NOVPUBDespite being dressed in real clothes and looking like a real person from a distance, Chen Chuan could not possibly consider this puppet a real person.
Bureau Chief Lei said from behind him, "Did you forget something? Come out first."
Chen Chuan turned around and said, "Yes." He turned and walked out of the room. Bureau Chief Lei looked inside again; his son was obediently playing with building blocks, but he couldn't seem to put them together properly. He gently closed the door.
Once the two of them were downstairs again, Bureau Chief Lei looked at him. "Did you see something just now? You can tell me, I can accept anything."
Chen Chuan glanced at Bureau Chief Lei , who remained silent for a moment, then confessed truthfully, "He's withdrawn, rigid, doesn't like to talk, and has no friends. But it's not his fault. He was harmed years ago and has been plagued by unexplained anomalous matter ever since. It's all my fault, so I can accept not treating him like a normal child, as long as he can grow up safely, even if he no longer recognizes me as his father."
Chen Chuan said, "Then I'll tell you what I saw."
Bureau Chief Lei looked over, awaiting his answer.
Chen Chuan also looked at him and slowly said, "What I saw wasn't a child, but just a puppet."
Bureau Chief Lei was stunned. He froze in place for a long time, then suddenly looked up, strode forward, and grabbed Chen Chuan "s shoulder.
Chen Chuan stood there without dodging. Bureau Chief Lei stared at him. "Really?"
Chen Chuan nodded.
Bureau Chief Lei murmured, "So that's how it is, that's how it is..." Then his eyes seemed to redden, and he shook Chen Chuan "s shoulder forcefully. "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Chen !"
Chen Chuan said, "Does Bureau Chief Lei have something in mind?"
Bureau Chief Lei took a breath before saying, "Yes, this is a question that has troubled me for two years."
He seemed to have calmed down at this moment, releasing his hand and stepping back, asking seriously, "Comrade Chen , can you be sure that what you saw was a puppet, and not something else?"
Chen Chuan said, "I'm sure."
Bureau Chief Lei nodded and said, "Then please wait here for a while, I'm going to make a few calls."
Chen Chuan said, "Bureau Chief Lei , please do." As he spoke, he went to sit on the sofa on the side.
Bureau Chief Lei waited for him to settle down before leaving the room. Although he looked calm on the surface, Chen Chuan could tell from his slightly trembling back that he was very excited, but he suppressed it with his strong self-control.
After waiting for about half an hour, Bureau Chief Lei returned and sat down on the sofa opposite Chen Chuan , not speaking for a long time.
Chen Chuan didn't take the initiative to speak either.
After a while, Bureau Chief Lei took off his black-rimmed glasses, fumbled around, and, unable to find anything, wiped the mist on them with his sleeve, put them back on, and looked at Chen Chuan , saying solemnly, "Comrade Chen , before today, I never thought I could save my son's life in this way. Thank you."
Chen Chuan said, "Bureau Chief Lei ..." Bureau Chief Lei waved his hand and said, "I'm not crazy, I know you're right."
He looked up. "Two years, two years, who would have thought that all this time I've been facing just a puppet?" He smiled self-deprecatingly. "I pride myself on being a Secret Ritual expert, but I couldn't even recognize the Secret Ritual right under my nose."
Chen Chuan said, "Bureau Chief Lei , it seems you believe what I said."
"Reason and emotion, sometimes emotion always takes over, so I'm always reluctant to think that way, but thankfully, when the truth appears before me, I can make a rational judgment and not immediately choose to deny it."
Bureau Chief Lei said, "Without your reminder, it would be difficult for me to break through this point on my own." He sighed, "Concern can lead to confusion."
Chen Chuan thought for a moment. "Perhaps this is a bit presumptuous, but can I ask what exactly happened?"
"There's nothing wrong with telling you," Bureau Chief Lei took off his glasses again, rubbed his red eyes, put them back on, and regained his composure.
"As the director of the Secret Cult Investigation Bureau, I often deal with those illegal cults. When I was investigating a certain Secret Cult, my residence was leaked.
I later learned that a fugitive from that illegal cult had entered my temporary residence and performed a ritual curse on my son. It's not complicated, simply put, it was to connect my son with some Supernatural Entity.
Afterward, I used many methods to solve it, but none of them worked.
This matter also caught the attention of my ex-wife. Seeing me performing rituals on the child, she immediately sued me, but she didn't understand that if the curse ritual lost its suppression, it would Influence those around him.
There are regulations that these matters cannot be disclosed to ordinary people other than law enforcement officers, so I couldn't explain it to her directly. I only hinted that she needed to stay away from our son.
My marriage to her was arranged by our elders and there was no real affection. In fact, we didn't really understand each other, even if I told her the truth, she would probably think I was talking nonsense and making up these things to scare her in order to get the child back.
I kept trying to remedy the situation, but she kept hiding from me, until half a month later..."
He sighed deeply. "Actually, if I had discovered the problem earlier, I might have been able to prevent this tragedy from happening, but I'm also somewhat glad that her death had nothing to do with the child, so neither of them had to bear these..."
Saying this, he picked up the water glass next to him, tilted his head back and drank the water in one gulp, then heavily placed it back on the table on the side.
