"Dinner's on the table. Heat it up yourself."
"Tomorrow is the Awakening Assessment. Don't stay up late tonight."
A middle-aged man was wearing a somewhat old but neat suit. With a rose in his mouth, he was carefully tidying up his hairstyle in front of the mirror.
Although he was already middle-aged, with the advantage of his good looks, he exuded a unique charm of maturity. Especially that somewhat wild and unrestrained smile at the corner of his mouth was likely to make older women fall for him.
Yu Sheng was sitting at the dining table, looking a bit distracted, and just mumbled a couple of perfunctory responses.
After getting everything ready, the middle-aged man carefully took out a very small bottle of perfume and sprayed it in the air, allowing the fragrance to evenly cover his whole body.
"If there's nothing else, I'm going on a date!"
"Wish you success in tomorrow's assessment!"
With that, the middle-aged man left the house humming a tune.
After the middle-aged man left, Yu Sheng took out his cell phone and dialed a number.
"Hello? Is this the police officer?"
"I'd like to report a crime."
"At around 8 o'clock this evening, in Room 302 of the Sophie Hotel, there might be an indecent incident."
"Yes, I'm sure. I saw his key card."
"My relationship with him?"
Yu Sheng paused for two seconds and said, "He's my father."
"It doesn't matter. It's our duty to serve the people."
"Okay, goodbye, police officer."
After hanging up the phone, Yu Sheng was lost in thought again.
His name was Yu Sheng, and the man who had just left was his father, Yu Sanshui.
It was just that the word "father" was a bit hazy in his memory.
He had grown up in Sin City since he was a child. He had only learned that he even had a father a few months ago.
Sin City was too dark.
There were no rules, no laws, and no so-called fairness.
People would do anything to survive.
Until he finally got that precious quota and walked out of Sin City.
Tomorrow was the Awakening Ceremony for his eighteenth birthday.
Just...
How many-striped eggs could he hatch?
And the scroll that had been in his memory since he was a child, looking like a dead thing, would it change after the Awakening?
For a while, Yu Sheng's thoughts were running wild.
It was getting dark.
Yu Sheng was sitting at the dining table, eating his meal carefully, chewing slowly. Although it was just ordinary food, it seemed extremely precious in Yu Sheng's eyes.
Yu Sanshui?
Yu Sheng glanced at the time. It was already past 9 o'clock in the evening.
Did the comrades from the Guard Department fail?
"Speak."
Yu Sheng answered the phone, sounding a bit lazy.
On the other end of the phone, Yu Sanshui's voice was full of annoyance: "I don't know which bastard called the police and ratted me out! I'm in the Guard Department, and they insist that I was soliciting prostitutes."
"Isn't this a consensual thing? Can it be called prostitution?"
"Hurry up and bring some riding to bail me out, or I probably won't be able to get out for a few days!"
Yu Sheng said in a flat voice, "I don't have any money."
"I know you don't. Go to my bedroom. There's a box under the bed."
"There's a key in the box."
"Turn left when you go out. This key can open the back door of Widow Wang's house."
"There's a vegetable vat at the back door. The money is underneath."
"But be careful when you open the door. She has a fierce dog at her house!"
This plot was quite exciting.
It was also rare for Yu Sanshui to be able to explain it all in one way.
"Okay."
Yu Sheng hung up the phone and, following Yu Sanshui's instructions, indeed found a stack of red bills under the vegetable vat.
There were about 2,000 yuan.
He calmly put the money away, went back to his home, washed the dishes, swept the floor, and made the bed.
After a while.
The phone rang again. It was the Guard Department.
Yu Sheng answered it.
"Yes, I'm Yu Sanshui's family member."
"I won't bail him out."
"I think we should put an end to this bad atmosphere to better purify the social environment."
"So please, give him the most profound transformation."
"Yes, it doesn't matter. Time is not an issue."
"As long as he can become a useful person to society, it's all worth it."
As he speaks, Yu Sheng's expression gradually becomes serious: "Prosperity, Democracy, Civility, Harmony, Justice, the Rule of Law, Patriotism, Dedication, Integrity, and Friendship! These are the positive energies that the Ink Pavilion has always been promoting!"
"Even as ordinary people, we are always ready."
After saying that, Yu Sheng hung up the phone and fell asleep on the bed in the darkness of the night.
In his sleep.
An ancient scroll slowly unfolded in his mind. There seemed to be something painted on it, but it was very dim and blurry.
A ray of starlight shone through the window and covered Yu Sheng.
...
In the morning.
Yu Sheng opened his eyes, washed up, and prepared breakfast.
After everything was ready, he casually slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and went out to school.
For him who had grown up in Sin City since he was a child, going to school was a very novel thing.
At first, he also entered the school gate with anticipation, but after getting to know the classmates around him, he thought that school was just so-so.
A bit childish.
A group of kids who had never seen blood were looking forward to how they would slay all enemies, be invincible, and maintain world peace every day.
At the school gate.
At this time, many parents were excitedly sending their children to the school gate.
The annual Awakening Test could be said to determine the fate of most people.
If one's talent wasn't enough, without any strange encounters in this lifetime, one would probably only be able to be a working-class person.
If one was lucky and had connections, one could enter the Guard Department and might live a more comfortable life.
During this time, he also saw a few classmates, but he didn't greet them. Those classmates almost subconsciously ignored Yu Sheng.
In the classroom.
The class teacher was standing on the podium with a cold expression.
Liu Qingfeng, a veteran who had come back from the front line. It was said that he had participated in the battle at the Pass of Demon Confinement before, but later his right little finger was torn off by a monster, and he could no longer hold a sword tightly, so he came to such a remote small city to work as a teacher.
He always had a cold face and drilled them in the way of the army, making everyone complain bitterly. Behind his back, they called him Liu the Madman.
"One hour later, the Awakening Assessment will begin!"
"Perhaps you are now looking forward to when you awakens, having good talent, cultivating quickly, killing monsters, guarding cities, and being admired by thousands of people."
"But how many people can actually achieve this?"
"Killing enemies in blood is indeed admirable."
"But staying in the rear and serving the people, is it any worse?"
"So, calm down!"
"In the last hour, adjust yourself."
As Liu Qingfeng's cold and realistic voice fell, the classroom became quiet for a while.
But no>No one refuted.
Because they knew that what Liu Qingfeng said was the truth.
"To serve the people..."
"Or to be the people being served..."
At this time, Yu Sheng's voice faintly rang out.
In the quiet classroom, it was clearly audible.
For a while, the classmates were collectively petrified.
A second blow, on the verge of crying.
So...
Were they not even worthy of serving the people?
Although everyone knew it in their hearts, but saying it out loud...