Seeing the alarm clock showing six o’clock in the morning, Chu Shici thought that Mingzhe woke up so early to go to school.
The man had left long ago, and in the rice cooker in the kitchen was his porridge.
Mingzhe finished his meal quietly, and put the leftover vegetable porridge and the two boiled eggs he made into an insulated lunch box.
Chu Shici sat on his shoulder, turned his head and looked at the time, “It’s already seven o’clock, are you in time for school?”
Before he finished speaking, he was taken down by Mingzhe.
Mingzhe tiptoed and took out an iron box from the refrigerator, put a dry biscuit in front of him, and poured him a small bottle of soybean milk.
“I don’t have to go to school on Saturday. I will go to the hospital to see grandma.”
He didn’t mean to take Chu Shici with him, he just bent down to eye level in front of him and told him not to run around.
The door closed again, and Chu Shici sat on the dining table, holding a biscuit and chewing on it.
He has no teeth and no tongue, he just bites and plays with it.
The house was too dark yesterday, but now that the light is bright, Chu Shici realised that the house was not old, but it was really rotten.
The walls were mouldy and dusty. It rained heavily last night, and rainwater seeped into the kitchen near the window. There was a rag on the hook attached to the wall, which was used by a man surnamed Liu to wipe the water.
To save money during renovation, they did not hire professional contractors. Using low-quality materials and DIY the house on their own. As a result, they were not able to renovate properly, causing the walls to get mouldy easily when damp.
The cabinets and tables are all handmade, using the cheapest wood. There is not much decent furniture, it can be seen that Uncle Liu’s life is not rich.
On the wall is a calendar with July 2006 written on it. There are no circles on the date, so Chu Shici couldn’t guess what date it is today.
There are two rooms and one living room in the house. The layout is not good, and is very messy. Only the master bedroom gets a little sunshine each day. The living room and the second bedroom where Mingzhe lives are firmly blocked by another residential building opposite, and the sun cannot be seen all year round.
Even in daylight, the house looked gloomy.
The refrigerator keeps humming, and Chu Shici can’t guess how many times it has to have been handed down. Lots of stains on the surface and a bad stench inside. The bathroom is a red plastic basin, where Mingzhe usually takes a shower in. Next to the toilet sits a large red bucket filled with crushed plastic bottles.
Chu Shici flew around the house a few times, and the system chatted in his mind: [Isn’t this an elevator room*? Why does Uncle Liu’s house look so poor?]
*(idk, 电梯房 house beside the lift)
‘It may be a house bought with a loan, he just wants to settle down in the city. ‘
[Buy such an expensive house without money?]
‘This house is not that expensive, look outside. In addition to this community, there are many small one-story houses nearby, and there seem to be a few unfinished buildings over there. There are very few cars on the road, and there are no shopping malls or schools. It should be that the market forecast was wrong and they wanted to raise the house price. As a result, this side was different from what they expected, and it did not develop well. It can be regarded as a bit of conscience, at least the building was built, and it didn’t rot here, otherwise it would be very troublesome to defend their rights.’
He lay down by the window and looked out, ‘there are not many cars parked downstairs, and the people in this building are probably not rich. Mingzhe’s house can’t even be rented out, and no one comes here. ‘
[How do you know so much?]
‘My family lives in this kind of building, with the same poor property management. The education level of the residents is also not high, so it is unexpected to report for rights protection. My stepmother always quarrelled with my father, saying that he didn’t choose a good house at the beginning, and bought such an isolated house that it was inconvenient to go anywhere. They got into a fight, and to put it bluntly, after we moved into the city, since we were poor and uneducated, we were fooled. ‘
After looking around the room, Chu Shici flew back to the second bedroom again.
On the wall of Mingzhe’s bedroom, there are several star posters and some anime stickers.
Chu Shici didn’t know any of the people above. This is the world created by novels, which is quite different from reality.
Mingzhe doesn’t seem to have the habit of carrying a mobile phone, so the mobile phone is placed next to the pillow.
