The next day, late at night.
There were barely any people on the quiet streets. There were only the flickering lights of cigarettes in the alleys and the flashing lights of the vending machine.
"After Huai Shi went back to the hotel yesterday, he slept for the entire night and most of the day. Then, he used the room service to order a ten-person bucket and stayed in the hotel to watch two movies and half of a new show.
After six o 'clock in the evening, he went online to search for discount coupons for the latest FPS games. On a forum, he was arguing with someone about the balance of a mobile game. Just now, he asked on Zhihu if he needed to wear a suit to a formal event. By the time he wanted to buy one, he realized that it was already too late … Most of the stores in Jinling were closed. Ah, now he was looking for the phone number of the nearest suit rental store …
If you ask me, this little brother of yours is really amazing. He doesn't have the kind of sadness and sadness that you described at all. He is so depressed that he can't eat or sleep. His psychological quality is much better than a certain bald cowherd. "
When Yoo Dong-ri heard the sarcastic words from the vending machine, his face twitched. He couldn't help but sigh, "Can you stop insulting me?"
"I think for a scumbag who still treats his ex-girlfriend as a tool after breaking up, these words are nothing but a breeze. What, does he know how to write the word shame?"
"…"
Yoo Dong-ri's face became more and more helpless. He endured the sarcastic words from his ex-girlfriend through the vending machine. When the cold voice on the other end finally vented her anger, he asked, "I know you have a problem with me, but no matter what, I'm still your customer, right?"
"Oh, so you don't want me to use my internal authority to help you get a discount?"
"No, sister, I'm sorry!"
Yoo Dong-ri's spine was bent by money, "Just treat me as a scumbag and scold me a few more times! If you're happy, then you have the motivation to work. If you're not happy, then I'll scold him for you. That Liu guy is really a piece of shit … "
"Hmph, it's good that you know."
The vending machine shook and a can of drink fell out, "This is what you want. It's about what happened to the Yin family."
After opening the can, a thick roll of paper slid out.
"As expected of Tomorrow's News." Yoo Dong-ri sighed. "It's just that it's not very convenient to use this method all the time. Can't we find a place to talk face to face?"
The vending machine sneered, "Forget it, I'm afraid I won't be able to resist the urge to cut your face a few times …"
In the silence, Yoo Dong-ri sighed and looked down at the information on the paper. His face became more and more unsightly.
"Really?"
"What do you think?
The voice from the vending machine said coldly, "If you want to talk about ugliness, I don't know how many things that happen in this kind of destitute family are dozens of times uglier than this. In order to maintain power, this is just a common occurrence, and there's no need to hide it at all. Anyway, only a meddlesome person like you would dig this kind of thing out from a pile of old books. "
"It's so pitiful to be involved in something like this. That little girl …"
Yoo Dong-ri smoked and sighed softly.
As he flipped through the records in his hands, he could almost imagine what had happened to the Yin Clan twenty years ago — the changes that had completely pushed Ai Qing into the abyss she was in today.
At that time, the Yin Clan had already entered a period of rapid growth after taking control of many border crossings. Unfortunately, they had very few people.
Compared to the large number of people in the clan, there were very few people who had the talent to ascend. Apart from those who had been recruited from outside, there was only one person who had ascended in that generation.
No matter how much effort and preparation they had put in, ascension was still something that normal people could only hope for.
Take Ai Qing's father for example. He had been born with an abundance of Origin Substance, and had the highest possibility of ascension among his peers. However, he had still been at the edge of that bottleneck for more than ten years. After exhausting all of his hope, he had quietly retreated and was excluded from the core of the clan.
A few years later, he married a famous cellist, and the couple's relationship was harmonious. After losing the qualifications to become a Ascender, he instead found his own happiness in the world of ordinary people, and after getting married, he gave birth to a concubine.
Not only had she inherited her father's abundance of Origin Substance, but she had also inherited her mother's outstanding talent in the cello. At that time, Yin Qing had lived a life far away from the Yin Clan under her mother's insistence. In order to protect her daughter's life, as a mother, she didn't hesitate to go against the old man's wishes. In the end, she moved out of the Yin Clan and went to Xinhai.
All for the sake of letting her daughter live a normal life.
As a mother, she had already done everything she could.
Until one day, the Yin Clan's only ascendant was seriously injured in a battle and didn't have long to live. Once he died, all of the Yin Clan's shares in the border crossings would fall into the hands of outsiders who had been drooling over them for a long time.
Without ascension, they didn't have the qualifications to enter the picture.
Yoo Dong-ri smoked his cigarette as he squinted at the records on the paper. "So, a car accident happened?"
