Chapter 22: Orphan's Grudge

–The script unfolds from the perspective of the murderer, Yu Tong

You are Yu Tong, a special child.

From the time you could remember, you knew you were different from others. Your fingers were always itchy, and you had to hide other people's things in your own pockets to find relief.

The Dean had educated her many times and invited doctors several times. You overheard outside the door that this was called "kleptomania."

The children in the orphanage all looked at you with strange eyes, avoiding you like the plague.

That year you were five, March 26th, fate showed you kindness for the first time.

Every month on this day, a couple would come to adopt a child, and this month, they chose you.

You remember that couple was dressed in finery, the lady's pearl necklace shining in the sun, revealing a kind and amiable smile.

At that moment you realized you could finally leave this cold place.

Just when you were overjoyed, Si Han, who was usually reticent, suddenly grabbed the corner of your clothes.

"Don't go with them," she said, her voice trembling, "Tomorrow we will all die, we will all die here!"

You shook off her hand, thinking she was just jealous. You argued with her a few times and left in a hurry, but you didn't see that Si Han's eyes behind you were filled with terror, and she ran away from the orphanage screaming.

The mixed-race boy Kai Luo, hiding in the corner, heard Si Han's words and immediately took his favorite younger brother, Lin Xiaofan, and fled the orphanage.

But fate seemed to play a joke on you. Just immersed in the joy of happiness, you were suddenly pinned by pairs of angry eyes.

The other children surrounded you. They were unwilling, and could not accept a "freak" being chosen.

In the pushing and shoving, you fell into the abandoned water well in the backyard.

At the moment of falling, you saw them light a match.

The next day, after the couple discovered you were missing, they turned to choose the orphanage child Xiaoxiao and even gave her the heirloom jade pendant.

Just as they were preparing to leave, they finally discovered your body, burned beyond recognition, at the bottom of the well.

"How unlucky."

You heard Mrs. Guan say this. In the end, they didn't take anyone away.

Your ghost cursed from the bottom of the well.

That night, a mysterious big fire engulfed the orphanage, and all the children became ghosts.

Ironically, they thought they were still alive, repeating their behaviors before death every day, while at night they emitted shrill cries and bizarre nursery rhymes.

Sunshine Orphanage had since become a shelter for freaks; the only ones who survived were those children who had already left and the new ones.

But this wasn't enough.

In the new year, you returned here.

The new boy, Xu Yiyi, was the first to become a soul under your blade.

The old woman who took care of you almost recognized you, so you had to dig out her eyes.

At that moment, a trace of guilt flashed in your heart; the old woman had taken care of you for a long time.

Guan Xiaoxiao, the girl who missed the opportunity to be adopted because of your death, became your next target.

She made ugly cloth dolls, took the lead in cursing you, and even composed a song for you, making your body unable to rest in peace.

In a fit of impulse, you tampered with your own clothes and swapped them with her during the night.

Accustomed to stealing, you were now handy at doing these things. Watching the flames dance on her body, you almost laughed out loud.

After dawn, you calmly threw the charred clothes into the laundry room to destroy the evidence.

When March 26th came again, you heard that another child was going to be adopted; that child was named Le Zhi.

You repeated your old trick and swapped clothes with Le Zhi.

At that farewell party, before she could wait for the couple, she waited for the fire's kiss of death.

Guan Xiaoxiao's final expression was frozen in your memory.

It wasn't pain, but surprise, as if she couldn't believe you would come back.

You did come back, carrying the chill from the bottom of the well and the resentment that hadn't dissipated for years.

Her cloth doll still lay in the ashes, the stitches crooked, unloved by anyone, just like you.

Before Le Zhi died, she was still pushing someone on the swing. How ridiculous. You stood in the shadows watching her be swallowed by the big fire, like a moth pinned down.

When the flames climbed up her skirt, you remembered yourself years ago waiting to be adopted in a new dress.

If someone had told you then that what you were waiting for wasn't a new life, but an eternal fall, would you have believed it?

Dawn was approaching.

When the first ray of sunshine shone into the ruins, all the ghosts would temporarily disappear.

Only you were still standing here, standing in this place that was both the starting point and the end point.

The big fire had never truly extinguished; it burned in your heart, more persistent than any flame, deeper than any darkness.

You closed your eyes, letting the hatred flow into every inch of the land.

This place would forever be your territory, your prison, your burial ground.

And those who had hurt you would all become part of this eternal reincarnation, never to be reborn. ===== CHAPTER 23 =====