It’s an old-fashioned mobile phone, and it doesn’t have a colour screen by visual inspection. There are not many functions, mainly used to make and receive calls and send text messages.
This mobile phone whose buttons are almost worn off may be an old mobile phone discarded by his parents, so it is convenient for him to be contacted.
Chu Shici was so bored, he lay on Mingzhe’s cell phone and played Tetris for a while.
Just as he was staring at the pixel square of the phone, holding his breath and trying to poke into the air, the phone suddenly rang.
The sound was so loud that Chu Shici was so frightened that he flew up on the spot.
He covered his heart and looked down. It was a new text message.
The sender is a string of numbers, and the content is only one sentence, [# Why don’t you die? #]
Chu Shici tilted his head in doubt.
After a while, another text message came, [# Why don’t you jump off the building? #]
Chu Shici didn’t understand what was going on, and didn’t dare to reply indiscriminately.
Then the phone rang twice more. He was really curious and clicked to check one by one.
[# Don’t think that if you don’t reply to the text message, we don’t know that you are still alive. #]
[# Now everyone knows you’re a liar, Mingzhe. #]
After that, the phone became quiet again.
Chu Shici looked bewildered, and he asked the system; ‘Is there this scene in the original text? ‘
The system is also very confused, [The male protagonist in the original text was 16 years old when he appeared on the stage, but now the male protagonist is only 12, how could there be such a plot in the book.]
Judging by the tone of the text message, it is definitely not the first time that the person on the other end has sent these types of text messages to Mingzhe.
Chu Shici opened the inbox, but there was not a single text message in it, maybe Mingzhe deleted them all.
Anyone with a brain will feel that there is something suspicious about it.
Chu Shici and the system looked at each other for a while, wanting to have a discussion, but couldn’t even find where to start.
But from those few text messages, it can be seen that someone is urging Mingzhe to commit suicide.
Someone wanted him dead.
___
At four o’clock in the afternoon, the old anti-theft door opened again.
Mingzhe came back in a hurry, his spirits were listless, and his face was a bit ugly.
When Chu Shici heard the sound and came flying over, Mingzhe was leaning on the wall and retching.
Chu Shici was taken aback, “What’s wrong with you, where do you feel uncomfortable?”
Mingzhe said softly, “Motion sickness.”
When he approached, Chu Shici smelled a strong smell of smoke on him.
He stood on Mingzhe’s shoulder, “Where did you go after you left the hospital? You smell like cigarettes.”
Mingzhe paused, “Someone was smoking in the bus.”
His voice remained unchanged, and his expression remained unchanged.
But his eyes were evasive, and it could be seen he was lying at first glance.
Chu Shici flew in front of him, folded his arms and asked, “Billiard hall? Arcade hall?”
Mingzhe didn’t respond.
“Disco? Ice skating rink? Mahjong parlour?”
Mingzhe took out a set of old clothes from the closet and prepared to change into them.
Chu Shici fell on his wrist, “You went to a underground internet cafe.”
Mingzhe blinked his eyes twice quickly, and the roots of his ears were slightly red, “No, someone was smoking in the car.”
His lying skills are so bad that even the system can see through him.
Due to family reasons, Chu Shici was particularly rebellious when he was a teenager, and he had been to all those messy places.
Underground internet cafes do not require customers to bring their own ID cards, minors only need to say how long they will be playing, and they can go in directly after paying the money.
The fee is very low, only a few dollars a night. But it’s dirty and messy and has everything.
Chu Shi went several times, but because he had an innocent looking face, he often encountered gangsters and perverts.
He had a very bad impression of that place, and when he ran away from home, he would rather sleep on the street than spend the night there.
No matter how you look at Mingzhe, he is an obedient child, how could he go there?
Maybe because he knew that he was not good at lying, Mingzhe changed his clothes and quickly headed into the kitchen.
