"Eh, why did all the kids go inside?" Wen Ya watched helplessly as the three of them disappeared from sight.
She turned her head to look at Shen Sixing with a bewildered expression. "I haven't even started cooking yet."
Remembering that Shen Yi had just said she was hungry, Wen Ya slapped her forehead. With an "Ah!", she rushed to the kitchen in a panic.
Before she even tied her apron properly, she shouted, "Shen Sixing, come here and help!"
Shen Sixing hastily replied, "Wait a moment, honey. Let me chat with our son first."
"Little Zhizhao, I'm not too sure what kind of history you have with Xiao Yi," Shen Sixing said, turning his head with a long-suffering expression of a parent who had worried too much about his children. "I don't care what kind of riddles you two are playing at, but after the two kids go to the island, you'll be the one making the arrangements, right?"
"Yes," Shen Zhizhao nodded.
Shen Sixing pondered for a moment. "I remember you also participated in the training when you were eight."
"Or rather, the rule of throwing the family's eight-year-old children onto a deserted island started with you."
Shen Zhizhao was the first child of the Shen family.
Wen Ya was overprotective of her child back then, which meant Old Master Shen couldn't take the child even if he wanted to.
Shen Zhizhao stayed by his parents' side, growing up in the warm world created by Wen Ya and Shen Sixing.
Humans are contradictory. Shen Zhizhao was smart and precocious from a young age. To say he had no longing for such a powerful and influential family would be a lie. After Old Master Shen sent people to contact him time and time again, he ultimately chose the family.
Shen Sixing didn't interfere with his choice.
He knew very well that for a child who was ambitious but had been raised by them to be a bit soft-hearted, the path of growing up was destined to be bumpy.
"When you were eight..."
Shen Zhizhao interrupted, "When I was eight, all the participants died, right? I was the final winner."
Shen Sixing denied it. "...No."
He looked at his son in front of him, his voice softening. "That was a lie we told you."
"You were too naive back then."
"To think you actually wanted to run away with them."
When he said this, Shen Sixing's tone carried a faint hint of mockery.
Shen Zhizhao lowered his head and whispered, "I don't remember."
"That's right," Shen Sixing said. "There are many things you don't remember. Once something that occupies too much of your emotions disappears, you quickly forget it."
This was considered the brain's instinctive defense mechanism.
A sentimental child is not fit to be a leader.
Shen Sixing was the kind of person who wouldn't feel heartache no matter which subordinate or friend died.
As long as subordinates were replaced quickly enough, there was no sorrow, only love.
Unfortunately, Shen Zhizhao couldn't do that. He was naturally born with a bit more softness. It wasn't until he grew up and lost too much that he gradually developed a sense of numbness.
The word "loss" permeated most of Shen Zhizhao's life.
Shen Zhizhao had now gradually learned not to form attachments with anyone.
He slowly digested Shen Sixing's words, keeping his head down, and murmured unconsciously, "So... those people didn't die."
Did that mean...
The story in his dreams...
Wasn't entirely just a dream?
In Shen Zhizhao's blurry dreams, that trial wasn't entirely filled with slaughter; at the very beginning, it was even somewhat heartwarming.
It was just too blurry for him to remember clearly.
"Yes, your companions didn't die," Shen Sixing said gently. "I remember it seemed like your personality became introverted after that time. Was it because you lost an important companion?"
"You can go find them now. Stop acting so deeply bitter and resentful."
Seeing him confront Shen Yi just now had given Shen Sixing a headache.
Was there anything these kids couldn't just talk out openly?
"Dad, are you telling me this so I'll go easy on them?" Shen Zhizhao guessed briefly, paused, and the curve of his lips widened slightly, carrying a hint of self-deprecation. "I'm not some monster. I won't torture them to death."
Although at first, he really hadn't planned on showing mercy.
But now, Shen Zhizhao had changed his mind.
"By the way, Dad, is there a room for me here?" Shen Zhizhao shifted his tone naturally. "I want to stay at home for a couple of days."
Shen Sixing: "?"
He couldn't help but give a deadpan stare. "What?"
Shen Sixing really didn't like kids.
He didn't like any kind of kids.
The big ones were annoying, and the little ones were annoying too.
He only wanted to run their cozy, murderous daily life with Wen Ya.
Rather than being crowded together with a bunch of chattering kids, living in utter chaos.
Shen Sixing couldn't smile anymore. "I'll help you tidy up a room."
"How many days are you staying, Little Zhizhao?"
Shen Zhizhao: "That's hard to say."
Shen Sixing: "..."
He closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate, going to help his son tidy up a room while Wen Ya was still in the kitchen figuring out what to make for dinner.
The living room suddenly became quiet.
Shen Zhizhao leaned against the sofa, his mind filled with Shen Sixing's words: Your companions didn't die.
Companions...
So, he and she should have been good friends, right?
Otherwise, why would it hurt so much even in his dreams?
After washing up, Shen Zhizhao went upstairs without even eating dinner.
The newly tidied room was clean and neat. He had someone bring him some melatonin, swallowed it, buried himself in the blankets, covered his head, and closed his eyes.
He still wanted to know what exactly happened when he was eight.
Those companions who survived...
And that person who made him cry from sorrow in his dreams.
Perhaps it was true that what you think about during the day, you dream about at night.
The dream he had after falling asleep this time was much clearer than the one he had right before waking up earlier.
— "If you want to be my companion, you have to call me Big Sister." The girl in his dream looked exceptionally proud.
— "If I can see you again next time, I will definitely take you home."
— "The future is wonderful, and knowing you is wonderful too."
— "Goodbye, Shen Zhizhao."
