Ye Chu looked into the little boy's tear-filled eyes and asked gently, "Have you made up your mind?"
The boy still looked hesitant. Ye Chu smiled. "I just need somewhere to stay for one night. That wouldn't really cost you anything, would it?"
So he only needed somewhere to sleep. The boy relaxed. "Then what can you offer me?"
"Revenge."
Ye Chu didn't so much as blink, making him seem utterly trustworthy.
[Ye Chu-the new generation's master of empty promises.]
[After these last few Instances, I don't believe a word this guy says anymore.]
[An Ordinary Person taking revenge on a cannibal? What is he even saying? I'm dying.]
[Young people really are way too full of themselves.]
The boy's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Really."
The boy asked again, "What's your name?"
"Ye Chu. What's yours?"
"My name is Xiao Chuan."
Ye Chu froze for a moment, then pressed a hand to his forehead and laughed. Could it really be such a coincidence? Was this boy really not Pei Yanchuan himself?
Ye Chu helped the boy bury his older brother's body, then went back with him to his home. It was an ordinary little wooden shack, completely out of place in this metropolis of towering buildings.
There was only one bed in the shack, with a photo of Xiao Chuan and his brother beside it. The dim yellow light gave the room a cozy glow.
Ye Chu sat on the bed and picked up the photo to look at it, then placed it facedown on the bedside table.
Xiao Chuan brought out a plastic basin containing some rotten vegetables. Looking embarrassed, he said, "Sorry, this is all we have."
Ye Chu showed no sign of disgust. Ordinary People eating vegetables was an inherent rule of this world, so there was nothing strange about it.
He helped pinch off the rotten parts, then paused when he saw Xiao Chuan stuff the raw greens straight into his mouth. "You eat them just like that?"
"Yeah." Xiao Chuan's mouth was still full of vegetables, making his words a little muffled. "Is this your first time here?"
This guy is so weird, Xiao Chuan thought. How does he not even know how to eat? He doesn't look that young, either. He looks way older than me.
Ye Chu didn't answer. Following Xiao Chuan's example, he rolled up the leaves and stuffed them straight into his mouth. They were bland, but not hard to swallow.
After dinner, Xiao Chuan climbed onto the inner side of the bed. It wasn't very big, and the boy pressed himself as close to the wall as he could, leaving most of the space for the stranger he had picked up today.
Ye Chu lay down with his arm beneath his head. Turning toward Xiao Chuan, who was facing the wall, he asked, "Has it always been like this?"
"What?"
"Has this world always been like this? Ordinary People eat vegetables, and cannibals eat people."
Xiao Chuan struggled to turn over, facing Ye Chu instead of the wall. He looked puzzled, unsure why Ye Chu would ask that. "Yeah. It's been like this since we were born. We're born to be food for the cannibals. Every day we stay alive is a gift from them."
Ye Chu frowned. He couldn't agree with that way of thinking.
"Have you never thought about fighting back?"
When they saw themselves eating vegetables while the others ate meat, when they saw themselves living in wooden shacks while the others lived in high-rises, when they saw themselves punished over trivial things while the others strutted around so arrogantly... had they never thought about fighting back?
"Fighting back..." Xiao Chuan repeated softly. "No. We're used to it. We're used to being enslaved. These rules have been passed down for at least three hundred years. Everyone's numb to it by now."
Three hundred years. They had all grown used to it.
Once the wounds on their bodies had scabbed over, what pain was left to feel?
"Besides, they're born with an advantage. Their fangs can tear out our throats, drain our blood, and eat our flesh. We don't have anything..."
"What about weapons?"
"What?"
Ye Chu suddenly felt like laughing. What was wrong with this kid? Why couldn't he hear anything properly? His hearing was already failing at such a young age.
But before Ye Chu could repeat himself, Xiao Chuan answered, "No one dares to fight back. If we don't resist, we still have a chance to live. If we fight back and fail, those people will just eat us."
Only then did Ye Chu truly feel that this boy wasn't Pei Yanchuan. He couldn't possibly be Pei Yanchuan.
Knowing Pei Yanchuan's temper, there was nothing he wouldn't dare do. The moment that man fired his gun, Pei Yanchuan would have lunged at him. Even if he couldn't beat the man to death, he would have beaten him half to death.
Pei Yanchuan would never choose to live in cowardice. He was a wolf who yearned for freedom and would never accept enslavement.
Ye Chu said nothing more. He got up to switch off the light, then lay down with his back to Xiao Chuan and closed his eyes. "It's late. Go to sleep. Whatever it is, we can talk tomorrow."
Xiao Chuan nodded, then quickly realized that Ye Chu had his back to him and couldn't see the gesture. "Good night," he said softly.
When Xiao Chuan had agreed to Ye Chu's offer, it had been a rash decision made while anger had the upper hand. Now that he had calmed down, he didn't believe the person beside him could help him take revenge at all.
Those were cannibals. Cannibals who ate Ordinary People.
As Xiao Chuan thought about it, he drifted off to sleep. He was still a child, after all. Having been through so much today, he was exhausted.
In the darkness, Ye Chu opened his eyes. This world's class ideology was already deeply ingrained in its people. Even a twelve-year-old child considered enslavement an ordinary part of life.
Entrenched thinking was a terrifying thing. Throughout history, many reform movements had begun by changing people's minds.
But they only had a week. One week... would that be enough?
Ye Chu clicked his tongue softly. He had almost forgotten that all they needed to do in this game was survive for a week. But he had always liked finding the optimal solution, and the optimal solution for this world was obvious: overthrow this so-called legal system.
The first day had already passed without incident. So far, this Instance didn't seem very difficult.
Hoping the coming days would be just as easy as today, Ye Chu closed his eyes again and slowly grew drowsy.
The next day, Ye Chu was awakened by a commotion. When he opened his eyes, Xiao Chuan was no longer beside him.
He saw Xiao Chuan run all the way back to his room. Seeing Ye Chu awake, the boy paused in surprise, then said anxiously, "Ye Chu, something's happened outside."
Ye Chu immediately rolled out of bed and went into the rundown alley, where he saw a burlap sack lying on the ground, covered in mud.
Ye Chu first told Xiao Chuan to keep his distance in case there was something dangerous inside the sack. Then he carefully untied it alone, keeping one foot pointed outward, ready to run at any moment.
When he opened the sack and saw those familiar twin ponytails, Ye Chu froze. "Youyou!"
Before you continue