Ch 155: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

Xu Tingfeng and his wife felt that Mu Xing was a little strange.

But Xiang Shen didn’t think there was anything wrong.

He himself was someone who disregarded family ties and blood relations; otherwise, he could never have made such a frenzied decision back then.

And seeing Mu Xing like this, he didn’t feel anything was amiss. On the contrary, because Mu Xing could stay so calm and clear-headed after hearing such news, he felt excited.

As expected of a genius.

Truly different from ordinary children!

The matter wasn’t dragged out for long. That very day, Mu Xing went with them to do a paternity test.

For reasons unknown, Xu Tingfeng and his wife did not leave but instead stayed in Donghai City with them to wait for the results.

The results came out quickly.

Mu Xing was indeed the biological child of this couple.

But when asked whether he wanted to live with his parents, Mu Xing refused without hesitation.

“I prefer life at the welfare home.”

Xiang Shen said gently, “I know you may harbor resentment toward us. It was indeed me and your mother’s mistake back then that caused you to suffer so much. Promise me, Xingxing, give us a chance, alright?”

Mu Xing didn’t reply.

Director Mei felt a bit anxious.

She knew better than anyone how calm and stubborn Mu Xing could be.

Yet inside, she was still glad that Mu Xing had found his biological parents.

Especially after seeing the couple’s appearance, identity, and careers, she felt that having such parents, and living in such a family environment, would be good for Mu Xing.

She tried to persuade him: “Xingxing, they’re not strangers. They’re your father and mother.”

But the child who was always the most obedient and well-behaved was inexplicably stubborn this time.

In the end, Director Mei suggested that Mu Xing spend the summer vacation living with Xiang Shen and his wife for a while.

Blood is thicker than water. Perhaps after just a couple of days, there would be no barriers between parents and child.

This time, Mu Xing agreed.

He got into the car with Xiang Shen and his wife. Director Mei gave him a phone, telling him to send the children at the institute a video every day.

Mu Xing didn’t tell the kids at the welfare home that he had found his biological parents, only that he had found a remarkable teacher and would study hard with them.

Xiang Shen and his wife lived in the capital, in a villa on the outskirts.

After bringing Mu Xing there, Zhu Wei took him out every day to buy new clothes, shop, eat all kinds of delicious food, and play at various theme parks.

The home was luxurious, spacious, with a dedicated aunt to take care of daily life.

Compared to his time at the Zhao family, or even the welfare home, this life was like heaven.

This was deliberate on Xiang Shen and his wife’s part.

They believed that any ten-year-old child, after experiencing such a difference, could never bear to give it up.

All the more so since between them, there was already an unbreakable blood bond, wasn’t there?

Sure enough, Mu Xing’s attitude seemed to soften compared to the beginning.

Though he still insisted on calling them Uncle and Auntie, he did smile a little more in this home.

The couple temporarily felt relieved.

But they didn’t know what Mu Xing had really come for.

This world had no spiritual energy, so Mu Xing couldn’t cultivate, but his divine sense was vast.

He left a trace of his divine sense on the two of them.

One day, when Xiang Shen took him out to eat and passed by a certain place—

Mu Xing asked curiously, “What place is this? The house looks so pretty.”

Xiang Shen glanced at it and smiled. “Pretty? I think it’s not as nice as where we live now. If Xingxing likes it, Daddy can buy you a house here.”

Mu Xing leaned on the car window for a look, seeming very interested.

*

That night.

Mu Xing quietly climbed out of bed.

Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei were already asleep.

He rose silently and went to the study. Darkness didn’t hinder his vision.

The study was filled with books, obscure theory texts. Mu Xing’s eyes swept quickly over them but didn’t find what he wanted.

The cabinet was locked. He used a small trick to open it.

Inside was a diary, recording certain things.

“I had quite a disagreement with Weiwei…”

“It sounds crazy, but we decided to do an experiment! We found a volunteer! The day after tomorrow, something carrying both mine and Weiwei’s genes will enter the volunteer’s body. Ten months later, we’ll have a pair of beautiful twins. Yes, I’m certain—they will be beautiful.”

“They’ve already been sent away, to the target we carefully selected after long consideration. Wish them luck.”

“From the current observations, I must admit that environment does influence human development more. But that child is still very clever.”

“Weiwei seems to have softened a little. Today I quarreled with her and convinced her. They are not our children, but two experimental subjects. An experiment must be approached with complete fairness and rationality. Next time, I won’t let her observe.”

“…”

It was an observation diary.

Mu Xing’s gaze swept coldly over the contents.

With this diary, combined with a police investigation, abandonment was a charge they could never escape.

But was abandonment alone enough to account for what they had done?

