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Today, Gu Zhan arrived early, and the cafeteria let him in.

After breakfast, as usual, he went to class.

The preschool class in the orphanage had simple lessons: teaching the children to read and sing nursery rhymes.

Gu Zhan sat in the back of the classroom, feeling bored.

Mo Tuo urged him to break the classroom rules so the teacher would kick him out and make him stand as punishment. Then he could go play.

Gu Zhan didn’t listen, knowing that breaking too many rules would cause other problems.

After class, it was lunch time.

This part of his childhood was still too boring for the current Gu Zhan.

It was almost as if the game responded to his thoughts. In the afternoon, a group of well-dressed people arrived at the orphanage.

The teacher went out to meet them, and the children, unable to sit still, rushed to the windows to watch.

[Who are they?]

Gu Zhan didn’t go to look but knew.

“People here to adopt.”

[Eh?]

Mo Tuo seemed surprised but then thought about it. The orphanage was just a welfare institution, and it was hard to raise so many children.

It made sense that some people would adopt.

Soon, the teacher opened the classroom door and told the children, “We have guests coming. Behave yourselves.”

The children, who were usually rowdy, obediently returned to their seats.

[Why are they being so well-behaved today?]

Gu Zhan replied, “The children in the orphanage all want to be adopted.”

Wanting a family seemed to be a natural human desire.

Soon, the group of well-dressed people entered. The teacher stood at the podium, introducing them as famous local entrepreneurs—wealthy and powerful people.

Adoptive families also vary in quality, and the conditions of these people were rare to find, even with a lantern.

The children's eyes were all focused on the men in suits, their longing emotions clearly reflected in their gazes.

The men in suits also scanned the classroom, their eyes eventually landing on a specific spot.

Mo Tuo was excited:

[They’re looking at you.]

Gu Zhan: “…”

As expected, the same outcome could not be avoided.

He suddenly stood up and started shouting loudly in the classroom.

The teacher and the students were startled, and the teacher quickly came down from the podium to stop him.

But Gu Zhan was quick, seemingly having anticipated the teacher's obstruction. He dodged in a few swift moves and ran toward the men in suits!

On his way, he grabbed a classmate’s book and threw it at them.

The men in suits, probably never having seen such a scene, frowned and moved to the side to dodge.

The teacher was flustered, trying to catch Gu Zhan while apologizing to the men in suits. "Sorry, this child has some issues."

The men in suits looked disgusted, frowning. "Handle him properly and then call us."

After saying that, they left without a second glance.

Once they left, Gu Zhan stopped resisting and was quickly caught by the teacher, who grabbed him by the collar.

She slapped him hard across the face, making his cheek turn red.

Through gritted teeth, she said, "What do you think you’re doing? Have you gone mad?! You’re going to be punished!"

Saying that, she dragged Gu Zhan out of the classroom.

At his height, Gu Zhan was no more than a little chick in her hands.

With little strength to resist, he was soon brought to the orphanage’s punishment room.

The door slammed shut with a "bang," and the small room was enveloped in darkness.

It was only then that Mo Tuo spoke up.

[You should know that the way to leave this instance is to escape the orphanage. Why didn’t you go with those men?]

Gu Zhan touched the wall and said, "They have quirks. I was adopted when I was young, but then I was returned."

[?]

Gu Zhan sat on the floor, hugging his knees, and softly told Mo Tuo about what happened after he was adopted as a child.

He had been very smart as a child, and once he was adopted and taken in the car, he realized something was wrong.

As soon as he arrived at the house, he began to cause trouble.

He wasn't harmed, but he was punished a lot. Since he always tried to escape, the people who adopted him couldn’t handle it, and after only three days, they returned him to the orphanage.

"I was locked in this place too. The caretaker said it was because I was naughty that they returned me."

"They punished me for a long time until the second child was adopted."

Gu Zhan leaned against the wall, his knees still hugged close to his chest, his eyes empty as he looked ahead.

He didn’t show any particular sorrow, but Mo Tuo felt a sense of sadness, as if something was deeply troubling this person.

Mo Tuo suddenly had a feeling that he couldn’t let Gu Zhan turn into a monster in this place.

Monsters couldn’t leave the scenes where they were born, just like Xiao Xiu couldn’t leave the river.

If Gu Zhan turned here, he would be bound to the orphanage forever.

Would his face always remain so empty and lonely then?

Mo Tuo felt a strange sadness, a feeling he had never experienced before. It was completely foreign to him.

After a long silence, Mo Tuo suddenly appeared beside Gu Zhan, bringing with him a faint light that illuminated the room.

Mo Tuo, in his adult form, crouched beside Gu Zhan and poked his slightly round cheek. "Are you secretly crying?"

"I’m not," Gu Zhan’s voice was hoarse.

The monster immediately felt even worse for making him relive those memories.

The air in the darkness shifted, and a figure appeared in the small, dark room.

It was none other than Mo Tuo.

Gu Zhan didn’t seem to notice, still with his head lowered, his chin resting on his knees, staring at his toes.

Mo Tuo stood quietly beside him for a moment, then sighed and crouched down in front of Gu Zhan.

"You humans, when your bodies shrink, does your thinking shrink too?"

This was a remark about how childish Gu Zhan seemed.

Gu Zhan didn’t respond, still looking down.

