Defeat the system! Kiss my little monster!

"Hmm...it's top-quality material, probably left behind by the previous family when they fled," said the cowardly survivor with a straight face. "Let me see, the material grade is A..."

Shen Yi listened silently until Gu Qiechi finished muttering to himself, then he continued to ask, "So what exactly happened?"

"Hmm... I feel there are no problems! Apart from a few minor flaws, the overall performance is good. Besides, the purpose of cotton pants is to protect against the cold, so other issues are not the main concern."

Shen Yisui was somewhat skeptical after hearing this: "Really?"

"Of course! This system is equipped with advanced detection devices, would I lie to you?" Gouqie Toushi patted the ball. "Absolutely no problem!"

After listening, Shen Yisui seemed to understand something. He put away the cotton trousers and said to Cheng Jingyi, "Okay, change."

Cheng Jingyi smiled silently, tapped his fingers on the table, and said, "Change it now."

Shen Yisui vaguely sensed that something was wrong, but the fact that he was by Shen Yisui's side gave him confidence, and Shen Yisui also felt that he shouldn't be so suspicious.

He unbuckled his belt in front of Cheng Jingyi, then took off his suit trousers: "Here you go."

Cheng Jingyi reached out and took it. His gaze swept over Shen Yisui's pale thighs, which were covered in obvious scars, before handing over the bright red cotton trousers.

"Do you need my help?" Cheng Jingyi asked, then realized something was off and added, "You can't see."

"No need." Shen Yisui wasn't so desperate as to need help with even these things. He put one leg into his trousers and could clearly feel Cheng Jingyi's burning gaze on his skin.

Cheng Jingyi has always had some unique and perverse fetishes.

Shen Yisui vividly remembered that when he was at the zombie stronghold, Cheng Jingyi's most frequent request was for Shen Yisui to wear underwear. He said it was because Shen Yisui couldn't see, but what he was really thinking during that time was probably only known to himself.

Anyway, it's not a good thing.

Shen Yisui continued to put on his cotton-padded trousers while under Cheng Jingyi's gaze, and he did feel that the severe cold that had been assaulting his legs had subsided considerably.

"Thanks." The length of the pants was about the same as Shen Yisui's legs. Shen Yisui tried walking back and forth a few steps and felt that it was quite comfortable.

Cheng Jingyi propped her chin up and watched for a moment. Shen Yisui did indeed have a good figure. These bright red cotton pants with peach blossoms sewn on him actually looked rather...pleasing to the eye?

Cheng Jingyi smiled and said, "No need to thank me, I'm glad you like it."

Shen Yisui's pupils shifted slightly in the direction of Cheng Jingyi. Cheng Jingyi had given him gifts before, but those things were all too superficial—roses, gift boxes, custom watches… things that Shen Yisui didn't need.

For Cheng Jingyi, these things were less like gifts and more like decorations for Shen Yisui.

It's just a way to pass the time.

But Cheng Jingyi's current actions seem different from what Shen Yisui imagined.

"Put on your coat when you go out. These pants are a dark color and will be easily noticed," Cheng Jingyi said, watching Shen Yisui walk around a few times.

Shen Yi's thoughts were interrupted, and he asked, "What color?"

“Red,” Cheng Jingyi said slowly. As if he wasn’t satisfied, he added, “Bright red, with small flowers on it.”

Shen Yisui: "..."

He turned to face the cowardly survivor: "Why didn't you say so just now?"

He struggled to survive, scratching his head: "I told you, there's a small flaw on these cotton pants."

Shen Yisui: "..."

Cheng Jingyi watched Shen Yisui's expression closely. Seeing that Shen Yisui's expression gradually turned cold after hearing this, he turned his eyes and asked, "You don't like this color?"

Shen Yisui made a decision quickly. Although his life of survival was unreliable, there was some truth to what he said.

The purpose of cotton-padded pants is to keep warm, and as for the color... Shen Yisui can accept them as long as they are not fluorescent colors that glow in the dark.

"It's alright, I can wear it," Shen Yi said.

“Oh…” Cheng Jingyi stood up from the sofa, walked to Shen Yisui’s side, and suddenly leaned close to Shen Yisui’s face to look into his eyes.

"I thought you didn't know what red looked like, so I didn't tell you at first. So it seems... you could see it before?"

Shen Yisui froze in his gray pupils. He could sense Cheng Jingyi's presence, who was very close to him, their breaths almost intertwined.

