Old Liu stood rooted to the spot, his entire body tensed, his legs rigid.
He could feel the boy, who looked exactly like him, hugging his thigh and touching his skin.
That tender, smiling face was so much like his own when he was little.
Chen Ting stood to the side, smiling sweetly, stroking the child's head, her eyes filled with affectionate love.
Old Liu felt a moment of trance.
He stood there, and the child who had passed away before birth was hugging his leg, calling out “Papa,” while his wife, with gentle eyes, knelt beside them, smiling without a word.
If he hadn't gotten out of the car that day, everything should have been like this.
“Liu Shifu, your child isn't…”
This momentary dream was as fleeting as a bubble, though incredibly brilliant, but at Wang Bin's reminder, Old Liu still had to burst it himself.
He knew very well that his child had already died…
Even so, he still reached out a trembling hand and touched the little boy's head.
Lin Ye pulled Wang Bin, signaling him not to speak further.
Old Liu was in tears; how could he not know that all of this was fake? He couldn't even feel the warmth from the boy's head.
He closed his eyes, giving himself a few seconds.
When he opened his eyes again, he had already said goodbye to the boy in his heart.
“Wife, it’s alright, it’s alright, I’m here.”
He no longer looked at the child hugging his thigh but gently pulled up Chen Ting, who was kneeling beside him.
“Old Liu, what are you talking about? Xiao Zhe is right here, didn't you see him?”
“Look, look at him, Xiao Zhe is standing right here.”
As Chen Ting's emotions gradually intensified, Lin Ye and Wang Bin were surprised to see the little boy's skin, like paint dissolved in water, gradually melting away.
Those “skins” fell to the ground and disappeared, and the originally lively little boy now turned into a dirty mud doll.
This eerie scene made Lin Ye and Wang Bin's scalps tingle.
Chen Ting also panicked at the sight; she pulled the boy's hand and hurried towards the inner courtyard of Cross Street.
She kept muttering, “Xiao Zhe, don’t be afraid, Xiao Zhe, be good, Mama will take you to Doctor Tiancun, we’ll go now.”
Old Liu was worried about Chen Ting, so he followed closely, but unexpectedly, he was stopped at the main gate of Cross Street.
“Oh, aren't these the three who were going to the Unyielding Hall? What wind has blown the three of you to our Cross Street?”
The people who stopped him were precisely the Cross Street members who had previously tried to recruit them at the city gate.
“Excuse me, my wife is inside, may I go in?”
Old Liu watched Chen Ting’s figure gradually disappear and quickly asked.
“So you are Sister Ting's husband, ah, alas, that's really a misunderstanding.”
“However, our Cross Street only allows members to enter. Sorry, big brother, rules are rules, don't make it difficult for us.”
Their tone was lazy and casual, and it was hard to tell if they were being sincere or not.
“Can you make an exception?”
Those few people seemed not to have heard Old Liu's question and leaned against the door, chatting among themselves.
Old Liu was a little angry at this; he originally wanted to use Floating to break in from above, but then he remembered Chen Bugu's reminder to be careful when they parted ways.
As Old Liu was hesitating, Lin Ye stepped forward.
“Then can we join Cross Street?”
Lin Ye and Wang Bin had discussed it behind him. Given the current situation, it was unlikely that Old Liu would disregard everything and go to the Unyielding Hall with them. It would be better for them to join Cross Street first and see the situation.
If it was very bad, they could then find a way to leave with Chen Ting.
Old Liu actually had this idea too, but he was too embarrassed to mention it to the two of them. Seeing Lin Ye bring it up proactively, he couldn't help but cast a grateful look.
And the few people at the gate of Cross Street seemed to be waiting for this very sentence.
After Lin Ye spoke, the leader among them shook his head and sighed.
“Originally, there were no thresholds for joining our Cross Street. The main goal was to unite our human race, but I remember you all originally wanted to go to the Unyielding Hall, right?”
“If you can just casually join our Cross Street after failing to join the Unyielding Hall, when this gets out, it won't look good for us to explain to the leader.”
“You all should understand our difficulties, right?”
Old Liu's face immediately darkened. How could he not understand what those people meant? They simply wanted benefits.
But at this moment, he was asking for a favor, so he couldn't flare up.
He finally sighed and reluctantly pulled out a yun ling fruit from his backpack, handing it to that person.
The moment he saw the yun ling fruit, that person's eyes immediately lit up, but he still feigned difficulty, shaking his head and slowly speaking.
“You three wanted to join the Unyielding Hall before, you wouldn't have prepared only one recommendation fee, would you?”
“You are taking advantage of our misfortune.”
“It's not like we're begging the three of you to join, please yourself.”
Wang Bin was so angry that his teeth ached when he heard this, but he could only reluctantly take out two more yun ling fruits with Lin Ye and hand them over to those people.
With the yun ling fruit in hand, that person's expression instantly changed.
“Welcome, the three of you, to our Cross Street! Our Cross Street is the largest human force in Obsidian Town. I believe you won't regret your choice today~”
Old Liu and the others completed a simple registration at the entrance, officially joining Cross Street.
After that, Old Liu finally found Chen Ting in the inner courtyard of Cross Street.
At this moment, she was sitting in a room, the mud doll stood to one side, and in front of the mud doll was a young, beautiful woman.
The woman's eyes shimmered with a faint blue light, and with her hands extended, the mud doll's body gained many strange colors.
The strange colors mixed together, actually depicting the original appearance of the little boy.
After the woman learned of their intentions, she introduced herself.
Her name was Tiancun Xinzhi, and she was from Neon Nation. Before coming to this world, she happened to be traveling in Huaguo and encountered the Great Disaster in a shopping mall, so she came here with Chen Ting.
Her ability was the magic-type 'Painted Skin', which could change her own or others' appearances for a short period.
As she spoke, perhaps to demonstrate, her face transformed into the likeness of a certain female celebrity.
Because Tiancun Xinzhi's ability had no combat power, ever since she came to this world, she had survived until now thanks to Chen Ting's care.
She had always been grateful to Chen Ting from the bottom of her heart, repaying her to the best of her abilities.
At this time, Old Liu and the other two also learned for the first time that Chen Ting was not only a Black Iron Five-Star but also awakened a magic-type ability, Puppeteer.
She only needed to use solid materials like mud and wood to generate corresponding puppets.
Although the generated puppets generally did not possess special abilities, their Three Regions were not considered low, and the consumption of mental power was also small.
With her current strength, she could summon ten puppets at once in battle, which also made her one of the combat forces in the team.
Hearing this, Old Liu already understood.
He looked at his wife in front of him, holding a mud doll, her expression somewhat crazed. She was immersed in her own world, happily calling out “Xiao Zhe,” “Xiao Zhe”…
This scene deeply pained the middle-aged man's heart.
He understood that Chen Ting's illness had worsened.