Just the superficial fragments he had learned back in the Li family home. Perhaps they wouldn’t be presentable on a serious stage for true connoisseurs, but in the classroom, he received enthusiastic applause.
In the second half of the party, when everyone exchanged gifts, Li Zhuo received far more holiday cards and a huge pile of exquisitely wrapped apples than he had ever imagined.
He ate them for days.
—Thankfully, Teacher Mo preserved their freshness, and the weather was cold then, unlike summer when things spoiled easily.
~
“What do you want to tell me?”
“I said, I’m going back to Hai City next month.” Chewing a spare rib Mo Liang had picked for him, Li Zhuo smiled, his eyes crinkling happily. “You didn’t know, right? My birthday is on the fifth day of the first lunar month next month.”
The man opposite him, whose eyes were originally brimming with a smiling expression, turned ice-cold in an instant, then quickly recovered their warmth.
“Aren’t you going to spend it with me?”
His tone was somber, seeming somewhat displeased, even carrying a thick undercurrent of resentment, but this displeasure and resentment weren’t directed at Li Zhuo.
“They’ve only called you two or three times, right? What’s so good about that…”
Li Zhuo thought for a moment, then added, “But I didn’t know my dad had fallen before. I heard he stayed in the hospital for a week. I want to go see him…”
“…Is it just because of that?”
Mo Liang’s expression suddenly turned very strange. The last sentence dipped below the frequency Li Zhuo could hear, muddled and mixed with “alien language.”
“I should have just ■■■■■■■…”
Li Zhuo didn’t notice, continuing to emphasize that he would be turning eighteen next month. Mentioning this, he was clearly a little happy, pursing his lips with restrained delight.
“They promised me before, saying they’d hold a coming-of-age ceremony for me when I turned eighteen. Mmm… how should I explain this thing to you? It’s a bit like a birthday party, once in a lifetime…”
“During the last phone call, I vaguely heard something about a birthday event. I think it must be for me…”
“……”
“It just so happens he fell this summer and was hospitalized. I don’t know how he’s doing now. Anyway, everything lines up, so I thought I’d go back and take a look.”
Li Zhuo spoke softly, as if telling Teacher Mo, yet also as if talking to himself. “You might not understand, but I’ve been looking forward to it for many years. I was looking forward to it even before returning to the Li family…”
Seeing Mo Liang still silent, Li Zhuo stood up and took the initiative, grabbing the back of Mo Liang’s hand, his eyes carrying a slightly pitiful pleading.
“Just this once, okay?”
At Li Zhuo’s active approach, although Mo Liang didn’t answer, his steady breathing noticeably caught. Beneath his skin, bluish-black lines began to surface and writhe.
His child was a bit more adaptable than before, but his underlying nature remained somewhat stubborn and rigid. He followed through on what he said he would do, and so he naturally assumed others would abide by their promises in the same way.
He repeated several times, saying “it was promised before,” “agreed upon,” and such phrases.
He placed too much importance on promises.
But the more so, the more Mo Liang worried. Among their own kind, they also valued promises highly, but that was based on the premise of being able to share thoughts. Humans were not like that.
Humans here could abandon their promises at any time, which was why a “good child,” “stubborn,” “rigid” fool like his charge was the most vulnerable.
This was the 164,843rd time Mo Liang wanted to take Li Zhuo away, the urge stronger than ever before.
Simultaneously, a serious thought accompanied it: if he killed those humans, would his child feel happy?
—
[Is this an unskippable plot segment?]
After using several methods of obstruction with no effect, Mo Liang vented all his frustration on the System.
[Could this be YOUR doing?!]
[How is that possible.]
The light on 0255 flickered continuously.
[The mission target still harbors a sliver of hope for that couple. Isn’t this something you can also perceive?]
[…]
[Your obstruction hasn’t had much effect. He needs to face reality himself and accept that his biological parents do not love him, or love him that little. The ‘love’ he sees is a product he’s been beautifying in his own heart. He has to realize this on his own.]
[…]
[For now, you just need to watch over him closely, monitor his emotions, appear and soothe him when necessary, just like you did at the very start…]
[…]
[The current plot is different from the original plot. In the original plot, Li Zhuo had no friends at Experimental High School, drifted through his days in a daze, severely depressed to the point of anorexia, his whole body very thin…]
[In such a dazed mental state, he welcomed his eighteenth birthday, waiting by the phone all day until dark without receiving a reply. The next day, holding onto that state, he went alone to Hai City…]
[In the original plot, Li Huachuan was attending a charity gala with Li Xuan. Li Zhuo sneaked in secretly. Just as his parents were about to announce a collaboration with some family, he showed up holding a cake, deliberately shouting loudly before his parents could speak, telling all the distinguished guests present that today was his birthday…]
[Because of his condition and incoherent ramblings, Li Huachuan said he was mentally ill, and he was dragged away…]
[But this time, what’s a little different from before is that the last phone call did indeed mention a birthday. Could it be that there really is such a banquet?]
[The development might turn out different from the original…]
With a very optimistic mindset, the System continuously urged Mo Liang not to be so resistant, saying maybe this was a butterfly effect caused by the changes?
[Maybe he could obtain the familial love he desires? That could also count as a form of salvation, right?]
[…]
As a non-human, Mo Liang had no concept of family in his head, nor did he know what familial love was at all. He just felt that those people would hurt his child.
