Why Does Life Cry Out?

"Little Sevia." Aerylia's peaceful voice pulled Tang Xin back from her wandering thoughts. "These children..."

At that moment, the door of the orphanage was struck with heavy, forceful bangs. The silence of the night street was shattered, and the children who had finally managed to fall asleep were jolted awake. The faint sound of children crying drifted from inside.

The two of them looked toward the entrance. A tramp with tattered clothes and deep-sunken eyes stood before the main gate, reeking of a foul stench. His ten fingers, marred by tiny cracks from the freezing cold, gripped the iron bars of the gate tightly, mud caked beneath his fingernails.

Aerylia's face filled with helplessness at the sight. She stepped forward with a wooden stick and tapped the hands gripping the iron gate.

"Leave at once, leave at once!"

The tramp's dark eyes darted around before settling on Aerylia's face. He seemed lost in memories of the past, a flicker of residual clarity shining through the murkiness of his gaze. "Director Aerylia..."

He seemed unable to believe his eyes. After looking up and seeing the sign for the Iris Orphanage, he looked as if he had been struck by a heavy hammer, stumbling back a few steps.

Hearing that familiar voice address her, Aerylia froze. She stared at the disheveled, unkempt figure that seemed somewhat familiar and whispered softly, "Chris, is that you? Chris..."

"How... how did you end up like this?"

Tang Xin found the name familiar as well. She remembered now; this tramp was a child sent to the Iris Orphanage in the same year she was. Though her impression of him had never been good—in fact, her impression of all the children from that year was rather poor.

So many years had passed, and she had long since let go of the petty grievances from their naive childhood. She hadn't expected their next meeting to be like this. Seeing his current state, she couldn't help but feel a sense of how much things had changed.

"No one recognizes me... no one recognizes me... I can't leave this place, Director Aerylia."

"Quick, come in, child. Do you want something to eat? Or some water?"

Aerylia opened the iron gate, her tone full of concern. She reached out to pull the figure into the yard just as she would have over a decade ago, but he silently dodged her touch.

The tramp's eyes regained a bit of clarity. He shook his head, as if afraid the stench he carried would soil the 'home' of his childhood. He did not take a single step inside the gate, nor did he make contact with the woman. He simply sniffled.

"Can you give me a few brushes? Or a bucket of paint?" the tramp asked. "Maybe that will be useful to me."

"I really want to leave this place. I want to go somewhere that isn't cold, a place with color."

The tramp's lips trembled as he pleaded like a child. "Do me one last favor, Director Aerylia. I won't come back here again."

After receiving the brushes, the last flicker of light in Chris's eyes seemed to extinguish. He forced himself to look presentable, straightening his back to look at the blue-haired girl on the steps. Even though she had no color in his eyes, her beautiful attire placed her worlds apart from him.

That little monster who always wore a straight face had already spread her wings and flown to a higher, more distant place.

"Hey, Sevia. I didn't expect to see you in a place like this."

Tang Xin did not respond. Chris shook his head, never having expected her forgiveness. He was just a tramp, and her status was likely far more noble than his. Perhaps she was already a great artist; her fame was known to everyone outside the Keyboard District.

But he didn't know. Like the vast majority of children here, his world was only as large as the Keyboard District.

"About how Mel and I used to get everyone else to exclude you... I'm sorry..."

"Using childhood squabbles to cover up the things that caused you harm is just pathetic. For all these years, I've felt I owed you an apology. I'm sorry."

As he said this, Chris never dared to meet those eyes that were as calm as a deep sea, fearing that the moment she spoke, the gap in their status would crush his spine, which had been bent for a lifetime. Having finished his piece, he turned and ran into the night without looking back.

The brief interlude ended. Aerylia sighed softly, the wrinkles around her eyes deepening. She walked over to Tang Xin, taking the girl's hand and patting it gently without saying a word.

