Black Mist 01
Is there anything more soul-crushing than turning into a seven-year-old primary school student?
Yes.
A classmate wailing at you at the top of their lungs.
Born after the Apocalypse, Tian Xiao had never spent a day in school his entire life, but he was a very capable fighter. He had no idea how to handle the current situation.
He had just rejected a classmate who cornered him in a corner of the playground to confess her feelings, and the other party had completely broken down.
“Say what you just said to reject me again!” she sobbed while howling.
Tian Xiao, who didn’t think there was anything wrong with his words, repeated himself. “I like people who are burly and strong. Being able to level a wall with a single punch is just the baseline. You’re too weak; I don’t like you.”
The moment his voice trailed off, Cen Shishi, who was wearing a princess dress, let out another wail. Her eyes were so swollen from crying that they looked like two puffy slits.
“To think you’d say something like that just to reject me… I will never forgive you!” Screaming those words, Cen Shishi ran away.
Tian Xiao: “…”
Tian Xiao exhaled deeply, feeling a sense of relief as if he had just survived a disaster.
In the post-Apocalypse world, children were a rare sight. As a result of his reincarnation, he had been dropped directly into a swarm of them.
Tian Xiao had never even dreamed of a situation where so many children were gathered together.
Unlike people who lived through the Apocalypse, the children in this Peaceful World looked so fragile it seemed they could die quite easily, which made Tian Xiao a bit nervous.
Fortunately, Cen Shishi had finally left.
Picking up his backpack from the ground and slinging it over his shoulders, Tian Xiao sighed.
If time could flow backward to the moment he made his final wish before dying, he would definitely have added many more detailed descriptions to ensure he didn’t end up as a primary schooler.
But then again, who could have imagined that his wish to “become an ordinary person and live a peaceful, happy life” would actually come true?
He had arrived in a “Peaceful World” that he had only heard of from his elders.
The new world was vastly different from the Apocalypse. Having been here for less than a week, Tian Xiao was still not used to the fact that living people could be seen everywhere.
And among these living people, strange things would occasionally mingle.
They were things that ordinary people couldn’t see—resembling shadows or smoke. They weren’t particularly harmful to others, and they might dissipate in the time it took to turn around.
For example, this clump of Black Mist he encountered on his way home.
This wasn’t the first time Tian Xiao had seen it.
On his way to school, he had seen it hanging from a tree at a crossroads, muttering to the passing pedestrians.
“Can you hear me? Can you see me?”
None of the passersby could see it, nor could they hear it speak.
Tian Xiao could, but he imitated the others and treated it as if it didn’t exist.
Perhaps because the daylight had dimmed slightly, this clump of Black Mist looked darker than it had that morning.
Tian Xiao walked beneath it, blinking as he passed through the Black Mist.
Not only had its color deepened, but it also felt slightly tangible.
With this thought in mind, Tian Xiao followed the pedestrian in front of him across the street once the light turned green.
There were no traffic lights in the Apocalypse; he had only just learned the rules of the road over the past few days.
The Black Mist that had been muttering on the branch stopped. After a moment, it began to writhe like a snake, dropping from the branch to the ground. It crawled gloomily along the path Tian Xiao had taken.
As it crawled, it muttered, “Someone touched me…”
Tian Xiao: “…”
Tian Xiao paused for a split second before continuing forward.
Tian Xiao wasn’t clear on how exactly he had come to this world. He had simply fallen into a deep sleep after dying, and when he opened his eyes again, he was here.
His body had shrunk, as if he had returned to a time when he was still weak.
He had also gained a “unique” mother and a mysterious identity as a primary school student.
Tian Xiao had never had a mother.
He was an orphan.
After the Apocalypse, there were many motherless children; he wasn’t anything special.
Therefore, having a mother suddenly appear in this new world was something Tian Xiao was truly not used to.
He was less used to her than he was to seeing living people everywhere.
Even though they had been together for several days, the total number of words Tian Xiao had spoken to his mother didn’t amount to much.