After a long while, Shen Yi smiled and said, "I could when I was a kid."

A hint of surprise flashed in Cheng Jingyi's eyes: "Then why is it like this now?"

"I don't know." Shen Yi turned his face away, avoiding close contact with Cheng Jingyi. His thick eyelashes slowly drooped, concealing the dark gray pupils beneath.

"I fainted one day, and when I woke up, this is what happened to me."

Shen Yisui spoke vaguely, unwilling to elaborate on the topic, only saying a few words before walking past Cheng Jingyi.

Cheng Jingyi watched Shen Yisui's figure disappear into the distance, then frowned and sat back down on the sofa.

What he had suspected for a long time has now been confirmed.

Shen Yisui was not born with a disability.

The orphanage's examination records documented the physical characteristics of all the children.

Cheng Jingyi went with her parents to pick up Shen Heng and take him home. Underneath Shen Heng's medical report was Shen Yisui's organ examination report - which stated that Shen Yisui was born blind in both eyes.

There was even a misunderstanding at the time.

Cheng Jingyi's parents had been searching for their lost second son, Cheng Luan. Due to the limited information available at the time, and the fact that Cheng Luan was still an infant when he disappeared, finding the child was an incredibly difficult task.

However, Cheng Jingyi's parents did not give up over the years. Nearly ten years after Cheng Luan disappeared, they received news from a remote orphanage.

The director of the orphanage saw the news about Cheng Jingyi's parents and, after comparing the information, found that a child in the orphanage matched Cheng Luan's characteristics.

That child is Shen Yisui.

Upon hearing the news, Cheng's parents rushed to the orphanage, with Cheng Jingyi following behind them. He went to see Shen Yisui, who, though not very tall, sat in front of the door leaning on a cane that was more than half again as tall as the others.

At that time, the hospital had already conducted a gene comparison, and Shen Yisui's gene similarity with his parents was as high as 99%. He was Cheng Jingyi's biological brother.

Cheng's parents hugged Shen Yisui and wept bitterly, while Cheng Jingyi stood aside, still somewhat unfamiliar with this suddenly appearing, strange younger brother.

"Are you blind?" Cheng Jingyi took advantage of her parents leaving and deliberately found a corner to speak with Shen Yisui alone.

Shen Yisui, who grew up in an orphanage, was much thinner than other children his age. When Cheng Jingyi approached him, he subconsciously tightened his grip on his cane and murmured an "Mmm".

"intrinsic?"

"……Um."

Shen Yisui was clearly timid and reserved. He answered Cheng Jingyi's questions with a simple "hmm" most of the time.

Cheng Jingyi sized up Shen Yisui's figure and said, "Don't be too scared. I'm your brother. I was just curious when I asked you those questions..."

"Hahaha—that's fake, you've been fooled!"

"Throw it over here! Throw it over here!"

A sudden burst of laughter interrupted Cheng Jingyi's words. He frowned and looked toward the source of the sound, where he saw a group of children running out of the orphanage's back garden.

The boy in the lead clutched a keychain that glittered in the sunlight. As he ran, he tossed the keychain to another child nearby.

"Shen Cheng, if you can catch him, you can have him back; if you can't, he's ours..."

Cheng Jingyi frowned; this noisy and chaotic scene always made him feel unhappy.

His gaze shifted, and he saw that the last boy to emerge from the garden was also running over.

His face was deathly pale, and he walked differently from other children his age. Shen Cheng was tall with long strides, and his dark eyes stared straight ahead. Although he didn't say a word, his fierce aura was clearly visible.

Cheng Jingyi's gaze lingered on Shen Cheng for a moment.

Shen Cheng chased after the group of children. What started as a playful chase suddenly changed direction. He grabbed Shen Heng in the center of the crowd, choked him by the neck, and shoved him into the water vat.

Screams erupted all around, creating utter chaos.

Shen Yisui seemed to be startled by the scene in the courtyard and quickly stood up from his chair: "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

The caregivers from the orphanage ran down the corridor, pulled Shen Cheng away, and kept telling the others to go find a doctor.

Shen Cheng stood at the corner, silently watching the chaos on the field. After a moment, he left the field with the supervising teacher who had arrived.

Shen Heng's forehead was scraped by the edge of the water vat, but he was otherwise unharmed. He was close to Shen Yisui, and he ran upstairs to Shen Yisui, sobbing, to complain.

