Jian Hou stumbled through the rainstorm of roses, clutching Jiang Yan's shattered head, and rushed frantically to the clearing in the small grove Jiang Yan had mentioned.
The middle-aged man was frantically and mechanically wielding his shovel, muttering over and over again:
"Bury deeper... bury deeper..."
Jian Hou rushed forward and saw the boy's half-covered body, drenched in blood. The other half of his body, headfirst, was buried in the dirt. The back of his skull had been shattered, leaving a gaping hole.
Red, white, and yellow fluids were flowing out of the hole, soaking his black hair, now caked in mud, into messy, sticky clumps.
"Yan Yan!!"
Jian Hou let out a heart-wrenching cry, throwing the broken porcelain-like head in his hand at the middle-aged man. Then he rushed to the half-buried body, frantically digging with his hands to pull it out.
The middle-aged man was knocked backward by the impact. He stared at Jian Hou, who was clawing at the soil in desperation, then turned his gaze to the motionless boy half-buried in the wet, sticky dirt. Suddenly, he started to laugh—a strange, deranged laugh.
"Dead... he's finally dead... bury deeper, and it will all be fine."
"No one will ever find out... no one will find out... no one will ever know."
Memories of a stormy night a year ago surfaced in his mind.
On that night, a black-haired boy in a blue-and-white school uniform had lain silently in a muddy pit, his body soaked by rain and mud.
Just like today, he had shoveled dirt one heap at a time, covering the pit.
The rain-soaked earth had been exceptionally heavy that night.
A faint, weak cry for help echoed in his ears:
"Uncle... I won’t tell anyone... please let me go..."
Tao Tao, his young son, had clung to his sleeve, his hands trembling as he whispered:
"Dad... he's still alive."
Alive?
No... he was just speaking.
Bury deeper. Bury deeper!
Once buried deep enough, no one would hear him speak again!
No one would ever find out. The rain would wash everything away.
It had been this way a year ago. Today, it was the same.
"Yan... Yan Yan... Yan Yan..."
Jian Hou clawed at the soil with both hands, pulling at the shoulders and arms of the half-buried boy. The rain poured so heavily that he could barely open his eyes. Wiping the rain from his face with a rough hand, he cried out in despair:
"Say something... say something, Jiang Yan! Are you still alive? Move! Please, move!"
"Ha... haha..."
The middle-aged man, gripping the shovel tightly, stood in the muddy ground, laughing maniacally.
Dead. He was finally dead.
No one would find out. Bury deeper, and no one would ever know.
Just like a year ago...
"Dad, there’s this sissy in my class, super annoying!"
That evening, as he picked his son up from school, his son had complained.
He was a single father.
An utterly ordinary man in appearance, ability, and wealth.
After his divorce, he neither had the capacity nor the desire to start a new family, so he never remarried.
Fortunately, that vile and detestable woman had at least left him with a son before she walked away. At least the family line would continue.
The continuation of the bloodline was crucial.
Especially for a family like his, one that had once produced many notable figures.
Due to family planning and the need to continue the family line, his mother had consumed numerous strange herbs, prayed to various odd gods, and, after three older sisters passed away unexpectedly, finally gave birth to him.
From birth, he was burdened with the hopes and expectations of the entire family.
His great-grandfather, old with a head full of white hair, brown patches all over his body, and a mouth full of decayed teeth, would often hold him on his lap and tell him stories about the family’s past.
He would speak of how their family once had vast lands and numerous scholars.
He spoke of how the land stretched from one hill to another, all of it once belonging to their family.
When his great-grandfather spoke of these things, he couldn't help but express his pride, even though now they could only be considered somewhat poor.
His great-grandfather often told him that as the only male descendant of the family, he was destined for greatness. He firmly believed that.
However, as he grew older, everything shattered him.
He failed to get into university, but the universities in his time were indeed hard to get into!
Without an education or skills, he eventually chose a career in sales.
But with an ordinary appearance and introverted nature, he struggled for twenty years before finally securing a small management position.
After years of hard work, the brutal adult world had crushed his self-esteem and pride into the ground.
But, it was alright.
He still had a son! His son would definitely be extraordinary!
Once again, he thanked that shameless and despicable woman who had left him for at least giving him a son.
The family line would continue.
Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have been able to raise any more children or have more than one.
In modern society, girls were no longer as easy to handle as they used to be.
Since his divorce, he had placed all of his life’s hopes on his son.
Whatever Tao Tao wanted, he would do his best to get it for him.
