324 A MONSTER?

Note: this chapter contains a flashback scene.

. 𝗳𝗿𝐞ℯ𝙬𝗲𝗯n𝗼νel.𝒄𝑜𝘮

. 𝗳𝗿𝐞ℯ𝙬𝗲𝗯n𝗼νel.𝒄𝑜𝘮

.

[He didn’t even get a chance to find out the woman’s name. The boy called “ChenChen” looked like he was about to wake up after falling unconscious for a while. The little boy called ChenChen even opened his eyes a little, but before he fully regained his senses, the woman immediately grabbed his body before saying that she should return to the place where she was living with her son.

The boy who covered his forehead with bandages didn’t even know where the woman was going with her son, but before he could ask any questions, the woman had already left the river with little ChenChen in her arms.

Little Wu Jinhai could only stare blankly at the narrow back that was steadily moving away from him. He didn’t even understand his feelings right now, but somehow he felt fortunate that he was still alive thanks to the little boy named ChenChen.

When the woman’s back was no longer visible, Wu Jinhai carefully looked at his palms even if he didn’t find anything strange on his palms. For some reason, he could feel foreign energy fluctuating within his body, and that was why he subconsciously stared at his palms even if his eyes couldn’t see anything strange within the pair of hands.

“That woman said that her son accidentally gave me his precious crystal. Is it the crystal in my body that makes me feel some strange energy within my body?” He muttered to himself, but of course, his question remained unanswered since he was alone by the river.

.....

He was far from home. Home? Did he have a place he could call home? He deliberately ran away from his palace because he felt that that place was not his home anymore. Many people hated him being there, and he couldn’t even rely on anyone even if he was a Prince there.

True, he still had a father who was none other than the Emperor of Wu Li, but that man couldn’t simply side with him as he still needed to figure out how he should secure his throne so the other faction wouldn’t snatch it from him.

It might sound greedy, but Wu Jinhai knew that his father had to secure the throne for a reason, and that was why he had never hated his father. Nonetheless, he also wouldn’t lie that he felt lonely living alone in the palace. There must have been a lot of people living in the palace, but most of them treated him like the plague because of the nasty things hidden behind the bandages around his forehead, and he couldn’t lie by saying that he didn’t feel lonely at all.

Not everyone knew what things were hidden under the bandages, but even people who didn’t know the truth would think that he might have a dangerous skin disease that required him to wear bandages every day.

And Wu Jinhai couldn’t even explain the actual situation to those people because his father forbade him to. He still couldn’t understand what had happened to him, but since he only had a father he could trust right now, he could only nod as a sign that he would listen to his father’s orders.

He no longer had a mother. His mother died, but it wasn’t from illness. The woman who gave birth to him about nine years ago died after being kidnapped by unknown people, and her corpse was found in this river. That was why he thought that he would be able to meet his mother if he killed himself in the same river.

Unfortunately, it was too simple for him to think about how he might ever be able to meet his mother once again. Fortunately, a kind-hearted woman told him the truth about what would happen to humans after they died, and it turned out that two souls could not easily meet each other even if the soul’s owners died in the same place.

That was why Wu Jinhai was grateful that the innocent child named “ChenChen” had saved him. “That kid is a few years younger than me, right? He’s so young, but he’s so brave. I’m sure he’ll be a great person in the future,” he muttered to himself. “But, will he be fine even if he loses one of the crystals in his body? I’m afraid he’ll be weak and useless without one of his crystals.”

Wu Jinhai was troubled inside. On one hand, he thought that he was lucky because he came back to life thanks to the innocent boy named “ChenChen,” but on the other hand, he also felt guilty for causing trouble for the boy who had saved him.

Now, Wu Jinhai didn’t even know what to do. Before ChenChen’s mother left him, she told him to return to his house immediately, but for some reason, he didn’t want to go home just yet. Thus, he continued to stare blankly at the calm river as his mind was distracted by many things at the moment.

And while he was still staring at the river with his empty eyes, suddenly his eyes noticed some strange movements from within the water. Wu Jinhai suddenly looked alert and was about to escape from the river, but then something suddenly emerged from the water, and the boy with the bandage covering his forehead widened his eyes.

“M-monster! It’s a monster!” Panicked, Wu Jinhai screamed when he could see that it was a human-like figure that had just emerged from the water, but somehow he thought that a normal human wouldn’t be able to stay underwater for long before it suddenly arose from there.

Indeed, Wu Jinhai did not notice anyone’s presence even when he was still near the river with ChenChen and his mother, and that was why he was certain that the unknown figure had been hiding underwater all along.

The creature wasn’t too big or tall, and it had long black hair that wasn’t tied up neatly. On the contrary, long wet black hair covered the creature’s face messily so that Wu Jinhai couldn’t even see the creature’s face, and it gave off an even more terrifying aura that was enough to frighten him.

Unfortunately, Wu Jinhai was unable to escape even after the creature stopped walking right in front of him.]