Chapter 38: Demon Child (1/2)

“Those who are going to visit the hospitals,” Huang Xiaotao ordered, “please also find out more about this strange blood-sucking disease.”

“Wait!” I interjected. “I want to visit all the major orphanages in Nanjiang City.”

“Why?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

“Well, this is just my speculation,” I said. “If there are no officers available to accompany me, I can go alone. But you’ll have to provide me an official document as proof that I’m working with the police.”

“Never mind, I’ll go with you,” said Huang Xiaotao. She then ended the meeting and let everyone go on about their tasks.

Dali and I were soon in Huang Xiaotao’s car. She looked up locations of orphanages in Nanjiang City on the GPS.

“The nearest one is the Loving Welfare Home,” she said. “Let's go there and take a look.”

“Okay!” I chirped. “I’m going to take a short nap. I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.” After that, I put the front passenger seat down and soon fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, I heard Huang Xiaotao’s voice.

“Get up, we’re here.”

I opened my eyes and saw a white building covered with green vines outside the car window. The sign that said ‘Loving Welfare Home’ was hung on the door at the courtyard. I yawned, then felt grateful that I took a nap because I was much more refreshed now.

Huang Xiaotao took a wet wipe out of her purse and handed it to me so I could wipe my face. I thanked her.

As I was wiping my face I said, “You police officers really are hard working. You must get very little sleep. How can your skin stay so nice and clear?”

Huang Xiaotao opened the glove compartment and I saw a lot of facial masks inside.

“When I do get to sleep, I’ll cover my face with hydrating masks!” she said.

“Whoa, these are all imported brand facial masks, you usually spend a lot of money like it’s no big deal at all. You do come from a rich family, don’t you?” I looked at all the luxury brand masks that must’ve cost hundreds of yuan, and I was completely stunned.

“It’s a secret!” she whispered with a naughty smile. “Let's get going! Hey, Dali…”

I heard snoring coming from the back seat. When we turned around, Dali was lying in the back seat, sleeping soundly. Huang Xiaotao was ready to wake him up, but I stopped her.

“Never mind, let him sleep,” I said. “Let’s go check this orphanage. I’m not confident that we’ll find anything in the first place we look.”

We walked into the orphanage and asked the person in charge if there was a child with very pale skin, afraid of the sun, and had no body hair. The person in charge led us to the medical office to find a thick medical record file. After reading it, we finally decided that there was never such a child here. We left and thanked the staff there.

“Why do you think the murderer used to be in an orphanage?”

“I can't tell you for now,” I said. “There are probably a few more orphanages in Nanjiang City. I’ll tell you when we’ve visited all of them.”

“And if we find nothing?” Huang Xiaotao asked.

“I’ll treat you to a meal,” I said.

Huang Xiaotao sneered, “A meal paid by a poor student like you?”

“It would be my honor to treat a beautiful woman to a meal,” I said with a faint smile on my face.

We soon went to three more orphanages, but found nothing. Luckily, Huang Xiaotao drove her own car. If it had been just me and Dali, we’d spend most of the time just waiting for the bus.

At noon, Huang Xiaotao drove to a drive-thru and ordered two set meals. As she was ordering, Dali suddenly sat up and said, “I want fried chicken wings and a large Coke with lots of ice.”

Huang Xiaotao glared at him and snapped, “How do you wake up so easily when it’s time to eat?”