Go Do What You Want to Do

The little girl paused, looked up and studied Luo Ruzhuo carefully, then shook her head. "I've never seen you before," she said with certainty.

Zhu Rongtian really didn't recognize her after becoming a child!

Luo Ruzhuo found it strange, but she had encountered so many odd things today that one more hardly mattered.

Little Zhu Rongtian was the only one here who looked human. Luo Ruzhuo didn't know how she was connected to Zhu Rongtian's current, bizarre Mental Domain, but the key to leaving had to have something to do with her.

Having encountered the only variable, Luo Ruzhuo decided not to bother looking elsewhere.

She made up her mind and shook her head. "I'm not leaving."

Zhu Rongtian jerked her head around and was about to say something when the light in front of the kitchen dimmed. The man's figure appeared in the doorway like a ghost, and the blur of mosaic swayed in their direction.

"Is the food ready yet? What's taking so long? Are you trying to starve someone to death?"

Zhu Rongtian immediately shut her mouth. She turned around, put the prepared ingredients in the wok, and began stir-frying them deftly.

Dinner was a pot of rice porridge and a plate of cabbage stir-fried with tofu.

Once it was served, the man helped himself to more than half the tofu, complaining as he ate about how hard money was to earn and how many expenses the family had. Zhu Rongtian didn't sit at the table. She settled onto a little stool in the corner with practiced ease, holding a bowl less than half full of porridge, with only a few scattered bits of pickle in it.

Perhaps because it was Luo Ruzhuo's first day there, he put on a show of hospitality, urging her to eat at the table. When he saw her look over, he waved dismissively. "Don't mind her. She's always had a small appetite."

Luo Ruzhuo didn't respond. She lightly touched the rim of the bowl to her lips, but didn't eat a single bite.

The man didn't seem to care whether she actually ate.

After dark, Zhu Rongtian took Luo Ruzhuo to the thatched hut.

There was only one set of bedding in the room, with a burlap sack stuffed with hay for a pillow.

The chain was just long enough to reach the edge of the mattress, not an inch farther.

Zhu Rongtian pulled a neatly folded old garment from beneath the mattress, rolled it up, and held it out to Luo Ruzhuo. "Here," she said awkwardly, "you can use this as a pillow."

As if afraid Luo Ruzhuo would find it unfit, she added, "It's clean."

With that, she curled up in bed and turned her back to her, covering herself with only one corner of the quilt and leaving most of it for Luo Ruzhuo.

The chain rattled as she moved. Luo Ruzhuo was in no hurry to get into bed. Her gaze moved to the little girl's legs, and she aimed her mental power at the chain around Zhu Rongtian's ankle and struck, precisely avoiding her rough, cracked foot.

With a clang, Luo Ruzhuo's mental power bounced off, while the ankle chain remained completely intact, without so much as a scratch.

She was stunned.

That ankle chain was definitely no ordinary thing!

The sound startled Zhu Rongtian. She hurriedly sat up, thinking she had knocked into something.

She moved too sharply, and the chain around her ankle wasn't long enough. It yanked hard on her ankle, striking it and leaving another bruise.

It looked painful, yet Zhu Rongtian didn't even blink, as though she were used to such bumps and scrapes.

Seeing Luo Ruzhuo staring fixedly at her foot, she said a little stiffly, "Grandma put this on me after I ran away last time."

At that, Zhu Rongtian grew somewhat dejected, and the gloom in her voice was plain to hear. "She said my mom and dad didn't want me anymore, and there are nothing but bad people out there. Staying here is the best choice."

"She's lying to you."

Zhu Rongtian choked on her words. Her gaze fell on the iron chain around her ankle, and she said nothing for a long time.

The room wasn't quiet. The thatched hut had no door bolt, and with the grass curtain lowered, the wind and chirping insects outside could be heard clearly.

After a long while, she finally spoke. "I know."

"But it's been so long, and my mom and dad still haven't come looking for me. After I ran away, I went from house to house and asked lots of people... but there was no news of them either. Maybe it's just like Grandma said. They don't want me anymore. It's the same wherever I stay."

Zhu Rongtian recalled those withered, aged hands, which would occasionally tuck the quilt around her while she slept.

