After returning home, Mingzhe started to write homework for multiple people as usual.
Even if the school’s homework load was not heavy, he still had to work hard as he had homework from multiple people to do. He needs to write until one o’clock in the morning every day in order to finish this part-time job.
Maybe because he was in a hurry, Mingzhe didn’t eat dinner.
Chu Shici flew to the kitchen in a hurry, and struggled to fry two eggs with his palm-sized body.
“Xiao Zhe! Come and eat!”
Hearing the shout from the kitchen, Mingzhe smiled.
Little Superman cooked for him. Although it was only two fried eggs, he thought it was even more delicious than the braised pork that he ate.
Sitting in front of the dinner plate, Superman tilted his head to watch him eat the eggs.
Mingzhe crushed a small piece of egg yolk and sent it to him.
Chu Shici waved his hands and opened his mouth made of plasticine, “I don’t have teeth and tongue, so I can’t eat. You can just eat by yourself.”
Mingzhe didn’t insist anymore, he ate quietly and looked at him thoughtfully.
When Mingzhe finished his work and began to wash, Chu Shici flew to his side, “I saw the text message Dr. Chen sent you, is he your friend?”
Mingzhe nodded and shook his head, “Not real life friends, but online friends.”
“How did you guys meet?”
“I posted on Tieba asking for help, and he took the initiative to add me, saying he wanted to help me.”
“Post?”
Mingzhe seemed reluctant to bring up this matter, “It happened last year. In April, a taxi driver raped and murdered a student. It made a big splash on the news. During that time, the number of people taking taxis decreased a lot. Uncle Liu’s business was not good, and he drank every day. I said on Tieba that I wanted to commit suicide, and Dr. Chen added me and gave me psychological counseling.”
After he finished speaking, he looked at Chu Shici with a slightly confused expression: “Ge, the newspaper said that the dead man was a male student, how does a male student get raped and killed?”
Chu Shici was at a loss for words.
While knitting the hat, the system looked around with its head, [Tsk tsk tsk, the hero is so innocent. Ah Ci, did you understand this at his age last time?]
Chu Shici crossed his waist: ‘I know too much. ‘
[Your head had been filled with yellow paint since you were a child, what are you so proud of?]
‘How many people can be born with their own exclusive colour like me? ‘
[…You are quite proud.]
After Chu Shici roughly gave Mingze a crash course on the birds and the bees, Mingzhe got on the bed with a blushing face.
The wall lamp was turned off, and the bedroom was plunged into darkness.
Chu Shici fell into the small bed made of plasticine, covered it with a napkin and prepared to sleep.
Mingzhe covered his head with the quilt, thinking about the conversation just now.
Little Superman said that the criminal may be a perverted paedophile, the kind who eats both men and women.
When he goes out, he should pay more attention to safety. Don’t be abducted by perverts, or you will die miserably. If you encounter a lunatic, be afraid as your intestines will be pulled out.
Mingzhe was a little scared when he heard about this kind of thing for the first time.
He dreamt a dream that night, he dreamt that a man was chasing him. The man is tall, like a mountain. The facial features are blurred, and there are a few words written in bold brush strokes on the face: ‘pervert who raped and killed boys’.
In the dream, Mingzhe was cornered, and when the man was about to grab him, a superman fell from the sky and knocked the man away with a punch.
Mingzhe threw himself into Superman’s arms in his dream, but rolled off the bed in reality.
He woke up, rubbed his head and crawled back to bed. Picking up Chu Shici who was still sleeping soundly, put it in his palm and kissed him twice, and fell asleep peacefully.
Mingzhe was a little scared at first, but when he thought of having a superman protecting him, he was no longer afraid.
Early the next morning, Chu Shici opened his eyes in a daze.
After weaving the hat system all night, I ran out excitedly, [The vitality value has risen to 25 in one breath, my treasure!]
Chu Shici was taken aback for a moment, and opened the background data to look at it.
Last night, the vitality value suddenly increased, and then fluctuated wildly, before finally stopping at 25.
Mingzhe was washing up, with no expression on his face.
For a moment, Chu Shici felt that he was really old, the age gap was too big, and he couldn’t understand what the child was thinking at all.
The system is still circling around the panel, [25 vitality value, the male lead is so easy to coax.]
‘Do you know why it went up? ‘
[I don’t know, I was knitting hats last night. There are many Christmas deers in front of me.]
___
After the vitality value reached 25, Mingzhe became more clingy, always taking his little Superman with him wherever he went.
Chu Shici had the habit of sleeping late, and Mingzhe put him in his pocket before he opened his eyes every day.
