The protagonist who hates losers is so sweet to me.

“It’s because of his improper eating posture. Why does it inexplicably involve him?”
“Selling oneself is good, huh? Just lying there and getting resources.” Someone nearby remarked sarcastically.
The incident from yesterday wasn’t widely known, so many people assumed that Yu Qing was another person sent to flatter Shi Tao.
In the base, bedside companions were treated no differently than merchandise. They had low status and were looked down upon. For ordinary people, not only couldn’t they enjoy the company of beautiful people themselves, but they would also have their resources taken away by these individuals, leaving them only with disgust.
“Yeah, it’s better than us risking our lives outside and only getting a little bit of supplies when we return.”
These people had no restraint speaking in front of Yu Qing. After all, nobody wanted trouble, and they became even more unscrupulous.
He quickly stuffed all the meat into his mouth, fearing that these people might try to take his food while ranting. They could insult him all they wanted, but he couldn’t afford to lose his lunch.
As they were engrossed in their discussion, the person who seemed to be enjoying it the most suddenly felt a shadow looming over him.
A huge force grabbed his collar and lifted him up. Looking up, he saw a face full of hostility. At such close distance, facing those fierce eyes, he felt like he was being stared at by a wild beast, and he couldn’t say a word.
Song Xinqi’s tone betrayed no emotion. “Any objections? Come, tell me.”
Not only was the person speaking shocked, but even Yu Qing didn’t expect Song Xinqi to stand up for him. Swallowing a large piece of meat with tears in his eyes, he said, “I Misunderstood you, Song Xinqi. You’re really a good person.”
The person choked, “It’s none of your business. Did I say something wrong? A person who sells themselves…”
Song Xinqi’s fist landed on the person’s face, and the force sent both the person and the table behind him crashing to the ground.
The commotion attracted others, and as the person on the ground was momentarily stunned, he saw Song Xinqi’s contemptuous gaze from above. He roared and got up, swinging his fist at him.
As Shi Tao was lying on a recliner, enjoying being fed by a beauty, someone rushed over in a panic. “Boss, something’s wrong outside. People are fighting.”
“Who’s so bold to start a fight in the base?” He stood up angrily. “Let’s go, I’ll take a look.”
By the time he arrived, the fight had already ended. The person who had been speaking ill of others lay on the ground, bruised and swollen, with Song Xinqi’s foot on his face. Bending down, Song Xinqi leaned in close to him and said, “Watch your mouth. If I hear any more filthy language from you, you can forget about your tongue.”
With Song Xinqi’s foot on his head, the person could only nod slightly.
Seeing Song Xinqi, Shi Tao was furious, but he had to contain it himself. “Song brother, why are you fighting with people in the cafeteria? The base doesn’t allow internal conflicts. If there’s anything next time, just tell me. We’re all ability users, and if we’re not careful, we could cause more damage, making life even harder for everyone.”
Song Xinqi stood up straight, glanced at him, and then walked away.
Those who had been waiting to see the show were all dumbfounded now. Their looks at Song Xinqi had changed, and even Shi Tao had to give him a good face.
Having finished gnawing on the last bit of meat on the bone, Yu Qing looked up to see Song Xinqi’s somewhat speechless expression.
“Done eating?”
He bit off the last piece of cartilage. “Done.”
“Then let’s go.”
He wiped his hands and stood up, following behind Song Xinqi. On the way, he felt more eyes on him. “Thank you.”
Song Xinqi immediately said, “Don’t misunderstand. I just thought that person was unpleasant.”
He didn’t doubt it. “Oh, I see. But I still want to say thank you.”
“Your thanks aren’t worth much.”
“They may not be worth much, but I can give them generously. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Song Xinqi rubbed his temples. “Shut up.”
After finishing their meal, Yu Qing tinkered with his ability in the room, sometimes shrinking the table, sometimes the snow leopard. Surprisingly, his success rate was much higher.
The snow leopard, who had been sleeping, became excited seeing the world suddenly becoming larger and smaller, jumping around on the bed.
