Episode 40: Lin Yingbin's Unfortunate Childhood 1

"Multiple... personality disorder?!" What showed on Ryuseki's face was clearly confusion and shock; his original suspicions were choked right back down by that single statement from Lin Yingbin. He continued to wait for Lin Yingbin's following response.

"That's right. Actually, I knew I had multiple personality disorder when I was very young, but I just never told you guys. I thought I could suppress it myself!" Lin Yingbin lay down, resting his head on the pillow as he stared at the ceiling, pensive as he recalled prior events and slowly began to narrate them to Ryuseki.

In reality, that very night, he had started noticing that he could no longer keep his other personality under control. Perhaps owing to the formidable enemies recently encountered, the hidden and repressed layer of his personality had been stimulated and brought forth.

Lin Yingbin could not quite put into words whose personality that was. That night, all he knew was that he was trying his absolute best to suppress it, actively grabbing his own throat in order to force himself to wake up; yet such a method proved ineffective, and that imposing aura ultimately shattered the final line of defense within his heart.

The so-called multiple personality disorder is also known as dissociative identity disorder, meaning that excessive deviation between two or more personalities causes the psyche to actively segregate them. This condition generally only appears after suffering some immense setback. Under normal circumstances, one might not spot any anomalies, but at a certain moment, a person would suddenly seem like a completely different individual, engaging in unreasoning actions they would normally never do. It belongs to acute psychological and psychiatric disorders.

"I don't know why, but at the time, I just couldn't curb the urge to kill. It felt as though my body wasn't even my own." Lin Yingbin hugged his head, slowly burying himself inside the blanket while tears flowed without stopping. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I really had no choice."

Ryuseki was taken aback, then patted Lin Yingbin and replied, "It's fine. This isn't entirely your fault either. When you really think about it, all of this started because of me!"

"Besides, if I don't suppress that guy for long, I might end up being occupied by that guy all the time from now on. I'll work hard to restrain myself and won't cause trouble for you guys anymore!"

Gradually, events from Lin Yingbin's childhood surfaced before his eyes. That was likely some evening roughly ten years ago.

"Get up, hurry up and stand!" a middle-aged man crudely shouted toward the small child trampled beneath his foot. "Bastard, get up! Fight back!"

"You're stepping on... my... head, I can't get up at all!" the trampled child retorted in a tender voice.

That child was none other than a young Lin Yingbin, wearing a dust-covered and dirt-smeared look, yet appearing quite adorable as well.

"What are you roaring about? Only dogs without ability bark with special loudness. If you can't even fight back against this bit of strength, how are you going to take over from me? What's going to happen to the future of the Lin Family? Ah! Answer me." With that, the man roughly kicked Lin Yingbin away.

This was truly too cruel, laying such a heavy hand on a child this small. Young Lin Yingbin rolled several times across the ground before slowly crawling onto the dirt.

The young Lin Yingbin who had fallen to the ground hurriedly climbed back up, using trembling arms to prop up his feeble frame, while also cursing with a mouth full of grit: "Damn it!"

"Stand up, beat me down, hurry!" the middle-aged man shouted impatiently at young Lin Yingbin, constantly provoking him with intense language.

"Oh... ah!" Stimulated, young Lin Yingbin cast everything else aside; right now, there was only a single thought in his mind—to knock down the man before him. This was his sole idea, and holding onto that notion, he charged recklessly toward the man.

That tender face was completely imprinted with anger. He shrieked, swinging his fists incessantly, looking sharp like a young beast preying on its target; despite the vast disparity, he fought desperately.

With a bang, the middle-aged man easily struck young Lin Yingbin, who was rushing right at him, heavily down to the ground with a single punch. Right at this moment, young Lin Yingbin was already covered in injuries all over his body, bloodstains seeping through his tattered clothes, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to what a child should look like. Precisely because of this, living under such a life, it was probably hard for him to imagine what kind of happy existence children of his own age were leading.

Young Lin Yingbin crouched halfway with bent legs, supporting his hands on his knees as he lowered his head and panted. Immediately afterward, he vomited a mouthful of congested blood from his throat. His injuries looked severe, and by visual estimation, his internal organs had already been damaged.

The man showed him no mercy whatsoever; whether kicking with his feet or striking with his fists, the force of every single blow fell no short of the previous attack.

"The disasters you will encounter in the future will not stop just because you howl and complain about your bitter plight!"

Young Lin Yingbin was just like a down-and-out young beast, flatly lying on the ground while angrily grasping the dirt beneath him. Even though his entire body was already bloodied, he still gritted his teeth and persisted. His gaze twitched as he stared at this middle-aged man, and slowly, a fierce wolf's aura emanated from his eyes. Yet he remained flat on the ground, such severe injuries causing heart-wrenching pain to course through his entire body every single time he moved.

"Truly useless, you're not even as good as your deceased older sister!" The middle-aged man coldly tossed these words at young Lin Yingbin, then turned around as if to leave. Yet he had not even taken two steps before a voice from behind brought him to a halt.

"Father!" At that moment, a faint voice issued from behind the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man looked back.

...?!

"Hah... ah!" Suddenly, young Lin Yingbin leaped up and landed a punch squarely on the middle-aged man's face.