Seaside

Keeping his head down at the back of the crowd, Tom could smell the fishy stench from far away. In such turbulent times, where would there be so many kind-hearted people? They had only come to pick out "children" they liked the look of.

"Amy... let's sneak away. That gentleman doesn't look easy to deal with..."

Tom's ears twitched at the sound. He was somewhat surprised that there was someone clever here. He glanced sideways at the person in front of him—Dennis Pipshaw, a boy who had only been here for a few years and had caused him no shortage of trouble, along with Amy Benson, a girl consumed by jealousy.

"Are you sure? That gentleman looks very rich..." Amy hesitated. Of course she knew what Dennis meant; this sort of thing was common at the orphanage. But she had truly had enough of being hungry. Catching sight of Tom from the corner of her eye, Amy's eyes shifted. Perhaps she could play the part of a kind person for once.

"All right~ Dennis, let's hurry up and go. And you..." Amy smiled at Tom, concealing the disgust in her eyes. She reached out and tugged at the hem of his clothes. "Come away with us. This is the seaside; Mrs. Cole doesn't have the energy to keep an eye on so many children. She won't notice if the three of us are gone."

"Okay." A reserved smile appeared on Tom's face. He knew perfectly well what she was trying to do, but what did it matter to him? If it let him see these people's thoughts for what they truly were, that was not such a bad thing, was it...

The three of them slowly edged to one side, then turned and ran when Mrs. Cole was not paying attention. It was a pity they would miss out on that delicious food, but perhaps that was for the best. Who knew what seasonings had been put in it?

Amy stepped onto the beach, and the soft, fine sand made her narrow her eyes in pleasure. Looking around, she spotted a sea cave not far away. Turning around, she waved at the other two. "How about we go take a look over there?"

Following the direction of her finger, Tom's eyes flickered. Since someone wanted to play a game, how could he, as a little gentleman, refuse a lady's request? "Sure... let's go in together..."

The three quickly ran to the top of the sea cave. Dennis timidly took several steps back and grabbed the unusually excited Amy. "This is too dangerous! If we lose our footing, we'll definitely fall to our deaths!"

"What are you afraid of? Tom will take the lead, right?" Amy laughed happily, her burning gaze fixed on Tom's eyes. She wanted to see whether this guy really was a demon...

"Heh..." With a cold laugh, Tom dropped the false smile from his face. An icy hiss escaped his mouth, and several black-and-white sea snakes slithered out from the cracks between the rocks. The seaside was wonderful, wasn't it?

"Sea snakes! Hurry up, Amy! If they bite us, we'll really be poisoned to death!" Dennis was practically losing his mind. Where had so many venomous snakes come from? This was truly the end. Today was probably where they would meet their end...

"Go inside. Didn't you want to see the sea cave? If you don't run, these little ones will be crawling all over you~"

Tom's relaxed tone and even voice brought Amy, who had frozen in place, back to her senses. She turned to look at the sea snakes blocking their retreat, their mouths open to reveal venomous fangs. Her little face went deathly pale. She wanted to scream, but not a single sound came out.

This guy really was a demon. He must have summoned these venomous snakes!