Chapter 202: Chapter 202 The Collision with Evil Chapter 202: Chapter 202 The Collision with Evil Although August was hot, there were times when it rained.

Zheng Tan squatted in front of the window, looking at the scenery outside. A fist-sized toad moved serenely from one side of the nearby concrete road to the other.

Outside, the air was filled with the calls of frogs.

Little Youzi lay on the table drawing, the electric fan had also stopped, and the wind from outside carried moisture, making it quite cool.

Zheng Tan looked in the direction of Wild Pond, wondering where that little girl would go today.

Recently, Little Youzi and her group had only gone shrimp fishing every few days, not every day to Wild Pond, but Zheng Tan had time to go over and help the little girl when he could. On clear days, the little girl would fish for shrimp at Wild Pond; as for rainy days, she might be catching frogs. Despite her frail appearance, Zheng Tan had seen her kill a snake as thick as a finger with a broken sickle just a few days ago.

At that moment, the child showed no fear, and her facial expression hardly changed throughout the process. If anything, there was a hint of excitement in her eyes—it was meat, after all. Zheng Tan thought this little girl must be used to it; who knows how many snakes that sickle had killed. She was braver than most kids.

After the rain had stopped, Zheng Tan went to Wild Pond the next day and, after waiting a while, saw the little girl coming over with her “equipment.”

Seeing Zheng Tan waiting there, the little girl’s furrowed brows relaxed, and she hurried over.

Although it had rained just yesterday, as soon as the rain stopped, the temperature rapidly climbed back up. With the sun of the late morning, many spots were no longer moist. In a day or two, some of the frequently trodden dirt paths would probably be as dry as they had been a few days before.

Baiting worms, casting lines, then collaborating. In two or three hours, they could catch some, but of course, since Wild Pond was only so big and they had been fishing for so long, the haul wasn’t as good as when they first started. The little girl left Wild Pond every day after 6 PM, but Zheng Tan couldn’t; he had to leave around 5 PM, otherwise, he would have to listen to Jiao Ma nag. Zheng Tan didn’t need a watch; he could tell the time roughly by the position of the sun.

The little girl also knew that around that time in the afternoon, Black Cat had to go home. But today was different.

Zheng Tan was watching the line, focused on the tense thread, which would tighten when a shrimp clamped down, and a larger shrimp could even move the pole. Seeing a shrimp grab the worm, Zheng Tan signaled for the little girl to come over.

After catching the shrimp, the little girl didn’t cast the line again but instead started packing up.

Ending so early today?

Zheng Tan was puzzled.

After packing, the little girl asked Zheng Tan to follow her.

Although he did not quite understand what the little girl was up to, it was still early, so Zheng Tan followed her.

They walked to a nearby small grove where the little girl hid the poles to keep other children from taking them. She then quickly processed the shrimp in the bucket, saving only the tails and some bigger pincers, discarding the rest, which made the load much lighter to carry.

At the forest, Zheng Tan saw that man again, as three people walked past. Zheng Tan hid in the bushes watching them and pulled at the little girl who was sorting the shrimp, signaling her to hide.

Seeing Black Cat being so vigilant, the little girl thought there might be something dangerous, so she stopped caring about the shrimp and immediately hid behind the bushes, lying flat on the ground, peering through the gaps.

Once the three people had left, Zheng Tan’s tense muscles relaxed.

“Who are they? Did they beat you up?” the little girl asked, looking at Zheng Tan curiously.

Huh?

The little girl didn’t recognize them?

Previously, Zheng Tan had thought the little girl’s sisters had been sold by their father to these men, but now it seemed, he had been wrong. If they had been sold to these men, surely she should recognize at least one of them?

For a moment, Zheng Tan couldn’t figure it out.

After leaving the place where they hid the poles, the little girl led Zheng Tan a bit further, stopping near an orchard. The perimeter of the orchard was fenced with a metal net, likely very secure. There was a little stone bridge, but the stream that had run beneath it was long dried up and overgrown with weeds. Moreover, it seemed this area was not often visited by people.

The little girl slid down the slope, parted the bushes, and revealed a hole. Zheng Tan watched as she pulled out various items, including a small aluminum pot.

At the edge under the stone bridge, there were some charred bricks. Zheng Tan watched as she arranged the bricks into an “n” shape, then set the aluminum pot on top. She placed dry grass and twigs in the gaps beneath, struck a match, and lit it to start boiling the shrimp.

It was a simple boiled shrimp dish, which didn’t look appetizing to Zheng Tan, but the little girl seemed to find it delectable.

After cooking, the little girl handed Zheng Tan a shrimp ball. Zheng Tan didn’t eat it, so she finished it all by herself. After eating, she put everything back in its place.

The little girl told Zheng Tan that this was her “secret base,” and she mostly came here during meal times, only going home to sleep at night. Mentioning “going home” brought a look of disgust to her eyes.

It was getting dark, and Zheng Tan couldn’t stay there forever.

After Zheng Tan left, the little girl walked to another spot, parted the bushes, and inside there was a wide-mouthed glass canning jar containing the sweets Little Youzi had given her. She had already eaten three and now looked at the remaining two with a sigh. After hesitating, she picked one up, carefully tore open the wrapper, took out the sweet, and neatly arranged the plastic wrapping back in the jar, where four wrappers were already stacked.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep