Nightmare Light

Chapter 208 The Shadow of the Orphanage
Amidst the noise, Lin Wang entered the main hall of the orphanage.

The building is quite old, and the main hall also exhibits the characteristics of an old-style building—the hall is not large and the lighting is dim.

But thanks to the owner's careful decoration, what is presented to people is a warm and colorful little world - the walls are painted a warm light yellow and decorated with all kinds of patterns.

Flowers, plants, insects, butterflies, elves, witches, swords, dragons, and a cute-looking mortal holding an equally adorable voodoo doll. Lin Wang even saw a small airplane flying into a cloud behind it.

A large group of children wrote their names on the wall with laughter, and some even wrote down their dreams.

Wood, candy, glutinous rice...

"I want to be a dentist when I grow up."

"I want to stay in the orphanage."

"I want to be a lay teacher!"

"I want to marry Teacher A-Zhe!"

Lin Wang vaguely recalled his time in the orphanage...

He knew very well that those were the memories of his original self before he transmigrated.

But that doesn't prevent the memory from being clear and warm.

Running and playing around in the orphanage, back then "he" always had something in his hand...

What was I holding? I can't remember.

Lin Wang shook his head, pulling his wandering thoughts back to the present.

At this moment, the orphanage hall, which should have been warm and bustling, was empty. The lights were off, and shadows from outside the building spilled into the hall, making the hall, which should have been warm and bright, appear dark, oppressive, and even somewhat eerie.

The noise came from deep within the back of the hall.

Among them, Teacher A-Zhe's anxious voice was the clearest: "Lock that child in the classroom next door!"

"No! We have to switch them separately! We have to separate them! Otherwise they'll... Don't cry, don't cry! The teacher is here!"

Lin Wang frowned and walked back along the passage.

After turning the corner and entering the corridor where the classroom was located, Lin Wang saw that Teacher Shen, who was heavily pregnant, and another female teacher were leading seven or eight children as they ran deeper into the corridor.

Meanwhile, Ah Zhe and another teacher carried a child into a classroom and then closed and locked the classroom door from the outside.

Lin Wang frowned and walked towards Teacher Liu.

"Sister A-Zhe, what happened here?"

Liu Azhe leaned against the locked door, let out a long sigh, and then turned to look at Lin Wang: "Lin Wang, what brings you here?"

“I just called you—it sounded dangerous on the phone, so I came.”

“Sigh…you’ve seen the situation.” A-Zhe wiped his forehead. “The children in our orphanage have suddenly developed some strange illness, which has made things very complicated, so we have to separate them and put them in different classrooms.”

“I don’t think it’s necessarily an illness; it could be some kind of madness,” the middle-aged female teacher next to her said worriedly. “If so many children are going crazy…”

“Teacher Zhao, don’t talk nonsense.” A-Zhe interrupted the female teacher next to him, “We definitely have a way to save our child.”

"...Yes, you're right." The female teacher sighed and shook her head. "I hope so."

"What illness do these children have?" Lin Wang asked.

“Lin Wang, my suggestion is that you should leave here… These children’s condition is strange, and it’s uncertain whether their illness can be transmitted to adults.” A Zhe did not answer Lin Wang’s question.

Lin Wang didn't ask any more questions, and turned to walk directly to the door.

"Don't look. I finally managed to lock that child up. I won't open it for you to see..." Then, she saw that Lin Wang, taking advantage of his height, stood on tiptoe and looked inside through the glass above the classroom door.

A-Zhe: "..."

Through the glass, Lin Wang saw a little girl standing inside.

The moment Lin Wang saw her, his heart skipped a beat.

This little girl looks a bit like the ghost children I see in my nightmares...

When Lin Wang saw her, she was standing motionless at the door, her face turned towards the door, her eyes gloomy.

And from the corners of her eyes and mouth, a little black liquid was slowly flowing out—that black liquid reminded Lin Wang of the big locust tree at the door before.

Why is this little girl like this?

Lin Wang clearly remembered that when he last visited the orphanage, this little girl was among the group of noisy children. She was a smiling, happy little girl who even offered to help him while he was making dumplings.

At that time, she tied four or five dumplings to a chopstick, strung them together, held them up in her hand, and loudly announced, "These are my candied hawthorns!"

At this moment, the little girl had a sinister look on her face and looked down at the classroom door.

But the moment she looked up and saw Lin Wang through the glass above, the child's expression suddenly turned ferocious. She gritted her teeth, yelled "Ha!" at Lin Wang, and lunged towards the door.

Then, with a loud "thud," it slammed against the door, so hard that the door even shook.

This...this is the strength of a child?
How could they do this?

Ah Zhe sighed and shook his head: "Things happened so suddenly, I don't know why it turned out like this..."

“At first, only one child fell ill. We called a doctor, who came and performed a ritual and burned incense ash... but it had no effect. Later, more children fell ill one after another.”

"Is it just the children? Are the adults alright?"

"It's okay for now."

"Take me to see Teacher Shen."

"Aren't you really going to consider going back first?" A-Zhe asked him.

Lin Wang remained silent, passing A Zhe directly and heading deeper into the orphanage.

"...You stubborn kid, just like when you were a kid. You northerners are all so stubborn, like rocks!" A-Zhe muttered a few words behind Lin Wang and followed him.

They soon reached the end of the corridor—from here, they could either turn into the side building or go upstairs.

Dean Shen, heavily pregnant and with a worried expression, was surrounded by seven or eight noisy orphans, some of whom were sobbing.

Seeing Lin Wang approach, Dean Shen, holding her stomach, asked, "Lin Wang? What brings you here?"

Lin Wang went straight to the point: "The temple has a rogue priestess, and the temple knows her whereabouts—very close to our orphanage."

"A temple? A fugitive priest?" several teachers exclaimed in surprise. Dean Shen looked puzzled. "But what does this have to do with our orphanage?"

"This rogue priest is not in the real world, but in the 'shadow of the world,' and for the time being, her position in the shadow has not changed."

Lin Wang tried to explain things to the teachers in the most concise way possible. Considering that the teachers at the orphanage might not understand the supernatural world, he chose to explain things in the simplest way possible.

As he spoke, his gaze swept over all the teachers and the group of children around him.

"I suspect the priest stopped here not because she wanted to hide, but because... she was being careful!"

(End of this chapter)