On the bus to school, Mingzhe recited English while touching him.
During class, Mingzhe listened while touching him.
As long as he is awake, Mingzhe keeps touching him.
Chu Shici’s edges and corners were gradually smoothed, and his head became more rounded.
After rubbing Superman for a week, the m on Chu Shici’s chest was painted off and turned into an n.
Mingzhe was sulking all day, and Chu Shici couldn’t understand how such a small child could have such a strong possessive desire.
During this week, Chu Shici hid in Mingzhe’s desk and chatted with his online friends.
The relationship between Rabbit and him is getting better and better, and the number of chats soared. She tells Chu Shici her experience on how she face sexual harassment.
It can be summed up in one sentence, ‘Tolerate it. Don’t resist.’
Chu Shici persuaded her in a roundabout way for a week, but it still had no effect.
Lemongrass is a boy who disguises himself as a thirteen-year-old girl and chats with Chu Shici every day.
All kinds of coquettish and cute manner of texting, Chu Shici learnt from Lemongrass. Chu Shici was also able to steal a lot of emoticons from Lemongrass.
After chatting for a few days, Chu Shici gained the initial trust of Lemongrass.
He told Chu Shici that both he and the Rabbit had a crush on the Happy Boy. Except for Mingzhe, no one in this group doesn’t like Happy Boy.
This liking includes both secret love and worship.
Chu Shici asked Mingzhe in a roundabout way.
When it comes to Happy Boy, Mingzhe’s expression becomes extraordinarily complicated.
He held back for a long time with a cold face, before saying, “He is a liar, deceiving himself and others.”
“Do you know something?”
“His family conditions are average, he just pretends to be rich. This kind of lie is harmless.”
Chu Shici praised him for his good Chinese vocabulary, and Mingzhe, who had been indifferent just now, immediately blushed and his vitality steadily increased.
After chatting with these people in the group for a week, Chu Shici found that everyone was already smitten with Happy Boy.
Rabbit, Lemongrass and other girls in the group all have a crush on him.
Xiao He and “I Continue to Be Lonely” regard him as a big brother, and “Drowned Fish” is not often online, but has changed to the same chat background as him.
The rest of the boys more or less regarded him as a reliable little brother.
Only Mingzhe, who doesn’t fit in at school, doesn’t fit in online.
He was almost kicked out of the group chat because he tried to tear down the disguise of Happy Boy in the group. If it wasn’t for the group leader Lanlan protecting him, he would have already been kicked out of the group.
When Chu Shici learned of this, his teeth itched with anger.
No one will have such a solid friendship with an online friend who can only go online once a week and only stay for an hour at a time.
Mingzhe’s status in the group is more like a tool person* who goes online regularly. Those people also developed the habit of coming to see Mingzhe every Saturday.
*(a person who is not important.)
Soon it was Saturday again, and Mingzhe still kept mum, taking the bus for more than an hour as usual, and working part-time in an underground Internet cafe.
Chu Shici slipped into his schoolbag and followed him secretly.
Mingzhe first found the gangsters and helped them complete the qualifying round. Then he went to play a few rounds of chess and cards to help them earn gold beans*.
*(in-game currency)
When he had enough to pay for the internet fees, he gritted his teeth and asked the network administrator for three hours.
$2.50 an hour, $7.50 for three hours. Mingzhe’s face was tense, feeling like his heart was bleeding.
Chu Shici sat on the back of the chair, holding his plasticine computer in his arms.
The desktop computer he moulded last time was not convenient to carry.
He smashed the computer and made a new notebook.
Mingzhe boarded the chat software and started chatting with people in the group.
Mingzhe protects you: [.]
Society Lord He: [You are finally online, what a busy man. A newcomer joined the group, a cute little sister.]
Superman Little Princess: [Hi Gege!]
The moment he saw his screen name, Mingzhe thought of his Little Superman.
Chu Shici saw him typing in the chat box, [Superman? You can’t use this name.]
Then quickly deleted it, paused for a few seconds, and sent a hello.
Chu Shici turned his head over to look, Mingzhe’s face was cold and looked unhappy.
Even though he is so young, his possessiveness is already so strong that he even wants to occupy his name.
The system is wearing a deer antler hat, knitting the hat madly in his hands, and it still doesn’t forget to complain: [In the original text, the male lead loves to eat vinegar, and often pushes the female lead against the wall because of his jealousy. Hurry up and raise him, and we will eat dog food together.]
Some of Mingzhe’s micro expressions were very similar to Su Zheyan’s, and Chu Shici began to miss his Yan-ge again.