Yu Qing’s nose itched, and he yawned, grabbing a few stray hairs floating in the air. “Why are you shedding so early, Little Snow?”
Just then, a commotion broke out outside. He restored all the items in the room and opened the door a crack to see.
A large group of people were heading in the same direction, some fully armed, looking like they weregoing to battle.
“They’re all going out to execute missions in the afternoon.”
Seeing Shi Tao walking over, Yu Qing stood beside him. “Did you have a good lunch?”
“It was okay.” He discreetly moved away from Shi Tao, closing the door slightly from behind to avoid him seeing Little Snow.
Seeming oblivious, Shi Tao spoke warmly to him, “Technically, even if Song Xinqi did two tasks, you wouldn’t have received so much food. I just mentioned it over there, and they made an exception for you.”
Shi Tao was particularly lecherous, often frequenting various red-light districts before the apocalypse. Because of his powerful connections, he acted unscrupulously, with nothing he couldn’t get and nothing he didn’t want.
Even after the apocalypse, he didn’t restrain himself. Recently, Yu Qing’s beautiful face had been on his mind, making him itch with desire.
“Thank you.” Yu Qing felt that his gaze towards him wasn’t quite right. “I need to go find Song Xinqi.”
As he was about to leave, a hand stopped him. He stepped back abruptly, looking at him with great vigilance.
Shi Tao chuckled. “Don’t be nervous, I’m just concerned about you.”
“I’m going to find Song Xinqi.”
Shi Tao shrugged. “He’s also going out on a mission this afternoon. Are you going with him? It’s dangerous outside.”
Seeing him insisting on leaving, Shi Tao didn’t stop him anymore, standing in place and watching his hurried departure, his smile carrying deep meaning.
Sensing Song Xinqi’s location, Yu Qing hurried towards the exit, finally finding him before he left the city.
Song Xinqi had a task to clear nearby zombies and was sitting in an off-road vehicle, waiting for the vehicle in front to depart. Suddenly, there was a clicking sound from the passenger seat, and Yu Qing, who appeared out of nowhere, sat down.
Song Xinqi said, “Get off.”
Yu Qing buckled his seatbelt. “I want to go with you.”
So he still wanted to stick with him. He shouldn’t have stood up for him at lunch.
“I’m doing two tasks alone. Even if you stay in the base, you won’t be short of food. Going with me will only cause trouble.”
Yu Qing pursed his lips and complained to him, “Just now, Shi Tao came to find me. I was a little scared and didn’t want to stay in the base alone.”
Song Xinqi’s face turned cold. “He came to find you?”
He nodded vigorously.
Song Xinqi stared ahead at the moving vehicles, his brows furrowing momentarily. “Fine, I understand.”
Yu Qing thought he would mock him for overthinking, and he was ready to hold his ground no matter what. Surprisingly, he agreed without hesitation.
After waiting for a while and registering with the guards, the two officially left the city. In front of the vehicle, there was a wireless walkie-talkie with voices coming through it.
Two people stood on the rooftop of the highest building in the base: one with the ability to sense zombies and another with a clairvoyant ability. The sensing ability user was responsible for detecting zombies and assigning tasks to the teams, while the clairvoyant user monitored and ensured the teams’ safety.
If anyone encountered an emergency, the clairvoyant could see it first and dispatch reinforcements.
The sensing ability user assigned tasks through the walkie-talkie: “There are fifteen zombies approaching from twenty kilometers east, Team A, head there. To the west…”
Originally, zombie clearing missions were team tasks, but many people who sought to join Song Xinqi were rejected. Everyone knew he was a loner with a difficult personality, so he ended up working alone.
As the sensing ability user indicated, they didn’t encounter zombies initially. It wasn’t until they drove closer that they gradually saw a few.
Song Xinqi stopped the car in an open area, got out with his long-time machete. Due to his unstable mental power, he didn’t like to use his abilities unless necessary.
Yu Qing watched him fight zombies from the car. Today, his method of dealing with them was particularly violent.
