Being stared at with such a shocked gaze that was hard to conceal, Su Ximu, who originally didn’t feel anything wrong with himself, couldn’t help but lower his head and try to observe himself.
Could it be that something inexplicable had stuck to his body, to make even a weird who treated vomiting blood as commonplace reveal such an expression?
Su Ximu stretched his arms and moved his legs as he observed himself all around, but still couldn’t figure out what was wrong. He couldn’t help but turn to his third brother, who was standing with him, and ask for help. “Third Brother, does it look like there’s something wrong with me?”
After asking, he saw Third Brother shake his head immediately. But before he could relax even a little, he heard Third Brother add, “Xiao Xi, that white light you mentioned appearing suddenly last night—I think I saw it.”
?
Su Ximu subconsciously asked, “Where?”
How come he hadn’t seen it?
Su Jianglou lifted his chin, gesturing. “It landed on that kid.”
It was daytime now, and that small cluster of white light wasn’t very noticeable. Plus, Su Ximu wasn’t familiar with his own power yet, so when the boy brushed past him, he hadn’t noticed the white light landing on the boy.
Now, with Third Brother’s reminder, he followed the feeling from last night, closed his eyes, tried his best to block out the surrounding clamor, and carefully sensed it.
Last night, when the white light orb landed on Little Mushroom for the second time, he had felt as if a faint, vague connection had formed between himself and Little Mushroom.
This time…
The boy with his eyes closed felt his heart sink.
When he opened his eyes again and looked at the boy not far away across from him, his gaze already carried a hint of guilt.
Su Ximu still didn’t quite understand what that light orb represented, or what kind of connection that faint link truly was.
But, probably, possibly, maybe, it was…
A bit impolite.
No wonder the other party was looking at him like that—he must have sensed something off too.
At this moment, at the bustling entrance of the tutoring school, in a small corner, two students who had come out from two different tutoring schools stood there staring at each other wide-eyed. For a moment, an awkward silence spread between them.
Su Ximu didn’t speak first because he felt his behavior was impolite and was feeling a bit guilty, unsure of what to say.
As for Mountain Crow 4091—the injured boy—he wanted to speak but couldn’t.
After the initial shock, he had decided that the wise choose to adapt to circumstances. After a moment of thought, he decided to express his submission and loyalty through actions.
He took two steps forward, raised his hand, and a black feather suddenly appeared, floating in his palm. He lowered his head and respectfully placed it at the feet of the weird across from him.
At the same time, he took out his phone and began typing a humble request: 【Esteemed Lord, I hope to obtain your permission to go home and retrieve my luggage before coming to follow and serve you. —Your loyal Mountain Crow 4091.】
The first entity to integrate with the light orb had been Little Mushroom, who couldn’t speak much yet, so Su Ximu couldn’t get very specific feedback from it.
Now, the second integration target had appeared so suddenly. Though it still couldn’t speak, at least it could type clearly and communicate without barriers.
Seeing the extremely respectful written request from the one who called himself Mountain Crow 4091, Su Ximu began to wonder if his ability had some coercive element to it.
But now wasn’t the time to think deeply about that. He immediately reached out to help the bowing boy up, then waved his hands apologetically and earnestly explained, “I’m really sorry. My ability isn’t under control yet—I don’t even know why that light orb appeared.”
“But don’t worry. Once I get familiar with it, I’ll definitely take that small light orb back right away! For now, you do whatever you want, without considering me or asking me.”
“Um… but could we exchange contact info?”
He felt that if he were walking down the street normally and suddenly got marked by someone else’s power, that would warrant mental distress compensation.
Mountain Crow 4091 was stunned upon hearing this, suspecting he was hallucinating, but the wound in his mouth constantly reminded him that he was very clear-headed.
It wasn’t a hallucination, but he didn’t dare believe the weird in front of him.
He and his parents all belonged to the Mountain Crow Family. The Mountain Crow Family had its own set of operating rules internally.
All Mountain Crows in Tanzhong City were under the management of Mountain Crow 02 and its master.
Yet this weird had, in just one glance, bypassed Mountain Crow 02 and imprinted him with a second power mark.
How could a weird capable of that not be proficient in its own power?
Mountain Crow 4091 felt he had seen through it all, so he feigned excitement on the surface, offered his phone number again, and only after confirming the other’s agreement did he slowly turn and retreat with a respectful demeanor, preparing to go home.
Behind him, Su Jianglou, who was still standing in place with one hand in his pocket, suddenly said in a very proud tone, “Xiao Xi, when your light orb appeared just now, I tried to block it, but I couldn’t.”
Though he had only tried lightly and hadn’t gone all out. Given their situations, going all out now would be bullying. As expected, their Xibao had always been capable of anything since he was little.
Back when he was so young, he could run off to the inner district to find medicine on his own. He even acted as a little teacher, teaching him to speak, draw, and play on the Playground Slide.