Part of this was because Tian Xiao didn’t know what to say, but it also had to do with his mother being “unique.”
Calculating the time, Tian Xiao quickened his pace and hurried toward home. Turning a corner, he indeed saw his mother waiting for him under a large banyan tree.
His mother was a gentle and beautiful woman with silky black hair that reached her waist, wearing a flowing white dress.
Standing there with the light breeze blowing, a smile on her face, she looked like something out of a painting.
—That is, if it weren’t currently winter and everyone else was dressed warmly, and if the smile on her face didn’t look a bit stiff, like that of someone who wasn’t alive.
“Xiao Xiao is back.”
His mother spoke in her slightly stiff voice, reaching out toward Tian Xiao’s backpack.
Looking at his mother’s thin arms and legs, and her body that looked like it could drift away with the wind at any moment, Tian Xiao frowned slightly and took a step to the side.
Before he could speak, he sensed something wrong with his mother’s aura.
He glanced sideways; she was still the same mother, but now she looked terrifying.
The smile on her face had vanished. Her entire being seemed to glitch as she froze in place, her eyeballs rolling around as if she might do something drastic in the next second.
Seeing this, Tian Xiao hurried to proactively hand his backpack to her.
The slightly stiff smile returned to his mother’s face.
Carrying Tian Xiao’s backpack, his mother led him toward their home.
Neither of them spoke. The atmosphere looked eerie, but this was a way of interacting that Tian Xiao had already grown accustomed to.
Speaking of which, even now, Tian Xiao didn’t know his mother’s name.
Their residence was quite secluded—a two-story building with a yard.
There were other houses nearby, but Tian Xiao had never seen anyone living in them.
Upon returning home, the gate to the small yard opened on its own without needing to be pushed.
The yard looked a bit messy—half overgrown with weeds and half turned over, the latter being the result of Tian Xiao’s labor over the last few days.
The rooms on the first floor were much tidier. A large table stood in the living room, and the decor was somewhat retro, making the overall atmosphere feel quite warm.
His mother casually placed Tian Xiao’s backpack on a chair in the living room and turned to head toward the kitchen.
Having gained some understanding of his mother, Tian Xiao simply sat down at the table.
Sure enough, after a short while, his mother emerged carrying a large, steaming bowl.
The bowl was placed in front of Tian Xiao. It was a bowl of soup noodles that smelled decent, but the presentation was a bit horrifying—it was a pool of bright red. At first glance, it looked like blood; no ordinary person would dare to eat these noodles.
Tian Xiao, however, didn’t change his expression and began to eat naturally.
After the first bite, he even complimented her: “It’s delicious.”
At that, his mother, who was standing watch nearby with eyes open like a puppet, showed a stiff but happy, quiet smile.
Tian Xiao didn’t like wasting food.
After the Apocalypse, resources were always scarce.
When he first arrived in this world, the first meal his mother made for him also looked terrifying, but Tian Xiao had enjoyed it just the same.
He had discovered that the food his mother made only looked scary; in reality, it tasted fine and didn’t contain any particularly “special ingredients.” Everything was something that could be bought at a wet market.
Tian Xiao didn’t understand how his mother obtained the ingredients, just as he didn’t understand why the television in this two-story house could be turned on even though it wasn’t plugged in.
The few pedestrians who passed by the area always seemed to be in a hurry, but Tian Xiao had no intention of asking questions.
As he ate the noodles in his bowl, he felt for a moment that having a mother might not be so bad.
Only…
It would be nice if his mother could eat something too.
Tian Xiao had yet to see his mother eat.
Tian Xiao stole a glance at his mother. His gaze suddenly sharpened as he looked toward the door.
Something had entered the yard.
Was it that clump of Black Mist?
Before Tian Xiao could stand up, his mother, who had been guarding him, had already turned and walked toward the yard.
After just a moment, Tian Xiao heard a sharp scream, followed by the sounds of a scuffle and things breaking.
The thing that had broken into the yard fled, and his mother returned to the living room.
Tian Xiao blinked, and spoke with some uncertainty: “Mom… did you eat?”