Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 40 Parents

Chapter 40: Chapter 40 Parents

At this moment, Officer Wang walked in.

He was also taken aback by the tidiness of the room.

"Whoa, such clean walls, not like a teenager’s room at all, no posters even," Officer Wang said unwittingly, causing Bai Yanliang to pause.

He approached the white wall and reached out to touch it.

"Officer Wang, we might need a UV light," Bai Yanliang said seriously.

Officer Wang turned to look at the wall, then at Bai Yanliang. Although he didn’t quite grasp what Bai Yanliang was implying, he chose to trust him.

"Xiao Zheng! Get a UV light!"

While waiting for the officers to bring the UV light, Officer Wang also noticed Bo Wen’s desk and the art-related books on it, and finally understood Bai Yanliang’s meaning, feeling admiration for Bai Yanliang’s speculation.

This young man’s mind didn’t seem to be swayed by external objects, nor affected by emotions. Maintaining such calm is exceedingly rare, after all, humans are ultimately not machines.

The UV light was brought in promptly. Bai Yanliang drew the curtains, and Officer Wang personally held the UV light, shining it on the wall.

Although he had predicted it in his heart, the scene before him still made Officer Wang and several officers gasp, while... a chilling feeling crept from their hearts.

"Thud—"

"Hold her!"

It was Bo Wen’s mother who fainted upon seeing the murals on her son’s room walls.

You couldn’t blame her; even Bo Wen’s silent and stern-looking father turned pale.

It was because... the things on this wall were too surprising.

Under the UV light, eerie paintings done with fluorescent material emerged on the wall, the ghostly blue light made the contents of the paintings seem alive.

No one knew why the heart of this fifteen-year-old who just entered high school had become so twisted.

The bizarre graffiti covering the wall were all monstrous aberrations!

Their faces were contorted, extraordinarily tall, limbs grotesquely twisted. Underneath them were tiny figures fleeing, but most had already been stuffed into their mouths or had limbs torn apart, scattered everywhere...

The room was very quiet, everyone’s sight was silently following Officer Wang’s UV light further down. But by now, everyone had confirmed one thing: Bo Wen’s heart was completely twisted.

He was nothing like the clean, tidy, disciplined appearance he displayed on the surface.

Instead, he veered towards another extreme: extreme repression, pain, distortion, confusion, cruelty!

There was no hope to be seen in his paintings, not a shred of sympathy!

"Phew..."

Officer Wang inadvertently exhaled, opened the curtains.

Sunlight seeped through the window, dispelling a little of the eeriness that chilled one’s heart.

Too oppressive, despite his many years in the force, having seen numerous bizarre cases, he had never encountered a heart of a fifteen-year-old twisted like this.

What on earth had he experienced?

"Wait."

At this moment, Bai Yanliang spoke up.

He took the UV light from the bewildered Officer Wang’s hand and shone it towards the ceiling.

Everyone was staggered, then, sure enough, the ghostly blue light appeared!

The ceiling also had his graffiti!

But... this time, what was it?

Everyone instinctively turned their gaze towards Bo Wen’s father and the mother who had just regained consciousness.

The couple looked stupefied, incredulous as they gazed at the ceiling.

The tiny figures bearing a seven-part resemblance to them, with exaggeratedly open mouths, each tearing apart a child, trying to stuff it into their mouths.

They seemed to be standing in front of a building, Bo Wen had only sketched an outline, without specifying which.

But Officer Wang knew, this picture was a reflection of some twisted emotion in that child’s heart.

The building behind the couple, what was it really?

"Mr. Hao, Miss Gong, please explain the meaning of this painting," Officer Wang asked the couple sternly.

"Explain? Explain what! How would I know what he’s painting! That ingrate, brought him up for nothing!" After seeing the painting, Bo Wen’s father’s emotions flared excessively, his face flushed, voice brash, veins bulged in his neck as he spit his grievances, about the hardships of work.

He pointed to the sky, venting his frustration over Bo Wen’s lack of ambition, addiction to the internet.

His gradually losing control forced Officer Wang to take action, instructing officers to restrain him, then Officer Wang turned to Gong Lan.

This almost forty-year-old woman looked dazed, kept staring at the ceiling.

Although Bai Yanliang had long turned off the UV light, she still gazed blankly there.

After a long while, Gong Lan spoke, lowering her head.

"That’s the Yehua Education Center... an institution for treating internet addiction."

Officer Wang’s face changed, he was about to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

Everyone listened to this woman’s hoarse narration.

"Bo Wen used to be disobedient... just started middle school and he went astray, skipping classes, fighting, puppy love, surfing the internet... doing all kinds of bad things except learning, his father was busy with work, he wouldn’t listen to me, we watched him become worse, but obviously, this couldn’t go on!"

Absolute despair and confusion flashed on Gong Lan’s face, she continued, "Later, someone introduced us to an educational institution with excellent results! All the children they helped became so well-behaved and likable, so... his father and I tricked him into going there."

"Who introduced you to that educational institution?" Officer Wang asked.

"Teacher Li Degang, many students were recommended by him, he... is a good person." Gong Lan’s face was ash white. She couldn’t comprehend why her own child would act against someone so benevolent. In her eyes, hadn’t Bo Wen already become better? After a year’s education, he turned to a highly organized lifestyle, orderly, spoke politely, he was supposed to be the obedient child now, wasn’t he, why...

Bai Yanliang silently observed her and the man still raging angrily, he had never seen his parents, he was raised by his brother.

But it wasn’t that he couldn’t understand parental affection for their offspring.

The sequence of events was already clear, Bo Wen grew up in a home with extremely failed parenting.

His parents harbored traditional, feudal thoughts, possessed strong control over their children, seeing them as personal belongings.

They were failures on their life paths, while also being fond of shirking responsibility. To ensure their son a "bright" future, they chose to personally send Bo Wen into Hell.

Although Bai Yanliang didn’t know how the mentioned educational institution was managed internally, from the dense graffiti on the walls, he utterly felt Bo Wen’s helplessness, fear, and despair.

He became an obedient child in the eyes of his parents, but deep down, he was releasing twisted and unheard screams.

"Officer Wang, I’m leaving now."

Bai Yanliang greeted, Officer Wang nodded, looking at the couple.

His position prohibited him from doing certain things, saying certain words.

He also understood that changing certain deep-seated concepts was an exceptionally difficult task, and for a particular family, exceedingly private.

Bo Wen only retaliated against Li Degang, perhaps this was all that remained of his twisted soul, his last shred of kindness.