He walked in front, and Chu Shici flew behind, chasing and trying to persuade him: “The underground internet cafe is not a good place, and there are many messy people there. You are only 12 years old, what if you meet bad people? Even if a fight breaks out in there, no one will manage it. When you grow up, go to a regular Internet cafe, at least it is clean and tidy, with good ventilation and fire protection systems. Underground internet cafes are prone to fires, and it will be difficult for people inside to escape.”
Chu Shici kept persuading him for more than half an hour by rambling on and giving various examples.
Mingzhe, who had been silent all this time, suddenly lowered his head and whispered, “I don’t like it either.”
Chu Shici was taken aback, “You still want to go if you don’t like it? You don’t have much pocket money, and someone forced you to go?”
Mingzhe picked the beans skillfully: “No.”
“Then why did you go there?”
Mingzhe was silent again, he pursed his lips tightly and his eyelashes trembled.
No matter how Chu Shici pressed him, he refused to say another word.
The system sighed, [It’s useless to ask, the vitality value is too low, the little boy is too autistic.]
Chu Shici observed Mingzhe’s expression, ‘It’s not just about vitality, he seems to have something to hide.’
___
Mingzhe’s dinner is stewed potatoes with beans made by himself, and there is not a piece of meat in the whole process.
As he was still growing up, looking at his appearance, Chu Shici was thinking about how he could get some meat for him.
The bedroom door was broken, Mingzhe moved a chair to block the door.
He grabbed Chu Shici who was flying around him, grabbed his head, and replaced him with a new body.
The new body is made of black plasticine, and the red pants and red cape are replaced with black.
Mingzhe compared it twice, drew a circle on the little man’s chest, and wrote a capital ‘m’ inside.
Chu Shici stared blankly at the yellow m on his chest, and the system laughed wildly in his mind.
[Dc’s Superman has an s on his chest, but you are amazing, you are an m. This little boy is a genius! I’m dying from laughter, he actually saw through your innocent cover and saw your yellow underbelly.]
Chu Shici raised his head blankly, “Xiao Zhe, what does this m mean?”
Mingzhe wiped the paint on his hands, “Ming’s initials.”
He paused, then picked up the drawing paper on the table, “Your current image is designed by myself. It is unique, and it is my own exclusive little superman.”
When he said this, Mingzhe’s eyes were slightly red.
He grabbed Chu Shici and looked straight into his beady eyes: “You belong to me alone.”
Before going out this morning, Mingzhe was not like this.
I don’t know what he encountered outside, but he became more sensitive and disturbed after he came back.
Chu Shici touched his fingers reassuringly, “Is there something on your mind? It’s okay, Xiao Zhe, I will always be with you.”
It was just a simple sentence, but Mingzhe’s vitality value increased by 5 points in one breath.
The system tut tut and shook its head, [Sure enough, it’s a child, so easy to coax.]
Mingzhe touched the little man’s head back and forth, and Chu Shici rubbed his fingers against him.
Mingzhe was silent for a long time, held Chu Shici to his lips, and kissed his little mud face.
The system yelled, [I just leaned over, rounding it up, he just kissed me too! Ah, cute little boy with facial paralysis, so cute.]
‘Brother, calm down. ‘
[The corners of your mouth are almost flying into the sky, what qualifications do you have to call me out.]
‘I can’t help it either, being kissed by a cute child, this is the joy of raising a cub. ‘
[No need male mothers.]
‘…’
Su Zheyan is a boring adult who doesn’t know how to play with a small robot.
Mingzhe is a 12-year-old kid who takes the plasticine figurine to the bed. Kissing and touching, wishing to grow up with his little Superman.
There was no need for Chu Shici to do anything, and the vitality value rose little by little.
Mingzhe lay sideways on the bed, staring at him with a stern face, “My parents don’t want me.”
“?”
“I’ve lived here for two years, and they only come back to see me during the holidays.”
“Maybe it’s inconvenient to come home from other places.”
