Salvation equals death

Hong Jiaodong refused to go out at first, he was very afraid that his father would find him, and he also knew very well what kind of extensive contacts that man had and... the money that could make ghosts turn heads.

But after Vera gently comforted him and took his hand out the door, he was surprised to find that as long as the two held hands, the pedestrians on the street passed by them as if they couldn't see them.

"Is this your personality?" After going through the initial unfamiliar temptation, the little panna cotta is as soft and cute as melted mochi, and a little sticky.

Vera, or should be renamed "Chiyo" now, she tilted her head and thought about it, and said in a serious tone: "It should be called personality."

In fact, this is not a "personality", but one of Chiyo's powers. The power of the Mind Stone to "manipulate the life force field" can tamper with other people's emotions and memories, and naturally it can also make others see them as small roadsides. pebbles.

As for those troublesome road control monitors, Vera only needs to notify the system to interfere, and they can completely erase the traces of the two.

The technological culture of this world is not well developed for Vera, at least far inferior to the previous world.

In the eyes of outsiders, she and Hong Jiaodong are an ordinary and gentle mother holding her own black-haired and black-eyed child. They are really not conspicuous in this world full of alien shapes.

After knowing that Hong Jiaodong never had a normal childhood, Chiyo took him to the amusement park, played on the merry-go-round, played with electric toys, and played all the things that a boy of this age should play.

A well-educated boy has probably never been so crazy in his life. From playing during the day until night fell, the two ran to the noodle shop to eat a large box of soba noodles, and he grabbed the ice cream and was led by her to the temple fair.

"Will you be tired?" The girl didn't have much expression on her face, and even her smile was almost shallow. She was calm most of the time, as ethereal as the white mist exhaled in the winter morning, "I've been running for a day, tired right?"

Boom Pannacotta shook his head, his gray eyes stared at the fireworks exploding in the sky, and even the pain on his left face seemed to fade away in the happy air: "No, it's much easier than training."

The father, who was eager to surpass All Might, exercised extremely strict training on his son, controlling everything from diet to daily training goals, challenging the child's upper limit every day.

Hong Jiaodong was trained to have nausea and vomiting more than once. He shivered under the shadow of his father, crying and hugging his mother who pleaded with his father, but was violently raped by his father.

Thinking of this, the light of happiness in Hong Jiao Dong's eyes dimmed a little.

Chiyo didn't like his dimmed eyes, she thought for a while, and didn't know what to do, so she turned her head towards her face, and kissed the boy's soft and plump cheek.

"It is said that kissing the cheek represents 'love', and I am the 'Chiyo' representing the years." Chiyo quietly stared at the boy's dazed eyes.

"Then, may the years love you dearly, boom."

The boy's cheeks flushed suddenly, the powder was like a delicious apple, and the red and white hair made him look like a half-peeled lychee. sweet.

"Thank you, thank you." The soft pit of flesh could still be seen with the hands tightly clutching the corner of the clothes, and the boy's eyelashes like butterfly wings kept trembling, seeming uneasy and shy.

Seeing that he had gotten rid of the obscure negative emotions, Chiyo also tilted his head, biting the marshmallow in his hand and preparing to move on.

Unprepared to be held down by someone's shoulders, she hadn't recovered from biting the marshmallow when the boy in front of her leaned over on tiptoe with resolute eyes, and kissed her on the cheek.

Chiyo: "..."

Chiyo blinked, thinking that the little boy was cute and cute, but in the end he didn't say anything, just walked around the whole temple fair holding Panna's hand.

After playing for a day and returning home, even Hong Jiaodong, who said it was "easier than training", felt a little tired. He washed his face and brushed his teeth obediently, spread the quilt by himself, and then got into bed, whispering "good night".

"Wait, the medicine hasn't been applied yet." Chiyo held the little boy down, took out the medicine and bandages from the drawer, and applied the medicine to Hong Jiaodong who was lying in bed.

The bandage was untied little by little, revealing the scald hidden underneath. The boy's skin was very white, which made the scarlet scar even more shocking.

Looking at the scar, Chiyo felt as if she had been poked by a sharp needle in her heart. She had seen more serious injuries, and she had suffered more painful injuries, but just because such a scar appeared on a child, she Suddenly, I felt unbearable.

In the age she lived in, children are always the existence that adults must protect regardless of everything, because they represent the hope of tomorrow and the green shoots of new life.

Vera finished applying the medicine in silence, gently stroked Hong Jiaodong's bandaged left face, and asked softly, "I'll use my personality to heal your injury as soon as possible, okay?"

With closed eyes, Hong Jiaodong opened his eyes, raised his hand to hold her hand covering his face, but shook his head, and said in a low voice, "I want to keep it, sister."