The zombies were quickly taken down one by one, leaving only three, which were harder to deal with. After hacking at them several times without killing them, Song Xinqi prepared to use his abilities when he noticed a thorny green vine breaking through the soil under the foremost zombie’s feet.
He quickly retreated, but the vine didn’t seem to attack, merely swaying before being trampled by the zombie behind.
Vines don’t just appear out of nowhere. It’s either a mutant plant or someone’s ability.
He didn’t rush to attack, leading the three zombies like walking dogs. Soon, another vine, thicker than the previous one, emerged, limply hitting his leg with its leaves.
His gaze shifted among the three zombies and finally settled on the one on the far left. He used his ability to shatter the consciousness of the other two zombies and approached it.
The zombie screamed and lunged at him, its wide-open mouth blocked by the machete, with green slime dripping to the ground. Several small shoots burst from the soil, but he uprooted them all.
It must be that this zombie could use abilities.
Since zombies lack conscious thought and act purely on instinct, their abilities are chaotic. An ability like plant control only makes the battlefield look nicer without posing a real threat. However, if a zombie’s ability was fire, speed, strength enhancement, or like Song Xinqi’s mental abilities, it would be troublesome.
Even instinctive use of such abilities would be problematic.
As Yu Qing waited in the car, he felt it shaking and his field of view rising. Looking outside, he saw the ground lifting the car upwards. He quickly unbuckled and got out, stumbling down the slope and running towards Song Xinqi.
“What is that?” he ran ahead, pursued by the rising ground. Just as it was about to catch up, he changed direction, but the ground continued straight until Song Xinqi blocked it with his machete.
“Smart move,” Song Xinqi remarked on his quick reactions.
Yu Qing wiped the sweat off his forehead and saw a greyish hand and a zombie’s head emerging from the raised ground.
Another ability zombie. Song Xinqi stared at the half-buried zombie, smashing its head repeatedly with his machete until it stopped moving.
Pulling the machete from its smashed head, he noticed a flash of light. Crouching down, he dug something out of the zombie’s head, a hexagonal crystal the size of a fingernail, reflecting dazzling light in the sun.
It’s a crystal nucleus! Having stayed here too long, Yu Qing almost forgot about their existence.
At the same time, Song Xinqi felt a slight restoration of his depleted abilities. The crystal nucleus had disappeared from his hand.
“Hey, where’s the crystal nucleus?” Yu Qing didn’t see it disappear.
Crystal nuclei—how fitting.
Song Xinqi stared at his empty palm: “I think…I absorbed it.”
As expected of the protagonist, quickly understanding the use of crystal nuclei.
Crystal nuclei could rapidly restore consumed abilities and speed up the evolution of abilities when full. Later, they became a widely known hard currency in the apocalypse, used to trade for supplies.
“Let’s go find more.” Song Xinqi, machete in hand, violently cracked open the skulls of the remaining zombies, finding only one more.
He rolled the nucleus between his fingers: “It seems only ability zombies have crystal nuclei.”
Yu Qing nodded, recalling that the book mentioned this.
Song Xinqi tossed the nucleus to him: “Let’s check other places.”
The sensing ability user detected all eastern zombies had been eliminated, marveling at Song Xinqi’s efficiency, and used the walkie-talkie: “Team A, mission complete, you can return early.”
Receiving no response, the sensing ability user called: “Hello, Song Xinqi, can you hear me?”
The clairvoyant looked into the distance, hesitating: “They seem to be heading deeper?”
“Song Xinqi, your mission is complete, come back now!”
All he got in return was a series of busy signals.
Song Xinqi tossed the walkie-talkie to the back seat: “Annoying.”
Sensing ability user worriedly asked, “What is he up to, courting death? That area is full of zombies drawn from the safe zone in City A.”
As they ventured deeper, they encountered more zombies. Not many had crystal nuclei. They killed about twenty zombies, collecting a few nuclei, some of which they absorbed on the spot, and others they kept for future use.
They only searched the outskirts, as venturing further where zombie numbers increased would be unsafe.
