[Zhongyingmei] How difficult is it to become a reliable adult

April tries unsuccessfully to wrest her hand from Sister Melinda's.

Melinda's hand was like a pair of iron clamps, tightly cuffed around her wrist.The puppet split open, and a foul-smelling mud flowed out.

She roughly pulled Ai Puli from the bed, didn't even let her wear her slippers, and dragged Ai Puli out.

Ten children sleep in a dormitory at the orphanage, and Aprile sleeps in the bed closest to the window, furthest from the door.

None of the other nine children woke up except her.

"What do you want from me?" Ai Puli asked in a low voice. She tried to pull her hand out, but it was held even tighter. "Can you let go, my wrist hurts so much."

Melinda ignored her, practically dragging April along the ground.

The stones on the ground and the small debris that hadn't been cleaned hit the soles of Ai Puli's feet, and the cold air from the ground penetrated all the way from the soles of the feet.

They were about to walk out of the dormitory door, but Ai Puli hugged the bed frame next to her tightly, refusing to take a step, "I don't want to go."

She begged, "May I not go, Sister Melinda."

Melinda opened her fingers one by one, and Aprile never knew she had such strength.

Others slept so soundly that it was more like dying in a warm bed than falling asleep.Not only April's dormitory, but all the dormitories on this floor are the same.

Ai Puli was thrown out by Melinda's hair and fell to the ground.In the past, the dormitory building, which was still noisy after nightfall, was extremely quiet, but the noise they made didn't wake anyone up.

The lights in the corridor have not been repaired for a while, flickering, making the painted door panels on both sides even more weird.Melinda's footsteps clicked.

In order to prevent children from the orphanage from sneaking out at night, the nuns will lock the door of the dormitory after counting the number of people.Maybe Melinda had the keys to the dorm building, but April didn't.

She rolled on the spot, avoiding Melinda coming to grab her hand, and ran back in a panic.

Melinda thought that Ai Puli lost her head in panic and ran back to the original dormitory in a panic.She followed Ai Puli unhurriedly, but unexpectedly, she was hit hard on the head by the head-on door panel.

For several seconds, Melinda's world blurred with dizziness.Aprile took the opportunity to slip past her.

There were stairs at both ends of the corridor, and Ai Puli ran up several floors quickly, leaning against the stairs and panting.

It seemed that there were only the two of them in this building, and the children who usually hid in the dormitory after the lights were turned off did not make a sound or move.

April heard Melinda's footsteps again, on the stairs.She covered her mouth, afraid of panting too loudly.

Not wearing shoes has become her advantage, and she can't hear the sound of running.

April went down the stairs on the other side, just on the staggered floor with Melinda.She ran straight down, aiming for the first floor, but not the gate.

On the first floor of the dormitory building of the orphanage, nuns are arranged to watch in shifts every night to maintain the order of the dormitory building at night.

It was Melinda who was on duty the first half of the night, but Aprily remembered that the nun who was on duty the second half of the night was Anna.

She didn't know the time, and there was no clock in the dormitory. She hoped that Anna had already arrived in the duty room and waited.

A little light in the duty room was like a key that appeared while fumbling in a drawer.Aprile ran through the sticky paint, toward the point of light.

The whisper in her ear again made her tremble, "You know what to do."

Ai Puli shuddered. She dragged her limp body and observed outside the door of the duty room for a while.

The figure of Sister Anna was swaying in the crack of the door, making a cup of instant coffee for herself.

Ai Puli felt relieved.She didn't trust Melinda. Melinda hadn't been working in the orphanage for long, but Ana was different. She had been in the orphanage for four or five years.

Four or five years ago, April was still with her mother when she was only one or two years old.

Ai Puli knocked on the door impolitely for the first time, pushed the door and walked in, "Sister Anna!"

"Is it April?" Anna turned her head in doubt, her eyes fell on April's first feet, "Why did you run out without shoes?"

"It doesn't matter," April said, feeling chills. "Sister Melinda has a problem. She's chasing me. Do you have the key to the dormitory door?"

"Yes," Anna put down the coffee, "Are you going out?" She hesitated a little, "But it's late now."

Ai Puli said firmly, "Let's leave first, and I will explain to you after we leave."

Anna thought about it, and believed Aprily's words, "Okay." She turned and went back to the drawer to find the key.

Ai Puli flattened the nightgown that had been ripped open, and listened nervously to the movement outside the door.

footsteps.

Not from outside the door, but from within the door.

When Ai Puli turned her head, Anna had already walked in front of her. She had never seen this gentle and amiable nun show such an expression.

Anna held up the wrench in her hand high.

