Chapter 1

At 6:30 in the morning, the Angel Welfare Institute in the Abyss Isarath District was still immersed in the deep night. Only a few dim streetlights were lit.

The dormitory was very quiet; the children were all asleep. A few welfare institute staff in gray robes turned on the incandescent lights and began to open the old, tightly shut iron doors, room by room.

One staff member also began to shake a brass bell: “Get up, everyone, wake up immediately.”

The children were gradually woken up, rustling as they put on their clothes, while the rusty iron beds creaked.

The head staff member stood in the middle of the hallway and shouted, “Guests from the Cloud Peak are coming to inspect the Abyss today and will also visit our Angel Welfare Institute. We need to wake up half an hour earlier today. Clean yourselves up and don’t disgust the guests.”

The children, who had been drowsy, instantly perked up at these words and began moving quickly.

“…The last two children who were chosen are now living well in the Cloud Peak, eating and using things you can’t even imagine…”

The children quickly dressed and rushed towards the water room. Some didn’t even put on their shoes properly, just shuffling along, making a loud clattering sound.

The staff continued to check the rooms and stopped in front of Room 16.

This room used to be a storage room, so it was small, only fitting four bunk beds. Under the bright lights, each bed was covered with a blanket that was still and unmoving.

“Why aren’t they getting up?” The head staff member frowned as he looked inside.

The nearby staff member explained, “Although this floor houses older children, the children in Room 16 are quite young. They’ve just turned six and moved down from the second floor last month. It’s too early for them to wake up.”

“We have many high-level officials coming today. Our main goal is to get some baby formula, and secondarily, to select children. Not a single child in the entire institute can be missed. Wake them all up quickly.”

“Understood.”

The staff began to pat the children’s faces, peeling back the blankets one by one. Even in November, the Abyss had grown cold. The slight warmth trapped under the thin blankets dissipated quickly, and even the children who were deeply asleep were stirred by the cold.

“Wake up, get up, don’t go back to sleep.”

The children groggily got out of bed. One child, pouting and about to cry, opened his eyes, saw the staff standing by the bed, and swallowed his tears. He reached for his clothes and began putting them on.

The staff’s gaze fell on the bed in the corner, where a little boy was still lying.

The boy was only wearing underwear. Even though the blanket had been removed, he kept his eyes closed and stubbornly stayed asleep. He curled himself into a small ball, his cheeks puffing as he rapidly sucked on his thumb.

Shen Qianqian was dreaming, imagining himself holding a bun. But just as he had eaten only half, it started to snow in the welfare institute’s cafeteria, and a chilling cold seeped into his body.

He felt he could hold on, finish the bun, but suddenly, everything spun, his body was lifted and dropped, and as his feet touched the ground, a voice came through: “Shen Qianqian, stand up straight!”

The people in the room watched Shen Qianqian stagger a few steps like he was drunk and almost fall. The staff grabbed his arm to steady him.

Only then did Shen Qianqian open his eyes. His first reaction was to look at his hands. After a few seconds of daze, he looked at the staff in front of him and asked blankly, “Where is my bun?”

“Still dreaming. There’s no bun. Hurry up and get dressed.”

Shen Qianqian remained motionless, shivering and staring at the staff with his big eyes.

“Aren’t you cold? Get dressed and go to the cafeteria, you’ll be able to have breakfast soon.” The staff pointed at the bed, “You’re usually so eager to eat. Hurry up.”

Shen Qianqian didn’t say anything more. He crawled back to bed, put on his clothes, and occasionally looked at his hands with a somewhat dazed expression.

“I also want to eat a big bun…” The child in the nearby bed was already putting on shoes, mumbling.

Shen Qianqian slowly woke up, realizing he had been dreaming, and felt even more disappointed. He muttered softly, “They didn’t even wait for me to finish my bun.”

The second floor was for children under six, including several infants. The staff, seeing that all the children in this room were awake, followed the head staff member to the second floor.

Shen Qianqian disliked wearing pullover T-shirts because his head would always get stuck inside without finding the collar. Now he was wrapped up in a T-shirt again, only hearing the footsteps of other children leaving the room.

“My shoelaces are being so uncooperative…”

Hearing this, Shen Qianqian was delighted and turned his head towards the sound from under the T-shirt: “Lin Duozhi, you’re still here?”

The boy on the opposite bed who was dealing with his shoelaces replied, “Yeah.”

“Help me find my head, and I’ll help you tie your shoelaces.”

The two children helped each other, getting dressed and ready.

The children at the welfare institute always wore a gray T-shirt year-round. As the weather turned colder, they only added a gray cotton jacket on top. The jacket was stiff and heavy, with plastic patches on the lower half of the sleeves to prevent children from wiping their noses on them.

Now, with early November in the Abyss, the temperature varied between cool mornings and evenings and warm days. The children at the welfare institute constantly put on and took off their jackets. If someone saw their disheveled clothing, it would be hard to tell what season it was.

Both children put on their jackets, grabbed their toothbrushes and small bowls, and headed out. The hallway was crowded with older children running around, so they walked closely along the wall.

