He Li pursed his lips and smiled. Under the silver glow of the moonlight, his smile was somewhat bleak. His right hand held a cigarette between his fingers, his legs crossed casually. He looked at Xiao Yue, whose smile was sincere, and said,
“Xiao Yue, just like Jin Fang said, you’re a cold-blooded monster.”
Xiao Yue accepted He Li’s “compliment” with a smile, feeling no guilt. He looked up at the moon in the sky. After a long silence, he spoke at length,
He said,
“We are you, He Li.
He Xi is innocent childhood;
Jin Fang is blunt cruelty;
Yan Ping is romantic fantasy;
Li Qin is bewildered pessimism;
Chen Sui is extreme madness;
I am calm rationality.
Whether you admit it or not, we are you. Your heart is cold, cruel, and sorrowful. The reason He Xi and Yan Ping don’t always appear is because they are part of your personality.”
He Li took a deep drag of his cigarette and, after a moment of thought, asked, “Qian Shuang, who was under the glacier, said that my previous life, that god, was killed by three people.
Chains choked my neck, claws tore my skin, and a battle saber pierced my chest. It looks like the abilities possessed by you guys.
Brother Zhang also told me before he died that it was Huo Si, Ni Fei Ta, and Bai Tuo Kui Si who made the final moves. There was also someone called ‘Annihilation’ who extracted my divinity, humanity, and bestiality. Then Ke Suo Tu destroyed my body.”
“Moreover, when I used Little Xi’s ability to destroy Qi Shuang’s left shoulder, he also exclaimed that it was Ke Suo Tu’s power.”
“What’s going on?”
He Li asked Xiao Yue. The abilities of these gods were incredibly similar to Jin Fang and He Xi. He couldn’t help but suspect.
Xiao Yue shook his head. Clearly, he didn’t know what was going on either. He said, “I don’t know any more than you do. I’m just extending and analyzing based on the information you have.”
He Li nodded, then crushed the cigarette butt. Finally, he warned Xiao Yue again,
“Xiao Yue, I’ll say it one last time, don’t lay a hand on those two inside.”
Xiao Yue stood on the railing, shrugged innocently, and smiled at He Li.
He Li sighed, turned, and went back into the house, intending to make do on the sofa for the night. However, Kuer was already asleep on the sofa. He had clearly sent him into his own room earlier. It seemed Kuer had come out and wanted He Li to sleep in the bed.
He Li looked at the sleeping Kuer, his lips curling slightly into a smile. He picked up a blanket and covered Kuer.
The next morning,
Before He Li had even woken up, he heard the loud crying of a child outside the room. The child had a powerful voice and a very loud cry. Just listening to the cry, one could tell it was a strong child.
He walked out of the room and saw Kuer and Willow sitting at the dining table, looking helplessly at a five or six-year-old foreign child with blonde hair, who was crying loudly.
The child wasn’t sitting or lying down, but standing in place, his small fists clenched tightly, his mouth open in a roar.
Xiao Lan had already run to the balcony, lying on the ground, covering its ears with its paws. Well… it was a smart dog.
“Whose unlucky kid is this?” He Li started with a Tianjin dialect phrase.
“He Li, He Li.” Kuer beckoned to He Li and pointed at the child, saying, “Can you handle him?”
He Li was stunned and frowned, saying, “If it were a demon, I’d chop it down with one stroke. If it’s just an ordinary human cub, I can’t bring myself to do it. How about we sell him?”
Kuer and Willow looked at He Li in astonishment. Did his understanding of “handle” mean literally?
Hearing that the big guy wanted to sell him, the child stopped crying. He stared blankly at He Li, then his blankness turned to fear. At five or six years old, he basically understood things. Although he didn’t understand what selling him would entail, he knew it was a terrifying prospect.
Willow said helplessly, “This is my sister’s child, my nephew. My sister and brother-in-law have work to do today, so they asked me to look after him.”
“Oh… so it’s a relative’s child.” He Li smiled and walked to the dining table, sitting down. He glanced at the various jams and bread slices, and pickles on the table, smacking his lips. They didn’t look appetizing.
He glanced at the blonde child still standing in place, frowned, and said, “If you’re not crying anymore, sit down and eat.”
“Oh.” The child obediently climbed onto the chair, picked up a piece of bread, spread jam on it, and ate it bite by bite.
Willow and Kuer were somewhat surprised. No matter how they coaxed or teased him, it didn’t work. How could He Li get him to behave with just one sentence?
He Li ignored their surprise, stood up, went to the bathroom to wash up, then went into the kitchen to cook porridge, fry eggs, scramble eggs, and fry ham. He also took out two bags of dumplings he had bought earlier from the refrigerator, cooked one bag, and fried the other with eggs.
After all, Kuer was a big eater.
“I’m full,” the child said softly.
He Li didn’t turn his head. Holding the spatula, he pointed to the sofa in the living room and said, “Go watch TV.”
“Okay.” The blonde child immediately jumped off the chair, ran to the sofa, and sat down, watching TV obediently.
Willow’s eyes widened and he said, “It’s truly strange. How come we can’t manage him?”
He Li chuckled and said, “Who hasn’t heard grandma’s stories about ‘kidnappers’ when they were young? Even if not, they should have heard stories about the ‘big bad wolf eating children’.”
“You can’t just coax children, nor can you spoil them without limits, or they’ll develop spoiled habits. Tell your sister, ‘beat the child when the weather is bad,’ it’s not like she has nothing else to do. If you don’t have children for fun, then there’s no point.”
Willow and Kuer exchanged glances, seeing shock in each other’s eyes. Having children is for fun?
He Li ignored their astonishment. Breakfast was soon ready, and he brought the dishes to the table one by one. The messy bread slices and jams on the table had all been cleared, making way for a sumptuous breakfast.
He Li took a sip of porridge. Ah… foreign rice wasn’t as good as domestic rice. He looked up at the child sitting on the sofa, constantly swallowing his saliva, and smiled. kuAiδugg
“If you’re hungry, come and eat.”
“Okay.”
Children, when they aren’t acting up, are quite cute. When they act up, you really want to strangle them.
As they ate breakfast, Willow, who had a habit of playing on his phone while eating, suddenly put down his chopsticks and asked, “Are there gods in this world?”
Kuer shook his head in confusion.
He Li, however, asked calmly, “Why do you ask?”
Willow held up his phone and showed it to both of them. There was a news report on it:
“The Hunter Group of the Spiritual Management Committee ambushed a god on Death Island the day before yesterday. In the end, they paid the price of 5 casualties and successfully killed the god using a ‘God-Slaying Nuclear Bomb’!”
Below were photos of four people, all injured. Among them were Susan and that captain, Shang Jun. However, compared to the excited expressions of Shang Jun and the other two, Susan’s expression was melancholic and complex.
He Li smiled. You wanted to kill gods, didn’t you? I helped you kill gods. So, will you have to try harder next?
…