Children of the Stars
Lu Xun froze.
He had thought Chen Ling would put forward various kinds of demands, but he absolutely didn't expect that the "payment" the other party wanted was actually such a question...
"This..." Lu Xun hesitated for fully ten seconds before he couldn't help but speak,
"Director Chen, this question... I... I really don't know how to answer."
Seeing this, Chen Ling also sighed helplessly.
Indeed... this question was too abstract for a normal person. It was like grabbing a person and asking them: if you became the leader of Mars in your next life, using your expertise, what kind of ideal empire would you build Mars into?
Unless it was like last time with Su Zhiwei, directly concretizing the question. But right now Chen Ling knew nothing about the Domain corresponding to Lu Xun, so he couldn't ask a specific question.
Chen Ling pondered for a moment, and spoke again:
Chen Ling's [Paint the Rosy Face] granted his eyes the ability to pierce through life Scripts. Just like when he saw Yao Qing's past back then, as long as he wanted to, he could also see Lu Xun's past now.
Hearing this demand, Lu Xun seemed somewhat hesitant, but ultimately still nodded:
"Alright, no problem."
Chen Ling closed his eyes. When he opened them again, two smears of apricot red had already spread out at the corners of his eyes.
Those pupils directly met Lu Xun's eyes. The next moment, a flash of mysterious red passed by. Lu Xun only felt a pain in his mind, falling into a brief trance!
A fragmented "play" poured into Chen Ling's mind through his gaze.
...
Boom—!
A streak of lightning cut through the dim sky.
Chen Ling opened his eyes and found himself in a wild mountain forest. Rain poured down from the dark clouds, surging wave after wave down the mountain path;
Chen Ling was taken aback, looking around in confusion. Where his eyes looked, he didn't see any buildings or houses existing, only endless darkness, forest shadows, and heavy rain.
Splash!
A drenched youth stepped into a puddle, staggering headlong into the dim forest shadows.
"... Hm?"
Chen Ling saw clearly the appearance of that youth. It was exactly the young Lu Xun. Although he didn't know what had happened here, he still quickly followed.
The current Chen Ling had no physical body, traveling through the forest like a ghost. Even the rain passed straight through him.
In the darkness, the youth seemed unable to clearly see the surrounding situation. Several times he heavily planted face-first onto the ground, and then forcefully stood up relying on willpower, continuing to grit his teeth and sprint forward;
He also turned his head to look back from time to time, as if fearing something. The pale face didn't have a single trace of blood color; instead, it was incomparably haggard.
"... This is one of his most unforgettable memories?"
Chen Ling looked at the youth running stubbornly like a cockroach, the confusion in his heart growing thicker. "What is he afraid of? Behind... what's there?"
Chen Ling looked back, but could only see a misty fog. In Lu Xun's memories, that place wasn't concretized.
He followed the youth Lu Xun all the way sprinting down wildly, until the youth was tripped by a rock in the darkness, tumbling down rapidly in the wet mountains like a sandbag. After crashing head-first into a giant boulder, he slightly deviated from the trajectory, and was hung on a tree branch at the edge of the cliff.
Scarlet fresh blood rolled down from the youth's forehead. His consciousness was already blurred, just lying like a corpse among the branches, allowing the rain to slide across his cheeks, washing away the blood...
Chen Ling quietly watched this scene from the side, his frown growing tighter and tighter.
Just at this moment, a gentle breeze brushed past the earth. A corner of the heavy dark clouds was lifted. The hazy starlight reflected in the youth's pupils, like a faint light veil. Lu Xun's consciousness gradually disappeared. That corner of starlight scattered from the dark clouds seemed to be branded in the depths of his memories, dazzling like a striking gemstone.
Three seconds later, he fainted.
Almost at the same time, beams of flashlight walked out from the darkness. They seemed to be searching for something. Finally, a person saw Lu Xun hung on the tree branches, and walked towards here while exclaiming!
"Over here!! Over here!"
"Is it that child who reported the case?"
"It's him! He actually ran out from the human traffickers' stronghold all by himself? That place is a full ten plus kilometers away from here... moreover it's raining so heavily in the mountains, how did he do it?"
"It's this tree branch that saved his life, otherwise, he would probably have already fallen off the cliff."
"Quick, fish him up..."
"..."
Noisy sounds rang out beside everyone's ears. Next, chaotic figures began to fish the youth up. At the same time, the scene in front of Chen Ling gradually shattered.
After a brief pause, a new scene appeared in front of Chen Ling.
...
"He's that child who's the sole survivor?"
"Yeah... Those human traffickers used a boat to send all the other children to Southeast Asia. Only this child escaped before boarding the boat, found an opportunity to call the police, and then braved the rain alone to escape over ten kilometers of mountain roads, and only then was he discovered."
"No wonder..."
In front of the orphanage's main gate, two figures were conversing softly under the eaves. An old man among them looked back at the youth sitting alone in his seat inside the house, his expression somewhat complex.
"This child's biological parents are still in prison. The relatives' house he used to live at also doesn't want him. Now he can only be sent to your place."
"So many children were captured, and only he alone escaped... This child is very smart, and also has enough courage." The old Dean nodded slightly, "I like smart children, just let him stay."
"Alright... Then I'll leave first."
After the other person said their goodbyes, they drove the car at the orphanage gate away alone.
After the old man watched him go far away, he walked straight into the house. At this time, the youth was still staring at a small piece of mirror on the table, seemingly in a daze.
"What are you looking at?" The old man walked to his side and asked.
"The youth didn't speak, but just lifted a corner of his hair. A scar with irregular edges was exposed to the air, looking incomparably ferocious.
"A scar?"
"The shape of this scar, looks like a star." The youth's eyes were like stars.
Seemingly not expecting the youth Lu Xun to answer like this, after a momentary freeze, the old man laughed a few times:
"It does look like a star... After all, you are a child of the stars."
"A child of the stars?"
"Not just you." The old man pointed at the Big Dipper on the wall. "Do you know? The zinc in our blood originates from the dust ejected into the universe after the collision of two neutron stars; the trace amounts of copper in our bodies needed to witness the death of a white dwarf, and even the most insignificant cobalt originates from nebulas billions of light-years away...
Earth has no way to nurture humanity. All of us... are Children of the Stars."
The youth Lu Xun raised his head and looked at the pattern of the Big Dipper on the wall, staring blankly, lost in thought.