Whether it's pain or scars—these are all evidence that he has hurt his mother, and they always remind him not to let go of his hatred for his father.

That night, Hong Jiaodong had another nightmare. He woke up from his sleep covered in cold sweat, covered his face and cried bitterly.

Salty tears welled out of the corners of his eyes, and he trembled with pain as they ran across the scar, but he couldn't stop his tears.

The surroundings were pitch black, like the endless dream, like the lingering haze, accusing him of his selfishness and mocking his weakness and incompetence.

"Snapped--"

The light suddenly turned on.

Hong Jiaodong suddenly raised his head, but was suddenly hugged into his arms. The embrace was immature and thin, but it was as warm as his mother.

Under that person's silent and patient pat, Hong Jiaodong's tense back slowly relaxed, and he finally came to his senses from that desperate, suffocating dream like a quagmire.

They were silent with each other, until Chiyo suddenly raised his hand to caress his left cheek, Hong Jiaodong pushed her hand away like an electric shock, and cried out hissingly: "No!"

"Don't! Don't! Don't touch me—! The left half, ugly—"

A child who is half mother and half father, terrified that he will one day be like the father who hurt his mother.

Because it was his beloved mother who told him that he was the devil's child.

Wrapped in a huge lazy blanket, Chiyo carried the boy to the window. It was late at night, and the house was completely silent. The sky was rarely clear after the rain, and even stars could be seen.

Chiyo silently hugged Hong Jiaodong in her arms, letting him vent his emotions, until he was tired from crying, she raised her hand to rub his hair, and said softly: "I have never asked about your past."

"Because I have always felt that memories and words are very painful. It is a very cruel and selfish thing to uncover your scars in order to satisfy my desire to 'want to pity and sympathize with you'."

"But, boom, some wounds will never heal unless the rotting flesh is dug out. Of course, there are more wounds that will become marks that cannot be washed away in a lifetime just like the scars on your face."

She lowered her head and kissed his forehead, and the soft touch melted between her brows, which represented "loving love", so she knocked on his heart gently and unforcedly on this night when the stars were bright and suitable for talking.

"Would you like to tell me if you could?"

Hong Jiao hugged her waist wearily, like a bird returning to its nest in the evening, in a hoarse and low tone, he told her about an unhappy family.

The ambitious father who only regards his family as a tool, the siblings who are treated as waste because they did not inherit the personalities of both parents, and the gentle but always crying mother in memory.

So much, so much—but it wasn't what made Hong Jiaodong really collapse.

"My father married my mother because of my mother's personality. If I can't show my due value, will he bully my mother even more?"

The young and innocent Hong Jiaodong thought so, and he swore that he would protect his mother and never let her cry again.So he became silent day by day, gritted his teeth and endured training again and again, eager to become stronger one day.

Hong Jiaodong, who wanted to become stronger, never shed tears easily. His expression became indifferent because of patience. He thought this was growth, but he ignored his mother's increasingly frightened gaze.

"My desire to become stronger is very much like my father who did such a despicable thing in order to surpass All Might."

It was inevitable that Hong Jiaodong couldn't take into account his mother's feelings - after all, he himself was just a kid who was swaying under his father's shadow.

He is nostalgic for his mother's embrace, and he is used to absorbing her warmth after being hurt, but he forgets that his mother is just an ordinary woman, and that she also has many emotions that cannot be vented.

Bang Leng, his mother, burned herself so hard, trying to light up his dark night, but burned out in his dissatisfaction.

So, the mother's lamp -- went out.

Should the boy who has been sunk in the darkness resent the lamp?

——No, he can only resent his father who created this darkness, and himself who turned off the light with his own hands.

"This scar—"

Hong Jiaodong grabbed Chiyo's hand and put it on his left face. He smiled vigorously, but the curvature of his lips was full of sadness. His mother's gray eyes were full of sad tears, shining brightly under the starlight. flickering.

"It's not proof that my mother hates me, it's proof that I hurt my mother because of my selfishness."

——This is what he is really afraid of.

A young boy who wants to be a hero, but doesn't want to be a father.

"Because I'm not just a 'tool' for him to realize his ambition!"

——He is a life that struggled to survive in the gap between pain and sorrow.

Qiandai hugged Hong Jiaodong who was crying uncontrollably, and looked at the night sky of Huoshuxingqiao outside the window, but his impetuous mood seemed to be soothed, and there was a trace of uncontrollable tranquility.

It is a gentle and distant feeling, like stars wandering in the night, like a quiet and flowing stream, like the scenery of gulls and birds flying across the sea and sky——

Human beings are always hurt because they are too gentle, and they are too easily hurt by others.