Due to Song Xinqi’s swift actions, Yu Qing gradually found cracking open skulls less frightening and helped extract the nuclei.
By the river, he cleaned them, holding one up in the sunlight: “This nucleus glows purple, it’s beautiful!”
Song Xinqi, watching nearby, couldn’t understand what made him so happy every day.
After drying the nuclei, he kept the purple one for himself, giving the others to Song Xinqi. Unexpectedly, Song Xinqi pointed at the purple nucleus in his pocket: “I want that one.”
“These two are bigger.” He waved the nuclei in front of him.
After a silent standoff, he reluctantly handed the purple nucleus to Song Xinqi. Song Xinqi seemed quite pleased, even letting out a brief chuckle as he took it.
Yu Qing glared at his back, pocketing the two unwanted nuclei.
As they drove back and the base came into view, he still brooded over the purple nucleus. It wasn’t that he particularly liked it; he just felt Song Xinqi was targeting him.
The two of them returned just before dusk. Song Xinqi was the last to go to the guards to register. The sensor-powered esper felt complicated when he saw the two of them. They hadn’t returned for so long that he thought they had died on the road. Unexpectedly, they came back unscathed and looked like they had just taken a casual trip outside.
The guard let his car pass and glanced inside. He remarked to the person cross-checking the departure list beside him, “Who’s that person next to Song Xinqi? He’s quite good-looking.”
Without looking up, the other person replied, “I’d advise you not to think about it. You missed lunch, didn’t you? You don’t know that someone got beaten up by him for saying a couple of bad things about that person. Lost his front teeth.”
“Isn’t fighting forbidden in the base? Didn’t Shi Tao intervene?”
“Depends on who it is. Song Xinqi doesn’t even look Shi Tao in his eyes, let alone obey his rules. It’s best to stay away from those two.”
This base was different. At every intersection, the loudspeakers emitted a buzzing sound. Yu Qing looked at the speaker tied to an iron pole and asked, “Is there some new information being announced?”
He guessed correctly. After a while, the buzzing sound diminished, replaced by a stern male voice.
“This is the National Security Headquarters. We have received urgent news from the front lines. The safe zone in City A has fallen. Survivors heading to City A should immediately stay away! Repeating, the safe zone in City A has fallen. Survivors heading to City A should immediately stay away!”
“How many days has it been? They’re just finding out now. Too late.” A man standing at the entrance, arms crossed, sneered.
However, it wasn’t easy to communicate news during the apocalypse in real time across different regions.
“Next, we have two new pieces of intelligence. First, we classify those without abilities as initial state individuals. All initial state individuals will eventually differentiate into either espers or zombies.
Safe zones should carefully admit initial state individuals and implement corresponding quarantine and observation measures. We suspect that the fall of the City A safe zone is closely related to the differentiation of initial state individuals.”
“Second, we have discovered that espers, after being infected and turned into zombies, can still unconsciously use their abilities. These types of zombies are more difficult to deal with than regular zombies. Survivors should be cautious.”
Then, the information was repeated. The speculation that ordinary people could mutate into zombies was confirmed, and the existence of ability-using zombies was revealed. This new information caused an uproar in the base.
“Zombies with abilities? How are we supposed to survive?”
“What should we do? I feel like the world will eventually be overrun by zombies. We’re just struggling in vain.”
Unlike the pessimistic and despairing others, Song Xinqi and Yu Qing acted as if nothing had happened. After listening, they continued on their way.
Yu Qing commented, “They haven’t discovered the existence of energy crystals yet.”
Song Xinqi nodded. “It’s only a matter of time. Once they realize the crystals’ function, there’ll likely be a frenzy to slaughter zombies for them.”
So it’s too early to despair.
At a fork in the road, Song Xinqi suddenly called out to Yu Qing.
Yu Qing turned around, “What is it?”
Song Xinqi handed him a small, hard object. Opening his palm, Yu Qing saw the glittering purple crystal.
His eyes lit up as he quickly pocketed the crystal. “Does this mean you’re giving it to me?”
He subtly smirked and pinched Yu Qing’s cheek, whispering, “Idiot.”
