"Kids, it's time to drink your water before going to bed." Said a caretaker in a trembling voice.
But no one had noticed the slight change in his tone except for Zheng Lin.
Huh, why did he sound so weird today...
Maybe he is just sick, and I'm just overthinking it...
Even though he is not feeling well, he is still as kind as ever...
This is what a real adult should be like...
Everybody started to empty their water cups one by one, seeing this Zheng Lin couldn't wait any longer, so he picked up his water cups and drank all of it in one go.
Then he placed down his cup on the table beside his bed just like everyone.
After making sure that all the cups were emptied, the caretaker whispered "Good night kids, I hope you guys will make it far in life...." and blew out the candles.
Zheng Lin who had lied down on his bed in the darkroom couldn't help but get suspicious when he felt that the room atmosphere wasn't right.
Why is the room so quiet? Why am I spinning? Am I sick too? Ahhh, I hate this feeling...
A moment later his body stopped moving and his eyelid closed down by itself as he lost his consciousness.
...
At the back of the orphanage surrounded by a gigantic forest was usually dead quiet, but at this moment it was filled with many unknown people who wore robes to hide their figures and identity.
Their eyes turned serious when Xuan Rong arrived holding a bunch of notes in his hand and several people coming behind him carrying the kids on their shoulders.
"I hope this batch of people will not disappoint us." One guy in a robe who stood in the middle uttered deeply.
"I can guarantee that this batch won't disappoint you, my lord." Xuan Rong replied carefully while he handed the notes in his hand to the person who had just spoken.
He moved his hand out and grabbed the note that had been presented to him, opened it and started to read it.
He Chin, 15 years old, his parent had abandoned him at the age of 3 at the orphanage, he liked to eat and sleep, he disliked the people who bullied him...
Pan Kun, 15 years old, the orphanage took her in at the age of 5 because her parent died due to a fire outburst, she liked exploring and learning new things, she disliked socializing...
Lastly Zheng Lin, 15 years old, was sold off to the orphanage at the age of 3 by his blood-related father due to his poor ability in life, he liked exploring, and learning new things, he disliked disloyalty and bad people...
"This time the quality seems to be better than usual, good job." After reading it the man muttered happily while he took out a money bag and threw it to Xuan Rong.
Xuan Rong caught it quickly and put it inside his pocket for fear of offending the other party unintentionally, then he bowed down and thanked him repeatedly.
"Thank you my lord, I don't deserve your praise hahaha... I'm just doing my job."
"If I praise you, just take it..." His face dropped down as he said this.
"You're not qualified to reject my praise, okay?"
"You will not die an easy death the next time you do this... understand?"
"Yes, I understand it completely my lord, I won't dare to do it again I swear." Xuan Rong replied while soaking in sweat.
The kids that the carrier had been carrying suddenly flew out of their shoulders to the hands of the people who were shrouded in darkness.
"We will be coming back next year, be sure to do a good job at raising the good, and be sure not to blow your cover... else you will bear the consequences for this!"
"Yes my lord, I'll keep that in mind."
When he made sure that everything was not out of the ordinary, the men in robes turned to the carriage and hopped on it after they placed down the kids inside the carriages.
The horse groaned in pain and set off as it got whipped by the driver.
Xuan Rong looked at the departing figure of the unknown men until the moment that they were out of his sigh.
He reached out for the money pouch inside his pocket and looked inside it, the amount of money in it was higher than usual, perhaps because he did a good job this time, or rather to encourage him to keep working hard, but it could also be both.
Xuan Rong could never understand them, as all these men that he worked for had always acted differently every time he did business with them.
The other acting differently was normal since they could be different people, but for the leader to act differently too was just weird, because he was sure that the leader rarely got replaced, and he was certain that the leader of this group had been the same person for the last 3 years included this time.
Yet he knew that the lesser he knew the better, so he never pried too much into it.
a smiling line slowly formed on his old face combined with the look of guilt made him look a bit creepy, and the reason behind this was money.
Please don't blame me kids, I am doing this for the sake of my family...
And also for the sake of my life too... I'm too deeply involved with these guys now...
There is no going back for me...
Xuan Rong had been doing this for the past 17 years, but no matter how long he had done it, the sense of guilt just wouldn't fade away.
He could still hear all of those kids that he sent away calling his name inside his dreams every time he went to bed at night, this started since his first year of doing this job and the number of people calling his name only kept getting higher as time goes on.
Back then, he was just an old farmer who didn't even know that such magical things could exist in this world, not until someone approached him and offered him the position of being the manager of the orphanage.
At that time he was in a very difficult situation, so either he turned it down and starved himself and his family to death or accepted the offer and enjoyed the luxury that came with it.
So without any more choices, he chose the latter, despite knowing that one day he would end up being killed by one of them sooner or later.
But as the saying goes 'It's better to live a short good life, than to live a bad long life...'