“What can you do to help me?” Lu Xiaoxiao said subconsciously.
But no sooner had the words left her mouth than she regretted them. A moment later, she muttered softly, “Sorry, that’s not what I meant…”
“Hey, do you even know whose promise you just received?” Lin Cheng gazed at her reproachfully. “Why would you think I’m useless?”
Lu Xiaoxiao fell silent for a short while. “This is my own business.”
“Your own?”
“I… don’t have a father.”
“I know. You mentioned it last time.”
Lu Xiaoxiao stayed quiet for a long time, unsure how to voice what she wanted to say. This was her biggest secret, and she didn’t want to share it with anyone.
So she could only beat around the bush.
“From the day I was born, my destiny was already set… You heard my mom last time—she made it sound like I could choose my own path in life. But that’s not true. From childhood, she drilled into me the idea of becoming an Adjudicator. She’d say on the surface that I was free, but my freedom… it was just the freedom she allowed me.”
“The Catastrophe is over. The world doesn’t need so many Adjudicators anymore,” Lin Cheng said gently.
…So what’s the point of me even being born?
“That’s why I said your eyes always look so lost,” Lin Cheng said, gazing tenderly into her eyes. “You’re a kid starved for love.”
“I’m not…”
“The idea of being starved for love is more concrete than you think. It’s because others have it and you don’t, so you instinctively feel the lack—and crave it. But people don’t actually need love. It’s just that sense of absence that makes you feel lost and empty. Your relationship with your mom seems a bit off—not like a normal mother and daughter—so you don’t feel much connection to the world?”
Lu Xiaoxiao was silent for a long time. Then she suddenly asked Lin Cheng softly, “Do you know why I admire Si Ming so much?”
“Why?”
“Because he ended the Catastrophe. Once it was over, the purpose for my existence vanished, and I could finally live as Lu Xiaoxiao, truly.”
“Then why are you still lost?” Lin Cheng winked at her, tactfully avoiding any deeper probing.
“I’m not used to it. I don’t understand it. I don’t get it.”
“Because you haven’t found your place in this world yet,” Lin Cheng said as he sat up. “But finding your place is something only you can do. If you ever need help, you can come to me.”
He stood and grabbed some freshly grilled skewers from the barbecue grill. Lu Xiaoxiao sat up too and asked his back softly, “Why?”
“Because you’re cute too,” Lin Cheng replied without turning around, his voice light.
Xu Wanyue’s grilling wasn’t half bad either.
The three of them sat on the lawn, digging into the barbecue. Lin Cheng even pulled some beers from the fridge, and everyone had a bottle or two. After cleaning up, he led them to the villa’s home theater, which had a soft king-sized bed and sofas. They settled in to watch a horror movie.
Lu Xiaoxiao had a terrible tolerance for alcohol; her head was already fuzzy. Xu Wanyue gently held her close. She leaned into Xu Wanyue’s embrace, and the two of them lay on the bed watching the movie while Lin Cheng sat on the sofa nearby. After a bit, he stepped out to make a phone call.
“Hello.”
A cool, clear female voice came from the other end.
“Hello.” Lin Cheng sat by the pool and spoke flatly. “Lu Xiaoxiao was born from that plan twenty years ago, right?”
“Yes. She’s the only successful subject from that experiment. We used the crystal core power of an Abyss Delusion Beast, along with my genes and part of the Energy Origin. But she was unstable in her early years and only stabilized at six, when she finally left the lab to join me. The plan was mostly a failure—we poured in massive resources and got just one success, inheriting only a fraction of my abilities.”
“You raised her as a tool from the start?” Lin Cheng’s voice grew colder.
“Why do you think that?”
“All her behavior makes it obvious. She can’t feel your love for her.”
“And what would count as love?” Lu Lingling asked softly. “I guided her to become an Adjudicator in the Alliance because the Catastrophe hadn’t ended yet. After all those resources, she should fight it. But now that you’ve ended the Catastrophe, I’ve finally started to truly acknowledge her existence. Her value as a tool is gone, but I’m no good at being a mother. I know she’s lost, but I’m powerless to help. I’m just not a very good mom.”
Lin Cheng had plenty of words on the tip of his tongue, but in the end, he didn’t know how to say them.
“After all these years together, do you really… not love her even a little?”
“What do you consider love, my dear Lord Si Ming?”
But Lin Cheng had no answer. Si Ming wasn’t an omniscient god—just one lucky soul among the masses who’d awakened to Fate.