“They are not out of town, just on the other side of the city. It takes about four hours to change buses a few times.”
Chu Shici’s eyes widened in shock, “In this city?”
Mingzhe hummed, “Grandma told me the address today, and I went to find them. I said Uncle Liu hit me, and I want to go home.”
“What did they say?”
Mingzhe didn’t answer, just put the quilt over his head. Through the quilt, he could hear his suppressed crying.
Chu Shici got under the quilt to coax him.
Mingzhe’s inaudible sobs came from the darkness.
“They said I was an accident and didn’t want me.”
He only said this, and then kept wiping away his tears quietly.
Chu Shici patted the back of his hand, trying to comfort him.
In fact, from the phone call yesterday, Chu Shici could tell that Mingzhe’s parents didn’t really care about him.
They probably knew about Mingzhe being beaten. It’s just that theydon’t care, and they don’t want to care about it, so they pretend to be confused.
The system has already filled in the side missions.
The headquarters sent a reply again, [Submission of the branch task failed.]
The system scratched its head, [The male protagonist’s vitality value has dropped to a negative number, so it’s not because his parents abandoned him?]
Chu Shici thought for a while, and thought of another possibility.
Young children lack the ability to defend themselves and need an adult to be by their side in order to grow safely into adulthood.
Mingzhe just turned ten years old two years ago, his parents left, and Uncle Liu helped take care of him. Uncle Liu beat and scolded Mingzhe, and would not give Mingzhe any sense of security.
Lack of adult protection and no backers around. Now that the Internet is underdeveloped, Mingzhe’s daily trajectory is not only home but also school, and he has few channels for obtaining information.
He has no access to a lot of self-defence common sense.
If someone sneaks in at this time, it is easy to deceive the child’s trust, and he will obey the only adult around him who is willing to lend a helping hand to him.
Chu Shici’s heart hung up.
When Mingzhe’s mood stabilised a bit, he grabbed Mingzhe’s fingers and asked nervously, “Have you met any strange people?”
Mingzhe just cried for a while, and soon recovered.
From his reaction, it can be seen that the relationship between him and his parents does not seem to be very close.
Mingzhe stretched out his head to take a few breaths of air, his voice became calm again, “For example?”
Chu Shici flew in front of him and made some gestures on himself: “For example, paedophiles are those perverts who like to touch children, and sometimes let children touch them.”
Mingzhe shook his head: “I hate being in close contact with people.”
“Did someone feed you something weird, like a powder or a little pill?”
“I don’t eat things of unknown origin.”
“Then has anyone instilled strange thoughts in you? For example, if you believe in gods and ghosts, you will get happiness. Or if you listen to someone, you will have a good life.”
Mingzhe frowned and pondered: “…No.”
“Really?”
Mingzhe thought for a few seconds, and finally said with certainty: “No.”
Chu Shici felt that something was wrong with him.
___
After playing with Superman for a while, Mingzhe also saw the information on the phone.
His expression suddenly became very complicated.
Chu Shici floated a peek behind him and saw him replying to the other side, [Don’t bother me.]
Then deletes all the text messages.
Chu Shici asked him what happened to the text message, Mingzhe tilted his head slightly, “I don’t know.”
The system smacked his lips, [His ears are red, he is lying.]
Seeing Mingzhe like this, Chu Shici felt that he was not being led astray.
Although his life is not satisfactory, his mind is very clear.
The abandonment of his parents and Uncle Liu’s abuse really made him very sad and traumatised him.
But he can temporarily adjust his emotions in a short period of time.
Last night Mingzhe was beaten all over his body with bruises, and after sleeping, his mental state returned to normal again.
After spending a whole day looking for his biological parents, he learned that his parents didn’t care about his life or death, so he just hid in the quilt and cried bitterly for a while, and soon calmed down again.
In Chu Shici’s view, these were hell-like experiences on earth, but they didn’t affect Mingzhe very much.
According to Mingzhe, he grew up in the countryside with his grandparents.
