Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Upon hearing that Shen Juanjuan was going to hide out for a few days, the children who had run away returned to the backyard, and there was an additional presence: Liu Sijin.

"Is your place clean? Do you have blankets? It gets very cold at night." Liu Sijin was more considerate than the other children.

"There are no blankets, but I've saved some cardboard boxes. I can crawl into the boxes; they're quite clean." He glanced at Liu Sijin. "No lice."

Liu Sijin pouted. "I don't have lice anymore."

"I know you don't have lice. I didn't say you had lice on your head—those were from before—I just meant I won't get lice," Shen Juanjuan patiently explained.

Liu Sijin's expression softened. "My sister's roommate was selected to go to Cloud Peak, and her blankets are still there. You can take them to your office."

The children all looked serious and solemn, their eyes filled with excitement. Zhao Xixi and Yu Datou, who were keeping watch, ran over, panting. "Wang Zhusheng's brother is fighting in the cafeteria. He's busy right now."

"Hurry up, let's go."

The children dragged Shen Juanjuan out of the hole, strapped the bundled blanket onto his back, and escorted him to the washroom.

Lin Duozhi was somewhat reluctant. "Juanjuan, come back when it's time for dinner. We'll pass the food to you."

Tang Yuanyuan thought carefully. "At night, I'll spread out your blankets and fold them back in the morning so the supervisors won't notice you're gone."

Chen Hongliang exclaimed, "Juanjuan, you're amazing. Making the senior students unable to catch us infuriates them."

Even the usually quiet Yu Datou chimed in, "This is our revenge."

Shen Juanjuan, feeling inspired, his face flushed red, clenched his fists. "We must eliminate all the senior students!"

"Eliminate them!"

"Eliminate all the senior students!"

"Don't eliminate all of them, okay? Can we keep my sister?" Liu Sijin quickly said.

"Okay, we'll keep Liu Sijin's sister."

Ten minutes later, Shen Juanjuan, carrying his tin box and a large bundle of blankets, set off for the garbage dump.

He felt a bit nervous but mostly excited. He picked up pebbles by the roadside, gazed at the distant Keke Mountain, and hurried forward as the ground became damp and the sound of water in the ditches grew louder.

The orphanage was sheltered from rain by Cloud Peak, but this area was beyond its protection, with puddles everywhere, indicating last night's heavy storm.

Although the rain had temporarily stopped, the sky remained dark. The garbage dump was illuminated by two bright lights, casting a glaring light over the area. Usually, there would be mountains of garbage, but today, new garbage hadn't arrived yet. Shen Juanjuan paused for only two seconds before heading to his office with the blanket bundle.

Shen Juanjuan removed his cotton cap, cleared the items from the bed, and unfolded the blanket bundle.

Not only did Liu Sijin give him blankets, but also a small pillow and a thin fleece blanket. He laid out the fleece blanket and blankets, stepped down to look around, and felt satisfied.

With nothing else to do, he climbed onto the bed, lay down, and hugged his stuffed bear with the missing arm, talking to it.

"... Have you been running around? Don't be too cheeky. I know there's a hole in the wall..."

Night fell quickly. The room was dark, lit only by the garbage dump's lights shining through the open door, creating a white rectangular carpet on the floor.

Shen Juanjuan's voice grew softer until it stopped. The darkness and silence made him increasingly uneasy, loneliness and fear spreading rapidly in his heart.

... I want to go back.

Yes, go back.

It's already after work hours. I should not stay in the office. I'll go back right now.

Shen Juanjuan got out of bed but stopped at the door, remembering Wang Zhusheng's brother and his threat to stab him with a rusty iron bar.

Shen Juanjuan looked at his chest, imagining what it would be like with a hole. After some deliberation, he hung his head and retreated back into the room, slowly crawling back onto the bed.

His initial enthusiasm and excitement had vanished, replaced by fear and loneliness. He couldn't help but curl up in the blankets and cry softly.

After crying for a while, he searched around, found the bear, and held it close, continuing to cry.

Shen Juanjuan didn't know how long he cried before falling asleep, only to be awakened by loud noises.

His first reaction was that Wang Zhusheng's brother was pounding on the door. He sat up instantly, then realized he wasn't in the dormitory but in the garbage dump office.

Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by thunder. The tin roof rattled, and the open door let in gusts of wind and cool mist.

Shen Juanjuan cautiously got up and went to the door, his eyes widening in surprise at the sight outside.

The streetlights illuminated sheets of water falling like dense silver threads from the sky, forming pools on the ground that reflected fragmented light.

Rain!

This is rain!

The supervisors had told them that their orphanage was located at the edge of Cloud Peak, so when it rained, the orphanage remained dry. One had to venture further out to see the rain.

Shen Juanjuan had lived in the orphanage since he could remember and had seen rain only once in the garbage dump. That day, he and the other children ran and screamed in the rain, spinning and catching drops with their hands and tongues, becoming happy, drenched chickens.

He recounted this experience many times in the dormitory, describing the shape, taste, and color of the rain. One day, during a cartoon, he suddenly stood up, pointing at the TV and shouting excitedly, "I've seen rain! It looks just like this, even more, much more."