"It's nothing...it's just a small cut, it'll be fine in a bit...I told you not to mess with him, why did you have to go against him..."

"I just don't like him, what's with all the arrogance..."

Cheng Jingyi leaned against the stone pillar beside him, silently watching Shen Heng cry to Shen Yisui, then turned his gaze downwards.

The keychain was still lying on the ground. The open ground was covered with puddles left from last night's rain. The keychain was trampled into the mud, tangled with filth, and the chain had lost its color, no longer resembling its original appearance.

Cheng Jingyi withdrew her gaze.

Shen Heng was still sobbing beside him, blood dripping from the wound on his forehead, staining his white pants with blood.

Shen Yisui seemed to have noticed this as well, and used a cotton cloth to wipe away the blood that had just dripped onto Shen Heng's pants.

"It's alright... Don't worry, the doctor is here..."

Cheng Jingyi frowned slowly as she looked at the few drops of blood that had been wiped away from Shen Heng's pants.

This was just a small episode during Cheng Jingyi's visit to the orphanage.

Mr. and Mrs. Cheng originally intended to bring Shen Yisui home in the next few days, but the orphanage's procedures were complicated, and the date for bringing Shen Yisui back was postponed again and again, eventually being delayed for more than a month.

After Cheng Jingyi returned to school in the city, she visited the orphanage even less frequently.

Later, they heard that a fire had broken out at the orphanage and that Shen Yisui was seriously injured inside. This news worried Cheng's parents greatly, and they rushed to the Central Hospital that very night.

However, during blood tests at the Central Hospital, they unexpectedly discovered that Shen Yisui was not their child.

The orphanage mixed up the blood samples of Shen Yisui and Shen Heng during blood testing; Shen Heng was their biological child.

When Cheng Jingyi heard the news, she was also incredulous. This kind of melodramatic plot, which rarely appears in modern TV dramas, actually happened to them.

Cheng's parents were furious. To prevent further mistakes, they took Shen Heng's blood and their own blood to several hospitals for gene comparison, and the results were all the same: a 99% similarity rate.

Only then were they truly relieved and took Shen Heng home.

Before leaving, Cheng Jingyi also visited the remaining injured children in the orphanage. The number of children burned in the fire was relatively small, no more than ten in total, and Shen Yi was one of the most severely burned.

Despite their heartache for Shen Yisui, Cheng's parents left him some money so he could have skin grafts for his burns.

"Shen Yisui".

Before leaving, Cheng Jingyi bought some fruit for Shen Yisui. Although it was a misunderstanding, they had spoken at the orphanage and could be considered friends.

"I wish you a speedy recovery."

Shen Yisui suffered severe burns all over his body, with several layers of thick white bandages wrapped around his head. He was already blind, and now his pupils seemed to have been severely damaged as well, turning from jet black to a dull gray, without any variation in color.

After Cheng Jingyi finished speaking, Shen Yisui seemed to suddenly lose control of his emotions. He grabbed Cheng Jingyi's sleeve and tears streamed down his face.

Cheng Jingyi didn't know what to say to Shen Yisui. He was just a child then and didn't understand the many changes and developments that had occurred.

"No...it's not...I..."

Shen Yisui uttered indistinct sounds from his throat, shaking his head repeatedly at Cheng Jingyi, his fingernails scratching bloody marks onto the back of Cheng Jingyi's hand.

The tears fell into Cheng Jingyi's palm, warm, but soon lost their warmth.

The orphanage doctor rushed over upon hearing the commotion. Seeing the situation, he quickly pulled Shen Yi off Cheng Jingyi and apologized, "He couldn't handle the genetic test results. After all, he was ready to leave with you all. I'm so sorry..."

Cheng Jingyi froze on the spot. He looked at Shen Yisui, who was sitting on the hospital bed with his head down. He suddenly fell silent, his dark hair hanging down beside his ears, making it impossible for others to discern the expression on his face.

"Okay, I'm leaving first."

Cheng Jingyi never went to the orphanage again after that.

After bringing Shen Heng back, his family moved away from the city not long after and went to another place to develop their careers.

If it weren't for the apocalypse, Cheng Jingyi would never have imagined seeing Shen Yisui again.

The memories of his childhood were too distant, and when Shen Yisui reappeared before him, it was as if he had been reborn. Apart from the same obedient face that Cheng Jingyi remembered, he was completely different from his childhood self in every way.

"I've packed everything. Come and get it in a bit."