Chapter 1: The Lonely Little Cub
Sticky blood spread across the floor, and the horrifying sounds of chewing and tearing flesh echoed in the small room. The dim light cast the horrific shadows of the two monsters on the wall.
The monster had a human appearance, its entire body was the bluish-gray color of a dead person, with a thin layer of skin covering its bones and sparse hair covering its head.
They greedily tore at the old man's body, and blindingly red blood gushed out from under him. The old man's empty and dead eyes were wide open, staring at the narrow gap in the wardrobe.
A two-year-old child was curled up in the closet, holding a little tiger doll in his arms. There was a bell hanging around the tiger's neck. The child held the doll stiffly, with tears in his beautiful lake blue eyes and tear marks on his pink little face.
"Grandma..." There was fear in Yu An's soft voice. His curled eyelashes fluttered and tears fell again. He called out to his grandma helplessly, but didn't dare to speak too loudly.
"Grandma...I'm scared..."
Yu An clearly remembered the last words his grandmother said to him. No matter what happened, he must not push open the wardrobe and walk out. He was a good boy, so naturally he had to listen to his grandmother.
The old man outside the closet was quickly eaten, but the two monsters were still not satisfied and began to look around the small room for other delicious food.
A mouse was dug out, and the monster crushed its bones. The mouse only had time to let out a shrill scream before it was thrown into its mouth in an instant.
Yu An's tears flowed even more, and the sobs in his throat were almost uncontrollable. He had no choice but to cover his mouth with his chubby white hands and shrank into the depths of the closet holding the doll.
The monsters twitched their sunken noses and could smell a very fragrant smell in the room, a smell that they loved very much.
The most direct way for these low-level monsters to express their love is to swallow the things they love as food.
They quickly set their target on the closet. The monster's body hit the closet, and the child inside immediately let out a cry.
"grandmother……"
The monsters immediately stopped moving and circled the wardrobe impatiently, waiting until their appetite overcame their other emotions and they crashed into the wardrobe again.
Yu An felt the wardrobe shaking constantly and seemed to smell the fishy smell of blood between his nostrils. He could only close his eyes, sob softly and call for his grandma, holding the kitten doll in his arms tightly.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two gunshots rang out, and Yu An's small body trembled in fear. The wardrobe stopped shaking, and there were no more growls of monsters in his ears. Instead, there were two voices, one male and one female.
The man glanced at the wreckage on the ground and shook his head. "It's dead, there's no saving it."
The short-haired woman surveyed the room, her tone bewildered. "What is it about this place that attracts these aliens? They've come all this way just to eat humans, so why haven't they eaten anyone else along the way?"
Suddenly, the short-haired woman's eyes became stern. She put her hand on the knife at her waist and made a look at the man, asking him to look at the wardrobe.
The man immediately became alert, holding a gun in one hand, slowly walked to the wardrobe, opened the wardrobe at lightning speed, and pointed the black muzzle of the gun inside the wardrobe.
Yu An's eyes suddenly brightened. He opened his wet eyes in shock, his mouth pursed, and he moved towards the closet while crying. When he had no way to retreat, he helplessly watched the man cry.
The man and the woman looked at each other in shock. They never expected that there would be a survivor, and such a young child at that.
Yu An was carried out of the closet by the woman. He hugged the woman's neck and looked at the shapeless pool of blood and flesh on the ground. His voice was hoarse from crying, "Grandma...that's...Grandma..."
The woman couldn't bear it anymore and covered Yu An's eyes, then quickly left with him.
At the end of Yu An's memory, there was the familiar little house that was gradually moving away, and his grandmother who lived in the house without a trace. The moon was blocked by dark clouds that day. Yu An did not like this dark night, as he lost his grandmother in this dark night.
After a year, Yu An's memory is still very clear. He forgot for a few weeks in the middle, but that was only because his sister who took him away gave him something very strange to smell.
He forgot his grandmother and the dark night that frightened him, but not long after, he remembered it again, but Yu An didn't tell anyone.
Grandma Xu is Yu An's neighbor and also a good friend of Grandma. Seeing the child become silent because of the death of his best friend, she felt so distressed that she asked Yu An to come over and take care of him herself.