"Did you know? Life itself is a separate and complete entity."

Chiyo stretched out his hand, with the palm facing up, and held the scorched hand in the palm, and gently stroked the boy's lifeline with the other hand.

"Before you are a child of your parents, you must first exist as an individual, because you must first take on your own life before you can take on the demands of others."

Even though he looks precocious and calm, Hong Jiaodong is just a child whose ideas have not yet formed.

Chiyo pinched the boy's earlobe and motioned him to look up at the stars in the sky: "You can remember my words, and then slowly think about the path you want to choose in the future. This is your freedom and your right."

Chiyo realized that the boy had a deep knot in his heart, and also had very negative and deep emotions. She knew the cause of the disease, but she couldn't make him heal.

——After all, even she herself is still confused, unable to find the answer to the puzzle.

"Probably, some really kind and righteous people will persuade you to let go of your hatred, and don't let resentment blind your eyes. Because in the eyes of the world, resentment is a bad thing, so they will persuade you to give up out of good intentions."

"But, boom, I think that hatred itself is a kind of human emotion, and people who can't empathize with it are actually not qualified to let the other party choose to let go or give up."

"Only those who have been truly hurt have the right to choose whether to forgive, and no one else has the right to order others to 'let go'."

The girl's tone was very calm. In Hong Jiaodong's eyes, she was like a silent and dying star. Because she was far away, no one knew her once bright and radiant and fleeting brilliance.

"You are still young, and you still have infinite possibilities and futures, so go slowly, take your time, and think carefully about what kind of existence you want to be in the future."

"I..." Hong Jiaodong opened his mouth, only to feel that a ball of hot cotton was stuck in his throat, which was so warm and hot that he could hardly speak, "I long to...be like Ou A hero like Ermatt."

He thought of sitting in front of the TV with his mother and watching All Might's heroic appearance, seeing his eternal and reassuring smile, that was what he longed for—the appearance of a hero.

"It's ok, as long as you want, you can become a hero without being bound by that blood."

"Because, no one is more like a hero than Mr. Hong, who will still reach out to the weak even though his heart is filled with darkness..."

——I hold your hand tightly.

Romain Rolland once said - there is only one kind of true heroism in the world, that is, to still love life after recognizing the essence of life.

A hero is never born bright and upright, but even standing in the dark, he still has a bright heart, and the wind and rain are hard to break.

"If Mr. Hong can't understand." Chiyo raised his hand and pressed gently on the boy's forehead, slowly showing a light smile, "Then please remember Mr. Hong."

- "You are already my hero."

The evening wind was gentle that night, and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. Although there was no bright moon, it was still peaceful.

The little Hong Jiaodong leaned against the girl's heart, and fell asleep peacefully with the help of another person's strange heartbeat, just like every night when she snuggled up to her mother.

In the silent night, the heartbeat of others would make him feel warm, so that night, he slept dreamlessly until dawn.

Every night after that, the girl would sit side by side with the boy, the two of them squeezed together in a blanket, and the boy leaned against her, listening to her tell those beautiful fairy tales he had never heard before.

Unlike the Japanese folk stories told by her mother, such as "Momotaro" and "The Tale of Bamboo Tori", the girl is like a believer who grew up in the West, and the stories she narrates have a strong religious meaning.

What Hong Jiaodong remembers most is "The Snow Queen". In a gentle tone, the girl talked about the beautiful Kay who could no longer see the beauty because of the debris falling into her eyes and the freezing of her heart, and the pious and kind Gerda.

No matter what, Kayi can't put together the jigsaw puzzle of "eternity" - because only one person cannot have "eternity".

The boy listening to the story was caught in a dilemma, and murmured childishly: "If only my Gerda could find me."

"However, I would hate to make Gerda cry."

The preoccupied boy fell asleep wrapped in a quilt, but Chiyo was sleepless all night, looking up at the ceiling with distracted eyes.

If Hong is the Kay who can't put together the "eternal" jigsaw puzzle, then the queen who kissed Kay but made him only see Bingxue and herself from now on--it should be Hong-jun's mother.

The person he loves the most is the one who hurt him the most. Although it was not intentional, it is undeniable that the little boy's time has since stopped for his mother. As far as he can see, except for the snowy sky, only his mother is left.

Children's attachment is very easy to germinate, not to mention that boys are so young and so lonely.

He is no longer satisfied with the one-touch relationship between "kidnapper" and "hostage". He wants to exchange names and become friends. Even if they are separated, they can look forward to meeting again in the future.

Yes, he understood the cruelty of the world too early, and he knew that a game like house wine cannot last forever.

He is a child who escaped from the mortal world and was "hidden" by the gods. He can have a very short time to escape from reality to heal himself, but he cannot sink into vain dreams forever.