But… what if his child wanted it? After a moment of silence, he finally tossed out a sentence: [I will keep monitoring it.]
~
From the day the dates were confirmed with the Li family, starting early on the second day of winter break, Li Zhuo began packing. Aside from some daily necessities, he specially brought along the exam papers he scored well on during his year in Changyang and the certificates of merit he received.
Watching him meticulously smooth out the red certificates one by one, then carefully place them into a clear document folder, Mo Liang’s tightly pressed lips showed not a single curve of a smile.
—His own kid was so excitedly going to someone else’s home; naturally, he felt several tens of thousands of units of displeasure inside.
“Hey, Teacher Mo…”
The ink-like gloom on Mo Liang’s face swiftly retracted completely the moment Li Zhuo looked over.
Mo Liang subconsciously straightened his back, the corners of his mouth quickly piling into a perfectly measured smile, and his voice adjusted to a gentle register: “What is it?”
Li Zhuo, who had called Mo Liang, hadn’t noticed his anomaly. He was just looking for something with his head down and had forgotten where he’d casually placed it last time, so he instinctively asked Mo Liang.
“Oh, I remember…”
In the interval of answering, Mo Liang rapidly traced back his past records and quickly found the location of the missing item.
His rapid response did not surprise Li Zhuo; or rather, he had long since become accustomed to Mo Liang’s “special abilities.”
Finding the item, Li Zhuo smiled, his brows and eyes curving, tossing a “Thanks” to Mo Liang before continuing to pack his luggage.
Sensing the youth’s gaze shift away, Mo Liang’s smile, as gentle as a spring breeze, withered bit by bit.
Having witnessed this sudden change of expression, 0255 swiftly initiated its recording mode. It was seeing its host go from previously not even being able to control his speaking volume to now being able to switch expressions effortlessly.
This… counted as a good thing, right?
Just like it was also becoming more and more skilled at repeatedly stopping its host from attacking ordinary humans.
[Stopping traceback behavior…]
[Please restrain yourself. If this world restarts, I cannot guarantee whether your child will be this current one…]
Countless slender, completely invisible tentacles slowly retracted from outside the wall, inch by inch.
Facing away from Mo Liang, Li Zhuo was packing his suitcase and had reached the final stage. He stuffed the last gift for Lu Fei inside, clasped the suitcase shut, pulled the zipper, and spoke abruptly.
“Teacher Mo, you’ve been following me like this for days now. Do you not want me to go back?”
Without waiting for Mo Liang to speak, Li Zhuo continued in a definite tone: “Is it because you’ll be very lonely if I leave? I can understand that. Before, when I walked alone, I would feel lonely too, but…”
Li Zhuo stood the suitcase upright, patted imaginary dust off his hands, and turned to meet Mo Liang’s eyes directly: “I’m only going for two days, I’ll be coming back…”
—His child, was comforting him.
Realizing this, Mo Liang forgot to breathe.
He was truly an unfit caretaker, causing his child to worry about his emotions in return.
His child wanted to do what he wished to do. Why should he obstruct him? As a nurturer, he should be protecting him instead.
“Alright, then I’ll wait for you to come back.”
~
Just as Mo Liang was pondering whether to disguise himself casually or completely conceal his form like during the summer camp, the System, which hadn’t spoken up on its own initiative for a long time, suddenly said:
[Forgot to mention, you also received an invitation.]
[What?]
[Didn’t you previously leave all matters concerning your identity to me? The Mo family also received the invitation sent out by the Li family. Are you going?]
From accepting a mission to fully arriving in the mission world, it wasn’t as simple as closing one’s eyes and opening them to instantly reach the mission time.
Even with coordinates, a journey of travel was required. Due to the time flow difference, perhaps when Mo Liang set off, Li Zhuo hadn’t even been born yet.
And Mo Liang’s fake identity had been generated at this time. As the almost never seen mysterious power-holder of the Mo family, many forces wanted to inquire about him, but all ended up returning empty-handed.
Now, this invitation was less of an actual invitation and more of a token gesture. Sending one and not showing up was still different from not sending one at all.
[I’ll go.]
[Let me give my child a surprise.]
As a guide system, this wasn’t 0255’s first mission. In its memory storage files, this should be its seventh.
Honestly, for a system with only a three-digit serial number, its mission count was indeed too low.
Those systems with serial numbers reaching eight or nine digits, much lower in rank than itself, easily had mission counts starting at three or four digits. And how much more advanced was it than them, really? It just occupied an earlier production slot.
It felt quite fortunate. Although the start of this mission was rocky, thankfully, the subsequent mission progress had been consistently very good.
The mission target’s physical data, mental state, and other aspects were much better than the initial state of malnutrition. Even his personality had become a bit more cheerful.
Based on just the current results, 0255 felt the likelihood of achieving an Excellent mission rating was very high.
According to the System Regulations, accumulating a certain number of Excellent evaluations allowed for an upgrade.
0255 looked forward to it immensely.
Time soon reached the day of Li Zhuo’s departure. 0255 followed Mo Liang to Hai City.
Its host, aiming to surprise “his child,” had even secretly escorted him, deliberately sitting in a different spot in the same high-speed train car.
![I Am the Tragic Supporting Character Who Was Saved [Quick Transmigration]](https://i2.wp.com/dobynovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/on.jpg?resize=151,215 "I Am the Tragic Supporting Character Who Was Saved [Quick Transmigration]")