Luoyun Village, where they live, is located in a remote mountainous area with backward conditions. There is only a welfare home in the county town dozens of kilometers away. Apart from that, Yu An is an illegal resident and no information about him can be found.
"Since you are the child's great aunt, please take good care of him. We will give you a sum of money every year as compensation for what happened to the child."
Grandma Xu hugged Yu An distressedly and covered his ears, "Thank you so much."
Woman: "Where are the child's parents?"
Grandma Xu sighed, shook her head, and said, "I haven't heard his grandmother mention it."
Disgust flashed in the woman's eyes. Another pair of irresponsible parents.
She looked at the listless little Yu An and couldn't help but soften her heart and said, "You are old. If it is inconvenient, I can send the child to an orphanage in another county. The conditions there are also acceptable."
Grandma Xu refused without a second thought, "That won't work. His grandmother told me that if anything happens to her, she wants me to help take care of her. The child's family will come to pick him up."
Grandma Yu also said that the child’s household registration should not be easily granted. Although Grandma Xu didn’t know why her friend did this, she still did so according to her friend’s will.
After hearing what Grandma Xu said, the woman stopped talking.
Since then, Yu An has lived with Grandma Xu. Grandma Xu has a kind and amiable personality. Every time when they are basking in the sun on the rocking chair, she will hold little Yu An in her arms and kiss his little face, saying, "Be good and wait a little longer. Your parents will come to pick you up soon."
Yu An nestled obediently in her arms, with no expression on his delicate little face, but a hint of anticipation hidden in his lake-blue eyes.
But Yu An’s family never came. Grandma Xu was old, and after sending her away, Yu An also sent Grandma Xu away when he was three years old.
Grandma Xu passed away peacefully. Her children came back from the city and held a funeral for her, but Yu An just knelt silently beside Grandma Xu's coffin.
After the funeral, Grandma Xu's children and grandchildren were discussing how to accommodate Yu An.
"This child is raised by my mother. What should we do now? I told her not to stop these rotten things with good intentions. In the end, it will only cause trouble for us."
"Let me be clear, I already have two children at home and can't afford to take on another burden."
"Didn't Mom say he gets a sum of money every year? So, whoever supports him gets the money, how about that?"
"Five thousand dollars a year is useless. You don't know how much it costs to raise a child. Only a fool would do such a losing business!"
"Is this child a mute? He hasn't spoken a word in such a long time."
"She looks like a doll, so bright and lively, but the color of her eyes is weird. It's pretty, but who has that color on a normal person..."
Yu An listened to all the comments made against him, silently lowered his curled eyelashes, and whispered in his heart that he was not a little mute, he just didn't want to talk.
His eyes were also very beautiful. His grandmother would often kiss his eyes and tell him with a smile that his eyes were like the holy Tianchi Lake on Mount Tianshan, the most beautiful eyes in the world.
Although Yu An didn't know what Tianchi was, since his grandmother said so, his eyes must be very beautiful and not a strange color.
The little guy was wearing a miniature version of mourning clothes, his delicate little face was tightly wrinkled, and he had a white cloth on his head. He and Grandma Xu's relatives saw her off.
After watching Grandma Xu's coffin being buried, the relatives started arguing again about what to do with Yu An.
Yu An was not even as tall as the adults' legs. He tilted his little face up, looked at the adults, and said in a tiny voice, "I don't want to follow you. I, I can live on my own..."
He knew that these adults didn't like him, so he didn't want to live with them.
The relatives looked at each other, and one of them laughed out loud. He squatted down and discussed with Yu An, "Okay, but you can't have a share of my mother's house. So, we'll find you another house, and you can live on your own."
"We won't take your thousands of dollars. We'll return them all to you. You can handle the rest on your own. How about that?"
Yu An tightened his grip on the little tiger and nodded his furry little head.
In this way, Yu An was sent to a simple iron shed by Xu's relatives, and his clothes and daily necessities were also sent there. The annual salary totaled more than 10,000 yuan, and all was given to Yu An.
Yu An took the stack of money, bent down and thanked the Xu family relatives, and said thank you obediently, "Thank you."
