Chapter 12: The Scum’s Past

Ji Xiao, his back to the person, spoke with a slight tremor in his voice. “Take this cat away!”

The young boy, who had been holding the cat up for him to see, instantly reddened around the eyes. He turned and fled.

Only then did Ji Xiao let out a sigh of relief.

Black Cat: “Logically speaking, cats aren’t scary at all. Uh, there’s something called desensitization therapy. Have you heard of it?”

Ji Xiao: “Shut up.”

Black Cat: “Sigh.”

A few minutes later, Ji Xiao had recovered his composure, his gaze sweeping across his surroundings.

This was a three-bedroom, one-living room apartment, fully furnished and exquisitely decorated.

Seeing his heartbeat had steadied, the Black Cat observed him coolly. “Should I transmit the original owner’s memories to you?” it asked faintly.

“Transmit them.”

Sheng Xiao, the original owner of this body, had been a rich second-generation heir.

His parents had started from nothing, building a vast family fortune that spanned generations, allowing him to squander it freely.

In Sheng Xiao’s early childhood, his parents were consumed by their careers, leaving him with very little companionship.

He spent most of his time alone at home, with nannies being the people he saw most often.

By the time his parents’ business had stabilized, Sheng Xiao was already in junior high.

His early years of neglect and solitude had fostered a reclusive and introverted nature within him.

However, at the age of ten, he met a neighborhood boy—a gentle soul whose smile was as refreshing as a spring breeze.

This boy noticed Sheng Xiao and began to include him in his games.

He became Sheng Xiao’s guiding light.

When Sheng Xiao entered junior high, he was thrilled to discover they would attend the same high school, and even be in the same class!

Yet, upon arriving at school, he realized that this light wasn’t exclusively his.

Mo Lin, the neighborhood boy, was incredibly popular at school. Many students there had been his classmates before.

He didn’t just smile gently at Sheng Xiao; he treated everyone with the same tender warmth.

Sheng Xiao snapped.

That was *his* light, and he had to monopolize him.

He yearned to tear apart anyone who dared to occupy Mo Lin’s time.

He began to grow increasingly clingy.

At school, he was inseparable from Mo Lin, walking home together after classes, even insisting on sleeping in the same bed.

By the time Sheng Xiao’s parents came to their senses, their son was already living next door at the Mo family’s house.

They didn’t know how to interact with their now ‘grown’ child, so they simply indulged him, satisfying his every desire.

Mo Lin, oblivious to Sheng Xiao’s darker inclinations, merely found his friend becoming more and more attached.

He sympathized with Sheng Xiao.

Upon learning that Sheng Xiao had been lonely since childhood, with parents too busy for him, Mo Lin resolved to bring warmth into his life.

Consequently, he was willing to indulge his friend, who seemed so starved for affection.

Then, they applied to different high schools.

Naturally, Sheng Xiao refused to be separated from his light. He stubbornly insisted on attending the same high school.

Sheng Xiao’s parents’ company was flourishing by then. They simply donated a teaching building to the school and renovated the library, among other contributions.

This allowed the slightly lower-scoring Sheng Xiao to enroll and be placed in Mo Lin’s class.

Mo Lin felt that since they were starting high school, Sheng Xiao should mature and stop being so clingy, like a child.

Moreover, Sheng Xiao’s parents were less busy now and had ample time to spend with him, eager to compensate for their past absence.

Upon hearing Mo Lin’s advice, Sheng Xiao broke down and cried hysterically.

Unable to cope, Mo Lin could only ask him to rein himself in, to stop constantly hovering around him.

He even helped Sheng Xiao try to make new friends.

Mo Lin believed that Sheng Xiao’s excessive reliance stemmed from having only one friend: him.

Sheng Xiao outwardly agreed to everything, but secretly, he beat up anyone who tried to get close to him or Mo Lin.

He then spent a considerable sum of money to have them transferred to other schools.

All the ‘friends’ he was supposed to make inexplicably transferred away.