A supervisor asked, "Oh? Where did you see it?"

He proudly puffed out his chest. "In the garbage dump! I saw it when I worked there!"

Though Shen Juanjuan ended up in the punishment room that time, he felt it was worth it. Now, it was cold, and he didn't dare rush out into the rain. Instead, he sat back on the bed, wrapped himself in the blankets, and stared intently at the sky outside the door.

Shen Juanjuan loved the rain, but the sound of raindrops hitting the tin roof was unsettling. He frequently looked up at the ceiling. The occasional loud thunder was frightening, so he grabbed his cotton cap, put it on, covering his ears, tied his scarf, and placed the bear next to him.

Shen Juanjuan clutched the soft fabric hanging in front of his chest, thinking that these rains must have fallen from Cloud Peak.

Big brother must be watching the rain right now, eating black rice balls, sitting by the large window of their Cloud Peak orphanage.

Big brother will come again, take him back to the orphanage, and press Wang Zhusheng's brother to the ground: "If you hit Shen Juanjuan again, I'll stab you through with an iron bar one, two, three times!"

Shen Juanjuan imagined that scene, his eyes shining brightly, his breathing becoming rapid. He had forgotten where this big brother came from, but he felt that there really would be such a young man who would beat up those who bullied him, pull him up from the ground, and pick up his cotton cap to put it back on him.

"…Big brother," Shen Juanjuan murmured.

.

Chu Ya didn't know how long he had been unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in an empty room, lying on a single bed. The entire wall opposite was made of transparent glass, through which he could see people in white coats and masks coming and going.

He had never seen this place before. Sitting on the bed, he pondered for a moment, and some fragmented memories gradually flooded his mind.

His father's uncertain situation, the cornfield during the thunderstorm, the swaying flashlight, running with his mother…

Chu Ya suddenly sat up straight.

He had carried his mother through the rain, stumbling, and then met Gu Lin. But why was he here now? Was this a hospital? Where were his mother and Gu Lin?

Chu Ya didn't have time to think much. He got out of bed and went to open the door, wanting to find someone to ask. But the door was locked, and he found that it wasn't a regular door that could be forced open.

Chu Ya started pounding on the glass, shouting at the people passing by in the corridor, but those in white coats ignored him. In desperation, he kicked and pounded the glass wall, but even as a sentinel in his differentiation phase, the glass showed no cracks.

After struggling for a while, Chu Ya gradually calmed down and realized a fact.

This was not a hospital; it was a prison.

He was imprisoned.

Chu Ya, who had been trained by Chu Chengyu since childhood and attended military school, stood in front of the glass wall, closed his eyes, and quickly analyzed the situation.

If he was imprisoned, his mother and Gu Lin were likely also detained. Hopefully, Gu Lin couldn't escape with both of them, so he only took his mother.

Who were those people in the other rooms? He knew all the high-ranking officers of the Morning Star Army, but he had never seen these people before.

Those two kids…

Chu Ya suddenly felt that the two children who had pressed against the glass window and shouted at him looked familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he had seen them.

The door made a light sound, and Chu Ya turned abruptly. Two soldiers dressed in Morna government forces uniforms walked in.

He was still wearing his rain-soaked black hoodie and jeans, subtly checking his back pocket and finding that his dagger hadn't been taken away.

"Someone wants to see you. Follow us," one soldier said, pointing his gun towards the door.

Chu Ya spoke, his voice hoarse: "Who wants to see me?"

"Don't ask so many questions. You'll know when we get there."

Chu Ya wanted to understand the current situation and followed the two soldiers out of the room, walking down the corridor.

He saw men and women behind the glass walls on either side of the corridor. They did not look like trained soldiers. Most were in their twenties, some in their thirties, and the youngest appeared to be around ten years old.

Two people in white coats appeared ahead, carrying a long object covered in plastic, which seemed heavy.

As Chu Ya passed them, he glanced down and saw that it was a wrapped corpse.

"What's going on?" the soldier behind Chu Ya asked.

One of the white coats replied, "It's the criminal they said they would execute yesterday. It just happened."

"Is everything handled?"

"Yes, all the paperwork is done."

Chu Ya caught the word "criminal" and his heart jumped. He hadn't guessed wrong; this was indeed a detention facility of the Morna military.

But how could there be children behind those glass walls? How could they be criminals?

"I'm on duty today. According to procedure, I need to verify the identity of the body," the soldier said.

"Yes."

The white coat pulled back the plastic sheet, and in the rustling sound, a pale, bluish face came into Chu Ya's view.

He quickly turned away but suddenly remembered something and looked back, but the plastic sheet had already been closed.

The body was carried away, and the soldier poked Chu Ya with his gun: "Come on, what are you staring at?"

Chu Ya continued following the soldiers, remembering that he had seen that lifeless face before. At the time, the person had been pressed to the ground, his face against the dirt, eyes filled with tears and despair.

—This was the escaped sentinel he had encountered on his way home from the abyss.

Chu Ya's mind was thrown into chaos, and he suddenly understood where he was.

This was White Castle!

Why was it White Castle? White Castle was Gu Lin's territory!