“Did you dream about eating buns just now?” Lin Duozhi, walking behind, asked.

“Yeah, two.”

“What kind of filling?”

Shen Qianqian tilted his head in thought, “I don’t remember, but I know they were really delicious.”

“Did they have meat?”

“Maybe.”

Lin Duozhi sounded a bit regretful, “You should have dreamed of eating chicken legs. They’re all meat.”

“But I don’t remember what chicken legs taste like, just the buns.” Shen Qianqian smacked his lips.

“Oh, actually, I don’t remember either.”

After walking a few more steps, Shen Qianqian suddenly turned around, his small hand pretending to hold something as if cradling a hot bun: “Catch it quickly, this bun is too hot to hold.”

He grimaced and drew in his breath, while Lin Duozhi hurriedly pretended to catch it.

“It’s so hot, so hot, eat it slowly.”

“Wow… what a delicious bun.”

The two children pretended to eat buns, puffing their cheeks and making exaggerated swallowing sounds.

“What’s your filling? Let me see.” Shen Qianqian asked with his mouth full.

Lin Duozhi replied, “It’s sugar cube filling. What about yours?”

Shen Qianqian took a pretend bite and exclaimed in surprise, “Meat! All meat!”

The two children were giggling against the wall when Shen Qianqian’s vest was suddenly pushed. He lurched forward, causing both him and Lin Duozhi to fall to the ground, their toothbrushes and bowls rolling into the middle of the hallway.

“Get out of the way, you pesky dogs!”

A boy, a bit over ten years old, kicked the bowl aside and hurried past them.

Shen Qianqian fell to the ground, but he ignored the pain and quickly crawled to pick up the bowl. He then touched his sore back, glaring angrily at the boy’s retreating figure.

The boy glanced back, and Shen Qianqian immediately averted his gaze, suppressing his anger and adopting a meek expression.

— He had learned from experience not to provoke these older kids to avoid getting beaten up.

Lin Duozhi slowly got up, holding his small bowl with his head down. “Let’s go.”

Shen Qianqian followed, but then turned back unwillingly. Seeing the boy had entered the dormitory, he clasped his hands in front of his chest, raised his short index finger and thumb, and shouted fiercely, “Mental attack!”

“Quiet, quiet.” Lin Duozhi quickly tugged at his shirt.

The two children continued towards the water room. Once they were sure the boy wouldn’t return, Lin Duozhi started to cry softly.

“My nose hurts from the bump.”

Shen Qianqian’s back was also aching, and he wanted to cry too, but he held back his tears and said, “I used a mental attack. He will be in a lot of pain too.”

“I also secretly attacked him.” Lin Duozhi sobbed, “A silent attack.”

“Then he might already be dead.”

“Yeah, dead.”

The two children were no longer as sad and began to notice the unusual behavior of the older kids. They walked while listening and eventually caught phrases like “Cloud Peak” and “guests.”

“Ah! Are they selecting people to go to the Cloud Peak again?” Shen Qianqian covered his mouth, struggling to hide his excitement.

Lin Duozhi, though silent, kept nodding, his usually pale face flushed red.

The two of them hurried into the water room, pleasantly surprised to find it not crowded and with an empty faucet, so they didn’t have to wait in line.

Several other children from the same dormitory were also there. Seeing them, the children immediately started chattering.

“Come wash up quickly, it’s only our little class here.”

“Hurry up, what if the older class comes again?”

Shen Qianqian and Lin Duozhi hurried to the empty spots, turning on the faucet to fill their bowls with water.

The welfare institute’s water heater had been broken for a while and hadn’t been repaired, so the children washed with cold water.

Although it wasn’t winter yet, the water, which seemed to have come from an unknown source, contained tiny ice shards. As the water floated in Shen Qianqian’s bowl, he shivered twice from the cold.

He didn’t want to use the icy water to wash his face—indeed, he hadn’t washed his face in a week—but today was different. Today, he had to be completely clean so that the guests from Cloud Peak would like him and he might be selected.

Shen Qianqian had lived in the Abyss since childhood and had never seen Cloud Peak, but it was the dream place for all the children in the welfare institute.

At Cloud Peak, they would surely eat buns regularly. The faucets there would always have hot water, and the trash piles would be full of treasures—leftover cans and endless glass marbles…

Cloud Peak, Cloud Peak…

Shen Qianqian’s heart raced with excitement. Finally, he reached into the icy water and scooped a handful, slapping it onto his face.

“Ah!” He let out a cry, his face contorted as he stamped his feet and flailed his arms in the air.

The other children washing their faces, also shivering, laughed heartily at him, jumping and shaking along with him.

Among the children at the sink, Lin Duozhi was the only one washing his face thoroughly. Despite his teeth chattering from the cold, he carefully cleaned his face and even scrubbed his ears.

While the commotion continued, a manager in a gray robe appeared at the door of the water room.

“Hurry up with your washing. What are you all doing?” The manager’s voice was stern.

“Just washing, we’re washing.”

