Bai Liu had never been an obedient child. A few minutes after the dean took Xie Ta away, he secretly and carefully entered the church through the broken window covered by the curtain. Bai Liu hid behind the curtain, curling up in a small ball as he walked Xie Ta and the dean standing underneath the statue.
Xie Ta was dressed in pure white clothes and held a flickering white candle in his hand. He stood barefoot in front of the statue, his head raised and his eyes closed as he recited a prayer without hesitation.
The dean was standing next to Xie Ta, holding a whip and looking at him coldly.
After reciting the pray, the dean stepped forward and stared at him. âNext is the baptism. However, today you had the idea of betraying God and running away. It means todayâs baptism must be thorough to completely cleanse your body of evil and filth!â
Xie Ta lowered his eyes. âIt canât be washed clean.â
âI am evil itself that canât be confronted,â he said softly.
The dean froze for a moment before her expression became more serious.
She snatched the candle from Xie Taâs hand and pressed Xie Ta into the baptismal pool. She held the candle and smiled cruelly and proudly, as if she had finally defeated a demon she had feared for a long time. There was a sense of madness that remained in her.
The dean sighed with relief and looked at Xie Ta who was submerged in the water. She raised the candle and placed it flat near the baptismal pool, declaring coldly, âYou can only get out when the candle finishes burning, do you understand?â
The wax fell drop by drop into the clear water. They condensed into small white flowers like sacrificial flowers, suspending directly above Xie Ta who was lying at the bottom of the pool with closed eyes.
The baptismal pool was like a coffin that was too small for him. It firmly and twistedly bound him.
The thing that no one realized was that the statue of a god facing the baptismal pool moved slightly. The expression on the face of the pure white marble statue changed to a very human-like accusation, as if accusing the child in the baptismal pool for not behaving and wanting to escape the shelter of God.
[You are an evil thing, a fallen god. You canât leave the imprisonment of the gods. You shouldnât be tempted by a child who has been bewitched by you and thinks of fleeing.]
The statue condemned in a cold tone. [Tawil, you know very well that the child is seduced by yor evil. He isnât the new believer you are looking for.]
Underwater, Tawilâs eyelids moved.
[No, I donât think of him as my new believer.]
The statue asked coldly: [Then what do you think of that child? He has seen your eyes and he isnât far from madness.]
[You should kill him or he will become an evil monster like you and destroy the world. You know, everything you have polluted will have consequences.]
Tawilâs fingers placed on top of his chest moved slightly. [He... I want to read with him forever.]
[You know that isnât possible. Tawil, kill him, kill this child you have tainted!] God commanded.
[I canât do it.] Tawil calmly refused. [You can kill me but I canât kill him.]
The expression of the statue became angry. [...You are exiled here but you still dare to disobey Godâs order. You deserve to be punished and sleep forever!]
It opened its hand directly above Tawil. The water at the bottom of the baptismal pool became heavy, viscous and icy, like flowing ice turning into spikes in Tawilâs body. This made him frown but he soon relaxed his expression.
Under the water, Xie Ta curled up and the hand that had held Bai Liuâs hand shook. Then his trembling eyelids stopped moving.
The temperature of Bai Liuâs hand remained in his palm but it gradually dissipated in the cold water as his breathing stopped.
His fingers clenched tightly, trying to keep the temperature. Then they loosened and Xie Taâs body floated in the water.
âX-Xie Ta?â The dean stepped back in a panic. Then she checked under Xie Taâs nose for breathing. She was so shocked that she dropped the candle in her hand and stepped on it in a panic. The light of the candle was extinguished and this also extinguished the only light in the church.
âItâs over.â The dean sank to the ground in a daze. She pulled at her hair madly while speaking to herself in disbelief, âIsnât he a monster? He had his blood drawn so many times and he didnât die. He has been baptized so many times without dying. Why did he drown this time?â
âIt has only been a few minutes! The candle isnât even all burned out!â The deanâs expression became even more horrified. She kept shaking her head, as if Xie Ta would come alive as long as she didnât admit it. âNo, it is impossible, impossible!â
âHe is dead. What am I going to do?!â The dean collapsed to her knees in front of the baptismal pool.
She never imagined that the death of this child would bring her such deadly fear.
The dean looked down at Xie Taâs flawless face in the baptismal and murmured to herself, â...I drowned Xie Ta myself and that group will drain my blood. I must find other children to replace him!â
Bai Liu hid behind the curtain and watched the dean roar hysterically with no emotion on his face.
