Yin Xiu couldn't tell whose voice was ringing in his head.
But he loves his younger sister very much. Xiaoxiao can indeed heal all his wounds. She is his little angel, his medicine, and an indispensable pillar in his life. He can't even imagine what he would be like if he lost Xiaoxiao one day.
"Brother, don't just stand there, come on, come on, I'll make you something delicious!" Xiaoxiao happily took his hand and led him into the orphanage he should have found disgusting.
The woman smiled gently at him, and the children on both sides of the corridor avoided him, seemingly not wanting to bother him any further.
This behavior was very unusual in Yin Xiu's memory.
"What's wrong with them?" Yin Xiu glanced at the quiet children out of the corner of his eye and asked Xiao Xiao with some confusion.
"They got yelled at!" Xiaoxiao responded in a very loud voice, trying to intimidate the children again. "Today, the principal beat up the kid who usually bullies us and yelled at them too! Now no one dares to speak."
"Why?"
Speaking of this, Xiaoxiao put her hands on her hips angrily, "That person is so bad. He secretly switched the medicine I was supposed to take to the workplace for injections, and the experiment almost went wrong. Luckily, the staff member noticed in time and didn't give me the injection, but that kid's behavior made the staff at the workplace angry, and they told the director, so the director got angry."
After saying that, Xiaoxiao smiled and shook Yin Xiu's hand, "Luckily we were discovered in time, otherwise Xiaoxiao wouldn't have been able to come back to see brother today! Xiaoxiao doesn't want to leave brother!"
"Brother won't leave Xiaoxiao, right?"
Looking at the innocent smile on the face of the person before him, Yin Xiu nodded silently, "Yes..."
How could he abandon Xiaoxiao? He would never abandon Xiaoxiao willingly in his entire life. She is the most important person to him, the family he would protect with his life.
But...family?
The moment the word was mentioned, a vague outline faintly appeared in Yin Xiu's mind.
Do I have any other family members?
There shouldn't be any more, right? Xiaoxiao was the only one in his world, and he was lonely and helpless. They could only rely on each other to get through the first half of their lives. They were each other's only family, and there would be no one else.
The sound of the scales tipping rang out again, loud and heavy, as if it were right above my head.
Yin Xiu looked up, but could only see the dilapidated ceiling of the orphanage.
"Xiaoxiao needs to learn more delicious dishes quickly so she can cook for her brother." Xiaoxiao clenched her small fist. "If I have the chance when I grow up, I'll learn to be a chef! My sister said there are many places that need chefs, and if I'm a chef, I can cook for myself, and my brother and I won't go hungry anymore!"
"I can also share the delicious food with children like us who have no food to eat, so that everyone can have something to eat!"
Children's goals and ideas are simple, yet pure and beautiful.
In order to have food to eat and not go hungry, I want to grow up to be a cook! And share the food with other hungry children like myself.
Her eyes sparkled, filled with hope for the future.
Yin Xiu unconsciously followed her thoughts and wondered what he should do if his sister became a chef. It seemed he had never thought about this before.
If you were to live a normal life, what path should you choose?
If I were with my younger sister...
If I'm with my younger sister, what should we do?
If you're skilled with a knife, then... you should help your sister chop vegetables?
In this peaceful and stable world where no force is needed, being skilled with a knife is of little use. He can only think about jobs that can help his sister more.
As he pondered this, Yin Xiu's thoughts drifted to the distant future, to the end of humanity's later life.
Everything seemed to become so simple, peaceful and warm, no longer battered by wind and rain, nor needing to shiver in the cold wind.
That's great.
The sound of the scales continued to echo, booming and rumbling.
The sound kept ringing, then suddenly stopped abruptly at some point.
All the noise disappeared completely.
Yin Xiu tilted his head slightly, puzzled, and noticed that not only had the huge, seemingly random sound stopped, but the sounds from the entire orphanage around him had also disappeared.
He looked down at Xiaoxiao and found his younger sister deep in thought, very quiet, but also eerily quiet, as if time had stopped for her.
What happened?
Yin Xiu was slightly taken aback. He squatted down to check on Xiao Xiao's condition, touched her cheek, and confirmed that she was indeed frozen in place. Everything around her was also frozen, including the woman at the door and the children standing on both sides. Time in this world had stopped.
This was the first time Yin Xiu had encountered something like this, and disbelief appeared on his young face. Just as he was about to squat down to check on Xiao Xiao's condition, a sudden tremor shook the ground around him, and the entire orphanage began to shake violently.
Alert, Yin Xiu instantly grabbed Xiao Xiao and tried to escape, but the next second, the ceiling above their heads was torn open by some enormous force, and a ray of sunlight shone into the orphanage, which was dark and cold all year round.
The magnificent sunset was only bright for a moment; the next second, something covered it up, obscuring the ceiling of the orphanage.
Little Yin Xiu looked up in astonishment and met the gaze of a pitch-black monster.
"Boyfriend!" The monster saw him, its eyes gleaming with excitement. It howled happily, its black tentacles surging as it burrowed into the orphanage and swept towards Yin Xiu.
"What kind of monster are you!" Yin Xiu's face turned pale. He quickly pulled Xiao Xiao to his side, prepared to defend himself against the monster with his body, at least to protect his sister.
He was tense all over, radiating a huge sense of repulsion. So much so that the tentacles that had been rushing towards him with excitement trembled slightly when they approached and touched his tension and hostility. They suppressed their excitement and slowly touched Yin Xiu's face.
"Boyfriend, I...I've...eaten...her!" The little tentacles poked Yin Xiu stickily as it explained, "I ate her, that's why I came in..."
"Boyfriend, come with me quickly, don't, don't stay here... here."
The tiny tentacles were eager to take Yin Xiu away, but Yin Xiu was very alert. He sensed that the dark thing meant him no harm, but he remained vigilant. "Where do you want to take me?! I'll only stay with my sister! I'm not going anywhere!"
"No, no..." The black monster shook its head, "Your sister... died a long, long time ago... This is... fake, fake!"
It spoke earnestly, but Yin Xiu instantly gritted his teeth and said coldly, "Impossible! My sister is alive and well! She couldn't possibly be dead!"
He immediately turned his head, wanting to see Xiaoxiao.
But the sight that appeared the instant he turned his head made him gasp for breath.
He had been protecting her so well. Just moments ago, he was chatting and talking with her, dreaming about his adorable little sister in the future. But now, she was lying on the ground, covered with a white sheet. The scene looked cold and suffocating.
A stimulating memory flashed through his mind, causing Yin Xiu to take a shaky step back.
Why? Did he just... really see Xiaoxiao's death?
No, that shouldn't be the case... His sister should still be alive.
Amidst a tearing pain in his head, a voice rang out leisurely.
"Ah... how pitiful. You finally found happiness at a crossroads in your life, only to have it torn apart by this monster."
"How pitiful, your happiness has vanished."