Returning to the real world, I once again felt that sense of powerlessness.

No matter what, I couldn’t escape that earthquake. I also couldn’t save Xu Jiahua.

My father and mother still wouldn’t talk to me.

Actually, I missed the days in the ‘prison’ more. There, people would pay attention to me all day, and Sister Siwei would accompany me.

Perhaps… that place was my true ‘family’?

But what kind of bad child was I to be so accustomed to life in ‘prison’?

For a very long time after that, I traveled back and forth between the real world and the ‘prison.’

And from that day on, I never saw Brother Guyu again.

Only Sister Siwei was here accompanying me. Our ‘family’ was gathering all kinds of family members at a terrifyingly fast speed, and our base kept changing continuously.

I could no longer count how many people there were now. I only knew that looking out, there was a dense mass of people. Sister Siwei said the current scale should exceed a thousand people.

The good news was that the ‘fragrances’ of several family members, when combined, could actually produce steamed buns for us.

From now on, we would no longer need to search everywhere for canned food. As long as we continued in this family, there would be an endless supply of food.

Uncle Wan also had several fierce and menacing people by his side. Sister Siwei said those were people Uncle Wan had selected from the family members specifically to maintain order. They were very good at fighting, and Uncle Wan would also give them a lot of ‘jade.’ They stayed inseparable from Uncle Wan.

Every morning Uncle Wan would, as before, lead everyone in shouting slogans, then distribute food, pay respects to the ‘Divine Dragon,’ and then arrange the day’s schedule.

As for our family, everyone in the family liked me very much. I was very happy.

Downstairs from us was a plaza. Standing beside the plaza was a female bull-headed person. That bull-headed person’s mask was very realistic, as if it had grown onto her face.

Sister Siwei told me absolutely never to go talk to her. I didn’t know what that meant, only that I should listen to what adults said.

Sister Siwei, I, and several other aunties lived together in a room on the fifth floor. We didn’t need to go out every day, only needed to do some logistical work, but I also didn’t know what logistical work specifically meant.

I originally thought everyone would continue loving each other like this. We didn’t worry about food or clothing, and every day we could play together. Such days did indeed continue for a long time.

Until one day five months later, when a change occurred.

That night, a young man sneakily walked to my room. Seeing that the other people in the room all seemed to be asleep, he pulled me to the corner of the room, then took out a very dirty toy car and handed it to me, asking me to help him do something.

He hoped that the next morning I would claim that ‘fragrance’ had appeared on him. This way he could receive ‘jade’ to purchase food. He said he’d been hungry for many days and really had no way to continue starving. He’d already saved up some ‘jade’ and only needed a bit more to purchase food.

I felt he was very pitiful. I also really liked that little car.

I wanted to help him.

But before I could agree, the auntie living in the same room as me suddenly shouted loudly: “Liu Fei, what are you doing?!”

I was slightly startled, but the young man before me was greatly frightened.

“You’re actually bribing Little Hero?!” that auntie shouted. “Everyone come look!! Someone is about to break the family rules!!”

Sister Siwei, who had been awakened nearby, sensed something was wrong and immediately came forward saying: “Sister Zhao, don’t shout first. Let’s clarify the situation first.”

“What situation is there to clarify?!” The auntie called Sister Zhao shouted at the top of her voice. “Someone come quickly! Someone is about to violate the family rules!!”

“Sister Zhao…” The worried scent from Sister Siwei was very obvious. “If you shout like this, you’ll get him killed…!”

“He betrayed the family rules!!” Auntie Zhao’s eyes opened very wide. “He’s no longer our family member!! Someone come quickly!!”

Seeing she couldn’t persuade her, Sister Siwei hurriedly turned back to that young man and said: “Liu Fei, run quickly! Don’t come back for now!”

That young man called Liu Fei looked at me, then at Sister Siwei, and finally gritted his teeth and ran toward the door.

But it was already too late. Several fierce-looking men had already rushed in from outside the door. They directly tackled Liu Fei to the ground and began beating him with fists and kicks.

I felt very scared and could only hide behind Sister Siwei, not daring to look at the scene before me.

Not long after, Uncle Wan also came.

He first looked at the situation in the room, then walked to Liu Fei’s side and asked what had happened.

Sister Zhao immediately told Uncle Wan everything, including how Liu Fei had bribed me with a toy car, hoping I would lie for him.

Uncle Wan’s expression became very terrifying after hearing this. He waved his hand, and those fierce men stopped beating Liu Fei.

Liu Fei lay on the ground, his face covered in blood, unable to even speak.

“Liu Fei, Liu Fei, Liu Fei…” Uncle Wan shook his head, his tone filled with disappointment. “I’ve always treated you all as family members. I give you food to eat, give you a place to live, and even found a way for you all to gain ‘fragrance.’ But what about you? You actually want to destroy our family’s rules?”

“Wan… Brother Wan, I was wrong… I really know I was wrong…” Liu Fei said with difficulty.

“Knowing you’re wrong is useless.” Uncle Wan’s smile was terrifying. “Our family’s rules are that anyone who violates the rules will be collectively punished by the family. Everyone, tell me, what should we do with him?”

“Beat him to death!”

“Drive him away!”

“Make him starve to death!”

Various voices rang out from around us. I felt very scared because I could sense from everyone’s scents that they truly wanted Liu Fei to die.

Just as I was at a loss, he lifted his head from the ground with effort and looked at me.

He was asking me for help.

“Uncle Wan…” I sensed Brother Liu Fei’s thoughts and walked forward saying, “Can we not beat Brother Liu Fei…?”

A flash of viciousness passed through Uncle Wan’s scent, but he quickly put on a smile again: “Little Hero, this matter has nothing to do with you. Go stand aside.”

“But… but…”

“Are you going to lie to Uncle Wan?” he asked with a stern face.

I distinctly sensed a wave of killing intent from him.

“I… I…”

Seeing this, Sister Siwei hurriedly pulled me behind her, saying: “Brother Wan, Hero hasn’t thought it through for a moment. Don’t be angry. Deal with Liu Fei first.”

Uncle Wan nodded after hearing this, then walked to Liu Fei’s side and revealed a very eerie smile.

“Liu Fei… what should I do with you? Although we’ve had rule violators before, no one has ever been as bold as you.”

“Wan, Brother Wan, I’m sorry… I know I was wrong… don’t beat me anymore…”

“No, no, no… ‘beating you’ is really too light.” Uncle Wan shook his head.

“What?” Brother Liu Fei froze. “If you’re not going to beat me, are you going to kill me?”

When he said this sentence, Brother Liu Fei seemed somewhat relieved. He seemed unafraid of being killed, more afraid of being beaten.

“Killing you would be even lighter.” Uncle Wan grabbed Brother Liu Fei’s hair and made him lift his head, then said softly, “I’ve found a more interesting way to play.”