A Happy Family 1 / A Happy Family 2

A class teacher truly skilled at his craft—the number of chalk pieces he could throw was directly proportional to the wrinkles carved into his face by time. Su Jue raised his head somewhat innocently and met the teacher's stern gaze.

He tried to find a hint of leniency in those clouded eyes, but he failed. So he could only stand up and straighten himself as much as possible, allowing his eyes to look down at his classmates from a forty-five-degree angle.

This made him look less like the only student in class being punished and more like a commander inspecting his soldiers.

No matter what, he had to look imposing.

Having successfully singled out Su Jue, the "troublemaker," the homeroom teacher nodded in satisfaction and continued writing on the blackboard. "Next, we'll discuss 'Postpartum Care for Sows'..."

Viewing the lesson from this unique angle, Su Jue saw many things he normally never would.

Near the wall, a classmate whose weight was charging toward ninety kilograms was secretly stuffing snacks into his mouth, while the student behind him could only drool in envy.

The boy by the window was staring outside, contemplating the melancholy of youth—oh, he was actually watching the girls in PE class.

The student closest to the podium was openly playing on his phone. It seemed he had thoroughly mastered the advanced counter-surveillance tactic of hiding in plain sight. He was bound to achieve great things someday.

Such was the variety of life.

Still, compared to real cuisine, these desserts were far too shabby.

A smile curled at the corner of Su Jue's lips. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, darkness filled his vision.

A black-and-white triple-ring mark slowly took shape, accompanied by a distant wolf's howl.

A new actor had arrived.

The wooden puppet swayed as transparent threads began to coil around it.

"Welcome to the Theater of Domination!"

A biting cold wind swept past his ears, sounding like a girl's crying. Su Jue's vision gradually cleared, and the rapidly approaching ground lunged at him without warning.

Bzzzz~

Transparent threads shot out at once, hooking tightly onto a protruding structure on the building's outer wall.

The taut threads yanked at his body, nearly tearing him into several pieces.

Even after his body was fully suspended, Su Jue's heart was still pounding wildly. He stared wide-eyed at the ground less than ten meters below him. If he had been one second later, he would probably have become the first Herrscher to die from a fall.

It seemed being the Herrscher of Domination was a high-risk occupation after all. Su Jue was rather relieved that the previous three had not chosen such an extreme way to summon him.

"Who are you?" A girl's hoarse voice, roughened by prolonged crying, sounded in his mind. Su Jue ignored her and slowly used the threads of domination to pull himself back to safety. Only after climbing onto an outdoor air-conditioning unit did he finally let out a breath.

Jumping off a building.

The simplest and most straightforward way to end one's life. Looking up, Su Jue estimated the height to be nearly twenty stories. The fall had probably lasted three or four seconds. It was likely during those few seconds that the host's resentment and fear finally reached a critical point, triggering the mark Su Jue had left behind.

"Why can't I move?" The girl's voice came again. Su Jue frowned and decided to mute her.

No matter what, if he wanted to obtain Authority of Domination over the host, he first had to understand exactly what had driven them to such extremes.

A thousand kinds of sorrow, a thousand kinds of despair, a thousand kinds of madness, a thousand kinds of curses. The desire to be destroyed, to be imprisoned, to be dominated.

That was the origin of the Herrscher of a Thousand.

But for Su Jue, if he followed that model, all that would ultimately be born would be a disorganized rabble. They each had their own demands and desires. The only thing connecting them was the Herrscher of Domination's power.

To avoid repeating the game's mistakes, Su Jue decisively chose to monopolize the Authority of a Thousand. Naturally, the price was that he had to taste the sorrow and despair of a thousand people.

Begin. Let me understand your demands, your desires.

The price is that you will be dominated by me.

Chapter 9: A Happy Family 1

"Alright, the lines are done. Time to get to work." Su Jue felt slightly awkward. He did not actually like making such cringeworthy declarations, but under the influence of the Honkai Will, every Herrscher more or less developed the habit of saying strange things.

Clinging to the outdoor air-conditioning unit, Su Jue surveyed the surroundings from above and found the area sparsely populated, with barely any pedestrians on the road. The host had also chosen the back side of a high-rise building. If she had jumped from here, it was likely no one would discover her body for quite some time.

Clearly, she had carefully selected this location.

Someone who had only briefly lost hope would never deliberately choose a place to end their life. The only possibility was that she had contemplated suicide countless times before.

That was only natural. The mark of domination only reacted to those who had fallen into despair. If there was another way, who would not want to live?

A cold wind blew across Su Jue's body. The air-conditioning unit beneath his feet swayed uneasily, and the triangular bracket creaked.

