Bronya

Once it was ready, he handed over the Winter City Coins.

The vendor took the money without giving any change.

Fifty Winter City Coins for one Black Bread Soda Iceberg. It was expensive—equivalent to a town resident's food expenses for an entire day.

Several passersby browsing nearby stared wide-eyed at the Soda Ice Mountain giving off a frosty mist in Jiang Mo's hand.

Their faces showed not envy, but shock and disbelief.

A child so young, without even a decent piece of clothing to wear, could actually afford something like that?

Fifty coins—it was a luxury drink they did not even dare dream of, something only a few wealthy people bought now and then.

Feeling those astonished gazes, Jiang Mo found the icy cup in his hand suddenly seemed heavy.

He ignored the stares, merely holding the cup as he turned away from the stall.

The iceberg really did resemble a miniature mountain peak. In the dry environment of the Underworld, even the cold air it gave off seemed enticing.

Jiang Mo did not drink it immediately. Tucking the iceberg away, he headed toward the highest point in Rivet Town.

There stood a dilapidated yet conspicuous building—the orphanage.

The closer he got to the orphanage, the clearer the children's noisy voices became.

Jiang Mo's feelings were complicated.

He did not like this place. He really did not like it.

A place like this was like a garbage dump waiting to be abandoned, except the things thrown here were living children.

Standing outside the orphanage gates, Jiang Mo saw the scene inside.

The yard was rudimentary, its ground paved with uneven bricks, with several crooked playground structures scattered about.

There was a slide made of scrap metal, two wooden swings, and a seesaw on the verge of collapse.

The children were playing, chasing one another and roughhousing.

They wore clothes covered in patches, their faces smeared with dirt and dust, and their eyes kept drifting toward the entrance.

Whenever someone from outside the orphanage appeared, the children would usually swarm around them like puppies, staring with eyes that yearned to be hugged, yearned to be taken away.

They lacked love too badly. Any little bit of attention from the outside made them desperately crave more.

Jiang Mo thought of the orphanage director, Natasha, that kind woman whose eyes always held pity.

She did her best to care for the children, but she was only one person. She had to manage the orphanage and go out to look for resources.

She simply could not spare enough energy to give them enough love.

In the past, Jiang Mo would occasionally come here. While begging for food, he would play with some of the children, treating it as payment for the food.

His soul was still that of an adult. Perhaps it was that sense of maturity that made the children instinctively feel they could rely on him.

Whenever he tried to leave, a few children would always tug at the hem of his clothes and look at him with those pitiful eyes, refusing to let him go.

That feeling made it hard for him to breathe.

Jiang Mo did not like those eyes filled with expectation, eyes that placed their fate in someone else's hands.

Whenever he saw these children, he felt as though they were a pack of puppies waiting for their owner to choose them.

He would rather rely on himself, rather struggle in a garbage heap, than become a child waiting to be "picked up."

With that thought, Jiang Mo steadied himself and concealed his presence as best he could.

Then he began searching for his target among the playing children.

At last, he found her beside a swing in the corner of the yard.

A tiny figure with striking silver hair.

Unlike the other children, she was not chasing or playing around. She simply sat quietly on a swing, her little feet lightly brushing the ground as she stared blankly at the sky.

Her eyes...

Were different.

Unlike the other children, her eyes carried a calmness beyond her years, and something else—thoughtfulness.

It was as if she saw everything around her clearly, yet chose only to observe in silence.

This child truly was different.

That was one reason Jiang Mo had been willing to speak to her first before.

She would not look at him with the suffocating gaze the other children had.

Jiang Mo walked over to the girl's side without making a sound.

He sat on the swing beside her and gave it a gentle sway.

It took the girl a few seconds to react. She suddenly turned her head, immediately on guard.

But when she saw that it was Jiang Mo, the wariness in her eyes instantly faded.

It was replaced by surprise.

For once, a vivid expression appeared on her little face.

"Brother Jiang Mo? Why are you here?!"

Jiang Mo looked at her and gave a gentle smile.

"Long time no see, Bronya."

Bronya

Seeing Jiang Mo, Bronya seemed excited, but also somewhat aggrieved.

"Didn't you say you would never come here again? Why are you...?"

Jiang Mo did not answer directly, merely saying casually, "I thought of you, so I came to see you."

He held the Soda Ice Mountain in his hand out before Bronya.

"Here," Jiang Mo said. "I bought this especially for you."

Bronya was completely stunned.