The relatives of the Xu family had different expressions on their faces. They could not bear the condemnation of their conscience, but the burden of life did not allow them to be kind, so they had to find reasons to leave this simple iron house.
The tin house was once where the construction workers nearby lived. After the project was completed, all the workers moved out and the tin house became vacant. Many homeless people lived here. Yu An, the short and fat guy, stood out among the adults.
Yu An took care of himself the same way Grandma Xu took care of him. He used a kettle bought from a nearby supermarket to boil water and washed himself clean every day. In the morning, he moved a small stool to the outside of the iron house and rubbed clothes with a grunt.
But he didn't have much strength, and he often couldn't wring the clothes clean, nor could he hang them on the clothesline. Even if Yu An stood on a stool, he still couldn't reach the rope. He couldn't help but pursed his lips in discouragement.
At this time, the clothes in his hand were taken away. Yu An opened his eyes wide in surprise and looked at the person who came.
The ragged uncle hung his little clothes on the rope, gave him a candy, and patted his little head. "If you can be sweet-mouthed, just shout to anyone, 'Uncle, help me!' and we will help you, right?"
Yu An lowered his head, holding the candy in his hand, and said in a weak voice, "...Thank you, uncle."
This person was also used to Yu An's timid and autistic personality. He smiled and turned away.
With the help of people nearby, Yu An could barely make ends meet, but he had no source of income. The ten thousand yuan was used to supplement the family expenses, and sometimes one or two bills were taken away by people who were too poor to do anything, leaving only a hundred yuan left.
Yu An looked at the few remaining red bills in his hand and curled up on the bed sadly. He was going to be out of money. Without money, he would have nothing to eat, and he couldn't go to the supermarket aunt to charge his small desk lamp.
The night would turn into darkness again. Yu An couldn't help but tear up as he thought about it. He hugged the little tiger beside his pillow into his arms and murmured in tears, "Grandma... I have no money and I will be hungry..."
Children without the protection of their elders struggle to survive in this slum.
Kyoto.
A low-key and luxurious car stopped in front of the huge Lin family manor. A handsome man in a suit and tie got out of the car and entered the main hall. The accompanying servant took the man's suit and respectfully stepped aside.
Lin Huaichen, wearing a simple white shirt, was about to go upstairs when he ran into the housekeeper carrying a fruit plate. "Is Ah Xun still in the studio?"
The housekeeper looked worried. "Yes, Master, the master hasn't come out all morning. I'm going to bring him some fruit."
Lin Huaichen took the fruit plate and said, "I'll go."
The middle-aged butler bowed with a smile, "I think the gentleman would be more willing to see you, so I won't join in the fun."
In the studio on the second floor, a man with delicate features and long hair was concentrating on painting a sunrise at sea on the drawing board. He didn't even notice someone coming in until a big head nestled into his neck and kept rubbing against it, only then did he stop painting.
Lin Huaichen sat next to Wen Xun, holding his waist with both hands, resting his head on his shoulder, looking at the half-formed sunrise picture, and kissed him on the cheek with a smile, "Our baby is really amazing."
Wen Xun didn't say anything, but just leaned relaxedly in Lin Huaichen's arms, took the document beside him and handed it to him.
Lin Huaichen glanced at the contents of the document, his brows furrowed slightly. "Why is the shelter applying for funds from you this time? Have the tens of billions I allocated to them last time been used up?"
Wen Xun glanced at him, snorted softly, took the computer again, and after some operations, showed him the detailed flow of funds in the shelter.
Lin Huaichen noticed something unusual at a glance. Most of the funds used to settle the families of the victims were taken away, and only one-tenth actually reached the victims' families.
Lin Huaichen sneered, immediately stood up and went to the terrace to inquire about the situation at the shelter, while Wen Xun continued to browse the situation of the families of the victims.
Soon, a photo of Yu An holding the little tiger appeared on the computer screen.
The delicate-looking child had water droplets hanging on his long eyelashes. He was holding someone's hand dependently, with tears in his lake-blue eyes. He stared at the camera with tears in his eyes. The pitiful look of a little animal could melt a heart made of steel.
Wen Xun stared at Yu An's photo for a long time, slowly stretched out his white fingers, and gently touched the tears on Yu An's face.
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