After his Grandpa passed away and grandma was hospitalised, he returned back to hisparents. His parents only took care of him for less than two years.
They were not close, and it was just an instinctive reaction to ask their mother for help when they were beaten.
When Chu Shici first came to this world, Mingzhe was about to commit suicide.
Before Uncle Liu came home, he repaired Chu Shici’s body and was still planning to jump off the building.
The plan to jump off the building was interrupted by Uncle Liu who came home suddenly. He failed to jump and was beaten.
Mingzhe was indeed afraid of being beaten by Uncle Liu, but the long-term abuse was not the direct cause of his suicide, at most it made his psychological problems worse.
Otherwise, after Uncle Liu fell asleep last night, the male protagonist would not choose to fall asleep, but would directly open the window and end his life.
This pressure exerted by Uncle Liu and his parents did not destroy Mingzhe. He had no hope for these three people.
When he learnt of where his parents lived, he dared to run from one end of the city to the other to file a complaint on the same day alone. It can be seen that he is obedient but not cowardly.
Mingzhe has a secret hidden in his heart, what happened to him after breaking away from the protection of the adults, he must have met with a situation.
He may have concerns, or there may be other reasons. He can’t tell his parents, and he can’t tell his little Superman either.
Moreover, this secret has already broken his mental defences and pushed him to the edge of the cliff.
Chu Shici landed on Mingzhe’s phone, “Xiao Zhe, I’m your little superman. If you have anything on your mind, you can tell me, the plasticine man won’t tell secrets.”
Mingzhe lowered his eyes, lost in thought.
He seems to have gone through a difficult psychological struggle, “It’s not one of my secrets, so I can’t say it.”
If we say that the most difficult thing in the first world is that the Mastermind has completely taken over, causing bleeps in the timeline resulting in a lot of missing information all over, then the difficulty in this world lies mainly in Mingzhe himself.
He was born in a distorted family and grew up in a harsh environment. He lacks a sense of security and is used to hiding his thoughts.
Coupled with his young age, his way of thinking is different from that of adults.
The same thing, adults will not take it to heart. But in the eyes of children, it may be an unshakable mountain.
Perhaps Chu Shici would be able to solve the secret that overwhelmed Mingzhe in a matter of minutes as long as Mingzhe would tell him.
This child has his own way of thinking, and Chu Shici summed up, whereas he is an old monster who has lived for more than 110 years.
He thought long and hard, but he couldn’t figure out the mind of a 12-year-old child, especially since this child has psychological problems of his own.
If Chu Shici wanted to know what was on his mind, he had to gain his trust first.
Mingzhe likes him now and sees him as a unique little Superman, but that’s all.
Mingzhe didn’t treat him as a human being, so naturally he wouldn’t think about relying on him.
Chu Shici flew in front of Mingzhe, pinching the tender flesh on his cheeks.
‘Tong-ge, do you think what happened to him was a big deal? Those text messages made me feel uncomfortable. Someone was urging him to commit suicide. ‘
[I don’t know, I only know that he is quite pitiful. He doesn’t even have anyone to confide in, and he takes care of everything by himself.]
Chu Shici sighed when he smelled the scent of smoke on Mingzhe’s body.
‘Maybe it’s not that there’s no one to talk to, it’s that the one he can talk to is not me.’
___
At around 8:30 in the evening, the anti-theft door was pushed open again.
Uncle Liu came back with a big black bag. He entered the house and greeted Mingzhe warmly: “Xiao Zhe, uncle bought pork and hairtail*, and I will cook braised pork and fried hairtail for you later.”
*(type of fish)
Mingzhe hid in the bedroom without saying a word.
Chu Shici, who was in the midst of discussion with the system, looked suspiciously at the wooden door.
‘The beast has changed his personality?’
[Don’t know.]
The aroma of the food floated in through the gap, and Uncle Liu called out again: “Xiao Zhe, come and eat quickly. Uncle also bought fried chop rice cakes today. Don’t you like fried chop rice cakes the most?”