She looked at the exquisite thing in front of her, served in a cup like a little mountain, then looked back at Jiang Mo.

"This is...?"

Jiang Mo paused slightly. Then he realized—of course. For children in an orphanage, having a piece of bread that could barely fill their stomachs each day, or a bowl of thin porridge, was already an immense blessing.

They had probably rarely seen such carefully made desserts, things not meant to fill one's stomach but to be enjoyed.

Jiang Mo briefly introduced the Soda Ice Mountain to Bronya, telling her it was a dessert made by combining Black Bread, ice, and soda, and that it tasted wonderful.

"It's delicious. Hurry and try it," Jiang Mo encouraged her.

Bronya carefully accepted the cup, and the icy touch made her shiver.

She pulled the small wooden spoon from the cup, hesitated for a moment, then scooped up a tiny bit of ice and put it into her mouth.

The cool, sweet flavor exploded across her tongue at once, a marvelous sensation she had never experienced before.

Bronya's eyes flew open, and delight instantly blossomed across her face.

That smile was like a flower suddenly blooming amid ruins, so bright that it was impossible to look away.

This was the first time Jiang Mo had seen her smile so happily since coming to this world.

"Delicious..."

Bronya let out a cry of praise, then eagerly scooped up another spoonful.

As she ate the iceberg in small bites, she asked Jiang Mo curiously, "Where did you buy this? How is it so delicious?"

Jiang Mo sat beside her, lightly swaying on his swing as he patiently answered.

"I bought it from a stall in the town center. It was expensive, but it's enough that you think it tastes good."

He did not hide the price. Instead, he wanted her to know how precious it was.

"Really? It was expensive?" Bronya stopped her spoon and looked up. "How much was it?"

"Um... fifty Winter City Coins," Jiang Mo replied.

"Fifty?"

Hearing that, Bronya tilted her head.

Looking at the innocent confusion in her eyes, Jiang Mo knew she had little concept of money.

After thinking for a moment, he put it another way. "About... the equivalent of four or five days of your meals."

The orphanage's meals had probably not been very good lately, so that estimate was about right.

Bronya's eyes widened sharply. She looked at Jiang Mo, then at the Soda Ice Mountain in her hands, which she had only taken a few bites from. Her little face was full of shock.

Such a small thing cost the equivalent of several days' worth of her meals?

She froze for several seconds, her gaze shifting back and forth between Jiang Mo and the iceberg.

Just as Jiang Mo was about to ask what was wrong, Bronya suddenly raised the spoon in her hand, scooped up a huge spoonful of the iceberg, and quickly stuffed it into Jiang Mo's mouth!

The cool, sweet taste melted in Jiang Mo's mouth at once, carrying the flavor of milk and soda.

He was startled by the sudden gesture, but still swallowed it instinctively.

"What are you doing?" Jiang Mo asked, torn between laughter and tears.

Bronya smiled at him.

"Something this good means Brother Jiang Mo has to eat some too!"

She lowered her head again and ate her own portion in small bites, looking up at Jiang Mo from time to time as though hoping he could taste this deliciousness too.

That pure gaze and simple gesture gently touched the softest place in Jiang Mo's heart.

This child...

At that moment, Jiang Mo noticed the hopscotch pattern drawn in chalk on the ground ahead. It had already become somewhat blurred from the children stepping on it.

He pointed at it. "Bronya, do you remember how to play? When I taught you hopscotch before, you were always bad at it and got so angry you kept stomping your feet."

Bronya's cheeks were faintly flushed from the icy sensation.

"I remember. You even laughed at me for being clumsy... But I can do it now. Look!"

As she spoke, she set down the iceberg and stood up, hopping lightly a few times. Her movements still had a child's clumsiness, but she was indeed much more proficient than before.

"Not bad," Jiang Mo praised.

Bronya sat back down and picked up her iceberg again.

"Oh, right," Jiang Mo continued. "That intact glass marble we found in the yard before—I asked you to keep it. Where did you put it?"

That marble was one of the few completely undamaged things they could find in the Underworld. Round and smooth, it gleamed golden beneath the lights. To them, it counted as a small treasure.

Bronya's gaze flickered.

"Um, that marble... I kept it safe."

She slowed down as she ate the iceberg, lowering her head while her little fingers unconsciously rubbed the rim of the cup.

After a brief silence, she finally could not help asking the question that had been building in her heart for a long time.

"Brother Jiang Mo, why... haven't you come by lately?"