The threads continued extending, lowering Su Jue slowly to the ground.

The floor-to-ceiling windows downstairs had been cleaned spotless. The girl's reflection stepped out from them and met Su Jue's gaze.

She was a very ordinary girl. Heavy gloom weighed down her brows and the corners of her eyes. Within her slightly swollen, reddened eye sockets were lifeless pupils. There was a bruised mark on her arm, though it was unclear whether she had injured herself or whether something else had caused it.

She was dressed very conservatively. Her black mid-length sleeves covered nearly all of her upper body, leaving only the bruise on her forearm exposed. Her loose sweatpants reached all the way to her ankles, revealing no trace of her figure.

What was she trying to hide from?

Su Jue guessed that she had chosen suicide because of some defect of her own, but when he found a student ID in her pocket, he realized that was probably not the case.

The girl was actually very pretty. Although the photo on her student ID still carried a childish air, her delicate face was touched by a faint expression of melancholy. Anyone could tell at a glance that she was a true beauty in the making.

A student ID?

If he remembered correctly, she was supposed to be at school today, wasn't she?

The sun was already nearing the west. Su Jue had been in the first afternoon class earlier, and judging by the sun here, the time difference between the two places was around an hour. This was not dismissal time, unless she had never gone to school in the first place.

Then again, how could someone who wanted to commit suicide still be thinking about going to school?

The most direct approach would have been to ask the girl herself, but her emotions had clearly been unstable earlier. If Su Jue had not cut off her connection, she might have forcibly fought him for control of the body. From a height of seventy or eighty meters, with less than ten meters left to the ground, any loss of control would have caused a tragedy.

After being muted, the girl's tense mind slowly relaxed, and her consciousness gradually sank into sleep. There was no one to ask even if he wanted to.

Ding—

A message notification sounded from the pocket. Su Jue took out an old phone that appeared to be a model from several years ago. Its screen was cracked and patched with clear tape.

"Bring back a bottle of vinegar after school."

There was no greeting, no signature, and the girl had not even saved the number as a contact. There was only a string of digits.

Was it her family?

But if it was her family, how could they not even know their own child had not gone to school?

After looking through the messages on the phone, Su Jue was surprised to discover a hidden text message.

"The payment for your artwork has already been transferred into your account. It's five thousand yuan! Keep it up, Xiao Lei. It's already impressive for someone your age to land such an excellent commission."

Contact name: [Editor]

After finding that hidden message, Su Jue searched the same way and quickly found messages the girl had deliberately saved.

"Xiao Lei, you're amazing..."

"Xiao Lei, your drawing is so good..."

Without exception, every one of those texts had been sent by the editor, encouraging the girl.

Other than that, the only messages were things like "Bring back a bottle of soy sauce" and "Bring back a bag of salt" from the number above—utterly meaningless words.

Fortunately, although the girl's phone model was rather outdated, it still had a built-in map. A home location was marked on it. Su Jue let out a breath. At least he would not have to sleep rough.

Following the route marked on the map, Su Jue arrived outside a private residence. The front door was tightly shut. He searched himself but could not find a key. Left with no choice, he knocked on the door.

No one answered, so he knocked again.

Creak. The door opened, and an elderly woman with a face full of wrinkles looked at him without saying a word.

Su Jue felt somewhat awkward. It seemed he had come to the wrong door.

He stood at the entrance and was just about to say something when the old woman's voice came from inside.

"What are you standing there for, you worthless burden?"

Su Jue froze. The awkwardness on his face gradually faded, replaced by a dark emotion spreading through his heart. It was the girl's instinctive resistance.

The house was small, with two bedrooms and one living room. A bed stood in the living room, its floral bedding hanging by the window and covered in unidentified stains.

After opening the door for Su Jue, the old woman ignored him and washed dishes alone in the kitchen.

He said nothing more and instead observed the layout of the home.

There was a television in the living room, and several cardboard boxes sat beneath the coffee table. The boxes contained a large pile of toys, though they were already coated with dust. It seemed they had never been taken out again after being put away.

A label hung from one of the boxes, with the crooked words "Xiao Bao's Toy Box" written on it.

Maybe things were not that bad? They had bought the child so many toys. They could not really be treating him maliciously, could they?

A drawing hung on the wall, a child's simple sketch. Crisscrossing lines displayed every kind of abstract art.

Remembering the message on the phone, Su Jue guessed this might have been the original owner's work from childhood. After all, a single drawing could earn a five-thousand-yuan commission, so her skill should not have been poor.

It was only when he straightened the picture frame lying face-down on the table and saw the family of five in the photograph that he realized his understanding might have been wrong.

