Translator: CinderTL
"An An is safe." Pan Du braced the Gate with his body, panting heavily as if he had been reborn.
The things that had been chasing him were utterly bizarre, but at this moment, Pan Du felt more regret than anything else. It was clear he had been deceived.
The Luo He who had appeared earlier was a Ghost.
His purpose was to lure Pan Du onto this train.
Pan Du theorized that Ghosts couldn't kill in the mist, and the figure running backward to chase him was merely an illusion, incapable of causing harm.
It was all designed to terrify him into boarding the train.
The real danger lay within.
Unnoticed, a strange scent wafted into his nostrils. He frowned. The smell was familiar, and...
He turned around in confusion, and the scene before him shocked him. He wasn't in any carriage but on a low-lying hillside.
The ground beneath his feet was soft earth.
Surrounding him was a small grove of trees, the gaps between them filled with an unknown purple wildflower.
As the evening breeze swept through, the purple petals swayed gently, carrying a faint fragrance.
A full moon hung in the sky, its bright light bathing the hillside in a silvery glow. The distant chirping of insects, far from being harsh, added to the unique tranquility of the night.
Cold sweat trickled down Pan Du's forehead as he stumbled backward. Suddenly, his foot caught on something.
When he saw what had tripped him, his pupils snapped tight, and the veins on his forehead bulged as if about to burst. His expression was even more exaggerated than if he had seen a ghost.
But it was just a rabbit.
A toy rabbit.
White and fluffy, one ear drooping, the other cocked upright as if it had been abandoned in the wilderness for a long time, its fur filthy.
The rabbit had been stepped on and lay crookedly on its side in an unnatural pose.
Under the bright moonlight, its glass bead eyes stared fixedly at Pan Du's face.
"What are you looking at?" His eyes instantly reddened, and he stomped down hard on the rabbit. "Stop staring at me! Don't look at me!!"
"You're already dead! You're already dead!!" Pan Du seemed to have gone mad, stomping again and again as if he wanted to crush the toy into the earth.
Memories from twenty years ago flooded his mind.
He had been here before.
He knew every blade of grass, every tree. The toy rabbit couldn't withstand such abuse. Soon, it began to fall apart.
First, its ears snapped off, then its limbs, revealing the yellowed, discolored cotton stuffing inside.
Pan Du didn't stop until the rabbit's head had fallen off and its body had shattered, held together only by a few tattered threads. He was panting heavily.
He immediately began digging a hole with his bare hands.
The hole was deep enough to bury the toy rabbit, which had been torn apart like a criminal executed by five horses.
"You dared to cling to me? Die!" Pan Du's face was contorted in a grimace, his eyes bloodshot with crimson veins. "I could kill you twenty years ago, and I can still do it now!"
After burying the rabbit, Pan Du stumbled away, fleeing the mountain, the forest, and the sea of purple flowers. The place felt suffocating, making it hard for him to breathe.
Standing on the mountain, he looked in one direction and saw twinkling lights in the distance. Others might not know, but Pan Du knew it was a small village. Only a few dozen families lived there.
His home was there.
Faint memories surfaced, and Pan Du bit his lip until blood flowed.
He was an orphan, adopted by a family in the village at a young age. His foster parents treated him well, even better than some biological parents treated their own children. He had spent his first five years surrounded by love and affection.
Until he turned five, he gained a younger sister.
His younger sister was his foster parents' biological child. When he first heard the news, he didn't fully grasp the implications. He was simply delighted to have a younger sister.
The shift came one autumn night. The wind howled outside, and the cold was bone-chilling.
He overheard his foster parents whispering in the next room. They had adopted him because they couldn't conceive due to his foster mother's health issues.
But this sudden arrival of a biological daughter filled them with unexpected joy.
And it sparked other thoughts.
Now that they could conceive, Pan Du's presence was no longer as crucial, even becoming an inconvenience.
If he disappeared, they might even try for a son—their own son, to carry on the family line.
Their own child would always be better than an adopted one.
In the days that followed, Pan Du's fate became clear. His foster parents constantly hinted that their family's circumstances were difficult and that he might be better off moving in with someone else.
They also said they had contacted relatives of his biological parents, who might consider letting him stay with them for a while.
But Pan Du never responded to any of this. He simply kept working silently, diligently.
Do more, say less. Avoid burdening his Foster Parents. Most importantly, he didn't want them to see him as a burden and discard him like trash.
He had already been abandoned once. He couldn't bear a second time.
Yet what was meant to happen eventually did. One day, returning home, he saw a stranger's face—a woman, heavily made up and clearly not a good person.
His Foster Parents, abandoning their usual coldness, warmly called him over. They told him that in a few days, the woman would take him away from the village to the city.
The city was wonderful, with good food and plenty to do.
Pan Du nodded indifferently and turned to leave. Throughout the entire exchange, the pale-faced, heavily made-up woman had been staring at him as if appraising a commodity.
Though still young, Pan Du could sense that this woman was not a good person.
As expected, he had been cunning. Pretending to go out to cut grass, he secretly slipped back and hid at the base of the wall, eavesdropping on his Foster Parents' conversation with the woman.
What he heard next shattered his heart. The woman said he was too thin and frail. The buyer intended to fatten him up for breeding purposes, and his poor health would certainly lower his price.
"We can't go too low," his Foster Father grumbled, puffing on his pipe. He then knocked the pipe against his shoe, his eyes narrowed. "We've raised him all these years, and we haven't even recouped the cost of his meals! That won't do!"
After further haggling, the deal was barely struck.
As she left, the woman warned that inspections had become stricter recently. She gave the Foster Parents a deposit and promised to return for him later.
Pan Du collapsed on the hillside, his mind replaying the scene. His Foster Parents had once been so kind to him, but everything changed after his Younger Sister arrived.
She had stolen everything that belonged to him!
If she were gone, everything—his Foster Parents' love—would return!
She deserved to die!
(End of the Chapter)
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