passed felt just like a year.

In the apartment that covered more than 180 square meters of space, she had nowhere to hide. No matter where she hid, the child would always find her, and after finding her, he stared at her, quietly.

This kind of haunting, where one literally became another person's shadow, was far more unbearable to the person suffering from it than being directly inflicted with cruel violence. Mother Xu was left in a state of constant fear because of this child, she kept fluctuating between screams of terror and cries for mercy.

She called the police, only to realize that she couldn't explain what it was that was threatening her.

So, she called her husband next. In the beginning, he would respond and ask about her situation. But after learning that the child had never left her alone, he no longer bothered to listen any further and directly blacklisted her.

With nowhere to go, Mother Xu could only think to call the property management company, but no one answered the phone there. With no other options left, she walked out onto the balcony and shouted for help, but this bitter shout was engulfed and drowned out by the raging wind outside.

No one came to rescue her.

In this building, the despondent shouts that emerged because of painful struggles seemed to have become the norm.

Mother Xu was completely desperate. It was only at this moment that she finally understood the meaning behind the saying 'cry out to the heavens, but the heavens don't respond; cry out to the earth, but the earth is impervious'.

Violent beatings, merciless abuse, personal attacks and hunger punishments were no longer effective against this walking corpse. Because he was dead, he could no longer feel any pain, and thus was unafraid of getting hurt in any manner.

From a long time ago, she had cut off all paths available to this child, thereby rendering the child unable to even seek help and escape from her presence. Now, that same child had returned, and was returning all the suffering he had undergone to her, one piece at a time.

Eventually, she curled up inside a small cupboard, and tightly kept its door closed, whilst trying to hypnotize herself at the same time by saying that everything would be all right. However, with his thin arms, that child easily dismantled the cupboard door to get to her.

She finally collapsed, crying and pleading helplessly, "Xu Yiyang, I know I'm wrong. I shouldn't have beaten you and scolded you before. Please let me go! I beg you to let me go!"

She cried so hard and so long that snot and tears filled her mouths, but that child continued to stare at her with a numb expression, giving her no response. He simply squatted ther, in front of the door of the cabinet that had been completely broken in his hands, as he watched her with a pair or pitch black eyes.

No changes of light and shadow could be seen happening within his eyes, nor was there any emotion being expressed. There was only endless darkness.

Mother Xu fell deeper into fear upon realizing that she couldn't even glimpse his inner world through such eyes. She firmly believed that this child had come back for revenge, and that he would torture her to death.

Her terrible fear finally turned into great courage.

Emboldened for some reason, Mother Xu stretched out her hand and gave the child a hard push. Then she climbed out of the cupboard, picked up her mobile phone and wallet and ran out of the house.

She ran wildly though the community, and panting heavily, darted her eyes around from time to time, hoping that a security guard might suddenly appear from some dark corner to rescue her.

She finally understood just what the child had been thinking each time he had been beaten to the point of having to run away from the house—he had also been looking for someone to save him.

But there was no one. The community was full of shadows cast by dim street lamps, and the rustling of the wind against treetops was the only sound to be heard, but there was no one else there, she was the only one there, all alone.

Mother Xu ran all the way to the security booth, but it's interiors were empty. The light casted by the TV attracted her attention. A costume drama was playing on the screen, but it was strangely quiet because she could not hear any of the sounds coming from the TV.

Her pupils shrank increasingly, until they were thinner than the tip of a needle. The scene before her stimulated her nerves and made her scream out in fear.

No person, no sound, no daylight—only eternal night—wasn't such an environment eerily akin to a ghost town?

Could it be that she had been trapped in such a world by that child?

Like the colorless world in 'Silent Hill'?

This kind of imagery frightened Mother Xu. She turned and ran towards the gate. She had to see what the outside world was like, and had to know whether she could get herself back to reality.

The Moon Bay Garden Community was truly too remote. A highway wound around in the dark in front of it, but there were no signs of human activity on either side of the road.

Mother Xu didn't know just how far she had run, but by the time she finally saw the headlights of an approaching car, she realized that she had managed to even lose her shoes. The soles of her feet were covered in red bloodstains.