"If father finds us, he will hurt you like he bullied mother, I will be afraid."

"Why are you afraid?"

"I'm afraid that I can't protect you, just like I can't protect my mother. I'm also afraid of my own compromise and submission. I hate seeing myself so weak and incompetent."

"I'm different from Hong Jun's mother." She wove a small wreath and put it on Hong Jiao Dong's head, "I'm not afraid of Hong Jun's father, because I'm not afraid of death or pain, only a People move forward."

"My luck has never been very good." She pursed her lips and smiled, "If we part, we may never see each other again. Whenever I think of these, I will feel sad, and 'reluctant' means to me A very uncomfortable emotion."

Hong Jiaodong rummaged on the grass for a long time that day, and finally took back a four-leaf clover half-eaten by insects in disgrace, and gave it to her dejectedly.

"My sister said that a four-leaf clover can bring good luck, so I want to give this to you..." He hesitated for a moment, "But the bug bit off half of the leaf."

"Half of good luck is not bad." Chiyo held the incomplete four-leaf clover with a smile on his brows. "If there is only a 50% chance, then pray that half of the chance will make everyone happy."

The boy who had lost his smile at a young age looked at her smiling face, and the child who hid in the deepest part of his heart and only knew how to cry suddenly wiped away his tears and grew up in an instant.

That feeling is not unfamiliar. It is the courage that sprouted when he swore to protect his mother. With this determination to protect, he will not choose to back down even in the face of his father.

— But is it really a good thing that the little boy inside grows up?

Hong Jiaodong didn't know, but later on, with the growth of age, the memory of childhood gradually faded, and finally turned into a thin silhouette - but the deep-rooted and gentle feeling was never forgotten.

In that childhood when he was afraid of his father and dared not approach his mother, the existence of such a person made him feel that he was a beloved little boy, and also a hero in the hearts of others.

They will be wrapped in the same lazy blanket, with their two little heads foolishly squeezed into the same hood, moving from side to side with the same hands and feet, and watching the starry sky at night while wrapped in a quilt; Picking the water celery out of the bowl, holding his small bowl around after being discovered, but refusing to take a bite; Nightmare is always the first time to be soothed by someone, the eyes of another person in the dark night Eyes are softer than moonlight.

He sometimes wondered if she had strayed into the world of gods, and because she heard his appeal, she hid him in a place where no one knew.

It was really a very good time, which is why it seems particularly short.

When Andawa came to the door, Chiyo happened to go out to buy daily necessities.

Andeva searched countless surveillance videos, and finally found clues based on a small accident that happened at the corner of the street a few days ago, and finally found his youngest son who had been away from home for many days.

"Slap!" An Dewa, who was extremely angry, gave Hong Jiaodong a slap without hesitation. He roared like a thunder, and his anger was beyond words: "I think you dare to disobey me because your wings are hard! Think of your unrecognizable rebellious heart! Tell me! Who is so bold to hide minors! Wait to go to jail!"

Hong Jiaodong, who had fallen to the ground, struggled to get up. He covered his burning cheeks, and looked at Andeva with obscure eyes—that was not the look a child should have when looking at his father, it was too gloomy and too dark. horrible.

The scald on Hong Jiaodong's left face has healed under Chiyo's careful care, leaving only an ugly dark red scar branded on the face similar to his father, so gloomy that it almost dripped water.

Hatred is like a dense spider web, covering every place in the depths of his eyes.

"It has nothing to do with others. I don't want to go back." Hong Jiaodong stood up without any luggage, just grabbed a hair tie and stuffed it into his pocket, looking up at Andeva.

"She saw the bruises on my face and thought I was a victim of domestic violence, so she agreed to take me in temporarily instead of sending me to the police station."

The expressionless boy walked to the entrance with a straight spine and put on his shoes: "If you want to make a fuss here like a shrew and let everyone know the No.2 hero's joke, then it's up to you."

Andeva looked at the boy standing in front of him, and suddenly realized that something had changed after his son left home for a few days.

He no longer shrank his shoulders, and never lowered his head to avoid his gaze. The boy's strange-colored pupils were burning with anger—both hatred and determination.

"Get out of the way."

Before my mother forgives me, I will use my mother's personality to become the No.1 hero and completely reject you in my life.

I will prove you wrong, I will take myself from you, I will surpass you, and use my strength to protect those I love and do not want to be separated from.

I've grown tired of seeing the face in the mirror looking cowardly and incompetent because I can't protect the one I love.Those memories that are too cruel and too sad for me should all be turned into hatred for you and the driving force for me to move forward.

and so--

"Get out of the way, Andvar."