Chapter 3: Ugly Monster

“Ugly monster, ugly monster. Without a father’s love or a mother’s care, only able to run and chop wood, everyone calls him ugly monster!” 

Children’s clear voices fill the air as they clap and sing a simple rhyme. They repeat it over and over, bringing them endless joy and laughter.

The light and shadow frequently intersect, the sounds surround Yan Jin Chang’s ears as everything shifts from blurry to clear.

Yan Jin Chang opens his eyes and first sees many children’s legs hopping in front of him. Raising his head, he sees shadows swirling under the bright sunlight, as if they are dancing in circles.

This is a scene from his memories, also a nightmare he cannot shake off. Just then, the children circling around him stop. One of them picks up a stone from the ground and laughs as he throws it at Yan Jin Chang!

He raises his hand and catches the stone thrown at him, then immediately throws it back!

“Ouch!” The child cries out in pain, crouching down and holding his hurt leg. The other children freeze in shock. Seizing the opportunity, Yan Jin Chang suddenly stands up, forcefully pushes the crouching child aside, and dashes outside!

“Wow! The ugly monster hit someone!”

“Catch him!” A group of children quickly reacts and starts chasing after him.

Yan Jin Chang runs wildly, the wind rushing past him, as if trying to stop him from running away. His body feels incredibly heavy, especially his legs, which feel like they are weighed down. He can feel sharp pain within each step, as if he is stepping on knives.

He turns into an alley, leans against the wall, and breathes heavily. He raises his hand and sees that his hands are wrapped in cloth, dirty and stained with blood.

He stares at it for a moment, then touches his face, finding it also wrapped in cloth. He can see more strips of cloth wrapped around his body as well.

This, this is… Before Yan Jin Chang can think further, a fast-running child spots him leaning against the wall.

“Great! You’re here!” Without a word, the child rushes over, trying to grab Yan Jin Chang. As the child lunges at him, he quickly sidesteps, causing the child to crash into the wall.

Yan Jin Chang bends his knee and pushes against the back of the child’s knee, making him suddenly kneel on the ground. Without waiting for the child to get up, he grabs the child’s shirt and shoves it into his mouth!

He feels around in his pocket and finds a large bundle of cloth. He quickly bites one end, using both hands, wraps the cloth around the child’s face and body as fast as he can.

Soon, the voices of children can be heard nearby, clearly indicating that the others are closing in. “Did we lose him?”

“How can he still run so fast? He’s been running all morning.”

“Damn it! When we find him, we must teach him a lesson for running away so quickly!”

Hearing his friends’ voices, the child with his mouth covered immediately lets out louder “wuwu” sounds, trying to call for help. The others clearly hear the sounds and immediately run over.

Yan Jin Chang steps back to gather strength and then rushes toward a nearby low wall, half running and half climbing up to the rooftop on the uneven surface! In the next moment, the children’s figures appear around the corner.

“Wuwuwu!” The child with his mouth covered shakes his head, trying to signal his friends to help him take off the cloth wrapped around his face and body.

But his friends only surround him, angrily saying: “Great! Finally found you!”

“Are you hiding here?”

“Why do you always run away?”

“Exactly! We just want to play a game with you.”

As they speak, one of the children pulls out stones from his pocket and throws them at the child wrapped in cloth! The child can only let out painful sounds because his mouth is covered, while the others laugh merrily.

Soon, they start singing the familiar nursery rhyme again. “Ugly monster, ugly monster, without a father’s love or a mother’s care, only able to run and chop wood, everyone calls him ugly monster!”

After singing, some even come over to sit on the back of the wrapped child, while others cheer from the side: “Ride him! Giddy up!”

“I want to ride too!”

“Line up, line up, first come, first served!”

At this moment, an adult walks over from a distance, calling their child to come home for dinner.

Seeing the scene before them, the adult frowns and says: “Why do you all look so dirty? Hurry up and go wash up!”

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Chapter 4: Fragment

Other adults also come one after another to call their children back to eat. They all see the child curled up on the ground, wrapped in white cloth, but they all wear a face of indifference.

“Really, getting dirty again.”

“What kind of appearance is that running around? There’s a noble coming to town tomorrow, if you offend the noble in this ragged state, I won’t spare you!”

“Speaking of which, isn’t there some kind of competition tomorrow? I saw the village chief early this morning calling a bunch of men to clear out a space in front of the village. They’ve already cleared a large area.”

“Of course, it’s the competition for art of puppetry. Every few years, someone from the town comes to look for talented children. If one can be chosen by a noble, they won’t have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of their lives.”

“Hey? Why don’t I see my Da Lu? Doesn’t he usually play with you guys?” Da Lu’s mother looks around in vain and then asks the two children who are closer to her.

At this moment, the two children are riding on the child wrapped in white cloth. Seeing the adults arrive, they remain calm, vigorously patting the person underneath them, shouting: “Giddy up!”

Hearing the woman’s question, the two children look at each other and shake their heads in unison. The child being ridden immediately struggles and lets out a whimper. 

The other adults seem used to this so they ignore it. But Da Lu’s mother feels something is wrong. She quickly pulls aside the thin cloth wrapped around the child’s face and discovers that it is actually her son, Da Lu!

“Da Lu!” Upon seeing her son’s face covered in bruises, with a wound on his head bleeding, staining the white cloth.

She realizes that these kids actually made her son serve as their horse, Da Lu’s mother is filled with rage. She instantly slaps the two children sitting on her son’s back, knocking them to the ground!

The two children’s parents, seeing that the person wrapped in white cloth is Da Lu, are first taken aback. Then, upon seeing Da Lu’s mother slap their son, they become angry, their fists and palms immediately come crashing down on Da Lu’s mother’s face!

“How dare you hit my son in front of me! You’re asking for death!”

“These little brats bully my son! Shouldn’t I teach them a lesson?”

“Your son is the brat! Your whole family is brats! Who are you to teach my son a lesson?”

“Fine, your sons are bullying my son together, and now you’re bullying me too! I’ll fight you all!” Da Lu’s mother throws punches and kicks and fiercely strikes at those who come to mediate. She even vents her frustration by pushing a few other children.

At this point, whether it’s the mediators or the other children’s parents, everyone becomes displeased. A group of people starts to fight and curse, causing the scene to descend into chaos.

Not far away, on a rooftop, a small child sits watching the commotion below while tending to his own wounds. His eyes remain cold.

“Tomorrow, art of puppetry, the competition…” he murmurs softly for a moment before being unable to stop himself from laughing.

Who would have thought, upon opening his eyes, he returns to twenty years ago. Back to a time of wandering, starving, and sleeping in the wild.

Yan Jin Chang lies on the rooftop, looking at the blazing sun on the sky. He can feel body heat rising under its glare, and senses the throbbing pain from his wounds. He is certain that he has truly returned to twenty years ago.

This is not a delusion but something that actually happens. He has truly been reborn! Feeling hot from the sun, he flips over but feels something hard digging into him.

Curiously, he reaches into his clothes and indeed pulls out a piece of familiar-looking black fragment.

“This… seems to be something I found in the Underworld…” Yan Jin Chang raises the black fragment to his eyes for a closer look. As his hand brushes over it, the black fragment suddenly reveals a white light screen!

[Ding! Detecting… crackle… crackle… The protagonist of “Divine Level Puppet Master”… Yan Jin Chang… is nearby, being bullied… crackle… crackle… Please proceed to the coordinates immediately to rescue the protagonist and gain trust points.]

A map-like image appears on the light screen. At the same time, broken sounds echo from the black fragment.

Yan Jin Chang squints slightly: “Protagonist…”