Chapter 32 – Lunatics and Devils

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The car skidded and a boy leaped on the ground. Acid came out from his orifices. Riding a car driven by cats was nothing but a nightmare! Lilia in the car was suffering the worst as she couldn’t feel her limbs anymore. She just endured another near-death experience on the same day but she could never get used to it.

Illinois wiped his mouth before dragging his feet. He peeked from the opposite side and saw his house being besieged by countless people. It frightened him. He instinctively hid behind a trash bin.

“Demon family! Go to hell!” A fat woman hurled tomatoes, turning them into mush and splashing them all over the walls and windows. Illinois remembered her as the stubborn woman who screamed at his mother at the market. Even though the former was wrong, she still forced his mother to apologize. He recalled that his mother was trembling in humiliation. But when she glimpsed at him, her trembling stopped. She compromised.

Besides the fat woman, there were others who hollering and throwing things at his house. They cursed at his family, wanting them to roll over and die. Albeit, there was no trace of anger on their face. Only exhilaration. They felt justice was in their hands. Also from them, Illinois learned that his mother and father escaped with the police in hot pursuit.

“Hehehe!” A bald man watched on the sidelines. Illinois knew him as the guy his father helped. He said his parent was in the hospital and his son urgently needed his tuition. Emanuel loaned him some money and up to this day, the latter hadn’t given anything back.

Not only him but there were also many people watching on the road and behind their windows and doors. If the people in front resembled lunatics, then these people in the back were devils! They were smirking, snickering, giggling, frowning, pouting, and all sorts of expressions. From Illinois’ view, they were more despicable.

He felt so powerless. What a child like him could do in this situation?

Suddenly, he saw a shadow covering him. He looked up and saw the bald man. The latter had ambiguous eyes. The boy shuddered uncontrollably. The man’s ambiguous eyes transformed into a terrorizing gaze as he lifted his finger toward him!

“The brother of the terrorist is here!” Everyone stopped in shock. It took them a minute before they figured out what he was saying. Without hesitation, they charged toward the boy in frenzy!

Illinois scampered away. His breathing hurried as the wind almost blocked his airway. He coughed in pain but his fear forced him to run and run until he could no longer hear anything on his back. Even then, he wasn’t going to take chances and kept running. Only when he was close to dying, he stopped.

Illinois felt acid exiting his eyes and nose while stumbling on the ground. His heart pounded like a mad horse on verge of coming out of a stable. He gritted his teeth and crawled his way. It was a miserable sight. And yet, his petite body never paused to rest.

But all of a sudden, a leather shoe stomped on his back! It was followed by a kick in his stomach!

The boy shrimped and hugged his body. He gaped at the people surrounding him. But his brain was already blank at this point. In fact, even the pain couldn’t be registered in his brain anymore. Kicks after kicks rained down on him.

“This is revenge for Brother Cruel!” Children, no older than him, and some even younger surrounded Illinois. They didn’t bat an eye nor they pulled their attacks. The heavier and louder their hits, the better they felt!

Illinois was half dead when Lilia and the cats found him. The girl paled and quickly shielded Illinois with her back. Although the boy was unconscious, Lilia heard him mutter. And his words were filled with unparalleled power!

What happened next made her face drained of color!

“No more imagination. I shall make the world kiss my feet. Kill them for me.”

Meow! Growl!

Suddenly, the cats quivered first before undergoing a transformation! Their eyes reddened and their fur stood like bristles! As if injected with booster shots, they became agitated, roaring and snarling with crazy eyes! The children woke up from their surprise and became frightened. Nonetheless, no one dared to run for fear of getting teased by their friends.

Woosh! Woosh!

Splash. Blood spurted like a fountain, painting all the corners of the walls red! Small limbs rolled on the ground! Life slowly seeped away from their eyes! These children didn’t expect their future to end here!

Lilia felt her limbs turn cold. She stared at the eerie cat eyes and thought she was seeing demons! And yet, these demons were kneeling towards her!

No! They were kneeling to the boy in her arms!

 Lilia felt a palm pressing on her shoulder. She looked down and saw a pair of eyes that contained a galaxy! It took her a few moments to escape the attraction of his eyes before realizing how different he was from before.

“Illinois?”

The boy stood up and lumbered toward a certain direction. Without looking back, he said, “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” She couldn’t pinpoint his difference but she felt he would do nothing to her.

“To where we can change our fate.” Albeit cold, Illinois didn’t shy away from answering her. Both of them entered the car with the cats filling in the driver’s seat.

Vroom.

“You need to recuperate first.” Lilia felt uncomfortable with the way Illinois was acting. Earlier, he appeared to be half dead. Yet in a heartbeat, he gained consciousness. Despite that, he still looked frail and seemed to hold on to his dear life.

   “No need. We are here.” The car stopped in its tracks. Illinois got out first. Lilia followed his back and saw him lumbering towards a hardware store. Many question marks appeared on her brain as she gazed at the boy who was navigating each shelf. He pushed a cart while throwing items into it. By the time he was finished, the cart was fully packed. He signaled towards Lilia to help him.

The clerks watched the two drifting and felt something amiss. When the boy went to the exit while the girl kept looking back with a worried expression, they were finally startled. “Wait! Thieves!”

“Don’t think about it?!” Illinois looked up, seeing an angry guard. The latter raised a baton and swung it towards his head without hesitation. His face filled with blotched flesh lit up as if his sadist nature was emerging.

Peng. The boy stumbled. Blood dripped from the crown of his head. But his gaze wasn’t one bit perturbed! He muttered, “Chop his arms!”

Woosh! Arghh! A scream filled with pain and fright sounded! The boy got up, pushed the cart, and didn’t look back. He recalled a rare day. It was the same guard. The latter groveled like a worm toward a man. And even though he was beaten to the ground, he smiled like a fool.

“Fearing the strong but bullying the weak.” Illinois spat. He gazed in a certain direction.

“Do you want to follow me?” His eyes glinted. Lilia felt uncomfortable by his gaze and evaded it. But her steps weren’t slow as she followed his shadow.

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