Mo Tuo stood for a while, then sighed again. His figure vanished, and soon, a thick fog appeared in the room. It surrounded Gu Zhan like an embrace.

Gu Zhan paused for a moment, knowing it was Mo Tuo's doing.

Finally, Gu Zhan spoke, asking, "Monsters like you, don’t you have such a growth experience?"

[Hmm…]

Mo Tuo seemed to be thinking, and after a moment, he replied.

[Yes, even the so-called sequence monsters they speak of were born from instances. It’s just that our instance hasn’t opened yet.]

Gu Zhan looked at the small, dark room. "This isn’t your instance."

Mo Tuo was startled. This person seemed sad, but he was still gathering information.

The black mist around them seemed to grow restless, while Gu Zhan reached out and touched the edge of the mist, as if comforting it.

Mo Tuo found himself calmed by this action, the mist swirling back around him.

[Are you curious too?]

[If you can leave here, I’ll give you a chance to visit my past.]

Gu Zhan, who had just been downcast, suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze clear, not a trace of sadness left.

"Really?"

Mo Tuo suddenly felt like he might have been tricked.

But the words were already spoken, and in this instance, a monster’s word was "rule."

He could only say:

[Really.]

Gu Zhan stood up from the ground.

Being locked in a small dark room without food was a typical way of dealing with children.

[How do you plan to get out?]

Gu Zhan walked to the door and glanced outside.

The orphanage had been built a long time ago. The buildings were old and decaying. The door had a large crack, through which he could see the situation outside.

The door wasn’t locked, it was just loosely secured with a bolt on the outside.

Such a place could trap a child, but not an adult.

Gu Zhan reached into his pocket, rummaging around for a while before pulling out a shoelace.

He threaded the shoelace through the door crack, looping it over the bolt, then pulled it back.

Using the shoelace, he slowly started to unlock the bolt.

The process was slow, taking about twenty minutes. Finally, with a "bang," the door opened.

It was still light outside, and there was no one at the door. Gu Zhan stepped out and turned right.

Walking past two buildings, he could see the playground ahead. The orphanage children seemed to be there, and the men in suits were still choosing, while the director and the staff were smiling and flattering.

It was later that Gu Zhan learned that the men in suits had paid a lot of money.

They bypassed the regular adoption procedures and took the children from the orphanage.

Rather than an adoption, it was more like a "transaction."

Gu Zhan didn’t care about that; everyone was on the playground, which made it convenient for him to act.

He went to the back of the cafeteria. It was delivery time, so the back door was open and no one was inside. They were all likely out watching the scene on the playground.

Gu Zhan walked into the kitchen and began searching around.

[What are you trying to do?]

Seeing Gu Zhan’s quick actions, Mo Tuo suddenly had a bad feeling.

He remembered the first time he met Gu Zhan in the instance. He thought it was just a routine "job," but Gu Zhan surprised him by blowing up the instance, which still hadn’t recovered.

The monster director of that instance was still homeless, occasionally coming to Mo Tuo to cry, lamenting that he just wanted to rest for a bit, and yet woke up to find his home gone.

It was hard for Mo Tuo to explain this to him.

Gu Zhan didn’t respond, continuing to pull out oil from the cabinet, then rummaging through a drawer for two lighters. He took the oil can and walked outside.

The orphanage covered a large area, with many open spaces.

The buildings were old, clustered together. Gu Zhan found a spot between two low buildings, piled up some dry hay, poured oil over it, and lit it with a flame.

The dry kindling ignited instantly, and the flames licked up the nearby buildings.

This was a northern city, and the buildings had a lot of insulation materials that weren’t removed even in the summer.

The fire quickly grew, the flames casting a glow on Gu Zhan's face, making him feel unbearably hot.

This kind of action was expected by Mo Tuo, but seeing it firsthand, he still felt speechless.

[Why do you like burning instances so much?]

Gu Zhan replied indifferently, "You wouldn’t understand. This was how I escaped from the orphanage back then."

[What?]

Gu Zhan narrowed his eyes as if recalling the past.

"After those men returned me, the people in the orphanage hated me even more because their money was wasted."

"They tried every way to torment me. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I set the fire. The big fire attracted a lot of attention, and things got bigger... That’s when people realized this orphanage wasn’t up to code."

His voice grew quieter, as though saddened by the memory.

Mo Tuo felt a pang of discomfort.

Once again, he manifested in front of Gu Zhan.

But this time, unlike in the darkness, sunlight shone on Mo Tuo, casting a faint shadow on the ground.

Gu Zhan turned to glance at Mo Tuo, and Mo Tuo suddenly realized there was no sorrow in his eyes.

He was unlike other humans who were sad.

Before the monster could react, Gu Zhan reached out and passed his hand through Mo Tuo’s chest.

"Got you."

For a moment, Mo Tuo felt a tightening sensation in his chest.

He closed his eyes slightly, a smile curling on his lips.

"Looks like you’re after me."

Gu Zhan’s voice was calm and cold. "Human memories can construct instances, so monsters’ memories should be able to as well. You said you were curious about my past, and now I’ve shown it to you. Now, it’s my turn."

"Let me see your story."

Gu Zhan suddenly withdrew his hand, pulling something from Mo Tuo’s chest.

Immediately, darkness enveloped both of them, and a sensation of rapid weightlessness hit. Gu Zhan closed his eyes slightly—

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