A disheveled man stood in front of the house. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked as though he hadn't slept in days, his gaze filled with hysterical madness.
Uchiha Cheng knew the man. It was his father, Uchiha Kenji—a gambling addict who had even stolen his mother's wages to gamble when Cheng was seriously ill; a man he had barely seen over the past three years, who rarely came home and paid no attention to his family; the head of the household who had driven his mother to borrow money just to pay for his treatment.
"How did you get in?"
The moment the woman saw the man, panic and fear filled her eyes.
As soon as he saw her, the man rushed over and grabbed her by the shoulders. He shouted frantically,
"I lost all my money! Hurry up and give me the money from the house!"
"Enough. Let go of me first."
His mother wrenched herself free.
"The money is in the cabinet in my room. Go get it yourself."
At her words, the man hurried into the room. The sound of him rummaging through everything rang out inside the house.
Before long, however, the man stormed back out and grabbed his mother's wrist. He shouted,
"How come there's only this little bit of money? You wretched woman, did you spend it all? Where's your salary? How come there's only this little bit of your salary left this month? Give me the money, you bitch!"
His mother struggled helplessly.
"That was all the money we had. A-Cheng is sick, and the rest went toward his treatment. Where would I get that much money?"
The man glanced at Uchiha Cheng.
"That little brat should've died ages ago. He's just a burden alive. You bitch, how dare you waste money on that? I have no capital. How am I supposed to win it all back?"
The man slapped his mother hard across the face. Her cheek visibly swelled and reddened.
But the man still wasn't satisfied. He raised his fist and punched her repeatedly.
Uchiha Cheng slumped in his wheelchair, watching helplessly as the gambling addict beat his mother. His eyes bulged with rage as he strained with all his might to move, but his body was like cast iron, refusing to budge.
"Stop it~~"
The boy roared, but only a weak cry came from his lips. He didn't have the strength to shout.
You beast! Uchiha Cheng swore that this so-called father was the most shameless man he had ever encountered in either of his lives.
The man rained blows down on his mother's head. She was a medical ninja and tried to fight back, but her frail taijutsu was no match for the man, who had awakened a One-Tomoe Sharingan. He easily knocked her to the ground.
"You still dare to fight back?" The man spat viciously and raised his fist to strike the woman in the head. She could only helplessly cover her head, trying to shield herself from his blows.
Move, move! The boy screamed desperately in his heart as he watched, powerless. His fierce will forced his body to start moving.
At last, trembling, his hand began to move, and his body started responding to his call.
The man was still beating the woman when a small, frail body threw itself at him and clutched his leg tightly.
"D-don't h-hurt m-my m-mother a-anymore!" the boy shouted, forcing the words out of his throat with great difficulty.
He glared up at the man viciously, like a starving wolf ready to devour its prey.
The man looked disgusted and kicked Uchiha Cheng in the chest. His body, not even a meter tall, flew three or four meters before crashing into the wall.
"Stay away from me, you sick brat!"
"A-Cheng!" The woman went wild. Green chakra surged from her hand: a Chakra Scalpel.
She swung her hand wildly. Knowing how dangerous the Chakra Scalpel was, the man hurriedly dodged, giving the woman a chance to rush to Uchiha Cheng and check on him.
His mother's anguished screams echoed in his ears.
Uchiha Cheng felt cold. In an instant, his chest could no longer draw breath.
He sucked in air desperately, but he couldn't inflate his chest. He lay motionless, struggling inwardly, yet he could feel the strength draining from his body. His heart stopped for a moment. His already weak body had taken a heavy blow, leaving him unable to move again.
The sounds in his ears grew fainter, and the world before his eyes gradually dimmed.
He could see his mother shove the man away and rush to his side, calling his name frantically. He could also see the man flee in a panic when he realized Cheng had stopped moving.
The light before his eyes blurred, then faded into darkness.
Am I going to die? Strangely, he felt calm.
How ridiculous. A Transmigrator reborn in another world, only three years old, and yet he had died at the hands of his gambling-addict father.
What a miserable life! the boy thought with a sigh. His consciousness gradually sank into silence.