Whatever Tao Tao disliked, he would go out of his way to remove it.
But due to his mediocrity,
What Tao Tao wanted, he often couldn’t provide. So, he focused all his energy on removing the things Tao Tao hated.
From the disgusting hamster his son’s classmate had when Tao Tao was six,
The neighbor’s cat when Tao Tao was eight,
The noisy child upstairs when Tao Tao was ten,
The female classmate who rejected Tao Tao’s pursuit when he was thirteen...
He became more and more skilled at making these things disappear.
Thus, when Tao Tao told him, "Dad, a sissy transferred to our class. He’s so annoying!" he immediately started thinking about how to make that child disappear.
It wouldn't be easy.
A young person of seventeen or eighteen years old, unlike a puppy, kitten, or little girl, may not yet have fully matured mentally, but already possesses the body and strength of an adult male.
It is not easy to subdue them and make them quietly disappear.
While he was frowning, Tao Tao's wish changed.
"Dad, I want to have him."
He was shocked for a long time after hearing this and spent the whole night searching for information about "homosexuality" online, staying awake for several days and nights without rest.
Eventually, when Tao Tao said, "I just want to bring him back to play with him, sissy! Isn't that what people should do?" he finally felt relieved.
Just to play with him.
But what is there to play with a man?
He couldn't understand, but what Tao Tao wanted didn’t require him to spend money, so he had to get it for his son!
He took half a day off work on a weekday and, following his son's request, went to Tao Tao's school. He saw that "sissy"—a young man sitting by the window, bathed in sunlight, his skin pale as if transparent, his black hair neatly sticking to his forehead, just the right length according to school rules. His summer blue-and-white school uniform was buttoned all the way to the top.
He sat there quietly by the window, out of place among the rowdy and brash boys around him.
So well-behaved, almost too much like a girl.
Ugh! Sure enough, a sissy.
Men should have the masculinity of men, not look delicate and soft like this!
"The boys in our class don't like to play with him!" Tao Tao said to him after school.
As Tao Tao got older, his desire to chat with him diminished. He didn’t understand the world of young people and couldn’t keep up with their pace, so whenever Tao Tao was willing to talk, he cherished it more.
"But the girls in our class and the teacher all like him. They say he's handsome, gentle, and does well in his studies."
In disdain, he remarked, "Handsome? In this day and age, they call a sissy handsome?"
Then, he reminded his son, "A man should look like a man, never learn from him."
Tao Tao nodded and then turned to the passenger seat, asking, "Dad, when are you bringing him to me?"
He focused on the traffic light ahead, saying, "What’s so special about a sissy?"
"I just want him!" Tao Tao said, stubbornly.
Just want him, no reason.
Just dislike him, no reason.
If a reason had to be found, it would probably be because the boy was clean and neat, standing out from the other boys. That alone was enough to make him annoying, enough to make someone want to soil his cleanliness, destroy his calm demeanor.
Soon, the father and son took action.
It was a Saturday, a rare sunny day, with the sunlight streaming through the gaps in the phoenix tree branches, casting a golden-green hue.
The young man stood in the tree's shadow, waving and smiling brightly at him: "Uncle! I'm over here!"
He stopped the car, kindly inviting the young man to get in, and Tao Tao, being thoughtful, quickly handed him a drink.
"Thank you!" The young man took the drink and said politely.
Then, with a slightly melancholic and grateful tone, he said, "Thank you for still wanting to play with me, for still inviting me to your birthday party."
Hearing this, sitting in the front seat, he looked up, and the young man's melancholic face was reflected in the rearview mirror. He curiously asked, "Didn't Tao Tao say you're very popular in your class? What happened? Were you excluded by your classmates?"
The young man hugged his backpack and remained silent.
Tao Tao chuckled, "Because a girl in our class confessed to him and failed, then she started spreading bad rumors about him in the grade."
The young man looked a bit surprised, "How... do you know?"
"Simple!" Tao Tao said proudly. "When she confessed to you, I just happened to pass by. Later, the one who spread your gossip in the grade's chat group was her small account, I recognized it."
"It’s not the first time she’s done this. Before, after she was rejected by Liu Yan from Class Three, she also used a small account to spread rumors about Liu Yan. I heard she even beat him up outside school."
"Liu Yan?" he asked.
"Yes, the one who ran away from home and still hasn’t been found. The previous campus heartthrob! His mom is still looking for him, and it's on the news!" Tao Tao said.
He sighed deeply, "It's almost time for the college entrance exam, and she's throwing a tantrum now? That girl Wei Genghui from your class, how can she be so bad? She even knows people outside school?"