With three crystals in his pocket, Yu Qing almost bounced back to his room, but his good mood quickly dissipated upon seeing the state of his room.
Someone had been there. It wasn’t obvious, but things were not as he had left them. He called out softly, “Yu Xiaoxue?”
A black shadow darted out from under the bed, and the fluffed-up little snow leopard leaped onto him, anxiously biting his sleeve.
“Did a thief come in?” He petted the fluffed-up fur of the little snow leopard. It gave a cry, jumped out of his arms, and bit his trouser leg as if leading him somewhere.
It only let go when they reached the stash of supplies Song Xinqi had left. It circled Yu Qing anxiously.
It was empty. Everything he’d saved for emergencies when the base ran out of food was gone, stolen.
“Wait, Yu Xiaoxue, your milk powder wasn’t taken, was it?”
In response, the little snow leopard proudly wagged its tail, darted under the bed, and dragged out a bag of milk powder.
Relieved to see the milk powder intact, he said, “Yu Xiaoxue, you’re too smart.”
The little snow leopard shook its fur and licked his face.
“Haha, that tickles.” He put the little snow leopard on the bed. It flipped over and tried to climb onto his lap but stopped and sniffed the air.
“What’s wrong?”
It sniffed all over him and pawed at his pocket. Yu Qing took out the three crystals.
“How did you know?”
It sniffed, then chomped down one of the crystals. Yu Qing was startled and quickly grabbed its mouth, trying to make it spit out the crystal. “You can’t eat that!”
The little snow leopard shook its head, swallowed with a gulp.
For a moment, he even thought about where to bury the little snow leopard if it died. Overcome with sorrow, he slapped it, “You can’t eat everything! You’ll die!”
It whimpered and licked his hand. He pulled his hand away and turned it upside down, trying to make it spit the crystal out. “Come on, see if you can get it out.”
The little snow leopard struggled in the air. He was desperate, shaking it to induce vomiting. Suddenly, he felt it get heavier. Losing his grip, the little snow leopard escaped, landing firmly on the bed and meowing.
Yu Qing, eyes red, said, “Yu Xiaoxue, why did you get bigger?”
It stood up, leaned against him, and licked his face. He backed up a bit, and it licked his cheek.
Hepulled the little snow leopard off him, and it promptly ate another crystal that had fallen onto the bed.
“Yu Xiaoxue!”
The little snow leopard’s ears folded back as it quickly escaped from the bed. Yu Qing pocketed the last crystal and chased after it, catching it in a corner.
Bending down to grab the disobedient cub, he noticed it had grown even larger.
“How did you get bigger again?”
The little snow leopard was now half as tall as him, different from the tiny cub he saw yesterday.
Realization dawned on him. “Did you grow bigger from eating the crystals?”
The little snow leopard wrapped its tail around his legs and nuzzled him affectionately.
There weren’t many mutated animals described in the original novel, so he didn’t expect this to be a thing.
The little snow leopard now had some weight. Yu Qing, squeezed into a corner, patted its head. “Alright, alright, I understand, but you can’t eat any more crystals.”
It dropped to the floor, purring contentedly.
Since the break-in, Yu Qing was more vigilant. He decided to absorb the last crystal. He had a strong sense of people’s good and bad intentions, and over the past few days, he felt the base wasn’t safe either.
He stayed in his room for the next few days, only going out to eat. Occasionally, Song Xinqi would bring him some crystals or invite him to meals, but he mostly stayed alone.
He was used to being by himself, practicing his abilities, playing with the little snow leopard, and entertaining himself.
Knowing the little snow leopard could grow by eating crystals, Yu Qing fed it one a day. It grew rapidly, consuming milk powder quickly. Yu Xiaoxue thrived, sometimes even eating meat he brought back, giving him the joy of nurturing.
Luckily, he had the ability to shrink Yu Xiaoxue. Otherwise, with its growth rate, it wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t hide it anymore.
One afternoon, an unexpected visitor arrived.