’The cold dog food slap my face indiscriminately.’
[Hehehe, Iceberg School Grass’s* silly and cute heroine, too cute.]
*(school grass – most handsome guy in school vs school flower – most pretty girl in school)
It paused, [Actually, the irascible male-wife wild wolf older brother Shou x extremely possessive and innocent milk dog younger brother Gong, I also eat this kind of young CP. But you two have an age gap of more than eighty years old, I can’t support it.]
‘Fuck, I’m only 23!’
[Liar, you lived in the last world for more than ninety years, you’re an old monster.]
Chu Shici: …
He suddenly felt moved.
He not only lost his lover, but also lost his youth.
An old man in his nineties, while taking care of his children, he was fighting wits with perverts at the same time. It’s really touching.
And the child under his care is looking through the group chat records, trying to catch his slip ups.
After a while, Chu Shici received a friend request from his child.
He had just passed by, and asked the other side face to face: [What is your purpose for joining the group.]
Superman Little Princess: [I want to protect children, that’s what the group name says. And I was having a really bad time and wanted to find someone to talk to.]
Mingzhe protects you: [You’re lying.]
Superman Little Princess: [Yingying*, Gege, you’re scaring me.]
*(cute crying sounds)
Mingzhe protects you: [You are deliberately approaching each group member, visiting their chat space one by one, have you added them as friends in private?]
Chu Shici tilted his head in doubt, he was so obvious?
Could it be that his talent has degraded due to not practising it for too long?
Just when he had doubts about himself, Xiao He had a private chat with him.
Society Lord He: [Did Mingzhe ask you why you joined the group? He also said a bunch of scary things.]
Superman Little Princess: [Ying, wuwuwu.]*
*(more crying sounds)
Society Lord He: [It’s okay, he didn’t target you. Every rookie will be tortured by him, and if you really have a problem, he’ll just kick you out. He’s a little neurotic, don’t get too close to him, he’s out of his mind.]
Chu Shici hissed, and typed in the input box, [You’re the one fucking out of your mind, little shit.]
If the system hadn’t stopped him, he would have fought Xiao He through the screen.
Sure enough, as Xiao He said. To Mingzhe, it was just a routine interrogation, and he didn’t really find any slip ups.
After apologising to him, he stopped talking privately. Instead, he chatted in the group, persuading others not to commit suicide.
Then he was scolded again.
Happy Boy came out to fight and acted as a peacemaker.
Mingzhe immediately pointed the finger at him: [Don’t make a splash, you are the one leading us to commit suicide.]
Happy boy: [Everyone was very sad at the time, after all, Lanlan just died. I came out and reached a conclusion. How can you blame your own mistakes on me? And didn’t you say you were going to be the first to commit suicide? We didn’t urge you, instead you are reprimanding us now.]
Mingzhe protects you: [Don’t mention Lanlan, I don’t want to fight with you again. Don’t mislead others and try to get away with it. You must make it clear today, why do you want to get that vote passed? You are the oldest in the group and learning child psychology. But you only learnt to incite emotions and induce suicide among us children. What kind of person are you?]
Happy Boy didn’t reply for a long time, and the group became strangely quiet.
Mingzhe is a slow typer. When chatting, others would have scolded him ten sentences before he could answer a short sentence.
This should be the first time for him to send so many words in one breath, and the children in the group were stunned.
Chu Shici was also stunned.
‘Tong-ge, my family Mingzhe is a genius. He is only 12 years old, and he can think of induced suicide!’
The system weaves hats after hats so fast it was like afterimages on its hands, the system was like a living machine.
[He is so smart in the original text, he was the top scorer in the high school entrance examination and college entrance examination. If it wasn’t for the plot and falling in love with the heroine, he would have skipped a grade to go to university. He is the top student in a sweet romance novel, he lives a life that feels like cheating.]
It’s a pity that the Iceberg male protagonist who breezes through life and captures the hearts of men and women alike in the original text, is still a brat now.
He elaborated with various examples, trying to eliminate hidden dangers in the group.
His words are rigorous and clear, and it can be seen that he was in a daze in class this week, not because he became absent-minded but that he was plotting this big speech.
He completely ignored what the others were saying, and only grabbed Happy Boy for questioning.
Happy Boy was obviously a little overwhelmed, as a result, there was a crack in his facade.
The children in the group began to waver, and Chu Shici took the opportunity to help him.
Just when Mingzhe was about to control the field and take the audience flying, a dancing rabbit suddenly appeared.
[Why do you speak so much like an adult?]
