Wrath

Eighteen years ago.

The elderly director of the Sunshine Orphanage got up for his morning exercise and found an abandoned baby at the gate.

There was nothing strange about that.

There were always plenty of abandoned babies left at the entrances to orphanages, Daoist temples, and Buddhist temples.

That was a good thing. At least those heartless parents hadn't tossed their children into garbage cans; at least they hadn't utterly deprived their children of the right to live.

How wonderful life was, wasn't it?

The old director's surname was Su, so the dozen or so children he had found over the years were all given the surname Su.

The faint light of dawn gave off a dim glow as it refracted through the rain, so the child was named Su Bai.

Su Bai had probably been abandoned because he had congenital leukemia. Many people called it an incurable disease, which meant it cost a great deal of money and might not even be cured.

He was a burden, so he became an orphan.

Su Bai grew up in the orphanage, watching one playmate after another get adopted, until he was the only one left, all alone.

Leukemia-who would dare adopt him?

Years of medical treatment and solitude had left Su Bai unusually withdrawn, sensitive, and insecure. To him, being a normal person and living an ordinary life was an impossible dream.

Fortunately, rapid advances in medical care stabilized Su Bai's condition, and the old director arranged for him to attend a school in the county.

During his three years of junior middle school, Su Bai tried to interact with others, communicate, and learn.

He really was a genius. Even though he tried his best to hide his brilliance and make himself seem ordinary, he still displayed astonishing talent before everyone and was granted exceptional admission to Star Sea Senior Middle School before the high school entrance exam.

Star Sea Senior Middle School ranked among the best schools in the country.

But "Wrath" found him.

Back then, Su Bai looked at himself in the mirror, at the bloody light flickering in his eyes, and wanted nothing more than to gouge them out.

I really am a monster.

With a heart full of unease, Su Bai spent a few peaceful years at Star Sea Middle School. Gu Jiuge's arrival made Su Bai realize that he wasn't the only monster in the world.

He could finally let it go.

But love had left him.

Perhaps love had never come at all.

Lin Xue's gentle rejection was like a sharp knife stabbing deep into Su Bai's heart, leaving it dripping with blood.

Su Bai tried to console himself.

A person can't spend their whole life liking only one person, and it's not as though losing someone means you can't go on living. Once I get to university, maybe I'll meet another nice girl standing in the sunshine with a suitcase.

Su Bai had only just mustered the courage to keep living.

But then the little girl found him.

What a fucking joke this world is. Doesn't it have a shred of human decency?

Forget it. If I die, I die. There's nothing much in this world worth holding on to anyway. But damn it, even if you're going to kill me, why can't you make it quick? What's the point of gnawing me to death, bite by bite?

Are you a dog?

Don't you think it fucking hurts?

To live and die in dreary mediocrity, to muddle through this fucked-up life in a careless blur-it was so stifling it was hard to breathe.

Yet that was the life most people were destined to lead.

The little girl lay atop Su Bai, gnawing ceaselessly at his flesh.

Excruciating pain surged through him, piercing him to the marrow, yet Su Bai never cried out.

He simply gazed at the little girl in silence.

When faced with death, most people would involuntarily recall the happy, joyful moments of their lives, but "happiness" and "joy" seemed to have had no place in Su Bai's life.

All he could see was his own helplessness.

That alone would have been bearable, but besides leukemia, he also had hyperthymesia. He could clearly remember every detail of every moment when he had been powerless.

For instance, eighteen years ago, when his parents abandoned him, their faces had been resolute and relieved. They had finally cast off a burden. Look how happy they were, look how joyful.

Or two years ago, when the old director of the Sunshine Orphanage fell ill and died, he had held Su Bai's hand, his lips moving as he tried to leave some important instructions. Yet he hadn't managed a single word before sinking into a deep sleep, never to wake again.

Or when Lin Xue had asked him to deliver that love letter, the reluctance and guilt hidden deep in her eyes. Lin Xue, the girl he had always kept hidden in his heart, seemed to have taken him for a fool, yet he possessed an intelligence far beyond ordinary people's reach.

"Hm?"

The little girl, still gnawing on Su Bai's flesh, suddenly froze. She slowly lowered her gaze and stared at him in confusion for a moment.

Then her body began to tremble, and she murmured, "Th... this is..."

Su Bai sneered. "What, not eating anymore? Saving it for a midnight snack? You really know how to make things last!"

The moment Su Bai finished speaking.

A great mass of indistinct, illusory flames burst from the little girl's chest. Like a pair of fiery wings, they slowly enveloped her body, burning fiercely.

The little girl's face gradually twisted in the flames, deep regret and terror hidden in her eyes.

Then the black-and-white world shattered like a mirror dropped on the ground, and the gears of time slowly began to turn.

The passing pedestrians and motorists looked at the chilling scene before them, their minds going blank. Their faces drained of color as they screamed and fled.

"Aah! Murder!!"

"Somebody, quick! Help!"

"There... there's a little girl eating someone!!"

The crowd's panic set off a chain of traffic accidents. More than a dozen vehicles crashed into one another in an instant, with a deafening "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Torrential rain poured down wildly, casting the entire world in an air of utter madness.

"Hey, hey, hey, Sister Yan, can you hear me? This is Chu Ning, this is Chu Ning. Yes, that's right, I've arrived at the scene, I've arrived at the scene. Why has this lousy phone lost its signal again... damn it! It's a sixth-tier calamity, 'The Little Match Girl.' Her oracle, I'm very... no, wait! There's also the lingering aura of an even higher-tier oracle. Requesting backup, requesting backup! What? You're saying Gu Jiuge is playing Defend the Carrot? Level 130 is so important he can't tear himself away? Fuck his game! Tell him to get over here now, or I'll fucking chop him up and feed him to the dogs! Shit!"

A short-haired girl in a baseball cap clutched a phone in her right hand and cursed at the top of her lungs, while her left hand kept turning the steering wheel of a red convertible sports car. With its engine roaring like a monster, the car hurtled out of the curtain of rain, straight toward the battered bus stop sign.

Boom!!

Just before the sports car hit the bus stop sign, the girl in the baseball cap leaped straight out of the driver's seat, carrying a longsword that gleamed with a chilling light.

Her expression was cold and stern. Gripping the longsword in both hands, she charged straight at the little girl, whose eyes were vacant, with the force of a fierce tiger descending a mountain.

Seeing this, Su Bai felt the almost tangible blood-red light in his eyes gradually fade. He slowly closed his eyes and sank into a deep sleep.

A voice echoed in his mind, lingering without end.

The voice said-Wrath!!