“It’s so cold, I’m freezing to death.”

“Hang on, we’ll have hot water once the heater is fixed.” The manager’s voice rose again.

The children quickly finished washing their faces and carried their bowls back to the dormitory. Shen Qianqian, trailing at the back, was called by the manager: “Shen Qianqian, wait a moment.”

Shen Qianqian stood holding his bowl, looking up at the manager without moving. His long hair was disheveled, partially covering his eyes, and two water droplets hung from his pointed chin.

The manager pointed at his head: “Your hair is a mess. Your eyes are covered. Why is your hair so long and untrimmed?”

Shen Qianqian shook his head, revealing half of his forehead and his large, round eyes, then continued to stare at the manager.

The manager was about to reprimand him further when a whistle for assembly sounded from outside. He waved his hand: “Go back for now. Put away your washing supplies and head to the playground immediately.”

It was now seven in the morning, but the Abyss still felt like night. The distance was shrouded in darkness, with only the welfare institute illuminated by bright lights. The small playground was filled with people. All the children except those from the second-floor baby area were lined up, totaling two to three hundred children, arranged by height.

With the Cloud Peak high officials about to arrive for inspection, the atmosphere in the welfare institute was tense. The managers were running around, and the usually rarely seen director stood at the gate, constantly inquiring about the situation.

“Where are they?”

“There’s one more area left. They should be arriving soon.”

“This time, high-ranking officials and their entourage are coming. We must not make any mistakes.”

“Rest assured, Director.”

“Make sure the children perform well and stay alert. Whether we get the milk powder and rations depends on today.”

“Understood.”

---

Shen Qianqian, small in stature, stood in the front row on the far right. Although he wore a cotton hat, the cold wind seeped into his jacket collar, causing him to shiver as he watched the ceremonial team ahead.

The ceremonial team consisted of the older children from the welfare institute. They were facing the children, all wearing white gloves and red ceremonial uniforms, with yellow tassels hanging from their shoulders.

Opposite Shen Qianqian stood a drummer whose uniform didn’t quite fit, revealing his frostbitten wrists and ankles. Noticing Shen Qianqian’s envious gaze, he turned his head away with a hint of arrogance, taking a deep breath to sniff back the running snot.

Shen Qianqian looked away and turned to Lin Duozhi behind him, whispering, “I really want to play the drums, wear those clothes, and have gloves like that.”

Lin Duozhi didn’t respond, standing straight with his chest out, occasionally glancing towards the gate.

“Boom boom clang, boom boom clang…” Shen Qianqian mimicked the drumming sounds quietly, tapping his hands in the air.

Lin Duozhi lasted for about ten seconds before he couldn’t hold back and started drumming along: “Boom boom clang, boom boom clang…”

Shen Qianqian turned back with satisfaction but noticed a little girl next to him still scratching her head. She had been scratching since they started standing in line, and her two little pigtails were now loose and disheveled.

Shen Qianqian kindly reminded her, “Stop scratching; your hair is a mess and you can’t even see your eyes. Just shake it out like this, see?”

“But it’s so itchy,” the little girl continued to scratch her head.

A hurried manager stopped, pulled the little girl out of the line, and began to comb through her hair. After examining her for a moment, he gave her a slap on the shoulder.

“Do you have lice?” the manager asked angrily.

Though the slap wasn’t hard, the little girl stumbled, and before she could regain her balance, the manager was already pulling her arm toward the dormitory. “The guests are coming soon. What will you do with a head full of lice? You need to go back and stay there until they leave.”

The little girl, with her hair in disarray, stumbled and cried out in pain, “I don’t want to go back to the dormitory. I want to go to Cloud Peak. I don’t want to go back to the dormitory…”

Another manager shouted, “Stop looking! Everyone, check each other’s heads for lice. Those with lice should stay in the dormitory.”

The children immediately started checking each other’s hair for lice.

Lin Duozhi lowered his head and let Shen Qianqian check his hair. He was so nervous he could barely stand, his voice trembling.

“What if I have lice? Qianqian, I won’t be able to go to Cloud Peak…”

Shen Qianqian whispered, “Even if I see lice, I won’t tell anyone.”

“They will find out. The lice will jump on my head,” Lin Duozhi’s voice sounded like he might cry.

Shen Qianqian said, “If I see them, I’ll just catch them and throw them away.”

“They’ll jump on the ground!”

“Then I’ll catch them and eat them.”

Fortunately, Lin Duozhi didn’t have lice, and Shen Qianqian didn’t find any either. A manager who had been watching from outside ran over the fence, breathless, and said to the director and the manager at the gate, “They’re here, they’re here.”

The manager at the gate turned and shouted, “Alright, everyone, get ready to welcome the guests!”

All the children who had been searching for lice straightened up. The ceremonial team began to play music, and the other children followed the conductor in singing.

“Our lives are so happy, our voices so loud, angels gather here, sowing hope…”

Amidst the thunderous drumming and loud singing, several headlights appeared in the distance as a convoy approached the Angel Welfare Institute.