"Yes, a car accident without any accidents or problems."
The cold voice from the vending machine said, "A family of three went to the zoo to celebrate their daughter's placing in the competition. On the way back, they collided with a truck that had malfunctioned. The scene was tragic.
And the result was as you expected. "
When she woke up from the sudden dizziness and pain, she couldn't feel her lower body anymore.
She started to cry and called for her mother subconsciously, but her mother didn't respond.
Then she saw the pale face that had lost its breath. At the last moment before the collision, the woman who had jumped in front of her and blocked the impact for her.
Bitter cries and death came suddenly, an out-and-out tragedy in the human world.
In this sudden despair, the father who crawled out from the broken frame of the car hugged his wife who had lost her life. He cried his heart out, tears of despair, and he called her name.
No one responded.
But when his world fell apart and his heart was almost broken, the miracle that he had been looking forward to for a long time suddenly came to him.
He finally crossed the threshold that was once too high to reach and welcomed ascension.
Therefore, Ai Qing, who was swallowed by fear, saw the man who hugged his wife's body and cried his heart out. His expression twitched, and then, an extremely ridiculous and extremely ugly … smile of ecstasy appeared on his face.
It was an ugly smile like that of a zombie.
"…"
After watching the surveillance video of the vending machine, Yoo Dong-ri fell into silence. After a long, long time, he lit the cigarette at the corner of his mouth and sighed hoarsely.
"From that day on, she began to hate ascenders, right?"
She hated her father, hated the family that murdered her mother … After losing everything, she instinctively began to hate everything. But what was even more disgusting was that because of this, she discovered that she had the potential to ascend.
If it weren't for this inner conflict and disgust, she would have already possessed a talent that surpassed her father.
This world was like a cold joke to her.
It was ridiculous and not worth mentioning.
Yoo Dong-ri shook his head in pity. "I'm afraid it took all my strength to hold on until now."
"But what does this have to do with a bald cowherd like you?"
The vending machine asked indifferently, "To what extent do you want to be involved before you give up? Or are you going to tell me that Huai Shi is your long-lost brother? "
Yoo Dong-ri was stunned for a long time. He couldn't help but shake his head. "Don't flatter him. He doesn't have as good looking as I do!"
"After so many years, your narcissistic look is still disgusting. It's second only to when you want to hide something, such as now."
The voice behind the vending machine became impatient. "If I were you, I would go to Shambhala for surgery now. At least this way, you can live for a few more years, instead of inexplicably dying on the street one day and causing trouble to passersby."
"Don't be like this, I just …"
Yoo Dong-ri hesitated. In the end, he sighed helplessly. "I just want to be a good person."
"If you want to be a good person, why don't you die early and donate your inheritance to the border children's medical fund? It's definitely more touching than this, and after your death, you may be made into a movie about how an executioner of the Dark Force cares about the health of border children after retirement … instead of becoming a cowherd and wasting your precious life on a kindergarten aunt career! "
The cold and harsh voice paused for a moment, and then the voice became vague.
"Yoo Dong-ri, you don't have much time left."
"I know."
"It's meaningless to do so."
"I know."
Yoo Dong-ri smoked, shrugged his shoulders, and laughed. "But I can't let that unlucky kid go alone, right?"
"…"
"I know you care about me, thank you. But no matter what, I have to do something that I can."
Yoo Dong-ri took off the cigarette and stepped on it. "I often feel that Huai Shi is very similar to me, but in fact, Huai Shi is much stronger than I was … If I had his tenacity and courage, I would definitely not choose to escape and fall to this level. Every time I see him working so hard to live, I can't help but feel ashamed and unable to face myself.
But I think, if I can help him even a little, then my last period of retirement can be regarded as meaningful, right? "
The vending machine did not speak again.
There was a sound of turning, and something heavy fell out of the machine. The huge box fell behind the lid of the retrieval port.
Yoo Dong-ri pulled out the box, which was half a body high, and put it on the ground. He skillfully opened the zipper, and saw the cold iron light sleeping between the sponge.
He was stunned for a moment, and then he grinned.
"Thank you."
"Go and waste your life, idiot." The vending machine said coldly, "I wish you an early death in your sweet dreams, better than staying in this world and being tortured."
The light of the vending machine was cut off, and no sound came from it.
After a long silence, Yoo Dong-ri smiled, pulled up the zipper with a smile, pulled up the strap, carried the slender box on his shoulder, and staggered into the darkness at the end of the road.
Only a faint singing voice could be heard.
"Oh, childrenlostinthenight …" The hoarse humming voice gradually faded away. "Oh, childrenlostinthenight, wait forthelightofday."
The night was long.
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