Now that he had grown up, he was even more impressive.
“Couldn’t block it?” Su Ximu didn’t know what was going through Third Brother’s mind at the time. He was just watching Mountain Crow 4091 leave when he suddenly heard Third Brother say that, and he couldn’t help but slowly widen his eyes.
Even Third Brother couldn’t block it?
The Mountain Crows and the mushrooms in the Tourist Garden were both native weirds of the Weird World.
The Frost Crow House, Raven Family, and Crowned Crow House were all distant relatives of the Mountain Crow Family.
For convenience within the Mountain Crow Family, every Mountain Crow used numbers as names.
Mountain Crow 4091’s small home had four weirds in total: his parents, Mountain Crow 3777 and Mountain Crow 3575, as well as his brother Mountain Crow 3992, who had already left the nest.
Their family all lived in a two-bedroom apartment in the third ring of Tanzhong City. It took Mountain Crow 4091 about two hours to get from home to the tutoring class every day.
In these two hours, the wound in Mountain Crow 4091’s mouth recovered to the point of no longer bleeding, and a slight itchiness began at the base of his severed tongue—that was the sign of new flesh starting to grow.
Yesterday, he had badmouthed the tutoring teacher with classmates, and the teacher found out. Then today in class, he got caught talking to his desk mate.
So before the tutoring school could even call parents, the teacher had done this to him.
If it had been before, Mountain Crow 4091 wouldn’t have thought much of it. He had made a mistake, so he was punished—that was only natural.
Moreover, this bit of pain hardly counted as punishment.
When his father, Mountain Crow 3777, felt work stress, he would even voluntarily take off his human skin clothing and use his beak to pluck all the glossy black feathers from his body.
Those feathers were rooted in his flesh, so for a Mountain Crow, plucking them all was no less than a human being skinned alive.
But Mountain Crow 4091 still remembered how his father, while pecking off his own feathers, cried out in pain with bloodshot eyes yet couldn’t help feeling pleasure.
That was the powerful form every little weird of the Mountain Crow Family yearned to grow into.
So before today, Mountain Crow 4091 had always told himself that all the pain he felt was just because he hadn’t truly matured yet.
A truly mature Mountain Crow should be like his parents and the respected Mr. Mountain Crow 02.
Mr. Mountain Crow 02 was the true role model of their Mountain Crow Family.
Once, Mountain Crow 02 had also been a weak little weird until he met his master, a very mysterious and powerful gentleman.
That powerful gentleman had subjected Mountain Crow 02 to extremely harsh and cruel trials, even throwing the entire Mountain Crow 02 into fire and scorching his feathers.
But Mountain Crow 02 never wavered in his loyalty to that gentleman. His loyalty finally moved the gentleman.
From then on, Mountain Crow 02 gained the fortune of becoming that gentleman’s servant, and the entire Mountain Crow Family benefited, able to offer 100 little ones each year for that gentleman to enjoy.
Thinking of the respected Mr. Mountain Crow 02, the boy walking home from school gazed with the same fervent zeal as always.
But unlike before, this fervor didn’t last long. Mountain Crow 4091 suddenly felt a cool clarity in his head, and the eyes filled with fanaticism cleared up again.
The boy stood in place, reached up to pat his head, and for the first time on the way home, felt lost.
Taking advantage of this moment of clarity, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself inwardly: Wait, no—what the hell was I just fanatic about?
And also.
Hiss, this wound hurts like hell!
He couldn’t help but start doubting why the mark of a mature Mountain Crow was the ability to endure pain forever, even taking pleasure in it in the end.
Since the path to maturity was so bumpy, could he just not mature?
These thoughts had vaguely appeared in Mountain Crow 4091’s head before, but they never lasted long. Like dandelions in the wind, they scattered with a single blow.
But this time…
The fragile dandelion seemed to have arrived in an extremely safe place. Mountain Crow 4091 walked and walked, and halfway home, impatient, he even sprouted wings from his shoulder blades and flew a stretch with his dark wings.
Even after getting home, this little dandelion hadn’t been blown away by the wind.
He used his key to open the door.
His brother Mountain Crow 3992 was home today, sitting on the sofa watching TV without greeting him as he returned.
Mountain Crow 4091 noticed that his brother seemed to have seen some TV segment that dissatisfied him.
The young man on the sofa had a ferocious and twisted expression, cursing nonstop. He looked like he wanted to drag everyone performing on the TV out one by one and behead them.
Unable to touch the people on TV, he vented by gnawing on his exposed arm in frustration.
Soon, the originally smooth arm was bitten bloody.
If it had been before, Mountain Crow 4091 would have silently envied this in his heart, wondering when he would be like his brother—laughing and cursing with the bearing of a great general.
But now, Mountain Crow 4091 just glanced coolly at his brother still biting himself and muttered inwardly: He’s lost it.