When the children here grew up, they had to leave the orphanage to face this cold, sad world alone, wondering where their futures lay. Perhaps the more sensitive girls could stay to become nursery teachers, but the end for most children in the Keyboard District was to become like Chris—a tramp barely surviving on the charity of the Life Daybreak human rights organization. For them, the future was vague and dim.

Why does life cry out?

When Tang Xin was very young, she had been led by a nursery teacher to sketch a pregnant woman giving birth. Upon hearing the child's cry, she had asked Ms. Aerylia that very question.

Because they are not yet ready to face this unknown world.

That was the answer Ms. Aerylia had given her at the time.

A hammer is given a reason for its existence the moment it is manufactured.

But how can a person, amidst the chaos of the amniotic fluid in the womb, figure out the meaning of their birth?

Therefore, everyone comes into the world naked, because they are not yet prepared to face this world.

"Little Sevia, the winter is getting colder." Aerylia's voice was very soft. She stood beside Tang Xin. She was getting older, her back slightly bent; the little girl who used to hug her waist and cry was now taller than she was.

Tang Xin understood the meaning behind her words. She lowered her eyes slightly. "Let the children here change into warm clothes tomorrow. Let them eat more delicious food. They are at the age where they need to grow."

"Mhm." Aerylia's smile was full of motherly love.

She looked at the rows of thin, small figures behind the windows who had entered the land of dreams. Her own reflection appeared on the frost-covered glass. She wore a floral dress under a thick mink shawl. Though her face was weathered and wrinkled, she was always kind-hearted and gentle, unlike the haggard people of this district.

"Damn it! Who are you!? I'm warning you, maliciously restricting someone's personal freedom and kidnapping them is a violation of the Starry Movement! This is a jailbreak! The tuners won't let you get away with this!"

Inside a small hotel, a disheveled man was being held in the air by two burly figures. He kicked his legs and shouted incessantly. Crude curses drifted from the rooms on either side, and only then did Ince shrug his shoulders and quiet down, though he continued to mutter under his breath.

Seeing that no one had paid him any attention for a long time, Ince pleaded weakly:

"Please, say something. I'm a little scared."

Ever since he led the sugarheads to storm the Rongsen Media building, he had been sentenced to 6,327 years in prison. The food in the Keyboard District prison was as bad as it could get. Ince was being driven mad by the mushy food mixed with cockroaches and bedbugs. His cellmates were all lunatics who would be shot on sight by the Ascetic Sect.

He had no doubt that one day, his cellmate—the one who gnawed on his toenails all day—would smile wickedly, smear himself in paint, and shove something into his backside while talking about high art, truth, or philosophy.

Just moments ago, the prison guard had opened his cell door. Then, two burly men had plucked him out of his sleep like a little chick. If he hadn't left Bronc Prison, he would have thought he was dreaming.

Could it be that the people above had shown mercy and changed his six-thousand-year sentence to a death sentence?

Ince found it hard to suppress his internal excitement at the thought. He couldn't wait to escape that hell.

Amidst his thoughts, the two burly men carried him to their destination and tossed Ince forward like a piece of trash. His knees met the floor intimately as he slid all the way to the feet of a young girl.

"Miss Xu, the person you asked for by name has been brought to you."

Ince looked up. In that moment, he felt as if he had seen an angel who would deliver him from his suffering. The girl's golden hair was so dazzling, reaching down to her shoulders. She wore a black shawl over a pure white shirt and sat on the bed with her legs crossed. Her gaze was indifferent, and the black cotton socks on her legs looked very warm to hold.

"Mr. Ince, long time no see," Xu Xiaoyou said while cracking melon seeds.

Hearing that voice, Ince felt as if he had been dropped into an ice cellar, and rage surged within him!

Damn it, he wouldn't forget that voice even if he were turned to ash! Who calls this thing an angel!? Though for some reason he couldn't quite remember the details of what happened back then, he was certain that the golden-haired girl before him was the devil who had lured him into storming the Rongsen Tower!