Chapter 4: Unexpected Encounter

In two more days, six-year-old Lin You would begin his life as an elementary school student.

Most children his age had attended kindergarten and preschool, having long since adapted to a life of education.

Lin You was different. He had depended on his grandmother since childhood and had never been exposed to such things.

This also meant that the young boy had to step out of his familiar comfort zone and into a life full of unknowns.

Even though Lin You was a mature and sensible child for his age, he couldn’t help but feel nervous, apprehensive, and even resistant.

It was another night.

His grandmother was sound asleep.

Lin You went out alone, transforming into a scavenger of the darkness.

He did his best to avoid all passersby, picking up the bottles and cans discarded on the ground.

This was not the first time he had done this; it had long since become routine.

The nearby children’s park was a resource point he frequented. Almost every time he came, he could harvest a good number of beverage bottles.

It was now past ten at night. Under normal circumstances, no one would be lingering here.

‘Someone’s here?’

Lin You was very cautious. Even though he came to the children’s park often, he would still vigilantly check for passersby first.

Through his innate special ability, he discovered a light in the park that was white with a hint of green mixed in.

In this situation, Lin You would prioritize hiding himself and give up on this resource spot.

“Is that the boy who walked me home the day before yesterday?”

The beam of a flashlight shone over, accompanied by a somewhat familiar call.

It turned out that the girl, Yuting, had come to the park to wait for Lin You, and she had actually run into him.

“…”

To Lin You, the flashlight beam was like a deadly arrow. He turned and ran, the snakeskin bag rattling loudly from his vigorous movement.

“Hey, that was him, right? Why is he avoiding me? I came here to repay his great kindness.”

Hearing the voice grow more and more distant, Yuting was bewildered, unable to understand it at all.

On the other side.

Lin You ran for over a hundred meters in one breath. Only when he was hiding in the gap between the houses did he stop, panting heavily.

‘Is this girl fighting with her family again? Why is she here again, and with a flashlight…’

The boy clutched his left cheek. It was the darkness that covered his birthmark, giving him the courage to scavenge alone.

The light would expose him for what he was.

“I should go back.”

Lin You temporarily gave up on the children’s park as a resource point.

Time passed to the next night of scavenging.

“She won’t be here this time, will she?”

Lin You still couldn’t let go of the resources at the children’s park. He carried his snakeskin bag and prepared to go take a look.

Unlucky, super unlucky.

The white light tinged with green was right there in the park.

Without even thinking, he knew Xu Yuting was staking out the place again.

‘She’s so annoying.’

Lin You felt a rare sense of disgust. He couldn’t understand why the girl he had helped was obstructing his trash-collecting.

Meanwhile, the person in question, Yuting, sat on the park’s swing set, occasionally shining her flashlight around, trying to find the boy she was so eager to see.

‘Could he not be coming? Then wouldn’t the smart and brave Queen Yuting owe him a favor forever? That won’t do.’

The girl’s thoughts were naive and innocent; she had no idea she was severely hindering Lin You.

‘I have to drive her away.’

Lin You was truly unwilling to let Yuting occupy this resource-rich place indefinitely. A bold idea popped into his head.

What should he do?

The boy looked at the stones on the ground.

‘It would be bad if I hit her.’

He had initially thought of throwing stones to scare Yuting away, but his mind was more mature than that of an ordinary little brat, and he felt it was too dangerous.

‘Then I’ll pretend to be a ghost and make scary noises. If she hears them, she should run away on her own.’

A much safer method came to mind.

He put it into action immediately.

First, Lin You hid his snakeskin bag, then he crept quietly towards the children’s park.

Relying on his excellent night-maneuvering skills, he easily reached a spot over ten meters behind Yuting, hiding behind the slide.

“Oh man, why isn’t he here yet? If Mommy checks my room and finds me not in bed, my butt is going to be spanked raw.”

Yuting muttered anxiously. It was late at night, and as a little girl, she didn’t have the freedom to go out. Just like Lin You, she had snuck out on her own.

“Awoooo…”

Just as the girl was getting impatient, a strange sound echoed.

“Mommy, there’s a ghost… aah…”

Yuting’s courage waxed and waned. She was bold enough to come to the pitch-black park for two consecutive nights to find Lin You, but now, a little rustle in the wind was enough to turn her face pale with fright.

Because she was too nervous, she carelessly fell right off the gently swaying swing.

Fortunately, the ground was covered in a layer of sand, so she wasn’t seriously hurt.

“Don’t eat me, help…”

Yuting rolled around a few times in the sand, her flashlight long since knocked out of her hand.

‘I think I overdid it.’

As the culprit, Lin You hadn’t expected Yuting to be so easily scared.

His intention was to scare her away, but now it seemed he had scared her legs out from under her, which was the opposite of his goal.

“I don’t taste good, I don’t bathe every day, my meat is sour…”

Yuting hugged her head, still begging for mercy, clearly terrified.

“…”

At first, Lin You did harbor some resentment towards Yuting, but now that he had used too much force and scared her badly, he was starting to feel guilty.

He first went to pick up the flashlight Yuting had dropped, turned it off, and then walked towards the girl who didn’t even dare to open her eyes.

“Don’t be afraid. That was me just now, scaring you.”

With one sentence, Lin You cleared up the misunderstanding.

“It… it was you scaring me? You’re horrible.”

As soon as Yuting heard the boy’s familiar voice, she wasn’t so scared anymore. After understanding what had happened, she did a carp-flip and got to her feet.

“I didn’t want to do this, but you kept staying here, getting in the way of my collecting.”

Lin You felt a bit in the wrong, but also somewhat justified.

“What are you talking about? I’m not going to fight you for bottles. Don’t treat me like a bad guy.”

Yuting patted the sand off her little nightdress, retorting with a sense of being wronged.

“I didn’t say you were trying to take them, it’s just… it’s just…”

Of course, Lin You knew that most children didn’t need to collect trash.

The real reason was that Yuting had brought a flashlight, making it impossible for him to get close to the children’s park, which led to this whole series of events.

“It’s just what? Hurry up and say it!”

Yuting was curious about what he would say next and grew anxious.

“I don’t like light. You brought a flashlight, so…”

Under her persistent questioning, Lin You had no choice but to state the most superficial reason.

“Huh? Are you a vampire? Who’s afraid of light? That’s so weird.”

Yuting opened the floodgates, chattering and complaining.

“…”

Lin You didn’t know what to say, gripping the flashlight in his hand tightly.

“You should have just said so earlier. I won’t turn on the flashlight then.”

Yuting muttered a few more words.

“Please don’t turn on the flashlight before I leave. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.”

Lin You hesitated for a moment but still returned the flashlight that belonged to Yuting.

Then, not forgetting his original purpose, he immediately bent down to pick up the discarded beverage bottles in the park.