The harsh wind, like a knife, tears through the drizzle, forming a massive net that envelops Mu Zi completely.
Mu Zi walks slowly. His thin clothes are already soaked through, and his messy hair hangs low from his head, covering his eyes. He struggles to embrace himself with his arms to stop shivering.
Facing the wind and rain, his slender waist stands straight, each step carrying a decisive beauty.
Mu Zi suddenly thinks that every major turning point in his life seems intricately connected to rain.
He was told by his mother that he was born on a night of torrential rain. As usual, his father was out gambling all night and didn't return, so his mother had to call the hospital herself.
At seven, he finally got the opportunity to go to school, thanks to his mother's insistence. The day he first walked into the school, there was a fine drizzle.
At eight, he received his first award and the honor of being top of his class. His gravely ill mother, smiling broadly, braved the cold autumn rain to buy him his favorite spicy rice noodle rolls.
At ten, his mother finally left this nightmarish world, holding Mu Zi's hand as she passed away tiredly. It was an unforgettable day for Mu Zi, during a season of continuous rain. At her burial, the grave was filled with rainwater, causing the coffin to float several times.
At sixteen, his father remarried, and Mu Zi met his new stepmother, who was only slightly older than him and dressed flamboyantly. He smelled the pungent cheap perfume on her. On the first day of the marriage, Mu Zi had a fierce argument with her because she threw out all of his mother's belongings. Mu Zi insulted her, and she hit him. His father, furious, kicked Mu Zi out of the house. Mu Zi spent the entire night in the rain guarding his mother's belongings.
At seventeen, before their wedding anniversary, his young stepmother disappeared with the money from selling the house and all the valuable things in the house. That was the night his father got drunk the most, locking Mu Zi in the house and going out to drown his sorrows with friends. Alone, young Mu Zi stood by the window, listening to the rain, feeling an extreme fear. That was the night his father got addicted to drugs.
Still at seventeen, Mu Zi dropped out of school in his second year of high school. As he walked out of the school with his luggage, the tears mixed with the rain in his mouth as his classmates saw him off.
At eighteen, today, the first storm of the summer is raging.
Today will be another major turning point in his life!
From today, he decides to become a new version of himself...
Methods and meanings of survival.
Mu Zi has always been confused about these issues. His tragic background and cruel life left him no time or ability to think about these matters.
So, the previous him just lived in a daze. Until one day, he found a poster on the street by chance. This poster had a magical power, leading him to spend all his money to go to the cinema for the first time in his life. After watching a movie called "Accident," he felt transformed. He felt his soul elevated and found the true meaning of his life. He also felt relieved to have found his life's goal. It was like walking in a dangerous forest and suddenly seeing a bright path ahead, feeling excited, thrilled, yet also a bit scared and uneasy.
Then, he planned his first "accident," targeting a beastly man. This man had no blood relation to him. His mother had remarried with Mu Zi, hoping for a peaceful and happy life, but instead, they fell into a worse situation. Mu Zi never acknowledged this man as his father because everything he did since Mu Zi's childhood was so shameless and terrifying. To this man, Mu Zi and his mother were not family, but insects to play with and vent on. Mu Zi survived in this nightmarish shadow, especially after his mother's death, falling into a deep misery caused by this man. Mu Zi had thought more than once about killing him, for his mother and for himself. But he was just a child, a timid and frail child living in terror. Until the movie came out, he finally had an epiphany...
It took him a week to finalize every detail of his plan, from the sturdiness of the ceiling fan to the distance between the bed and the wooden cabinet, the position of the fish tank and books on the cabinet, and the right time to execute the plan. Everything was carefully calculated, rehearsed, and speculated until the rainy evening when the plan finally began. To Mu Zi's surprise, the plan went smoothly and perfectly. He succeeded! For the first time, he tasted the joy of victory after hard work. The man finally died, and Mu Zi was liberated, fulfilling his wish for revenge.
After the incident, Mu Zi thought
for a long time. Everything happened in an instant. Watching the man die as planned and seeing his painful and unwilling eyes before death, Mu Zi's previous worries, fears, and anxieties disappeared. He felt unusually calm, even remembering the lullaby his mother used to sing to him.
Little mouse, up the lamp, stealing oil, can't come down...
If it weren't for Ma Liu and the other two people, he might have even sung along. In that moment, everything became clear.
The method of survival is to work hard and live on, whether with your brain or strength!
The meaning of survival is to protect and prove yourself and achieve your goals!
From then on, he felt like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, ready to fly high and start a new journey. He decided to leave this nightmarish city and start a new life. Although he had achieved nothing and didn't know his destination or what he could do, he was no longer confused. The experience gave him confidence. He believed that as long as he worked hard and put in enough effort, he would succeed...
But before leaving, he had one more thing to do: revenge.
The man's addiction to drugs was the starting point of the worsening situation, and the three people who got him addicted, the boss, Ma Liu, and the third man, were the real culprits.
Mu Zi could not let them go, especially after overhearing their conversation outside the door. He was determined.
With the experience of his first successful plan, Mu Zi quickly determined how to deal with them...
Now, three days have passed since he overheard their conversation. In these three days, the three men have been searching for Mu Zi, but it's ironic that he's right behind them. How could they find him?
After three days without any trace of Mu Zi, the three men finally concluded that Mu Zi, the "kid" in their eyes, had left Phoenix City. They could rest easy and look for their next target.
But they never expected that behind them, a pair of angry young eyes had already sentenced them to death.
Mu Zi's first target was the boss.
This man, with white hair and a hooked nose, was the most difficult to deal with. He was the brain of this evil gang. Although Ma Liu and the third man had a strained relationship, they still spent most of their time together, making it difficult to strike. Therefore, he had to start with the boss.
The man's normal identity was a factory gatekeeper, living in the last shantytown area of Phoenix City that hadn't been demolished yet, with a small courtyard at his home. Without a telescope, it was impossible to observe the situation inside the courtyard and his home, so making an accident happen at his home was directly impossible. The man had no car and never took a ride; his only means of transportation was an old but sturdy bicycle. Based on this, making a car accident was also difficult. His daily routine: he usually left home at six in the morning, jogging on the newly paved stone path behind his house, leading to a small park nearby. After running there, he would slowly return from the park, passing a breakfast shop where he would have breakfast before returning home. Then, about twenty minutes later, he would leave home neatly dressed, riding his bike for about ten minutes to the factory where he worked until five in the afternoon. During work, he barely left the gatehouse except for lunchtime in the cafeteria. After work, he rode his bike home, and then Ma Liu and the third man would come to his house as scheduled, and the three of them would go out together to continue their evil deeds. The return time was uncertain... Mu Zi confirmed that the boss had no family because no one else ever entered or exited his house.
That's all the information he had for now. Mu Zi studied these details over and over again, imagining countless ways to make an accident happen, but eventually dismissed them all.
With too little information and limited knowledge, Mu Zi suddenly felt powerless.
But no matter what, he had to persist. This man must die according to his plan...