The Witch (Lisrene)

Chapter 1

HAI CITY - NIGHT

A train station welcomed another wave of alighting passengers. Like a swarm of bees, the crowd squeezed through the gate. Amidst the crowd, a slim figure looked particularly striking, causing passersby to glance back at her unwittingly.

It was a young girl, approximately 1.6m tall, wearing ethnic clothing.

Ethnic clothes were mostly bright and colourful. Her clothes were exquisitely designed—filled with embroidery and pearls, they glistened under the station's neon lights—they were beautiful and imposing at the same time.

Irene took out a slip of paper given by her master. She took a look at the address on the paper then at the buzzing crowd surrounding her. She could not discern where to head to for a moment.

"Young lady, are you waiting for someone?" A security officer who had been monitoring Irene for some time, noticed that this young lady had stood rooted to the ground for a significant period of time after exiting the gate.

"Hello." Irene saw someone approaching and greeted politely.

"Hello hello." The security officer saw the adorable and lovely Irene, reminiscent of his own daughter who was currently studying in high school, and smiled more warmly at her. "I noticed that you have been standing here and have not moved for quite some time, are you waiting for someone? Or are you lost?"

The young girl's unique disposition was in stark contrast against the city's clamour, with one look, one could tell that she had not been in a city much.

"Not waiting for anyone," Irene shook her head and passed him the address slip in her hand, "I am going to this place."

The security officer took the paper slip and looked at it, "Oh Qinghu District, this location is quite a distance away, it takes more than an hour to get there by train, very complicated..."

Irene listened attentively.

"Young lady, is this your first time to Hai City?"

"Yes." Irene nodded her head meekly.

"Any relatives in Hai City?"

"Yes, over here." Irene pointed at the slip of paper.

"Then why are your relatives not coming to fetch you?" The security guard couldn't help but worry about her. This young lady was attractive and seemed to have an innocent mind. Plus, the public security in Hai City was not that great recently. Why were her relatives not fetching her even though she arrived here via a late night train?

"He doesn't know that I'm here. I'm here to look for him." Irene explained.

"There are public phones here. How about calling him and asking him to fetch you?"

"I tried calling, his phone was off." Irene replied.

"I see...," The security officer pondered before replying, "To head over there from here, you will need to change 3 different subway lines. After exiting the subway, you probably will still need to search around for the location. Why don't you take a taxi instead; you can have the driver take you directly to the entrance of the district. Even though it's a bit expensive, it is safer this way."

"Okay." Irene took back the slip and asked politely, "Excuse me, where should I go to take a taxi?"

"Heh, one should help to the very end. Let me bring you over."

The security officer escorted Irene all the way to the taxi queue entrance. "Enter through here and queue together behind them, wait for the taxi to arrive and you can head in directly."