The quiet and beautiful oil painting cracked open, and the thin and dense millipedes crawled out of the torn portrait with twisted and reflective bodies, and the carapace was green.

This was the last Aprily saw.

Then the sharp pain clouded her consciousness.She passed out.

The first is the dull pain on the forehead, then the tinnitus reverberating in the brain, then the stuffy heat, and the numbness around the body.

April opened her eyes with difficulty, and the blood from her forehead mixed into her right eye, causing her to burst into tears.

She blinked her eyes and rubbed her face against the slightly hot hard surface. It was not until her eyes were less painful that she realized that her inability to see the surroundings was not due to eye problems.

She was in a dark and narrow space, not even a ray of light could penetrate.

Ai Puli tried to move her body, but apart from the pain from the wound, her hands and feet were bound and she couldn't move.

Fortunately, the person who took her didn't gag her mouth, blindfold her eyes, or plug her ears.

She heard the sound of the wheels running over the speed bump underneath, followed by a jolt of bumps.April realized she was in the trunk of a car.

Anna, Sister Anna...

She belatedly connects the horrific truth.

No one else in the dormitory was awake, and other than superpowers, it could only be that someone drugged their dinner.And the nun who was in charge of preparing the dinner was Anna.

A great deal of doubt, worry, fear, and anger overwhelmed her.April huddled into a smaller ball in the trunk.

Where were they taking her, what were they going to do, who were they ordering?

One question after another hovered in April's mind like carrion vultures.

She forced herself to close her eyes.

She's getting out of here, she's leaving.

She should talk to them, look them in the eye, order them to let her go - she can't reach them.

Does she ask for help, who does she ask for help, who can come to her rescue?

A few names flashed through April's mind, but it was useless, they couldn't hear her.

Superman, can you hear her cry for help?

They said Superman could hear every cry for help in the world, would he hear Aprily, would he answer her, would he choose her among all the pleadings?

April immediately thought of another name, one that was closer and more real.

Biting her lip, she whispered hopelessly, "...Superboy...Jonathan...Joe..."

"help me."

Jonathan, who was thousands of miles away, suddenly turned his head, and he murmured hesitantly, "Ayla?"

Time passed by, and the oxygen in the trunk seemed not enough, and Ai Puli's consciousness began to gradually blur.

She didn't know if Jonathan heard her voice, and she didn't know how much time had passed.

Maybe a few minutes, maybe a dozen minutes, maybe only a few tens of seconds.

There was a loud noise, the car body shook violently, and the back of Ai Puli's head hit the box wall hard.

The wound on her forehead was open again, and the blood flowed down the trace that was about to dry up.

The car quickly recovered, stopped, and could not move.

The car stopped, or was forced to stop.

April had to squint.

The walls of the trunk are warping, the metal is twisting.The first thing April felt was rain and humidity.

It was raining heavily outside, and the rain splashed, and as the trunk was torn apart bit by bit, it splashed on her face.

Jonathan in uniform stood in front of her. April couldn't see his expression clearly, but he threw the entire torn-off trunk lid away.

"Ella," he said in a flustered tone, maybe she looked a little miserable, "are you okay?"

April moved, motioning him to look at her wrists and ankles.The two ropes were so tight that her hands and feet were numb.

Jonathan carefully untied the rope and lifted her out of the trunk, more rain hitting Aprile in the face.

She couldn't open her eyes, not knowing whether they were blood, rain or cowardly tears.

She grabbed Jonathan's cloak, "They..."

"They were accompanied by accomplices, and someone chased them. He was very angry. I was worried that he could not control his actions."

Men's cologne and coffee beans, dust and sour plum.It was the teacher who taught her to use the computer in the last information class, one of her father's younger brothers.

Another took her from Jonathan's arms, "Can you go watch him for me, Superboy?"

Jonathan hesitated for a moment, "I see." He then flew away.

The man who replaced Jonathan raised a cape-like thing over Aprily's head to shield her from the rain.He took her on a motorcycle.

"Where do you feel uncomfortable?" He gently rubbed Ai Puli's wrists and ankles in turn to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis.

April huddled into a small ball in his arms, unwilling to stick her head out.

"Would you like some candy?" the man asked.

He was gentle and more of a mother than April's mother.

Ai Puli grabbed a belt on his body and said aggrievedly, "...Mom."

The man froze for a moment, and soon he calmed down and stroked Ai Puli's hair, "I'll take you to check it out, okay?"

Ai Puli snorted vaguely, and retracted deeper into his arms.

The man sighed helplessly, and sat firmly with his arms around Ai Puli, "You sit down, it may be a little cold, but we will get to a warm place soon."

Ai Puli responded carefully, "...OK."