Chapter 141

"You look so ugly when you smile," the man said with a look of disgust as he gazed at Eva's somewhat "ferocious" smiling face. "Don't smile anymore in the future; it puts me in a bad mood when I look at it."

Damn you, just what on earth do you want? Being angry is wrong, and smiling is wrong too.

Countless cross-shaped veins instantly popped up on Eva's forehead.

"Heh," the man chuckled, reaching out to pat the top of Eva's head once again. "You're so cute." His eyes were overflowing with tenderness.

How wonderful, I've finally brought you back.

Eva raised her head and looked at the man with bitter resentment. Acting as if he hadn't noticed, the man looked right back at Eva and said earnestly, "Shilei."

"Shilei?" Eva frowned, wondering how anyone could have such a strange name. "Do your parents not like you?" Eva thought about it, and that seemed like the only possible explanation!

Shilei was momentarily taken aback. "Huh? Why would you think that?"

"Huh? Don't you think so? 'Shilei'!" Eva exclaimed. "How heartbreaking is that! Therefore, your parents must really dislike you!" Eva analyzed with absolute confidence, nodding her little head vigorously as she spoke, convinced that her reasoning was foolproof.

A flash crossed Shilei's eyes. Then, gazing deeply at Eva, he said with profound meaning, "It's not that my parents didn't like me; it's just that they loved their daughter much more."

Upon hearing this, Eva wrinkled her small nose and muttered with depression, "Could it be that you were picked up from the street? 'Their daughter,' indeed!" With that, she cast a sidelong glance at Shilei.

"Heh, she is my younger sister, but she is also my parents' most cherished daughter," Shilei said, his gaze turning somewhat profound.

Feeling that she didn't quite understand, Eva changed the subject. "What is your sister's name?"

"Her?" Hearing this, Shilei shifted his gaze back to Eva. "She has a very lovely name."

"What is it?" Eva was extremely curious. As the child most adored by her parents, she surely had a gorgeous name!

Seeing the curiosity written all over Eva's face, Shilei couldn't help but smile with deep affection. "Zixiao," he said. "Mother said she hoped her dear little daughter would always have smiles in her eyes." As he spoke, Shilei looked toward the distant horizon, his tone tinged with a trace of reminiscence and longing.

"Your mother truly loved your sister," a flicker of envy welled up in Eva's eyes. How wonderful it must be to have someone cherish you like that. "I understand 'xiao' [smile], but what about 'zi' [purple]?"

Shilei withdrew his gaze, the trace of melancholy vanishing in an instant. Looking at Eva, the corners of his lips curved upward once more. "That's because everyone in our family is born with purple eyes." Seeing a flash of realization in Eva's eyes as he mentioned the innate purple eyes, he continued, "Therefore, Mother named her Zixiao, meaning not only should her mouth smile, but her eyes should smile as well—she was to laugh happily from the bottom of her heart."

Eva's thoughts drifted into a hazy realm, and with a tone filled with intense envy, she murmured, "Your mother truly, deeply loved your sister..."

Eva felt so envious, so terribly envious of Shilei's sister! Because his sister was so happy, so very happy! Unlike her!

Suddenly, Eva thought of her own childhood. It seemed to be a dark, gloomy memory, as if she herself were...

Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced through Eva's brain, and her vision went black before plunging into utter darkness. Before losing consciousness, she seemed to see Shilei's anxious eyes and heard his frantic cries, feeling a sense of warmth and familiarity so intense...

------------------------- Line of Unconsciousness -------------------------

Eva walked through a realm of pitch blackness. Total darkness surrounded her, completely obscuring any path forward. She extended her arms in front of her and began to walk slowly ahead. Gradually, a sliver of light pierced through the gloom ahead.

It was a dilapidated and filthy place, resembling a garbage dump, crawling with countless flies, mosquitoes, and nameless insects that scuttled on the ground or flew through the air.

Passing the garbage dump, Eva continued walking forward. It was a narrow, cramped alleyway surrounded by densely packed, crumbling shacks. Moreover, there were individuals wandering about who clearly looked like bad news—cursing and shouting as they walked, and the more crude ones would even throw their hands around, acting with extreme violence and a complete lack of basic human decency.

This wasn't China, because all the people she had just seen were foreigners, and they seemed to be speaking Italian. Was this Italy, then?

Carrying her doubts, Eva walked evasively along the way, even though those people didn't seem able to see her at all.

Sounds of beating and scolding came from a rundown house, accompanied faintly by the cries of a child. For no apparent reason, those sounds caused a sharp ache in Eva's heart, and she followed the noise.

Inside the utterly dilapidated house, she saw a middle-aged couple ordering a child in the corner around, barking commands left and right. At the slightest sign of imperfection, a torrent of punches and kicks would rain down. The little girl shrank away, crawling desperately toward the corner to hide. Yet, no matter how she tried to dodge, she could not escape the blows of that middle-aged man and woman. Her frail little body was covered in scars, and as she crawled, a thin streak of blood stained the ground behind her.

Eva's gaze followed the little girl's fragile form as she stepped inside the rundown shack.

At that moment, the hoarse voice of the middle-aged woman rang out, thick with profound disgust. "I really don't know why you brought this worthless girl back to steal food from our mouths! Don't you know we're running out of food ourselves?"

The middle-aged man glanced impatiently at the woman, his voice dropping to a rough growl. "Shut your mouth, will you starve to death? Let me tell you, this little girl is going to be of great use; our entire second half of life depends on her!" With that, the man glanced at the curled-up little girl in the corner, then turned back to the woman. "Don't be too heavy-handed either. Just rough her up a bit, but don't you dare beat her to death! If you kill her, you'll be going with her!" Having said that, the middle-aged man tossed his half-smoked second-hand cigar onto the ground, crushed it under the toe of his worn-out leather boot, and stood up to leave. As he walked toward the exit, still looking somewhat uneasy, he warned the woman, "I'm going out to contact the buyer, so you better serve this 'little ancestor' properly!"

Seeming somewhat skeptical, the woman chased after the man to the small courtyard. "Hey, wait for me! Make things clear before you leave!"

Chasing after the man, the woman ran into the small courtyard. Whispering to each other, the two cast furtive glances back at the little girl. Gradually, the look of disgust on the middle-aged woman's face brightened, transforming into an expression filled with greed! After exchanging a few more inaudible words, the woman patted the man happily on the back, and the man departed.

The middle-aged woman then strode back inside, glared at the little girl curled up on the ground, and walked over, delivering a few contemptuous kicks. With absolute disdain, she scoffed, "Hmph, who would have thought that a scrawny wretch like you would actually fetch a high price from some big shot willing to buy you!" She threw another kick for good measure before continuing, "I don't know what kind of blind luck you stumbled into, hmph!"

The girl curled her body in agony, disheveled and dressed in tattered rags. Eva could not clearly make out her appearance; furthermore, when she had previously tried to lift the girl's body, she had simply passed right through it. Thus, up until now, she still hadn't seen the girl