Hearing the knock, he hid Yu Xiaoxue after shrinking it and opened the door a crack, wary. “What do you want?”
The person said, “Song Xinqi is in trouble.”
He asked, “What happened?”
“I don’t know. He’s badly hurt and won’t let anyone near him. We had no choice but to find you,” the person said urgently.
Yu Qing replied, “Really? I don’t believe you.”
The person was taken aback, and Yu Qing shut the door without hesitation.
If Song Xinqi was injured, he would be the first to know. Did they think he was an idiot?
The person retreated to a dark corner, mimicking a phone gesture with his hand, pinky to his mouth. “Boss, the plan failed.”
A voice resembling Shi Tao’s came through his thumb, frustrated. “What happened? What did you mess up?”
Equally puzzled, the person said, “Nothing. I just told him Song Xinqi was hurt and asked him to check. He said he didn’t believe me and shut the door.”
No one could understand how Yu Qing was so sure Song Xinqi was fine.
“Useless. You can’t even handle something so simple.” Shi Tao cut off the communication in exasperation.
Thinking of the night when Song Xinqi barged into his room and threatened him to stay away from Yu Qing, Shi Tao’s blood boiled.
He had behaved for a while after that, but the recent broadcast of new intelligence had led to a group of people demanding that he exile a few beautiful initial state individuals.
Even as the base leader, he had to comply under the pressure from the crowd. He hadn’t had meat for several days, and since Song Xinqi and Yu Qing hadn’t seen much of each other recently, he wondered if he had lost interest in him.
This rekindled his own suppressed desires, but he hadn’t expected Yu Qing to be so difficult to trick.
His eyes glinted with a malicious idea, and he sneered, “If you don’t know what’s good for you, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
Yu Qing stayed in his room, not going out until it was time to eat. The past few days had given him a persecution complex, feeling that someone was out to get him. He hesitated, considering whether to find Song Xinqi to go with him.
Just as he was thinking this, Song Xinqi unexpectedly came to find him.
Standing at the door, he said, “Let’s go eat.”
Yu Qing locked the door, checked the windows and door locks, and walked alongside hik. “Did you get hurt during your mission?”
“No, why?”
Yu Qing proudly said, “Someone tried to trick me this morning, saying you were hurt, but luckily I was smart enough to see through it.”
Song Xinqi smiled, “Not bad, very clever. In the future, don’t trust anyone unless you see me in person.”
“Hmph, that’s right.” Yu Qing’s nose almost pointed to the sky, his face full of lively color.
Song Xinqi seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood today, speaking softly and without his usual edge. During meal times, the place would be crowded with people rushing to get food, afraid they would miss out if they were late. But they had no such worries, strolling leisurely.
Perhaps because he was too smug, Yu Qing was abruptly bumped on the shoulder by someone running from behind. Song Xinqi quickly extended his hand to steady him.
“Be careful.”
Hearing his gentle tone gave Yu Qing goosebumps. “Song Xinqi, something’s off with you today.”
“Is there?” He looked innocent, “Let’s not talk about this now, we should get our food before it’s all gone.”
He held Yu Qing’s hand, leading him along. But the further they walked, the more Yu Qing felt something was wrong. He stared at the figure in front of him and discreetly activated his spatial sensing ability. The next moment, his blood froze.
Song Xinqi wasn’t by his side at all.
He suddenly stopped. Song Xinqi turned around, a warm smile incongruous with his usual demeanor. “What’s wrong? You look pale, are you feeling unwell?”
He felt cold from head to toe. “A little, my stomach doesn’t feel good. I don’t have an appetite.”
He turned to leave, but “Song Xinqi” grabbed his arm.
“Song Xinqi” said, “It’s okay, let’s get the food first. You can eat when you’re hungry.”
“No, I think I’ll pass.”
Sensing his resistance, the smile on “Song Xinqi’s” face vanished, replaced by a sinister expression. He looked around, then covered Yu Qing’s mouth and dragged him to a nearby alley.
Yu Qing’s pupils contracted violently. He struggled to pry “Song Xinqi’s” hand off his mouth, but the strength difference was too great. He was dragged into a small house with little resistance.