Mingzhe ignored her, and the rabbit copied and pasted his chat.
Mingzhe frowned slightly, [You are shifting the focus, the question now is not whether I am an adult, but whether he has evil intentions. I can talk about it later, Happy Boy must be out today.]
Dancing Rabbit: [Everyone agrees on suicide, why are you here now? If you don’t want to die, just say it, there is no need to bite people like a mad dog.]
Mingzhe protects you: [Normal voting should ask ‘who wants to commit suicide?’, but he asked ‘who doesn’t want to commit suicide?’. This vote is not anonymous and predicated on suicide by default. When everyone in the group is shouting for suicide, whoever stands up to oppose it will not fit in the group. At that time, as long as one person in the group chose to refuse first, there would be no situation where all members committed suicide.]
Dancing Rabbit: [Then why didn’t you object?]
Mingzhe protects you: [Lanlan just died, I was in a bad mood.]
Chu Shici shook his head, the young male lead was still too honest.
After sending out this sentence, the rabbit caught up and mocked him.
Happy Boy disappeared and with the rabbit taking the lead, the two administrators and lemongrass followed soon after.
Mingzhe was continuously scolded by more than a dozen people for more than half an hour.
His cheeks gradually turned red, and he said coldly, [I won’t be Lu Dongbin* anymore.]
*(a person’s name – meaning a person who cannot differentiate right from wrong.)
After speaking, he went offline directly, and then lay down on the table and wiped his tears.
Chu Shici chatted privately to comfort him, but he didn’t reply, as if he was heartbroken.
Not quitting the group chat was his last stand.
Mingzhe cried for a while, then hid himself in the group, peeking at the chats.
The more he looked, the more sad he became, and before three hours had passed, he turned off the computer and left the Internet cafe without saying a word.
Chu Shici sat in his schoolbag and continued to chat with the people in the group.
In the group, there were a few children who had no sense of presence, asking if they should apologise to Mingzhe.
Dancing Rabbit: [Why apologise to him? Did he apologise to Happy ge?]
Happy ge is the nickname given to him by the girl who has a crush on Happy Boy. Rabbit checks his space every day, and seems to be his die-hard fan.
Chu Shici crossed his arms.
Happy Boy is online all the year round, with a good profile appearance and perfect personality, and has already controlled the group.
If this is a werewolf game, then Happy Boy is the werewolf, and Mingzhe is the seer.
Mingzhe peered into Happy Boy and declared himself the seer to kill the werewolf.
But Happy Boy refuted violently and confronted Mingzhe with the seer card, confusing the villagers’ judgement.
When Mingzhe is about to take control again, the rabbit jumps out to support Happy Boy.
During this period, Chu Shici has been playing assistant, trying to help Mingzhe win votes. It’s a pity that he just joined the group chat not long ago, and he was too young on the surface, so the effect was minimal.
Chu Shici was contemplating when he suddenly thought of a possibility.
There are three hidden unknown characters in the group. Chu Shici has always regarded them as independent individuals, but could they be a group?
When Mingzhe wanted to take the lead in voting for Happy Boy, the other two wolves started to cover for him.
The more Chu Shici thought about it, the more he realised it was possible.
But what is the purpose of three adults joining the children’s group chat all at the same time?
The group leader, Lanlan, is dead, and there is evidence for this. She is an innocent victim, forced by her parents and society to commit suicide by jumping into a river, absolutely in the camp of good people.
Her starting point for creating the group was good, how could there be three wolves united together in that group.
According to Mingzhe’s records, it can be seen that the group members in the group joined successively, and no one joined together.
That should be someone who joined the group early, cooperating with the outsiders and letting the other two wolves in.
While looking through the group chat records, Chu Shici discussed this with the system.
‘It’s okay for Mingzhe to speak, and his entry point is very precise. In the early stage, he caught Happy Boy and beat him fiercely. If he was not so young and inexperienced, he would not have collapsed in the later stage, he might’ve really won today’s game.’
The system packed the gifts and counted the money while lying on the sofa, [That rabbit has been helping the Werewolf to speak.]
‘She has a crush on Happy Boy, and Lemongrass is also speaking up for him. ‘
The system put the money into the safe, and went to accept an order for the ‘Glamourous Halo’.
[Then who do you think the other two wolves are?]
‘I don’t know, you can add the rabbit to the list of suspects, I’ll talk to her more.’
‘I originally thought that three adults entered this group by mistake, squatting to watch the excitement, and playing tricks along the way. But if the three were in a group, then they had to have planned it long ago. They will not be idle, and try their best to form a group to play house with a group of children.’