The original body was dead.

His death was tied to the Zhao family, but without the Zhao family, there would have been the Wang family, the Li family… Because even before he was born, this couple had already written him into a tragic script.

Outside, the wind suddenly picked up.

Soon, there was a crackling sound against the windows—it was raining.

During the day, the housekeeper had indeed muttered that there would be a storm at night.

Mu Xing put the diary back, silently walked out of the study, and tucked the gloves into his own drawer.

Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei were awakened by the noise outside.

Zhu Wei murmured softly, “Such heavy rain.”

Just as she was about to fall back asleep, she suddenly remembered—ah, there was now a child in the house.

“Wouldn’t Mu Xing be scared?”

Xiang Shen replied coldly, “How could a boy be afraid of this?”

As soon as he said it, their bedroom door creaked open.

The housekeeper didn’t live in, and at night Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei never had the habit of locking their door.

Somewhere a window must have been left open; a gust of cold wind rushed down the corridor and into the room, making the two, dressed in thin sleepwear, shiver.

“Xingxing?” Xiang Shen was startled, then quickly put on a gentle smile. “Why are you here? Were you scared?”

As he spoke, a flash of lightning split the night sky. The room lit up for an instant, and they saw Mu Xing’s delicate, expressionless face staring straight at them.

In the dead of night, with the storm raging, it was unsettling.

“I hurt so much,” he said softly.

Xiang Shen frowned. “What kind of pain?”

Mu Xing ignored him and went on, “Zhao Kangping beat me every day. My body was never free of bruises. Chen Yan didn’t hit me, but whenever she was in a bad mood, she punished me. In the winter, she made me wash clothes by hand and didn’t give me hot water.”

“I died suddenly in my twenties.”

“After I died, I saw you.”

“In your hearts, am I really your child?”

“Or just a failed experiment that didn’t meet your expectations and was destroyed early?”

“Aren’t you afraid of retribution? Hee-hee-hee.”

Another flash of lightning.

The couple felt a chill in their hearts.

Zhu Wei’s back turned cold. She grabbed her husband’s hand and forced a smile. “Mu Xing? Xingxing? Did you have a nightmare? Or read something strange? Mommy doesn’t understand what you’re saying.”

“How could you not understand?”

Their heads suddenly spun.

Another bolt of lightning struck, and before their eyes, the child’s body stretched and transformed into the figure of an adult man—Mu Xing grown up.

But behind him coiled ominous black mist, his face pale, not like the living.

The sight shocked them both.

Zhu Wei screamed and tried to turn on the light, but nothing happened.

The pale-faced man gave them a sinister smile. “Don’t worry. I crawled up from hell and hadn’t had the chance to find you yet. But you came to me yourselves.”

“Let’s take our time and play.”

“Father. Mother.”

Thunder roared. They instinctively shut their eyes.

When they opened them again, the figure was gone.

The door was shut, and the room was dark.

Zhu Wei was drenched in cold sweat. Her husband was just as stiff. After a long moment, she cautiously reached for the wall switch.

Click.

The warm yellow light filled the room, and their rigid limbs slowly thawed.

“Just now…” Zhu Wei swallowed hard. “Was that my imagination?”

Xiang Shen’s throat was dry. “I saw it too.”

They looked at each other, both stricken with unspeakable terror.

They didn’t even dare go next door to open the door and check on the child.

Outside the door, Mu Xing, who had just restored the circuit breaker, cheerfully returned to his room.

It had all been an illusion.

A new skill he had figured out—using his powerful divine sense to invade minds while they were unsettled, creating hallucinations.

No real physical harm, but to scare people, it was more than enough—especially those with guilty consciences.

He slept soundly that night.

In the morning, the housekeeper came to wake him.

As his door opened, Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei, who appeared to be chatting in the living room but were in fact watching the door the whole time, froze.

“Good morning, Uncle, Auntie,” Mu Xing greeted them.

Zhu Wei forced a smile. “Morning…”

At breakfast, Xiang Shen cautiously asked, “Mu Xing, last night… did you experience anything strange?”

“Strange?” Mu Xing grinned, showing his teeth. “Like getting up in the middle of the night to open your bedroom door?”

Xiang Shen: !

Under their horrified stares, Mu Xing lowered his head, bit into a shrimp dumpling, and chuckled. “I wouldn’t do something so childish.”

❣╰(⸝⸝⸝⸝⸝⸝)╯❣

1 Comment

  1. Elli says:

    (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠) XingXing surprisingly have a mischievous side.. so cute~

    I feel like I’m raising a virtual cub, watching him grow up though still view him as a cute little cub through and through

Leave a Reply