When “Song Xinqi” opened the door, he took the opportunity to bite down hard on his hand. The man hissed in pain. He saw the opening and tried to escape, but the man quickly recovered, grabbing him by the nape and throwing him into the house.
He landed with his arm hitting the ground first, the rough stones scraping his skin, leaving a long red mark. He gasped softly, “It hurts.”
As the fake Song Xinqi approached, he retreated on the ground. “Who are you? Why are you pretending to be Song Xinqi?”
The fake Song Xinqi stopped and his face became blurred, his body stretching and muscles bulging until he transformed into a burly man with a crew cut that Yu Qing had never seen before.
The crew-cut man had dark skin, small eyes, and thick eyebrows. Without an expression, he looked like a terrorist. His ability was disguise, allowing him to perfectly mimic anyone.
Silently, he walked toward Yu Qing. His boss had ordered him to find a place to assault him, then spread rumors that Yu Qing had seduced him, making Song Xinqi furious.
He would then disguise himself as Yu Qing and flaunt himself in front of Song Xinqi, claiming to have found a new protector and no longer needing him.
This would cement the rumors, and when Yu Qing was released, he wouldn’t be able to clear his name.
Afterward, Shi Tao promised him ample supplies. It was an offer too tempting to refuse—material rewards and enjoyment.
Yu Qing staggered to his feet, attempting to shout. The burly man, sensing his intent, charged over, one hand clamping over his mouth and the other raised high to strike his head.
Meanwhile, Song Xinqi, queuing for food, glanced at the faces around him. The little troublemaker still hadn’t shown up. Had he overslept again? His brow furrowed as he considered whether to bring some food for him. Suddenly, a dull pain struck his head.
It wasn’t the pain from a mental disturbance but as if someone had hit him with a fist.
His expression darkened. He quickly sensed Yu Qing’s location, finding him away from his residence and in an unknown place.
The person serving food paused upon seeing Song Xinqi at the end of the line, scooping an extra-large portion for him. Just as they were about to hand it over, he stormed off with a scowl.
“Hey, you don’t want your food?!”
After a brief period of dizziness, Yu Qing’s fingers twitched, and he woke up. The burly man was locking the door with chains, the windows covered with curtains, the room dim.
He curled up and struggled to stand.
The burly man tugged on the chains to ensure they were secure, then turned around to find him no longer on the floor.
He scanned the area, walking slowly and peering under various hiding places.
Now the size of a five-year-old, he let out a quiet breath, suppressing the pain-induced tremors. He was tucked into the seat of a chair under a table, the small space just right for a child.
He watched through the gap as the burly man searched, overturning everything he could hide behind. He grew frustrated, his methods becoming increasingly violent.
He barely breathed. Seeing the burly man failing to find him, he cautiously extended a leg from under the table. When his small foot touched the ground, he accidentally nudged the chair, causing a slight scraping noise.
He froze, looking towards the stairs. The heavy footsteps above didn’t pause, continuing the search, seemingly unaware.
With light steps, he moved to the door, staring up at the chain-covered exit. Leaving through the door would make too much noise; he’d be caught before undoing the chains. He turned to the windows instead.
Returning to his adult size, he carefully lifted the curtains, causing a slight noise quickly masked by the search upstairs. The windows were old and rusty.
He held his breath, unhooking the latch from the hole and pushing gently. The window didn’t budge. Applying more force, the rusty window screeched loudly.
The noises upstairs stopped, followed by hurried, heavy footsteps descending.
“Don’t think you can escape!”
Yu Qing gritted his teeth and shoulder-checked the window, producing a grating sound as it opened halfway, the rest held by an outside latch.
But the burly man was already upon him. In a panic, he shrank down, slipping through the half-open window just as the burly man lunged, only managing to grab a small piece of his clothing.
His five-year-old body fell from the half-height window, landing awkwardly on his knees.
His eyes reddened from the pain, but he forced himself to stand, running outside.
“Song Xinqi, help!”