The little boy in the photo was smiling brightly. His father, mother, and grandmother were all gathered around him, while the girl on the other side only showed half her body. Her face had been scribbled over in a large patch of black ink.

In the parts that had not been blacked out, the crooked words "ugly freak," written by a child, made Su Jue frown deeply.

So the drawing on the wall and the toys in the boxes...

"What are you standing there for? Those are Xiao Bao's toys, don't touch them." Having finished washing the dishes, the old woman looked annoyed at Su Jue standing dazed in the living room. "Go wash your brother's clothes."

Chapter 10: A Happy Family 2

Su Jue's frown deepened. Was this old woman favoring boys over girls? He looked over the layout of the house again.

The old woman slept in the living room, while the parents slept in the second bedroom. Yet the spacious master bedroom had been reserved for the family's only son.

As for the girl?

Su Jue pulled aside the curtain on the balcony and saw the tiny room partitioned off by curtains. At last, he understood where she must have slept.

The balcony and Xiao Bao's bedroom were separated by only a curtain. Every time she entered or left, she had to pass through his room, while the bathroom was on the other side of the living room. Even a designer would have a brain hemorrhage looking at this layout.

"Didn't you hear me? I told you to wash the clothes. If you're this lazy, how will you take care of your brother in the future?" The noisy voice lingered by his ear. The stench of someone who had not bathed for a long time kept drifting into Su Jue's nose along with the old woman's curses.

He abruptly turned his head, the chill in his eyes completely undisguised. The old woman's expression stiffened. Just as she was about to start cursing loudly, there came a knock at the door.

"Grandma, open the door!" A boy's voice came from outside. The old woman's displeased expression changed as though she had put on another face, replaced with a kind smile.

The moment she opened the door, a thin, small boy rushed in from outside, nearly knocking her to the ground. But she did not care at all, her wrinkled old face beaming.

Outside stood a middle-aged woman carrying a schoolbag. She rubbed the dust off the soles of her shoes against the wall of the public corridor and complained nonstop. "Schools these days, honestly. Middle school students have to carry so much stuff. What if such a heavy schoolbag stops my Xiao Bao from growing taller?"

After complaining, she had rubbed off most of the dust from her shoes. She looked up and spotted Su Jue leaning against the wall.

"Why is this worthless burden home so early today..." she muttered quietly. Only after returning to the living room and placing the boy's schoolbag at his desk did she realize something was off. She looked at Su Jue suspiciously. "No, wait. You should get out later than Xiao Bao since you're in high school. You came home this early today—did you skip class?"

Her face slowly tightened, her brows twisting together. Her eyes gleamed with a blade-like sharpness, as though she would strike him the moment Su Jue answered yes.

"Yes." Su Jue's expression was calm. As though deliberately defying her, the corner of his mouth even curved into a disdainful smile.

"You little brat, you think you've grown wings now!" Seeing her daughter, who had always been timid and submissive, actually raise her head and stare directly at her, the woman flew into a rage and raised her right hand to slap him.

But she had only completed half the motion when her younger brother's voice came from the bedroom. "Mom, come quickly! Look at the picture I drew today."

The muscles on the woman's face twitched faintly, her expression shifting. Torn between disciplining her daughter and accompanying her son, she froze in place.

The old woman beside them glared viciously at Su Jue. She still resented the look he had given her earlier and wished the woman would slap him at once. But after hearing Xiao Bao's voice, she hurriedly changed her expression and went into the room.

"Xiao Bao, let Grandma see how your drawing turned out."

Unfortunately, Xiao Bao showed no mercy. "No. You're too old. You definitely won't understand it."

"Mom, what are you doing? Hurry up and come over."

Perhaps because her son was calling her, or perhaps because the raised hand was getting sore, the woman shot Su Jue a glance and entered the bedroom.

Letting out a soft breath, Su Jue looked at them irritably. Living in a family like this was truly awful. But since the mother, grandmother, and younger brother had all appeared, the father, the pillar of the family, should also show up, right?

He waited for several hours.

There were clearly quite a few people in the house, yet it was as though he had been completely excluded. No one spoke to him, aside from the occasional call to make him do chores. But Su Jue would not meekly accept their arrangements like the original owner had.

He was waiting, waiting to find the final straw that had driven the original owner to jump from the building.

The sky gradually darkened, and the aroma of meals from household after household drifted in from outside. Su Jue's stomach rumbled as well. The original owner had not eaten anything all day, and her whole body seemed weak and listless.

Xiao Bao, who had been playing nonstop since getting home from school, walked into the living room holding a new game console and muttered, "Grandma, I'm hungry!"