novelsite Chapter 173 Jiang Xingni: ? ?
Chapter 173 Jiang Xingni: ? ?
It's no wonder Jiang Xingni's first reaction was cockroaches.
Although Jiang Xingni didn't know if there were any white cockroaches, to be honest, describing Shi Nian'an's behavior as "cockroach" is not an exaggeration at all.
Shi Nian'an was already quite young, and due to his illness, he was small and thin, so he squeezed through the gaps between the crowd.
Jiang Xingni and Xie Yungui were hiding some distance from Shi Nian'an, and even if they wanted to catch up, they would easily be blocked by the crowd.
Without revealing their extraordinary abilities, it would be difficult to catch the girl directly.
She and Xie Yungui exchanged a glance.
"stairs."
Xie Yungui said.
Jiang Xingni had also thought of this.
On each floor, there are two staircases. Jiang Xingni and Xie Yungui were guarding one staircase, but Shi Nian'an was running towards the other staircase.
The two of them stood up immediately and ran upstairs.
There were far fewer people upstairs than on the previous floor. When Jiang Xingni and Xie Yungui reached the stairwell opposite, they saw Shi Nian'an.
The little girl was sitting on the ground with her legs drawn up to her chest when she heard footsteps—neither of them were trying to hide their footsteps—and she suddenly looked up.
Then her expression turned terrified.
"Don't come any closer!" she screamed.
Jiang Xingni gestured to Xie Yungui, indicating that he should not step forward but instead slowly retreat.
Even from a few steps away, Jiang Xingni could clearly see that the window at the corner of the stairs was not closed.
In a fit of emotion, would Shi Nian'an jump out of the window?
Jiang Xingni dared not gamble on that possibility.
She slowly stepped back, indicating to Shi Nian'an that she meant no harm, then blinked and disappeared from Shi Nian'an's sight.
—It's just that Shi Nian'an can no longer see Jiang Xingni.
In fact, even from a blind spot, Jiang Xingni could still observe Shi Nian'an's whereabouts.
Noticing that the two people weren't paying attention to her like others did, Shi Nian'an slowly exhaled, and tears finally welled up in her eyes and started falling down her cheeks.
The little girl didn't even dare to cry too loudly, so she just sat on the steps of the stairs, sobbing and covering her mouth.
He called out to his mother softly.
"Mom, please don't sell me, okay?" Shi Nian'an mumbled. "I know, I'm sick, and the expenses are huge... but Mom, please don't sell me..."
She started crying again as she spoke: "I've always been a good girl, I won't eat ice cream anymore, and I won't cause you any more trouble... Why does Mom still want to sell me?"
"I know you're listening, you're all bad people, bad people, bad people..." Shi Nian'an looked up and stared at the door as he said this. "Stay away from me, stay away from me!!!"
Xie Yungui silently turned his head to look at Jiang Xingni.
He tentatively asked Jiang Xingni with his eyes, "Is anyone behind the door?"
Jiang Xingni shook his head.
She could easily confirm with her special ability that there was no one behind the door.
To be precise, apart from Xie Yungui, Jiang Xingni, and Shi Nian'an, there was basically no one else in the entire stairwell.
"She's talking to the door," Jiang Xingni said in a low voice, suddenly realizing what was wrong.
The last time Jiang Xingni saw a similar situation was when someone suffered from schizophrenia.
One woman developed postpartum stress-induced schizophrenia and mistook her daughter for her husband's sister.
However, Shi Nian'an's apology covered a much wider range than that person's.
Even though she had never met Xie Yungui before, and had only met Jiang Xingni once, Jiang Xingni couldn't be sure if Shi Nian'an remembered her face.
However, when she encountered Jiang Xingni and Xie Yungui in this situation, her first reaction was still to believe that the two of them were also perpetrators who had come to persecute her.
Jiang Xingni was curious to know who Shi Nian'an could trust.
Seeing that the person in front of her—which was actually just the door to the stairwell—did not react, Shi Nian'an cried even harder.
She stared at the door warily for a while, and seeing that there was no movement from the door, she cautiously backed away.
Step by step.
Once she was far away from that door, she began to run frantically downstairs.
Jiang Xingni did not intend to arrest Shi Nian'an directly.
He simply followed Shi Nian'an at a distance, with Xie Yungui by his side, to make sure the little girl wouldn't actually be kidnapped by human traffickers while escaping—or, more realistically, that she might slip and tumble down the stairs because she was running too fast.
"Where do you think she'll go?" Xie Yungui asked Jiang Xingni, lounging lazily on the railing.
It would be much easier for the two of them to catch up with Shi Nian'an than for Shi Nian'an to run away.
—This is, after all, the twenty-first floor.
No matter how fast Shi Nian'an ran, he could only keep moving back and forth on his two legs.
As for Jiang Xingni and Xie Yungui...
After noticing that Shi Nian'an had run a sufficient distance, Jiang Xingni used the railing for leverage to leap and land on the railing of another staircase.
The curved railing looked like it had just been wiped clean, still wet with water, but Jiang Xingni landed steadily on it.
Then, after a few more leaps, he landed silently on the railings several stories above Shi Nian'an's head.
Xie Yungui followed closely behind, landing beside Jiang Xingni.
He poked Jiang Xingni's waist with his hand—but before he could land, Jiang Xingni quickly dodged away.
Looking into Jiang Xingni's eyes, his expression was calm, even carrying a hint of self-righteousness.
"Probably someone you trust...?" Jiang Xingni answered the question she hadn't had a chance to answer earlier.
If Shi Nian'an believes that even his mother cannot be considered someone he can trust, then who can be?
Watching Shi Nian'an run down the twenty-first floor, sit on the steps to rest for a while, and then continue running out of the hospital building.
They soon found out the answer.
The early spring breeze was still a bit chilly.
As soon as Shi Nian'an pushed open the door, he was shivered by the wind.
With each breath, white mist rose in front of her.
She hesitated for a moment, but did not back down. Wearing only a thin dress, she ran towards the hospital exit.
—The direction was towards the police officers on duty at the hospital.
If you encounter difficulties, call the police.
Jiang Xingni was greatly shocked—not because of Shi Nian'an's consciousness, but because even when Shi Nian'an was bewitched by the monster, his first reaction was still to trust the education he had received before.
Even though her eyes and consciousness were corrupted, she still had people she could trust.
The little girl suddenly grabbed the leg of the police officer on duty: "Mommy, Mommy's going to sell me."
She said, sobbing.
The policeman's expression immediately turned serious. He knelt down and gently wiped away her tears.
"What happened? Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Shi Nian'an looked around and pointed.
"They're one of the bad guys!"
—The landing point was exactly where Jiang Xingni and Xie Yungui had just come out of the hospital.