CR CH61

Chapter 61: Little Beauty

In his earliest memories, his field of vision was always limited to the ground.

Ling Kongmiao began remembering things very early in life. The violent imagery was like stones dropping into water, stirring up massive splashes.

That “water” was still tender and young; once forcibly awakened, it could not regain its calm, and he lived trembling in fear like that.

The most deeply ingrained imagery was reflected in his eyes.

A group of sturdy men roughly snatched a child from a woman’s embrace. Many of them were demi-beasts with sharp, pointed fangs in their mouths.

Someone took a iron chain and looped it over his neck; when he was dragged entirely out, he saw his mother covered in injuries.

The woman’s silver-white hair and his own hair intertwined in the air for a brief instant before quickly pulling apart. She was very petite, looking like an exquisite white butterfly—beautiful and fragile.

When she saw her child being snatched away, a cold light, almost sharp in nature, flashed across her eyes, leaving people as caught off guard as the dagger she pulled from her sleeve.

Her tattered outer robe fell, revealing a pair of small, exquisite ears and a fluffy big tail. Her beast form was extraordinarily gorgeous, with brilliant flames blending with the color of blood.

There was no redemption or sudden turn of events like in stories. His mother’s ability belonged to the spirit system, and her beast form possessed no offensive capability. Covered in dripping blood, she held Ling Kongmiao and fled desperately from the slave pursuers, hiding in a deserted garbage dump.

Ling Kongmiao felt she was the strongest queen in this world. He poked his head out from his mother’s embrace while she shed tears, whispering “I’m sorry” over and over again.

He reached out his hand to wipe away the bloodstains and tear tracks for his mother, then buried his head in her neck nook to rub away his own tears.

“Mom, amazing, pretty.”

It was very strenuous for him to speak, trying hard to piece words together.

“Love, love Mom.”

He saw his mother cry even harder, but this time it seemed to be mixed with emotions of happiness.

Ling Kongmiao had developed more slowly than other children ever since he was little; he rarely made sounds, and did everything sluggishly.

He knew she had wanted to sell him that day, only regretting it at the final moment.

There were no feelings of resentment in Ling Kongmiao’s heart; he felt that his mother truly had no other choice.

The look she gave him was always filled with deep affection and worry. For a period of time, life was very hard, and he occasionally felt that his mother was just like him, still like a child.

She always said she was silly, but in reality, she always had a sense of embarrassment whenever she did manual work, as if she had never held those tools before, subsequently ruining things quite smoothly.

Her silver-white hair was extremely beautiful. Sometimes Ling Kongmiao would see her sitting alone on the stairs of their dilapidated building, cherishly combing her hair while humming a tune he couldn’t understand.

When she passed by small jewelry stalls, her eyes would light up brightly, looking back three times with every step, before finally dragging him away reluctantly.

Her fair, tender hands gradually became rough, and she grew more and more like a mother.

One day, Ling Kongmiao tucked her hand into his chest and asked in a low voice:

“Mom, steamed eggs become silky and tender. If I keep your hand warm, will it become silky and tender too?”

A drop of clear water fell onto his face. He froze for a moment before looking up.

“Mom, why are you crying again?”

“Waaah… Miaomiao, I’m sorry.” She sniffled and muttered an apology, “When you grow up, don’t be like Mom.”

“…”

Ling Kongmiao pouted, enduring it for a moment before becoming teary-eyed. He choked back tears and apologized:

“Waaah… I’m sorry, I don’t seem to be able to not be like Mom…”

The big one and the small one would always hug each other and cry; after crying, they would laugh foolishly again.

Days were getting better day by day, until one day, the arrival of a uncle surname Left caused an earth-shattering change in their lives… In short, they moved away from their original dilapidated building, boarded a private battlecruiser, and left the Empire for the Federation.

When registering for school, he took the initiative to find Uncle Left and asked if he could board.

“Why?”

The cold, stern-faced man crossed his legs and extinguished the cigarette in his hand. His hawk-like eyes made him look extremely sharp.

Ling Kongmiao stared nervously at the ground and whispered: “I’m grown up now. I can be on my own.”

“Little brat.” Zuo Lixing sneered, a slightly complex gaze falling upon him. “Lucky you look like your mom, otherwise I can’t guarantee whether I’d throw you into outer space.”

Ling Kongmiao hung his head, nervously clutching his clothes in confusion.

Zuo Lixing stood up. Wearing an overcoat, his shadow completely enveloped the child like a massive hawk.

Ling Kongmiao buried his head even deeper, trembling violently.

“Kid, can you take care of yourself at the academy?”

Ling Kongmiao murmured: “I can.”

“Louder, didn’t eat your fill?”

“I can…” He cleared his throat and shouted with a flushed face: “I can!”

Perhaps because his completely red appearance was too hilarious, Zuo Lixing was amused by him and briskly rubbed his head.

“Fine, then go.”

Realizing the feel was pretty good after rubbing it once, he wanted to pet him twice more, only to see the child silently push his hand away and step back two paces in slight disgust. Both mother and son were extremely sensitive to smells and disliked the odor of smoke.