"Stop, stop. Take me to the city, okay? I'll give you the money!" She took out her wallet and frantically shoved all the cash she could find into the driver's face.

An hour later, she finally arrived at the city, and was very relieved to discover that she was still in the original world, and had not been spirited away into a ghost town.

The feeling of once again integrating into the real world felt so good that she couldn't help tearing up excitedly at the sight of a hotel signboard.

It was at this point in time that she finally realized that she felt pain all over her body, and that her skin was covered with bruises, she looked as if she had been beaten up by someone.

But the truth was that no violence had been inflicted upon her. The bruises that littered her skin had been caused by her own actions, when she had bumped against furniture and so forth in the process of avoiding her son's 'pursuit'.

The marks she once left on that child would now become hers alone, but she didn't realize the subtle samsara that revolves endlessly. She simply ran into the hotel in ecstasy and mindlessly reserved a room.

After this entire ordeal, she was so tired that she had to find a safe place to hide herself.

The mobile phone she had managed to bring soon ran out of power and its screen darkened completely after two dying beeps. There were only two coins and a credit card left in her wallet, her feet were bare from when she had lost her shoes, and even a few holes could be seen in her clothes now...

Mother Xu sat on the carpet in the hotel room and awkwardly tidied herself up.

She was so tired that she almost fainted. When she took a bath, she had to hold on to the handrail, which had been installed specifically for the disabled to use, in order to stand firmly. As the warm water cleansed her scarred body, it also brought a lot of stabbing pains to her attention.

This reminded her of a certain incident.

She had once bathed the child. The water temperature had evidently been very comfortable and the bathtub had also been newly bought. However, that child had kept shaking and staggering, swaying and crying constantly, and these disobedient movements of his had caused her to be covered in water.

The anger she had repressed all that while had then burst out like a gas explosion, and she remembered the words she had uttered when scolding him harshly, "I'm taking such good care of you like this, why are you still crying? Is the bath uncomfortable? Is the bathtub not easy to use? Why can't you stand still?"

And it was only today that she learned how uncomfortable it was to take a bath after being tortured so much. The bathtub was too slippery and not easy to use; all her bones felt so soft that even standing still felt painful!

Every bit of evil that she had permitted, every drop of sin that she had committed; tit for tat, all of it was being returned to her, without any exception.

She didn't know what to do, and simply curled up under the stream of warm water, crying so aggrievedly that she almost collapsed.

But unfortunately, God still had another plan for her.

When she finally lay down in bed, closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, a depression appeared in the empty space on the Simmons mattress by her side, and following soon after was a cold presence touching her arm.

She trembled, her teeth grating in the silence. She covered her head with the quilt, but the cold thing followed her into the quilt as it continued to cling to her arm.

Unable to endure it any longer, she finally screamed out bitterly.

She opened her eyes in fright and saw that child curled up beside her. That child had really followed her! Behind him, she could see the two wide open French windows, and beyond those, the magnificent neon lights that shone outside.

He had chased her for dozens of kilometers along the road, and had even climbed up the length of really tall buildings. No matter where she was, he would always find her!

This simple fact made Mother Xu fall into a pit of endless despair.

She screamed and jumped out of bed before opening the door and running out, and then sat all night in the crowded lobby, shivering and terrified the whole while.

An attendant approached her several times to inquire about her situation, telling her that she could help her in calling the police, but all Mother Xu could do was open and shut her mouth quietly. Just like her child, because of her extreme fear, she had lost the ability to express herself through language currently.

It was not easy for her to survive the night.

Finally, at 7 o'clock in the morning, she hurriedly blended into the ant-like swarming crowd, boarded the morning subway, and rushed to her husband's company.

The crowd of people rubbing shoulders against each other offered her a great sense of security, and also made her faintly aware of why that child had particularly liked to go to school. It was because when he was surrounded by classmates, he could avoid the fate of being abused—which was her exact mood at the moment.

Life is a cycle, and you always reap exactly what you sow.

At around 9 o'clock, she finally arrived at her destination. Under the guidance of a warmhearted employee, she found the husband, who had ran away and left her all alone, sitting in the pantry.