Chu Shici paused, ‘This group has been established for three years, and they did not do anything during this period. I suspect they are not playing around, but are potential criminals. I was wondering if Lanlan’s death might have something to do with them. ‘
___
When Mingzhe came home, he found that the light was on in the living room.
Uncle Liu, who has been away for a week, is sitting on the sofa drinking.
Seeing him come back, he gave him a simple and honest smile, “Xiao Zhe, where have you been, why did you come back so late?”
As soon as he heard the familiar voice, Chu Shici immediately popped his head out of his schoolbag.
He was holding a box knife, ready to continue stabbing him tonight.
Mingzhe froze obviously, and the calm and steady aura dissipated instantly.
He froze at the door, holding on to the anti-theft door, motionless.
Uncle Liu smiled and stood up. Just as he took a step, Mingzhe’s body trembled for a moment, and he subconsciously stepped back.
At this moment, the voices of two other people came from the room.
“Xiao Zhe, what are you doing standing outside? Mom and dad are here to see you.”
A middle-aged man came out of the kitchen, came to Mingzhe, and stroked his hair.
Mingzhe looked up at him, “Dad?”
Father Ming grabbed his shoulders and led him into the room.
Mingzhe’s mother was also sitting in the living room, with food and wine on the table.
It’s been a long time since he saw his parents. After hearing such heartless words before. Mingzhe hugged his schoolbag tightly and stood where he was not daring to move.
Chu Shici looked around and felt that the atmosphere was not right.
Father Ming pushed Ming Zhe on the seat, and put a piece of meat in the bowl in front of him, “Xiao Zhe, I heard that you don’t listen to Uncle Liu recently.”
Mingzhe shook his head, bit his lower lip tightly, and his cheeks became extremely pale.
Ming’s mother was also looking at him, “Uncle Liu went to live at Uncle Li’s house, why didn’t you go with him?”
Mingzhe took a deep breath and whispered, “He hit me, Mom. Uncle Liu hit me.”
Ming’s mother patted him on the shoulder, “Uncle Liu beat you for your own good, which boy didn’t get beaten when he was young.”
Father Ming took a sip of wine, “What should I do? I was beaten when I was a child. Your grandfather beat me with a stick and broke at least three sticks. Boy, if you don’t obey, you will be beaten. Uncle Liu is right.”
“But he’s not my father, he’s an outsider.”
“What are you talking about? Your Uncle Liu and I grew up wearing a pair of trousers. There’s no difference between him and I.”
Mingzhe trembled violently, as if sad and angry.
Chu Shici couldn’t take it anymore, he understands it now.
Mingzhe’s parents don’t want him. They came here today to help Uncle Liu control Mingzhe and let him be beaten honestly.
The two were still persuading him while eating, tears accumulated in Mingzhe’s eyes, and his vitality value dropped from 25 to 20.
It was inconvenient for Chu Shici to come forward, and Mingzhe cried, but no one coaxed him.
He simply stopped crying.
“To put it nicely, it’s not that you don’t want to raise me, you just don’t want to commit the crime of abandonment. I’ve checked everything. Parents who don’t raise their children will be sentenced to five years in prison. You don’t want to go to prison, and you think it’s a waste of money to raise me, so you put me in foster care at Uncle Liu’s house. Sending one hundred and eighty yuan a month is a joke. Anyway, I am poor and young, I have no money to hire a lawyer, and I can’t apply for a lawsuit. I am the only one who is easy to bully, and you guys play me as a fool.”
Mingzhe wiped away his tears, “I’ve had enough, I’ve endured enough! You just wait, I will definitely call the police. I’ve endured it for two years, and I won’t bear it anymore!”
Before he finished speaking, Father Ming slapped him across the face, grabbed his hair and yelled, “How can you say that to your parents?! You even want to call the police? I’ll beat you to death today, you little bastard! Uncle Liu has raised you for two years. You still want to call the police and arrest him? Little white-eyed wolf!”*
*(white-eyed wolf means someone who is ungrateful.)
Looking at the man in front of him who looked somewhat similar to himself, the light in Mingzhe’s eyes gradually disappeared.
Like a deflated balloon, he called out aggrievedly, “Dad.”
Then fists fell on him like raindrops.
Chu Shici didn’t want to think too much, and rushed out of the backpack with the utility knife in his arms.
At the same time, he heard the system beep.
[The vitality value is reduced by 20, and the current vitality value is 0/100.]
___
T/N: NooOOOOOOooOOOOOOOOooooOOOooooOO
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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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