"But he’s not that handsome," Xu Zhaixiao muttered softly.
Lin Murong: "??? What did you say? Say that again? I’m not handsome? Not handsome?"
Lin Murong crouched down, staring eye to eye with Xu Zhaixiao, and pressed his hands on Xu Zhaixiao’s shoulders.
"Look at me, look at my face, now say it again, I’m not handsome?"
Hearing this, Xu Zhaixiao inspected him closely, especially his face, his gaze lingering for a long time.
Finally, he shook his head.
"So-so. Not as handsome as Brother Chi Yan." Normally, Xu Zhaixiao was a sensible kid who wouldn’t say something so straightforward.
He was supposed to mind adults’ self-esteem.
But alas, having seen someone even more handsome, he really couldn’t lie against his conscience.
Why is there Chi Yan wherever I go?
"Don’t tell me, are you close with him? Do you see him more often than you see me? Is he nice to you? Does he bring you snacks? Carry snacks for you?" Lin Murong exploded, bombarding him with multiple questions in a row.
Xu Zhaixiao honestly shook his head, "Just seen him a few times, haven’t even spoken."
"Exactly, I chat with you the most, right? I even brought snacks for you. And you say he’s the most handsome? What about me?"
Lin Murong felt hurt.
"But Brother Chi Yan really is handsomer than you, brother. I can’t lie," he said in front of his mom.
Lin Murong nearly died of anger upon hearing this.
"You, you, you, why do you judge by looks at such a young age? At such a young age!"
What does Chi Yan have? He just has a face, a sullen one at that.
Whereas he, Lin Murong was affable and approachable. This little brat not liking him, not praising him as handsome was one thing, but to instead praise Chi Yan was unforgivable.
"I’m telling the truth," said Xu Zhaixiao, feeling wronged.
It’s exactly because you’re telling the truth that I’m angry, alright?
Lin Murong was about to explode.
But then again, he couldn’t really get angry at a kid, nor at a woman.
He could only seethe with impotent rage.
"Fine, I’m leaving." If he didn’t leave, he might actually start lashing out at the kid.
Lin Murong didn’t want to be a bad guy, a purely bad guy.
So he chose to go back, vent a bit, and find Chi Yan to scold him a couple of times.
"Mom, did I say something wrong? Brother Lin seemed a bit upset," Xu Zhaixiao looked towards Tao Tao.
Tao Tao: "...Don’t worry, your Brother Lin probably won’t mind a little kid."
People at the supermarket were all nice.
Lin Murong was nice too. He wouldn’t hurt Xu Zhaixiao over a few words.
"Mom, I’m really bad at talking. I made Brother Lin angry," Xu Zhaixiao pouted, feeling too regretful.
"Not at all," Tao Tao couldn’t help but laugh a little, "Brother Lin probably won’t take it so seriously, don’t overthink. Here, help mom with something."
To prevent him from worrying too much, Tao Tao simply found something to keep him busy.
As Xu Zhaixiao got busy, he stopped dwelling on the matter.
Lin Murong stormed off, determined to ask Chi Yan what sort of love potion he was serving to everyone.
It got everyone on his side.
Why weren’t they on Lin Murong’s side?
He was also very handsome, wasn’t he?
A bunch of people with no taste.
Halfway back, Lin Murong was still fuming when suddenly, it started raining stones from the sky.
"Damn! How come there was no warning at all, it just starts out of nowhere." Lin Murong was unlucky enough to be hit directly by a stone.
Luckily, he was an Advanced Superpower User, strong and robust, and the stone wasn’t that big.
He could repel the other stones too.
He could just stand under the stone rain.
But he wasn’t foolish.
So, he quickly found a place to take cover.
Why was even the heavens helping Chi Yan?
He was still thinking about going back and beating up Chi Yan.
But just then, a stone rain began, stopping him in his tracks.
The heavens were biased, too.
Lin Murong, a Superpower User, handled this sudden situation rather well.
Others in the base weren’t so lucky.
This stone rain came as abruptly as always, without a single warning.
Many people died in this stone rain.
Tao Tao nearly lost her life.
When Tao Tao and Xu Zhaixiao were packing up to go home, and they were almost there, the stone rain suddenly started.
Tao Tao saw it, and her first reaction was to protect her son.
Xu Zhaixiao wasn’t hit, but a stone struck Tao Tao squarely.
She fell to the ground.
"Mom!" Xu Zhaixiao saw his mother faint and immediately panicked.
Frantically checking Tao Tao’s breathing, he was terrified, so very terrified.
He was really scared.
Fortunately, his mother was just knocked out.
After making sure his mom was okay, Xu Zhaixiao struggled to drag her inside the house.
Fortunately, this stone rain wasn’t too intense, and he wasn’t hit while dragging Tao Tao back.
Xu Zhaixiao dragged Tao Tao back, and seeing his mother with her eyes tightly shut, his eyes watered.
He was so scared, so scared something bad had happened to his mom.
Xu Zhaixiao tried to hold back but ultimately couldn’t, and he lay on Tao Tao and cried aloud.
However, Xu Zhaixiao knew that it was a critical time, there was no time for tears, he had to take care of his mom, so he cried only for a while before he started looking after Tao Tao.
He prepared hot water, prepared a handkerchief.
While looking after his mom, he listened to the noises outside.
The stone rain was still going on, the streets they had just cleared were about to be cleared again.
The base was going to be short of people again.
Who knew how many fewer this time.
Many would die, probably.
Xu Zhaixiao thought about it, feeling utterly desolate.
Similarly, Lin Murong felt an intense desolation.
How could he not feel desolate?
He was supposed to be in the supermarket, drinking milk tea, watching some show, watching the stone rain outside the window, but he had come out.
Now he was trapped in this wretched place.
This place was truly wretched.
It was only somewhat sturdy, enough to withstand the stone rain.
But it was also true that it was wretched, and he was alone here.
So lonely, so desolate, so hungry~
Lin Murong was hungry and wanted something to eat.
He felt his pockets, good, there was still a packet of cookies.
Lin Murong took out the cookies and ate them cherishingly, but cookies were just cookies, no matter how much he cherished them, they were quickly gone.
Then, that cookie completely whetted Lin Murong’s appetite.
He was already hungry, and now he was even hungrier.
Lin Murong felt so miserable.
Lin Murong wanted to cry, but there was no one here, and Su Yinhe wasn’t around, his crying needed to be witnessed to mean something.
"Hotpot, big plate chicken, snail noodles, Spicy and sour noodles, grilled meat rice bowl, grilled fish..." Lin Murong lay down and began listing dishes to himself. The more he listed, the hungrier he got, and the hungrier he got, the more he felt utterly pitiful.