Chen Yexun rested his chin on one hand, leaning against the cold car window.
The sky outside was a dull, murky gray.
Fine threads of rain slid silently across the glass, smudging the congested traffic into blurred spots of light.
Inside the warm cabin, the air reeked of ostentation.
“Not gonna lie, the handling on this car is unbelievable.
Throttle response is instant, chassis is solid as a rock.” Chen Yexun pulled his gaze from the window and glanced at the rearview mirror.
It reflected a head of flashy bleached hair in the driver’s seat.
Duan Xuan, who was driving, tapped his fingers smugly on the steering wheel.
“My dad said a college graduation gift needs to have some clout.
Gives me face when I talk business down the line.” The smugness practically dripped from the mirror.
“Yeah, yeah.
You’re just born lucky, Young Master Duan.” Chen Yexun glanced at Zhang Yang, their slightly chubby dorm leader sitting in the passenger seat.
Zhang Yang was scrolling through his phone, offering a bitter response without even looking up: “Though I saw on the news that an asteroid might hit Earth today.
Might be the end of the world.
You probably won’t even get to enjoy that car for more than a couple of days.” Listening to their mindless banter, Chen Yexun let out a soft sigh.
His eyes drifted back to the gray world outside as he murmured involuntarily, “Honestly…
that wouldn’t be so bad.” “Like hell it wouldn’t,” his cousin, Li Chengyu, said from beside him, rolling his eyes and slapping his shoulder hard.
“Did you forget about *Hell Driver 3*?
We scraped together our savings for that game and haven’t even finished co-op mode yet.
If the apocalypse comes, that money goes down the drain.
Total rip-off.” Chen Yexun twitched the corner of his mouth, letting out a half-hearted laugh without replying.
He turned back toward the window.
The rain-soaked world outside matched his heart—shrouded in gray.
It really was fine.
If it were truly the end of the world, maybe he could finally escape that abyss of a home, a place choked with blood and hypocrisy.
His agreement to come out to the temple fair today was less about enjoying the crowd and more about a premeditated escape.
Because…
his parents had “handled” another “trouble.” The sharpest memory buried deep in his mind belonged to an afternoon in elementary school.
He had accidentally pushed open the soundproof basement door and found his father humming a song while deftly butchering a stranger’s body like a carcass of pork.
In that moment, the acrid stench of blood contrasted horribly with the almost holy ecstasy on his father’s face.
Young Chen Yexun had thrown up until his head spun.
When he lifted his head, his parents were looking at him with deep disappointment—as if staring at a defective tool.
What happened after?
After that, he became an accomplice.
Helping to clean up the crime scenes, using his innocent, cute face to lure the next prey.
Was it out of fear of being abandoned, or terror of becoming the next pile of “meat” in the basement?
He could no longer tell.
For years, their “model family” had remained perfectly concealed within the city, all thanks to him—the most unremarkable “good kid”—acting as their cover.
It wasn’t until he got his own smartphone and connected to the internet that he realized with horror that normal families were nothing like this.
His parents were absolute demons.
And the handsome, refined face reflected in the mirror—once his most effective tool in their crimes—now brought him nothing but waves of nausea.
“Hey, Yexun, zoning out again?” Li Chengyu’s voice broke his train of thought.
“Let me ask you something—did you hear about that family massacre in your neighborhood a few days ago?” The topic instantly grabbed the attention of the two in front.
Zhang Yang turned his head around, his face glowing with the excitement of sharing an urban legend: “Fuck, how could I not?
Scared the shit out of people.
Word is a family of three had their heads lined up neatly on the dinner table.
The killer was the daughter, and she was laughing creepy as hell when the cops dragged her away.
Damn, my mom wouldn’t even go downstairs to throw out the trash for days.” Chen Yexun listened in silence, his heart completely numb.
*There really is no limit to perversion,* he thought.
*Only worse ones.* Compared to his family’s “traditional craft,” this ritualistic madness felt horrifying in a completely different way.
“Jesus Christ, can we talk about something normal for once?” Duan Xuan frowned and hit the horn, but the sea of cars ahead didn’t budge an inch.
“Why the hell is this shitty road so jammed?
There were never this many cars when I came before.
Bad fucking luck.” Li Chengyu laughed.
“Oho, Bleach-head, you scared?” “Screw off, you’re the one who’s scared,” Duan Xuan snapped back, stiffening his neck to maintain his cool persona.
Chen Yexun had no interest in bickering.
His gaze aimlessly swept across the adjacent idling cars.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.
In the back seat of the car beside them, a familiar young boy was pressed against the window, drawing on the fogged glass with his finger.
*Him?* Last time at the shopping mall’s toy section, this was the kid who dragged him along to play Lego for half a day.
His smile was so pure it had made Chen Yexun feel ashamed of his own dark past.
As if possessed, Chen Yexun rolled down the window.
Fine rain and noisy street sounds rushed in immediately.
He smiled toward the car and waved.
The boy turned his head, startled for a second before his eyes lit up.
He shouted excitedly, “Big Brother!
It’s Lego Brother!” Chen Yexun nodded.
“Big Brother, where are you going?” the boy yelled, clinging to his car window.
“To the mountain for the temple fair,” Chen Yexun answered, raising his voice.
“We’re going too!
See you in a bit, Big Brother!” The boy waved his small hands happily.
Chen Yexun smiled, waved back, and rolled up the window.
“Who’s that?” Li Chengyu asked curiously.
“A kid I met at the mall a while back.
Really sweet,” Chen Yexun explained.
“Tch, I hate bratty kids, always loud and annoying,” Li Chengyu said with disgust.
“If he clings to you later, I’m ditching.
Don’t act like you know me.” “Relax, you won’t need to.
He’s very well-behaved,” Chen Yexun said, throwing him a side-glance.
The car crawled like a snail for a long while before finally reaching the parking lot at the foot of the mountain.
The rain had almost stopped.
The air carried a damp earthy scent blended with the enticing aroma of sizzling oil and spices from the food stalls.
The place was packed and clamorous, even livelier than expected.
The moment Chen Yexun stepped out of the car, his eyes instinctively scanned the crowd for the boy with the clean smile he had seen earlier—perhaps just wanting another glimpse of that pure innocent aura that made him feel ashamed.
Before he could spot the child, his attention was drawn to a large circle of people gathered near the snack street by the parking lot entrance.
The crowd was three layers deep inside and out.
Many were holding up their phones, excitedly filming something, while the buzzing murmurs were laced with clear, vile, and filthy curses.