Chapter 18
Yang Xi did not choose to completely brainwash Mrs. Lin. He could sense the regret in her eyes.
Actually, as a woman, she was probably a victim of such backward thinking herself. Yang Xi only needed to use his Puppet Control ability to give her a slight psychological hint and she would be able to naturally stand on Lin Naixue’s side.
Although Yang Xi could directly brainwash Father Lin and make him go home obediently, to Lin Naixue, this could not completely heal the damage to her heart.
Other than that, if Father Lin’s attitude suddenly took a 180-degree turn. It would look too abrupt.
Letting her mother repent and choose to stand on Lin Naixue’s side was probably the greatest consolation for her. At least, there was someone close to her who could understand her.
As expected, after slightly amplifying Mother Lin’s regret and eliminating her deep-rooted fear of Father Lin, Mother Lin directly slapped the latter.
This slap wasn’t just for Lin Naixue’s misfortune. Perhaps, it also contained the emotions that Mother Lin had been hiding for a long time.
“Enough! Although I’d carried our son in my womb for nine months, I’d also carried our daughter in my womb for nine months!”
“If he can’t get a wife, it’s our fault for not teaching our son well. Why are you blaming our daughter!”
“In order to treat your fake illness, she even went to work as a hostess. Is your heart made of stone?!”
Mother Lin was in tears. As a mother, her love for every child was the same. Perhaps she had been living in an isolated environment at the start, and her mindset of favoring men over women had become firmly set. However, at this moment, seeing her daughter fending for herself alone in a big city and suffering so much because of the burden of her hometown, her heart felt like it was being pricked by needles.
Mother Lin suddenly knelt in front of her daughter and gave herself a tight slap.
Yang Xi’s eyelids twitched. This was definitely not him controlling her.
“Daughter, I’ve let you down. Mother will kowtow and admit my mistake!”
“Mom!” Lin Naixue hurriedly knelt down and supported her mother.
She burst into tears as well. She recalled the time when she had a high fever when she was young, it was her mother who carried her for five kilometers to find a clinic. At that time, the sky was dark and the wind was strong. She could only lean on her mother’s thin back tightly and smell the familiar smell of sweat on her body to keep her eyelids open in the cold night breeze.
“My dear child, don’t be afraid. We’ll be there soon. Mother will send you to the doctor now. Don’t fall asleep!”
“Mom, my head feels heavy!”
“If it’s heavy, rest your head on Mother’s shoulder. Mother isn’t afraid of exhaustion!”
“Mother, I want to eat rice cake.”
“Alright, Mother will make it for you first thing tomorrow morning…”
Even now, Lin Naixue could still remember the three large blisters on her mother’s feet that day. However, her mother, whose flesh and skin were bloodied, didn’t mind at all. She even hummed a song for her while disinfecting her wounds with salt water.
Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face…
Lin Naxue thought of her mother secretly selling her dowry items to raise tuition fees for her when she was in university. She thought of her mother’s hands full of frostbite on winter nights, but was still knitting for her…
Scene after scene of the past surfaced in her mind repeatedly. Lin Naixue, who had initially thought of committing suicide, finally felt a tiny spark of fire ignite in her heart.
Father Lin sat alone in the corner of the living room. Yang Xi looked at him smoking on his pipe with a forlorn expression on his face, and suddenly felt that this old man’s originally hunched back had become even more bent.
Yang Xi and the rest had no idea what the final outcome would be. On the same day, Father Lin and Mother Lin took the train and left. Yang Xi who followed behind to send them off, saw Lin Naixue standing on the platform in a daze. She stood for a long time, staring at the train which had left far into the distance.
After some time, Lin Naixue said, “Let’s go. Thank you for coming with me.”
Yang Xi passed the drink in his hand to her and said, “Don’t think too much about it. Maybe your younger brother will come to understand the principle of standing on his own two feet. That is more useful than you sending him money.”
“Want to go to a bar?” Lin Naixue playfully blinked her big eyes.
“Eh?” Yang Xi was stunned.
“Hehe, I lied to you. Let’s go home!”
Perhaps at this moment, Lin Naixue had finally found a home that belonged to her.
…
The Mystic Beasts Corpse Disposal Center was located in the eastern district of Deer Harbor City. This time, Yang Xi came here alone and did not call Fan Peng.
After all, this guy was a hindrance sometimes.
This place could not allow ordinary people to enter and exit as they wished. The staff members had to pass through several levels of security gates before they could enter. Yang Xi planned to try out the proper methods and use his identity as a reporter to see if he could enter for an interview.
“You’re a reporter from Deer Harbor Evening News?” The armed security guard at the entrance sized Yang Xi up suspiciously.
Yang Xi handed over his work pass. “It’s like this. I plan to write an article about Mystic Beasts. I hope that I can enter and take some pictures of the Mystic Beasts’ corpses at close range.”
“What’s so good about Mystic Beasts’ corpses? Are you sure anyone would dare to look at the photos you took?”
“These photos are just for me to look at, so that I can get a better sense of what I’m writing when I’m describing the Mystic Beasts. They won’t be published directly in the newspapers.”
“Wait a moment, I’ll help you to ask the director!”
The security guard was not a Grade-C or above Esper. So Yang Xi casually used Puppet Control to influence him slightly, making him feel that it was necessary to report this matter to his superiors.
The director of the Mystic Beasts Corpse Disposal Center came out soon after. He was an old man in a white coat. He wasn’t very tall, and had deep dark circles under his eyes. It seemed like he hadn’t been sleeping well recently.
“Are you from Deer Harbor Evening News?”
Yang Xi nodded. He planned to do the same thing and use his Esper Abilities to sneak in smoothly. In any case, his actions would seem like he was only touching the corpses of the Mystic Beasts, and wouldn’t bring any losses or problems in principle.
However, Yang Xi found to his surprise that Puppet Control was actually ineffective against this director. He looked at Yang Xi with disdain. “We don’t allow non-staffs to enter here. If you want to come in to take a look, you have to make an application at the Heroes Association. Only with permission can you enter. Please leave.”
Yang Xi was shocked, but he did not reveal anything on his face. He did not expect that this seemingly ordinary director was actually a Grade-C or above Esper!
As expected of the Heroes Association. Even the director of a corpse processing center was so powerful.
Since the plan to enter directly failed, Yang Xi could only choose to infiltrate.
The plan was to hide under the incoming trucks and sneak in.
He didn’t believe that he, who had so many Esper Abilities, wouldn’t be able to get into a mere Mystic Beasts Corpse Disposal Center.
As night fell, Yang Xi, who had finished eating a toast, finally waited for a truck that was transporting a Mystic Beast’s corpse to pass by the place where he was hiding. Using Morph, he changed into a set of special ninja outfit that he’d prepared beforehand. Like a shadow, he rolled under the truck and hooked his hands and legs firmly on the truck’s undercarriage.
Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, he turned around and saw a person who was similarly wearing a set of black infiltration suit lying beside him.
The two of them stared at each other with wide, disbelieving eyes. They were just short of cursing out loud.