She thought that even if Grandma hadn't put this on her, she wouldn't have run away again.

The little girl had been tired out by the day and soon fell asleep curled up. When Luo Ruzhuo reached out with her mental power, her breathing was even and slow, and the corners of her eyes were still damp.

Luo Ruzhuo certainly couldn't be so carefree as to fall asleep in a Pollution Domain.

In the darkness, she looked at Zhu Rongtian beside her.

She wasn't a pollutant, so she could only be a manifestation of Zhu Rongtian's own consciousness, or the source of the pollution.

Either way, she was the root of it all.

If she killed her, would she be able to get out?

The little girl's neck was slender, and bluish veins were faintly visible beneath her skin. She had hardly any flesh on her bones; anyone could see at a glance that she was malnourished.

Luo Ruzhuo was still considering it. Perhaps her gaze was too direct, because Zhu Rongtian sleepily turned over, her eyes still hazy from waking.

She reached a hand out from under the quilt and gently patted Luo Ruzhuo.

"Don't be scared." She closed her eyes again, her voice slurred. "You'll be able to go home soon."

Luo Ruzhuo's fingers curled, and in the end, she gave up the idea.

Late that night, after making sure there was no movement outside, Luo Ruzhuo got up, gently pushed aside the door of the thatched hut, and walked into the main room. There was no sound of breathing inside. Naturally, no matter how convincingly pollutants acted like humans, they were still pollutants.

There was a room on either side of the main room, with the man sleeping on the left and the old woman on the right. Luo Ruzhuo treated them equally, attacking each with a Mental Blade. After making sure both had turned into clouds of black mist and dissipated, she returned the way she had come to the thatched hut and lay beside Zhu Rongtian until dawn.

Early the next morning, Wang Fuzhuang stood in the courtyard, yelling.

"You wretched girl, get up and make breakfast! The sun's already shining on your backside!"

Luo Ruzhuo followed Zhu Rongtian out, lifting the grass curtain, and found the blur of mosaic standing perfectly fine in the courtyard, hands on his hips and voice full of vigor.

She turned her head again and saw that the old woman with the walking stick had also come out of the main room and was sitting on a little stool in the courtyard, basking in the sun.

Luo Ruzhuo: ...

Well, that had been a waste of effort.

A surge of frustration welled up in her.

The pollutants in this Pollution Domain could regenerate the day after being killed... Unless she got rid of the true source of pollution and the mother entity, there was no way out.

She stood in the courtyard for a while, then turned her gaze back to Zhu Rongtian.

She was crouching in front of the stove, lighting a fire, the iron chain dragging back and forth on the ground. Hearing the old woman cough in the courtyard, she stopped what she was doing, brought out a bowl of hot water, crouched beside her, and held the bowl to her lips.

Luo Ruzhuo's worries didn't last long.

Soon, things took a turn... That afternoon, the old woman developed a fever.

At first she had only been coughing, but by the afternoon she had begun talking deliriously. Zhu Rongtian stayed by the bed, soaking a cloth in cool water and laying it on the old woman's forehead, changing it every so often.

Wang Fuzhuang came home very late. As soon as he entered, he started cursing, railing at the contractor for being black-hearted and the people in town for looking down on him. When he was done, he rummaged through the money in the cupboard. There were only a few crumpled small bills inside. He stuffed them into his pocket and went out again.

When he returned, he reeked of alcohol.

Luo Ruzhuo stood in the courtyard, the dim light falling on her face. She wore a guide uniform scaled down to fit her. Wang Fuzhuang didn't know what material the clothes were made of, but they looked expensive. Paired with her fair little face, she looked like an immortal child from a New Year print who had wandered into the mortal world by mistake.

He had drunk quite a bit, and his face felt hot. With the alcohol going to his head, he involuntarily walked toward Luo Ruzhuo and had just reached halfway out with his hand.

The girl in front of him raised her eyes, and a sharp gaze that did not belong to someone her age pierced straight toward him.

Wang Fuzhuang's hand stopped in midair, and he felt inexplicably apprehensive.

Why does this little girl look so fierce?

For some reason, he had a premonition that if he really touched her... something terrifying would happen.

