Chapter 28: Memory Fragments - Mu Qing"s Past
Star City Academy.
At night, the moon was bright and the stars were spa.r.s.e.
By the lake in front of the dormitory building, Mu Qing sat under the willow tree with her knees bent. Her lips gently touched the harmonica as she quietly played it.
A light breeze brushed past her face, lifting a few strands of black hair.
As she played, Mu Qing"s pupils turned into vertical slits, and the rune crystal embedded in her arm flickered with light.
She took a deep breath and tried to suppress the restlessness in her heart. However, she could stop scenes of the past from appearing in her mind, making it even harder for her to control herself.
Her eyes gradually turned scarlet, and two canine teeth were revealed at the corners of her mouth.
Suppressing the throbbing in her heart, a pained expression appeared on Mu Qing"s face. Her body curled up and began to tremble.
She was once again close to losing control.
At this moment, Feng Qi appeared not far away.
Realizing that something was wrong with Mu Qing, he immediately took a few steps forward and came to her side.
"Senior Sister, what"s wrong?"
As he spoke, he pressed his hand on Mu Qing"s shoulder. In an instant, a strong suction force came from Mu Qing"s body.
Due to Mu Qing"s extremely chaotic mental state, the Nightmare ability that he had just obtained was automatically triggered at this moment. Many fragmented memories images surfaced in his mind.
A little girl appeared on the screen. It could be seen that this little girl, who was about seven or eight years old, was Mu Qing. At this moment, she was at the side of a wooden bed, tears flowing uncontrollably.
Lying on the wooden bed was a man with a bloated and black body. He reached out to hold the little girl"s hand and said with difficulty,
"Don"t blame us. There"s nothing we can do. You"re going to live alone in the future. I"m sorry, I"m going to meet Mom first… You have to learn to take care of yourself. You have to be strong and live on."
Looking at the girl who was still crying, the man began to cough violently. Black blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. Then, he picked up the harmonica beside him with difficulty and handed it to the little girl.
"This is the only thing Mom and Dad can leave you…"
"Mumu, don"t be afraid. You"ll have the strength to stand up after eating your fill."
…
The scene in his mind flickered and skipped.
When the scene became clear again, the little girl was holding a few doc.u.ments and standing timidly in the Star City Civil Affairs Bureau"s hall, waiting silently.
"Number 024, counter 3!" The electronic announcement resounded through the hall of the Civil Affairs Bureau.
When the little girl heard this, she immediately ran to the counter and climbed onto the chair with some difficulty.
When the staff at the counter saw that it was a little girl who was here, he was very surprised.
"Kid, what"s the matter?"
"I"m here to get an orphan certificate," the little girl pursed her lips and said.
Looking at the surprise on the staff member"s face, the little girl took out the death certificates of her father, mother, paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents one by one. Then, she said,
"I just went to get Daddy"s death certificate. I don"t have any relatives now and need to be sent to the orphanage, so I came to get my orphan certificate."
The scene in his mind stunned Feng Qi.
He could not imagine how Mu Qing had endured through this dark period.
He suddenly felt very sorry for this strong girl.
"After getting the orphan certificate, I"m considered an adult, I can take care of myself now, right?" At this moment, the little girl looked at the staff at the counter timidly and asked.
Hearing those words, Feng Qi had mixed feelings.
The resources in Star City were relatively abundant, but they were also limited. When a child loses all his loved ones and has no cash savings, he or she would lose all educational opportunities and be sent to an orphanage to be raised by the country.
When one reaches the age of 13, they would need to rely on themselves. The final way out was generally to become a low-level resident of Star City and take on the most difficult and tiring jobs.
Feng Qi was educated because his parents had left him an inheritance, and he didn"t have to work for his livelihood.
However, orphans without cash savings were completely different. After getting their orphan certificate, they could already see the end of their lives.
Faced with Little Mu Qing"s question, the staff member opened his mouth and squeezed out a smile to comfort her.
"Yes, once the orphan certificate is prepared, you"ll be an adult."
The scene in his mind flickered and jumped again. The scene changed. A tall woman in a black uniform appeared beside Little Mu Qing. She bent down and whispered into Mu Qing"s ear.
"Their blood flows in your body. That"s the result of our experiment, so you have to come back with me to complete the subsequent experiments."
As she spoke, she held Mu Qing"s small hand and walked into the distance step by step.
At that moment, Feng Qi could feel the resistance and struggle in Mu Qing"s heart.
The scene suddenly cut off at this moment. Then, he felt a pain in his chest. His body flew back a few meters and he fell heavily to the ground.
Feng Qi, who had regained his senses, hurriedly stood up and barely dodged Mu Qing"s heavy punch.
Boom! A crater was created on the ground.
"Senior! Sister" He hurriedly shouted.
Hearing Feng Qi"s shout, a struggling expression appeared on Mu Qing"s face. After standing on the spot for a moment, she took a deep breath and the scarlet light in her pupils slowly dissipated.
"I"m sorry." Mu Qing, who had recovered, seemed to be at a loss. She did not even dare to look at him.
In her days at the academy, Feng Qi was the only student who wanted to be friends with her.
But she knew that Feng Qi would soon be like the other students in the academy. He would only avoid her and even discriminate against her.
"I"m fine. It"s time to teach me how to play the harmonica." Feng Qi grinned and said indifferently.
Hearing this, Mu Qing raised her head in disbelief.
"A-Aren"t you afraid that I"ll lose control again?"
Looking at the pit on the ground, he forced himself to act cool.
"I"m not afraid. Do I look that weak? This punch is pa.s.sable. It doesn"t hurt very much."
"…"
Looking at Mu Qing"s complicated expression, he smiled and said,
"Senior Sister, you don"t seem to be in a good state today. Go back and rest well. We can arrange to meet again to teach me how to play the harmonica. Oh right, we"ll get breakfast together tomorrow." Feng Qi grinned.
When Mu Qing heard this, she opened her mouth and nodded with a complicated expression.
"Okay."
After Mu Qing walked away, Feng Qi rubbed his chest and made a hissing sound. His expression finally could not be maintained.
The power of Mu Qing"s punch was comparable to that of a prehistoric beast. When it landed on his chest, it almost threw his soul out of his body.
If not for the fact that his body had been strengthened several times in the dream, he would definitely be lying in the emergency room right now.
When he lifted his top, he realized that there was indeed a bruise on his chest.
But miraculously, these bruises were fading at a visible speed.
He was not surprised because his prefix t.i.tle in the dream had changed from Weak to Strong. One of the abilities of the Strong prefix was to speed up the body"s self-healing ability.
After staying around for a while, he turned around and walked towards the dormitory building.
When he recalled the scene he saw in Mu Qing"s shattered memories, a ferocious glint flashed in his eyes.
Now he really wanted to know who that woman in black was.
Perhaps Mu Qing had become a Rune Transformer because the woman in black had treated her as an experimental subject.
He even suspected that the cause of Mu Qing"s parents" deaths might be some kind of evil human experiment.
He felt as if he was one step closer to the truth.
Perhaps all of this were inextricably linked to the Scarlet Research Inst.i.tute.