Mo Lin eventually caught on to Sheng Xiao’s actions and abandoned the idea of making new friends for him.

He confronted Sheng Xiao.

Mo Lin painstakingly coaxed out all of Sheng Xiao’s thoughts, then seized an opportunity to shake him off and consult a psychologist.

Upon learning this, Sheng Xiao flew into a furious rage.

****

Ji Xiao rubbed his temples, simultaneously processing the plot, a sneer twisting his lips.

Mo Lin and Sheng Xiao remained entangled until high school graduation.

On the night of their class reunion, Sheng Xiao drank too much, and Mo Lin escorted him home.

By coincidence, Sheng Xiao’s parents were away that night.

Recalling the classmates who had confessed their feelings at the reunion, taking advantage of their impending separation, Sheng Xiao vaguely realized that his feelings for Mo Lin had changed at some unknown point.

That night, he took Mo Lin.

Upon waking the next morning, Mo Lin was gone, and Sheng Xiao had no time to look for him.

Sheng Xiao’s parents had been in a car accident and were in critical condition.

In a daze, Sheng Xiao went to the hospital.

Ultimately, they succumbed to their injuries and passed away.

Sheng Xiao, already eighteen, was met by his parents’ lawyer, who appeared after receiving the news and helped him complete all necessary procedures.

He even assisted with arranging the funeral.

His parents’ death did not break him.

What shattered him was the Mo family moving away.

While he was at the hospital, waiting for his parents’ emergency treatment, Mo Lin had persuaded his own parents to move directly.

Sheng Xiao frantically searched for him.

Out of respect for Sheng Xiao’s parents, the lawyer even found a reliable professional manager to help him oversee the company.

Sheng Xiao held onto hope, searching for Mo Lin when university started.

They had agreed to attend the same university and had both been accepted.

But Mo Lin never arrived.

It took Sheng Xiao a long time to understand that Mo Lin had truly left him.

He became despondent.

Whenever he saw someone who resembled Mo Lin, he would pursue them relentlessly.

Once he ‘obtained’ them, he would find them dull, utterly incomparable to Mo Lin, and would then cruelly disdain and humiliate them.

Then he would wildly pursue the next person…

This cycle repeated endlessly.

Ji Xiao watched, his brows furrowed, lighting one cigarette after another.

Even after graduating from university, Sheng Xiao had no intention of taking over the company.

He continued to entrust it to the professional manager introduced by the lawyer, caring only that he had money to spend, not who was managing the company.

Then, in a bar, he encountered a woman who bore a striking seventy percent resemblance to Mo Lin.

He had never been with a woman before.

But she was too much like Mo Lin.

He couldn’t resist making a move.

The woman, finding him handsome, acquiesced, and sparks flew between them.

The very next day, Sheng Xiao awoke filled with regret. Just as he was about to humiliate the woman, he found she had already left.

She left no message behind.

Sheng Xiao paid it no mind.

It wasn’t until a year later that the woman left a child at his doorstep, along with a note.

[Your son. I discovered him when he was already quite big, so I kept him. But he has nothing to do with me. Here he is; take him if you want him, otherwise, put him in an orphanage. – Left by the beauty you met for one night at Moli Bar a year ago.]

Ji Xiao extinguished his cigarette, picked up his phone and keys, and walked out.

The young boy he had just cursed and sent running, the one holding the cat, was that child.

Sheng Lin.

Sheng Xiao hadn’t wanted him initially.

But he couldn’t help but think: if that woman looked so much like Mo Lin, and the child resembled both Mo Lin and himself, couldn’t he then pretend it was his and Mo Lin’s child?

Thus, he kept the child and named him Sheng Lin.

Ji Xiao closed the door, his voice cold. “As expected of a trashy system. The tasks you pick for me are all garbage.”

Black Cat: “Cough, otherwise, what would we need you for…?”

Ji Xiao tucked his keys into his pocket and walked forward. “You even accept missions from such scum. You’re no good either.”

Black Cat: “Warning: your presence is required.”

Ji Xiao: “…”

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