Wang Fuzhuang withdrew his hand and moved it to his own head, rubbing it as he chuckled. "I went out to ask around for news for you..."

He mumbled, his eyes wandering. "There just wasn't anything useful. Don't worry! Uncle will definitely help you find your home!"

With that, he fled into the main room, glanced at the old woman, then came back out and headed for the kitchen. He lifted the lid of the pot and found it empty. Furious, he cursed, "That old hag's been lying down all day? Where's the food the little one made? Where is it?!"

He angrily flung aside the grass curtain of the thatched hut.

Zhu Rongtian had spent the day caring for the old woman and hadn't eaten dinner either. She was exhausted and covered in sweat, her face flushed. The top two buttons of her smock were undone, and her sleeves were rolled up past her elbows. She was fanning herself with an old newspaper.

Wang Fuzhuang had just been rebuffed by Luo Ruzhuo, and now, seeing Zhu Rongtian's faintly flushed face, a wicked desire rose in him.

Though her face was dusty, her features were delicate, and it was clear she would be anything but unattractive when she grew up.

Wang Fuzhuang rubbed his hands together. His drinking companions' mockery still echoed in his ears, and a nameless anger rushed to his head. He had long since thrown the old woman's warnings to the winds.

What did she mean, raise her only as a daughter?

He would treat her as a daughter and a wife at the same time!

"Girl." His expression turned pleasant in an instant, and he forced an oily sweetness into his voice. "You must be exhausted from looking after my mom today. Come on, let Dad show you some love."

Zhu Rongtian looked up, fatigue still in her eyes. Seeing the man pounce at her, unable to wait, she cried out, her voice changing pitch.

"What are you doing?" She sprang to her feet and took a step back, but forgot about the chain around her ankle. She stumbled hard, her back striking the earthen wall of the thatched hut. "Wait, Grandma's fever hasn't gone down. I need to change her..."

Before she could finish, the man's hand seized her wrist. It was like being wrapped in filthy mud, utterly nauseating.

"Don't touch me!" Zhu Rongtian trembled all over with anger, her voice shrill and fierce.

Desperate to break free, she sank her teeth into Wang Fuzhuang's wrist and refused to let go. A deep bite mark appeared at once.

Wang Fuzhuang hissed in pain, then flew into a rage.

It was one thing for the girl he had just picked up to avoid him, but how dare this one, whom his family had paid good money for, defy him?!

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" He slapped Zhu Rongtian hard across the face, leaving a clear five-fingered handprint. "You dare refuse me? You think I've been too good to you?!"

He gave no thought to the fact that she was only a child in her early teens. Shoving hard with both hands, he threw her to the ground, the iron chain rattling against the floor.

Wang Fuzhuang blew on the wound on his hand, fretting over it. To keep the child from biting him again, he grabbed Zhu Rongtian by the foot instead, pressing right on the bloody scabs rubbed raw by the chain. He hoisted her upside down and dragged her toward the bed.

Zhu Rongtian dug both hands into the yellow earth floor, her nails packed with dirt and blood as she desperately grasped at anything she could reach.

But how could a child's strength match an adult's?

Even with all the strength she could muster, her body bumped and scraped along as he dragged her backward.

Was this beast going to have his way with her today?

Tears involuntarily welled up in Zhu Rongtian's eyes, and she clenched her teeth.

She hated it!

She hated Wang Fuzhuang!

She hated this world where the weak could be bullied at will!

Most of all, she hated-

Why was she so weak?

Why couldn't she possess incomparably great power?

As if sensing her thoughts.

The curtain over the thatched hut's doorway was pulled aside. An equally small figure appeared in the doorway.

Zhu Rongtian recognized the newcomer and was just about to tell her to run.

A pair of hands placed a dagger on the ground where Zhu Rongtian's hands were.

Those hands still had the little dimples of a child.

The dagger gleamed coldly. In its reflective blade, Zhu Rongtian saw the bewildered, despairing look in her own eyes, swollen from crying.

She looked up. The face of the little girl who had only just arrived was calm, and her eyes held a maturity and coldness that did not belong to someone her age.

"Pick it up and go do what you want to do."