Under his repeated urging, Mingzhe reluctantly went out.
Chu Shici grabbed onto his shirt, and hung on Mingzhe’s back, entering the living room with him.
Dinner was very sumptuous, with two meat dishes and three vegetarian dishes, and a small plate specially filled with fried chop rice cakes.
Uncle Liu poured Mingzhe a cup of Coke. His face was hideous yesterday, but it became kind again today.
Mingzhe sat across from him, eating quietly, and Uncle Liu picked some pieces of meat for him from time to time.
When the meal was almost finished, Uncle Liu suddenly said apologetically, “Uncle drank too much yesterday, he’s been under a lot of work pressure recently. He really couldn’t control his emotions for a while, and accidentally hit you. I’m sorry, Xiao Zhe, can you forgive Uncle?”
Mingzhe hummed.
Uncle Liu came over and hugged him, “You’re hurt, uncle will give you medicine. Don’t worry about what happened yesterday. If you think that uncle doesn’t like you, why would he spend money to support you and buy you delicious food? Right. It’s your birthday in a few days, uncle will take you to the playground and ride on the roller coaster.”
Mingzhe tried to break free from him, but Uncle Liu hugged him very tightly.
He pressed Mingzhe on the sofa, talked about his difficulties for a while, hugged him and began to cry.
“Don’t blame Uncle, Uncle didn’t do it on purpose. Xiao Zhe, Uncle is always very kind to you, treating you like his own son. Your parents don’t have time to take you outside, and Uncle always has. Don’t be angry at Uncle, okay?”
Mingzhe’s body stiffened terribly.
Uncle Liu babbled in his ear for a long time, and Chu Shici’s heart felt cold when he heard it beside him.
What Uncle Liu said can be summarised into three central arguments.
‘Your parents don’t want you anymore, only I will support you. Without me, you can’t even eat.’
‘Although I hit you, I didn’t mean it. It’s all the alcohol’s fault, not the uncle’s, and I’m poor too. You have to learn to understand.’
‘I’ll be nice to you, as long as you don’t tell anyone else about me beating you. Adults only like obedient and sensible children. If you dare to talk nonsense, I will beat you to death.’
Chu Shici really didn’t expect that there would be someone in the world who would want to brainwash a 12-year-old child.
The room was very dark, and on the TV opposite the sofa, there was an advertisement blasting a popular song.
Mingzhe was firmly held down, unable to escape at all.
He was forced to listen to Uncle Liu telling him over and over again how much he loved him, more than his parents.
Mingzhe closed his eyes.
His parents said they loved him and threw him outside after they felt that he was a burden in life.
Uncle Liu said he loved him, and would beat him to death every time he was in a bad mood.
He can’t find anyone he can trust in this world, and he feels very tired.
Uncle Liu still insisted on forcefully instilling nonsense, but Mingzhe just wanted to go back to do his homework quickly.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a small black shadow flying behind Uncle Liu’s head. His Little Superman was floating in the air, aiming at Uncle Liu’s head and shooting a laser.
Uncle Liu’s hair, which was not much at all, instantly burned.
He yelled in panic, and Superman took the opportunity to get into Mingzhe’s pocket.
Mingzhe reached out to touch him, and watched Uncle Liu rush into the bathroom covering his head.
He pursed his lips and showed a smile, took out Chu Shici and kissed him, got up and went back to the bedroom.
It would be great if his Superman was a human being.
Then he needn’t be afraid at all.
___
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Update: Tomorrow~
- After becoming enemies with the lord god
- Blog
- Completed
- Don't talk to me!
- Dropped
- Ghost Marriage
- Hunger Academy
- I opened a safe house in the Infinite Stream
- Notices
- Ongoing
- The Dragon Lord is Weak and Helpless but Has a Big Appetite [Interstellar]
- Want to ascend? Then fall in love.
- What can I do, I'm not human.
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