“After the Catastrophe ended, I seriously talked to her about her past and told her she could freely choose her life from then on. But she still chose to become an Adjudicator. Suspending her recently wasn’t because I don’t love her—it was to give her a chance to find her own answers about justice. That’s how I raise a child. But her confusion? I can’t fix that. She has to find it herself. After all… who in this world lives perfectly righteously?”
“Mmm.” Lin Cheng murmured in agreement.
“It’s normal for kids to feel lost. That confusion drives them to search for their place in the world. It’s not a bad thing,” Lu Lingling’s voice softened.
Lin Cheng suddenly thought of something amusing.
“So in your eyes, am I a kid too?”
“No, you’re my dear Lord Si Ming.”
“That’s so gross, so gross, so gross.” Lin Cheng rudely hung up on her.
When he returned to the room, Lu Xiaoxiao was already asleep in Xu Wanyue’s arms.
They’d changed back into their original outfits. Lu Xiaoxiao’s light green bodycon dress clung tightly to her figure. Lying on her side in Xu Wanyue’s embrace, the curve of her snow-white hips peeked from under her skirt hem like a full moon in Lin Cheng’s view.
Xu Wanyue was timidly watching the horror movie, her hand gently stroking Lu Xiaoxiao’s back. It was strange—some kind of maternal glow seemed to radiate from her.
“Should we carry her to bed?” Lin Cheng suggested softly, to avoid waking her with the movie’s sound effects. Xu Wanyue gently lifted Lu Xiaoxiao and followed him to the guest room, laying her on the soft bed. Xu Wanyue had also changed out of her swimsuit into her original cropped T-shirt and hot pants, the shirt hugging her soft breasts, its hem tied in a knot. Lin Cheng and she returned to the theater, where this time he lay in her arms.
“So you only had her carried back because you wanted to lie down too, huh?” Xu Wanyue’s finger poked teasingly at his collarbone.
“Yeah, yeah. Mom’s lap is the warmest.”
“You’re dead!” Xu Wanyue’s cheeks flushed red as her hand slipped under his T-shirt. Lin Cheng grimaced. “No, no, no.”
“No calling me that next time,” she muttered.
“Fine, fine, fine.”
Only then did Xu Wanyue release her fingers. Lin Cheng gazed gently into her eyes. “I’ll fix that photo from the other day in a few days.”
“Mhm.” Xu Wanyue nodded obediently.
Lin Cheng tried to read any other emotion in her eyes, but she just nodded sweetly.
He’d thought he wouldn’t care if Xu Wanyue knew about that day or not, but now he felt oddly a bit miffed. He reached up and pinched his own cheek, a little harder than necessary.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Wanyue leaned down, bringing her face close to his.
“Nothing. I want a kiss.”
“But you said the contract doesn’t take effect until tomorrow?”
“But… we kissed before the contract was even a thing, didn’t we?”
“Mmm, fine then.” Xu Wanyue leaned down and pecked his forehead lightly.
“So perfunctory.”
“You’re just greedy.” Her breath brushed his cheek; their faces were so close now. Lin Cheng stared earnestly into her eyes, but hers held only pure gentleness.
It was strange. A girl whose past eighteen years had been filled with Misfortune, yet her eyes were so warm.
Was it love for the world, or disappointment in it?
Lin Cheng’s mind started wandering chaotically until Xu Wanyue interrupted. “Your eyes look so complicated. What’re you thinking?”
“I’m wondering why you smile so much.”
“If I don’t smile, should I cry instead?” she said softly. Lin Cheng hesitated. “I just don’t get it. You said your past was full of bad luck for so many years… so why do you seem happy every day?”
“Because I have my little sister.” At the mention of her sister, Xu Wanyue’s eyes brightened even more. “If I’m sad, she’d notice and be sad too. So I have to stay happy.”
“But are you really happy?”
“Someone like you, always pondering the meaning of happiness, life, justice—you’re definitely not happy. Happiness isn’t something you think about. Thinking about it just makes you unhappy.”
“But I’m unhappy right now. Can you comfort me?”
“Why are you suddenly unhappy?”
“Because you only kissed my forehead.”
“You’re being such a rogue. You don’t even like me, but you still want me to kiss you… Isn’t that weird?”
“I don’t care. I’m a rogue.”
“Fine, fine.” Xu Wanyue’s cheek drew closer, her soft pink lips brushing the corner of his mouth. This time, her tender tongue tip even flicked lightly against his lips before pulling away.
“Why agree to kiss me if you don’t like me?” Lin Cheng’s eyes locked onto hers. But the next second, she pinched his cheeks, squishing his face into all sorts of shapes.
“Kiss or no kiss, you’re impossible. Keep this up, and big sis won’t play along anymore.”
Xu Wanyue’s cheeks puffed out slightly, like a cute little hamster.
