Chapter 24: Silent Suffering
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhe Huo was forced to take to the sky, and conduct the search from above. Finally, at a back-alley intersection in the southern region of the town, she spotted a tiny little figure clothed in light blue.
She descended upon it immediately. "Qinghan? Qinghan!"
Not seeming to hear her, the child continued trudging onward. Zhe Huo caught up to him and threw herself in his path. Luo Qinghan's eyes were rimmed with red, and a gash had somehow appeared on his face. When he saw her at last, he stared in disbelief, unmoving, his big wet eyes overflowing with bewilderment, his lips drawing into a tight little line.
Anxiously, Zhe Huo knelt to the ground and tousled his hair beneath the cap. "What's happened, Qinghan? Who did this to you?"
Luo Qinghan sniffled faintly and lowered his head, his long, damp eyelashes obscuring his eyes from view. In a quiet voice, he said, "Zhe Huo, don't ever throw me away to someone else again, alright?"
Zhe Huo didn't know what to say. Gently, she took hold of his little shoulders, and solemnly said, "Qinghan, exactly what happened? Wu Shan told me that you stubbornly insisted on coming back all by yourself. How could you do something like that? Do you have any idea how worried I was!"
Qinghan raised his eyes to look at her. "Is that what he told you?"
Taken aback once again, Zhe Huo felt her heart rising up her throat as her mouth gaped open. "Is that not what happened?"
The boy blinked a couple of times, then held her gaze with those fathomless, mesmerizing eyes. "It's true: I wanted to leave."
Zhe Huo frowned in confusion. "Qinghan… what happened?"
But Qinghan kept silent. All he did was gaze at her with those impossibly blue eyes, still brimming with tears. It was a sight to break anyone's heart.
And that was all—Qinghan didn't say any more, but this only caused Zhe Huo's imagination to run amok. The boy had obviously suffered injury, as well as some form of trauma, and yet he was telling her nothing. It was unbearable, and she couldn't imagine what series of events had led to him suffering in silence like this.
She was agitated. She didn't know how to placate him. Zhe Huo herself had never been a particularly sensitive soul—but seeing Qinghan like this now was emotionally devastating.
With infinite care, she reached out to touch the gash across his face. Qinghan bit down on his lip, fresh tears gushing forth. Softly, he yelped, "Zhe Huo, it really hurts!"
Zhe Huo pulled her hand back immediately. Frowning, she asked, "How did you get hurt, Qinghan? Who did this to you?"
Woozily, the boy replied, "I don't know… some demon hunter."
Zhe Huo was paralyzed.
Demon hunter… there were a lot of those in this town, either here to brave Frostsoul Peak, or else that other place Wu Shan had just been to. Obviously Frostsoul Peak had been left alone today, so this would have to involve the other area in question.
Could Wu Shan have possibly just stood by and watched as other demon hunters attacked Qinghan? Was that why the boy had fled away by himself?
Surely Wu Shan couldn't have done such a thing. He wasn't that kind of man.
And yet, it was true that he'd never liked Qinghan. Right from the start, he'd been trying to get rid of the boy. And to hear the sorrow in Qinghan's voice now…
Zhe Huo knew it wasn't right for her to suspect Wu Shan, but it couldn't be denied that a seed of doubt had taken root in her heart.
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