He looked up at Chen Chuan . "You know, to successfully execute this ritual, my child must be alive, so they should still have my child Control somewhere."
Chen Chuan said, "Bureau Chief Lei , do you need help?"
Bureau Chief Lei said, "Thank you, this ritual... I have a pretty good idea where they might be hiding the child. I've already arranged for people to go there, just wait here." After a while, he spoke again, "But..." He took a breath, "We must first break this ritual."
Chen Chuan looked at his expression. "Is it difficult?"
Bureau Chief Lei "s lips trembled slightly, his fingers slowly closing, trying several times, and finally clenching into a fist. "I just need to kill what I see with my own hands, and then this ritual can be broken."
Chen Chuan "s gaze sharpened, looking at Bureau Chief Lei sitting there, understanding the pain he was suffering at this moment.
No wonder, as the director of the Secret Cult Review Bureau, he had never thought about this direction, because as a father, he would do everything possible to avoid harming his own child, and this ritual was simply too devastating.
He said, "Can't we use another method?"
Bureau Chief Lei shook his head. "The original intention of this ritual was to destroy the love between family members in the most cruel way. If we don't use this method, even if it is broken, it will happen again in the future." He took a deep breath. "As a father, I failed to fulfill my responsibility and brought him misfortune, so I should bear the consequences."
He stood up and said to Chen Chuan , "Comrade Chen , please help me one more time. I need you to watch from behind so you can remind me that it is indeed a puppet, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to do it."
Chen Chuan also stood up and said solemnly, "Bureau Chief Lei , I am willing to help you with this, but..." He said, "Bureau Chief Lei , aren't you afraid that I might be wrong?"
Bureau Chief Lei looked into his eyes and said, "You are Supervisor Cheng's student, that's right, but as far as I know, you have personally handled many cases involving Supernatural Entitys. The Man Mountain Flying Head Monster was eradicated by you, and I've noticed that the intervals between your eliminations of Supernatural Entitys are not long, but you haven't been Influenced in any way.
You may not even know it yourself, but you have a very special ability to resist the invasion of certain strange substances. Your words are more credible than others'."
Chen Chuan understood. Bureau Chief Lei probably didn't just arrange to rescue the child, but also checked his background at the same time. He understood this, after all, his son's life was involved, so it was right to be cautious.
And he also roughly understood that it might not only be Bureau Chief Lei who felt that his son was alive when he saw him, but perhaps others also felt the same way. And the Supernatural Entity's invasion of him was all being
"Wait for me a moment."
Bureau Chief Lei greeted him and left. After a short wait, he returned with a hammer in his hand.
"Let's go."
Chen Chuan followed him upstairs, returning to the third floor.
After opening the door, Bureau Chief Lei looked over, his eyes filled with inquiry. Chen Chuan glanced inside, seeing that the puppet was still quietly huddled in the corner, and nodded to him.
Bureau Chief Lei gripped the hammer in his hand and walked in. In his eyes, his obedient son was still sitting there, but he should have known something was wrong, because his son still looked the same as he did two years ago.
He hadn't changed at all.
He instinctively wanted to close his eyes, but the ritual breaking didn't allow it. Walking forward with leaden feet, he struggled to raise the hammer. In his view, the child suddenly raised his head, looking at him with innocent eyes. "Dad, why are you hitting me?"
Bureau Chief Lei said with tears in his eyes, "Xiao Ying , I'm sorry." He picked up the hammer and struck down hard, again and again.
In Chen Chuan "s eyes, the puppet gradually cracked and was damaged under the blows of the hammer. At this moment,
As Bureau Chief Lei struck the final blow, with a crack, a glass bead serving as an eyeball fell to the ground along with the sound of a wooden object breaking.
Bureau Chief Lei stood there panting, now seeing only a broken puppet, the hammer in his hand clattering to the ground.
He took two steps back and leaned against the wall.
Chen Chuan looked towards Bureau Chief Lei , who recovered a bit of Spirit after a while, his eyes regaining their luster, and said to Chen Chuan , "Thank you, let's go down."
Chen Chuan nodded, glanced at the puppet again, and followed him downstairs.
Downstairs, Bureau Chief Lei waited silently, waiting for a result he could accept.
Chen Chuan didn't speak either. For a moment, the only sound in the living room was the ticking of the grandfather clock.
After waiting for about ten minutes.
"Ring, ring, ring..."
The telephone in the living room suddenly rang.
Bureau Chief Lei quickly reached out to grab it, but after his hand was on it, he paused for a moment before slowly picking it up, putting it to his ear, and trying to keep his voice steady. "Hello, this is Lei Guangcheng ."
In the empty living room, a clear and excited voice came from the telephone receiver, which even Chen Chuan heard, "Bureau Chief Lei , we found him, we found the child, we found your son!"
Bureau Chief Lei "s eyes immediately became wet.
"He's a bit weak right now, those guys only gave him simple water and food every day, but he's fine. We'll send him to you now."
Bureau Chief Lei suppressed his intensely fluctuating emotions and said, "Thank you, Lao Gao! Thank you, you've worked hard."