Zuo Lixing pinched his cheek forcefully: “Little ungrateful wolf, I’m deducting your allowance.”

“…”

On the day he dragged his small suitcase to the academy, Ling Kongmiao was very happy.

Carved on the massive stone tablet before the entrance was—Capital Star Hanyu Academy.

However, boarding life did not go as smoothly as imagined. He had barely interacted with children his own age; his long silver-white hair was very eye-catching, and he always attracted many gazes. Yet his habits from childhood made him fearful of others’ looks.

Because he was afraid of being noticed, he always kept his head down and never took the initiative to communicate with anyone.

He displayed his cowardice far too blatantly, which quickly attracted many filthy things. At first, it was just a group of people surrounding him to joke and shove, but later it evolved into frequently trapping him in corners.

They liked to pull his hair, often yanking out many silver-white strands, and would question his gender to insult him.

Ling Kongmiao could only stand frozen in place. He was born without offensive capability; his personality, build, and appearance were all soft.

Rather than an animal, he was more like a flower blooming among a crowd, only able to sway precariously with the wind every day to avoid being trampled by the crowd.

Irene had once felt utterly bewildered by this.

“To be honest, it’s hard to imagine you two are the same person.” She leaned against the window frame in her white lab coat while smoking, smiling as she extinguished the ember at her fingertips upon seeing Ling Kongmiao frown. “So, why didn’t you fight back?”

At that time, Ling Kongmiao had not yet awakened, and his face still bore a bit of youthfulness. Smelling the cigarette smoke, he buried his nose into the blanket with some aversion and said muffledly:

“I don’t know, I never thought about fighting back.”

Similar to playing dead, he felt that as long as he kept quiet and still, others would naturally leave once they found it boring.

“I don’t know how to hit people, nor do I dare to speak loudly. What could I do?”

He let out a cold laugh, saying somewhat mockingly:

“Oh, I did take some measures, like praying in my heart while being beaten that I would suddenly gain a superpower to erase pain, or that someone would come save me or something.”

“If I knew better back then, I should have recited my inner thoughts out loud as a spell. That way I could have escaped while they were laughing until their stomachs hurt… No, based on my logic back then, I probably wouldn’t have run, but just squatted on the spot with a sigh of relief, feeling like I could finally rest for a bit.”

Ling Kongmiao was harsh toward everyone, including himself.

Irene disliked the way he mocked himself and let out a gentle sigh: “What happened after that?”

“…”

Ling Kongmiao was quiet for a moment. He shrank his face further into the blanket, revealing only a pair of blue eyes.

“Then, the prayer seemed to come true.”

That terrible life lasted for two years, his body always bearing obvious marks from bumps and bruises.

Must not cause trouble for adults, must take good care of myself—that was the requirement he set for himself when he first enrolled.

His diary gradually grew filled with many tear tracks. He turned back to the first page, crossed out the second rule, and changed it to—Must persevere.

Then, he was knocked to the ground by a basketball on his way to the cafeteria.

Someone grabbed his hair and dragged him toward the sports field, demanding he help retrieve the ball, yanking his hair until it hurt terribly during the shoving.

“What are you guys doing!”

A dark shadow charged over like a cannonball, pinning that person to the ground.

The boy’s face was full of confusion and rage, wearing this year’s freshman uniform. Seeing this, the others swarmed up, and several people instantly tumbled into a brawl.

Ling Kongmiao stood frozen in place, at a loss. By the time he finally mustered up the courage to go forward and help, he looked up only to see the boy swinging his fists, beating those bullies until they wailed and scattered in tears.

His build was very good, sturdier even than higher-grade kids, and he wasn’t afraid of pain; if someone punched him once, he would hit back twice and throw in a kick.

Seeing that group flee, he finally seemed happy, chasing behind them giggling. Only after completely driving them away did he trot all the way back to his side.

He was clearly younger than him, yet a head taller. Ling Kongmiao instinctively took a step back.

“See that? You have to hit them like this.”

The boy proudly and valiantly raised his fist at him, his small expression exceptionally triumphant. His eyes fell on him and looked closely for a moment, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed.

“If they bully you again next time, you can come find me. I’m in Comprehensive Area A. What’s your name?”

Comprehensive Area A was filled with very impressive kids. They seemed to have an Area A overall leaderboard where they could compete across different grades to earn extra bonus points.

While Ling Kongmiao was spacing out, that person approached a little closer.

“Little Beauty, are you listening?”

He instinctively stepped back two paces: “My name isn’t Little Beauty.”

“Then what’s your name?”

“…”

“Sigh, don’t run… Then I’ll call you Xiao Bai! Xiao Bai, which area are you in?”

“Xiao Bai, slow down so you don’t fall… Oh my! I told you to slow down, I’ll take you to the infirmary.”

From that day on, the prayer miraculously came true.

Beside Xiao Bai, there was now a little rogue who ran into Ordinary Area C every few days, shouting “Little Beauty” across the entire field.