There was a strange firmness that made Bai Liu wait and see. Xie Ta said he was a monster and that he wouldnât die. Yes, he must be pretending to be dead to fool the idiot dean.
Once the dean was gone, Bai Liu would go over and Xie Ta would get up from the baptismal pool, showing him a rare smile. Perhaps Bai Liu would push back the already wet hair, stare intently into those silver-blue eyes and ask Xie Ta how he came up.
Imagining these scenes made Bai Liuâs heartbeat accelerate.
The dean didnât dare let the investors know that she had killed Xie Ta. She moved Xie Taâs body from the baptismal pool and surreptitiously carried him out the back door of the church. She tied rocks to Xie Taâs hands and feet and threw him into the small lake behind the church. It was the lake connected to a river outside.
After a few circulations, Xie Taâs body would flow into the river and from the river, into the sea.
However, Bai Liu wouldnât let Xie Ta go that far.
Bai Liu silently followed as the dean got rid of the corpse and didnât make a sound. The dean looked like she had gone crazy. If he appeared now, the hysterical dean probably wouldnât mind disposing of another child.
After she fled in a hurry, Bai Liu came out. He buried his face in the small lake full of emerald green duckweed and dived to the bottom. He reached out to Xie Ta at the bottom of the lake as he was gradually sinking into the sediment.
The lake was very deep and green. Xie Ta sank down quickly.
The black, muddy sand was like a creature that swallowed human corpses. It soon crawled over Xie Taâs body, greedily trying to drag him into hell.
Bai Liu resisted the desire to cough as the dirty lake water poured into his mouth, nose and ears. He gritted his teeth and grasped Xie Ta being swallowed by the sand, pulling with his strength until he ran out of air. Bai Liu felt that his brain was going to burn up due to the lack of oxygen.
Even so, he finally pulled Xie Ta put. Bai Liu ripped off the heavy stones and rope binding Xie Taâs body and carried him upstream.
They reached the shore and Bai Liu lay on the ground, staring up at the starry sky as he gasped for breath. There was duckweed hanging on his face and his body was all wet. The cicadas cried in the grass around him and it was a very embarrassing scene.
Nevertheless, Bai Liu didnât know the reason but he snorted with joy. He kicked Xie Ta, who was lying quietly on the ground with eyes closed, not waking up. âHow did you know that I was going to take you away? What if I worked for those adults to earn money to spend on myself?â
Bai Liu was a bit uncomfortable as he looked at Xie Ta with a casual smile on his face. âArenât you a bit too presumptuous, Xie Ta?â
Xie Taâs face was covered with duckweed and he still hadnât woken up. Bai Liu first sat up. Then he changed to a squatting position and looked down at the motionless Xie Ta. He reached out to touch the hair that was stuck to Xie Taâs forehead because it was wet.
This person was really beautiful.
Bai Liuâs fingers slid down Xie Taâs slender eyelashes that were dripping water, across the tip of his straight nose, the incredibly white lips and finally on the  beautiful silver-blue eyes that seemed to have only been shown to him.
âXIe Ta.â Bai Liuâs voice was very soft. He bent down and placed his ear against Xie Taâs chest, his eyes wide open. âIf you donât wake up, I will give you artificial respiration and Iâll bite you to death.â
There was no heartbeat, no breathing and no body temperature. There were no signs that Xie Ta would wake up.
âIâm serious.â Bai Liu buried his face into Xie Taâs chest, his fists clenching so tightly that his fingers turned white.
Bai Liu could smell the familiar, thick smell of blood mixed with the smell of water. It was a breath that was close to death.
Bai Liu hugged Xie Taâs shoulders tighter and closed his arms tightly to hold Xie Ta. The water dripping from both their bodies merged together.
âI donât think you are presumptuous,â Bai Liu said softly while leaning his head against Xie Taâs shoulder.
His forehead rested against Xie Taâs heart. He lowered his head and blinked slowly, drops of water falling from his eyelashes.
Xie Taâs head rested on Bai Liuâs shoulder without any strength. He didnât answer Bai Liuâs call and his eyes still didnât open. Only the cold water on his hair fell onto Bai Liuâs clothes, reminding Bai Liu that he did exist.
They hugged each other and their fingers interlocked together. Bai Liu leaned against Xie Taâs shoulder, his voice calm and quiet with no fluctuations.
âDidnât you say that you are a monster? Come back to life like a monster and Iâll admit you are a monster.â
âIf you are like this, it makes me feel terrible, Xie Ta.â
A drop of water slipped from Xie Taâs eyelashes, like a tear hitting the back of Bai Liuâs hand.