His face was haggard, but the clothes he was wearing were neat and clean.

A young woman was reaching out to help him adjust his tie, while he looked down at this person with a gentle smile.

The terrible things that happened at home seemed to have left no shadow on him, and his life appeared to have continued on as usual.

Mother Xu stared at the scene in disbelief.

The employee who had brought her into the company coughed awkwardly to remind the two people in the pantry, who were obviously surging with love, of their presence.

"What are you doing here?" Seeing his wife suddenly appear here, the gentleness on Father Xu's face disappeared instantly.

"Follow me. This is not the right place to talk." He shoved Mother Xu in a rough manner.

The young woman ran away with blushing cheeks, but another employee stared at the blue and purple wounds that covered Mother Xu's body with suspicion.

Mother Xu had lost her shoes the previous night, so she could only wear the hotel's thin-soled slippers. Her bloody feet had already stained the pure white flannel red, and the bruises on her body had also deepened a little in colour after a night's deposition, making her entire being appear quite shocking.

Along the way, many people had expressed their concern towards Mother Xu and were ready to help her in calling for the police or sending her to the hospital. However, when it came to Father Xu, he turned a complete blind eye to her embarrassment, just as he had turned a deaf ear to his son's pain.

As Mother Xu was pushed into the dark stairwell, her heart sank.

"Where did you stay last night?" She asked with a suppressed cry.

"Of course I stayed in a hotel. Why did you come to my company? Where is he? Has he left?" Father Xu asked eagerly.

"No, he's here to take revenge on us, how could he leave? Yesterday I stayed in a thirty-story hotel and he still found me! Husband, I want to stay by your side, I am afraid!"

She grabbed her husband's sleeves tightly, but was harshly pushed aside by the other party.

His heartless tone made the temperature of the stairwell drop to a freezing point. "He came out with you? You fuckin'... Why is your heart so poisonous? Are you going to pull me into death with you? It was you who abused him, not me. If you hadn't beaten him every day, so much so that he developed an internal injury, would my kick have sent him to death?"

Father Xu was surprised to find that he had made a slip of the tongue. He quickly glanced around, then grabbed Mother Xu's neck and pressed her against the wall, warning her in a low and inaudible voice, "He wants to take revenge on you. It's none of my business. Stay away from me!"

"Husband, don't leave me, please help me!" Mother Xu couldn't breathe, but she begged repeatedly.

In this most desperate situation, she didn't know who else she could turn to for help, for she knew no one except for him.

But Father Xu didn't want to continue to entangle with her.

He held her shoulders, pushed her out of the stairwell and into the elevator. Escorting her downstairs, he then stuffed her into a taxi, took out 1000 yuan and threw it to the driver.

He said impatiently, "Throw this crazy woman away!"

"To where?" As long as the taxi driver received the money, he really didn't care about any of Mother Xu's pleading and struggles.

"Lock the door. The farther you go, the better. Is the money enough? I'll give you more if it's not enough!" He took out a pile of cash and threw it into the driver's arms.

The driver was so happy at this windfall that he quickly locked the front and rear doors, replying with joy, "Master, I will make sure to throw her into the wilderness."

A thinly dressed woman, without a cell phone and wallet, would easily encounter danger if she was left in a remote place. Sadly, these two people didn't really think about such a possibility.

It was the same, it was just like how Mother Xu had never thought about how the child, who had been beaten by her, would have to support a painful and shaky body along with dealing with everything outside.

She screamed, and cried, and beat upon the locked doors and windows, but could only watch as her husband's figure moved further and further away from her. His originally handsome face slowly distorted and became hideous in the harsh sunlight, transforming into another terrifying existence in her life.

Mother Xu nearly lost her breath from excessive crying. She slowly fell back on the seat of the taxi and weakly pleading, "Sir, can you send me to the Moon Bay Garden Community? Isn't that far enough?"

This driver was greedy for money, but was not a wicked person. Upon hearing her words, he quickly agreed.

***

Noks: I want poetic justice to be reflected on that father too.

Frozenmirage: What do you think the reason why Xu Yiyang keep following his mom and not his dad?