"She knows! She said it was some little brother or something." Tao Tao said, then turned to the young man, "You should be careful! She might get someone from outside to beat you up too."
Upon hearing this, the young man’s delicate lashes fluttered down.
He looked at this through the rearview mirror, muttering, "A bunch of little kids... Your task now is to study hard, not to make friends. Once you get into a good university, you can make a lot of friends there."
His tone was kind, like a typical elder.
Then, Tao Tao threw his arm over the young man’s shoulders and smiled, "It’s fine! I'll protect you in the future!"
The melancholic young man’s eyes instantly lit up, "Okay!"
In the rearview mirror, the young man's smile was brighter than the sunlight between the phoenix tree branches.
However, he had no idea what he was about to experience.
Later... That night, it rained heavily, just like now.
"Yan Yan..."
The faint body seemed to struggle in the mud, desperately crying out.
"Ha... ha... I'm dying..."
The rain blurred his bloodshot eyes. He couldn’t tell if he was still in the so-called game or stuck in that intense night.
That night, the young man’s cries ripped through the rain’s embrace.
He struggled and resisted.
After Tao Tao was done, let him have a turn as well.
It was certain he had absolutely no interest in men.
Yet, looking at the pale boy lying on his son chest, a destructive urge surged within him.
It wasn't lust; it was the urge to destroy.
He wanted to ruin him, just like seeing a flawless porcelain piece and having the desire to shatter it on the spot. He needed to break something because the world had been so unfair to him.
Despite his noble lineage, his ancestors being remarkable figures, and himself being the sole male descendant of his distinguished family, he was so mediocre that the entire world ignored him.
Even tragic, melodramatic fates hadn’t befallen him.
The lowly, despicable woman’s reason for divorcing him wasn’t that he didn’t earn money, nor that he indulged in vices. She simply couldn’t live with him anymore.
And this child... This child could attract the attention of the entire school just by transferring.
Why?!
This world was so unfair to him!
So, he began to destroy.
As the once-perfect boy beneath him gradually broke apart in his hands, as the body symbolizing youth and hope slowly lost its breath of life, his desire and sense of injustice were satisfied as never before.
The aftermath was simple—he just needed to do what he had done before.
Under the cleansing rain, the land that had witnessed his family’s rise and fall concealed all the sins of his last remaining legacy.
“Hahaha... hahaha!"
Suddenly, he began laughing hysterically.
Yes! Everything was covered up!
He was no longer mediocre!
He and his son were no longer mediocre!
Not everyone could destroy as they pleased and escape the law’s judgment!
He wasn’t mediocre! He was extraordinary!
He was a great man! A saint!
Looking at the drenched, mud-covered wreck sobbing over dismembered remains, he laughed and reached out to hold his son.
However, a soft call received no reply.
It was only then that he realized his son was nowhere to be found.
“Tao Tao! Tao Tao!!!"
He began shouting his son’s name, but the only response was the sound of rain in the forest and the wailing cries from behind.
The rain poured harder, and roses scattered across the sky.
The voices of the two men, alternating between shouting and sobbing, sounded eerie in the night—and somewhat… comical?
At least, that’s what the other players in the game thought.
[Where did the boy go? Did you see him?]
[No, everyone’s attention was only on Jiang Yan.]
[There’s no way to pay attention to anyone else but Jiang Yan.]
[I was staring at Jiang Yan the whole time too, but… Jiang Yan really looks dead this time. What should we do?]
[He’s been buried for so long, and even with Jian Hou digging and shouting for so long, there’s no movement. The rain keeps flooding in—if he wasn’t suffocated, he would’ve drowned…]
[It’s been half an hour already. This time, he’s really dead. No twist, no comeback.]
[The main system should’ve already turned Jiang Yan into a system NPC by now, right? This means Jiang Yan can appear anywhere in the instance now!]
Jian Hou collapsed onto the ground, utterly defeated. Looking at the unmoving figure, despair surged through him again.
He took a deep breath and started digging with his hands.
Even if… even if it was just a corpse, he had to bring Jiang Yan back!
Boom—!
Another thunderclap roared through the sky.
The middle-aged man’s cries for his son grew increasingly deranged, while Jian Hou’s sobbing as he dug the earth became more and more heart-wrenching.
Until a soft voice sounded from behind them.
“Old Jian?”
Both Jian Hou and the middle-aged man froze, then slowly turned around…
[WTF?!]
[No way?!]
[What… what is this?!!]