Defeat the system! Kiss my little monster!

Shen Yisui seemed to hear the heartbeat of Cheng Jingyi in his chest. His chest was still rising and falling, directly in front of the hole through which most of Shen Yisui's flesh had been pierced.

"Ah... I am indeed afraid, and I am indeed cowardly. Shen Heng, zombies, the military... they all want me dead, of course I'm afraid."

Shen Yisui leaned closer to Cheng Jingyi and asked slowly, "So what are you planning to do this time? Say I'm dead and have me avoid Shen Heng?"

A chill crept into his words, carrying a similar emotion to his previous ones.

Cheng Jingyi didn't say much. In the darkness, he touched Shen Yisui's cheek, only to feel the latter suddenly pause as he moved forward, and then, as usual, try to turn his head away.

"Shen Yisui, I didn't eat that piece of meat," Cheng Jingyi suddenly said.

Shen Yisui's body stiffened slightly, and it took him a long time to understand what Cheng Jingyi was talking about. He turned his head and clearly felt a thin layer of calluses on the palm of the hand that was stroking his cheek.

"I bit it, but didn't swallow it. I spat it out after I got out of the mouth."

Shen Yisui was silent for a moment: "...Why didn't you say so back then?"

"Because I don't like you." Cheng Jingyi scoffed. "Don't you know how awful you were to me back then? I was just deliberately trying to annoy you."

"..." Shen Yisui didn't believe his story at all. He took Cheng Jingyi's hand away from his face and said, "Nonsense, you didn't tell me anything after that."

Cheng Jingyi didn't speak again. Shen Yisui took his hand away, but only a few seconds later, Cheng Jingyi put his palms back on both sides of his cheeks.

He seemed dissatisfied, and vigorously rubbed his almost skin and bones cheeks under his palm.

Shen Yisui: "..."

"Shen Yisui, don't get into a conflict with Shen Heng." Cheng Jingyi's voice lowered, he was somewhat deflated, and he listlessly rested his forehead on Shen Yisui's shoulder.

Shen Yisui knew Cheng Jingyi was going to say that, and his anger rose. He sneered, "You just wanted to tell me this?"

“I’m not asking you to back down, but Shen Heng is different from the others.” Cheng Jingyi noticed that Shen Yisui’s attitude was getting colder. He paused for a second or two, but still said in a desperate manner, “You may not believe me when I tell you, but Shen Heng has a buff. It’s a colorful ball system.”

To eke out a living: "!!!"

Shen Yisui paused upon hearing this. He suppressed the cowardly thought hidden in his sleeve and feigned surprise, saying, "...What?"

Cheng Jingyi embraced Shen Yisui's body, his palm facing down, covering the wound on Shen Yisui's chest.

He slowly frowned and said, "That system is different from ours. It comes from outer space and is another force. If you continue to oppose Shen Heng, it might attack you to protect its host."

Cheng Jingyi spoke in a low voice about some information about the Color Ball system. Cheng Jingyi's understanding of the Color Ball's ability to attract and bewitch exceeded Shen Yisui's imagination.

"Its function is to attract the attention of others, make the host popular, gain the favor of others, and ultimately become the focus of the crowd, the center of the world," Cheng Jingyi said, lowering his eyes.

"Shen Heng's special ability is to make plants grow. This ability is not very powerful and does not have much offensive power. The Color Ball System probably helped him a lot in becoming one of the key figures in the military."

Cheng Jingyi spoke in a steady tone, and his seemingly false and insane words came out logically, revealing some hidden aspects of his personality.

After hearing Cheng Jingyi finish speaking, Shen Yisui asked, "How do you know so much? You... know it?"

Cheng Jingyi fell into a long silence, lost in thought, his breath falling almost imperceptibly on Shen Yisui's collarbone.

“Yes… I know it.” Cheng Jingyi’s eyelashes trembled slightly as he spoke, “Its previous host was me.”

To eke out a living: "!!!"

Shen Yisui suppressed his desire to survive again. He sensed Cheng Jingyi's breathing gradually slowing down to the point of being almost imperceptible, and even detected a slight tremor and shiver in it.

Shen Yi lowered his eyes, his fingertips running through Cheng Jingyi's messy black hair, and hugged him tightly: "How... how did this happen?"

Shen Yisui was unaware of the rules between systems. However, the simple-minded person who helped him understand this was someone else. In the same world, a conscientious system would only bind to one host, and the system would leave that world unless the host died.

Unless the host dies...

Cheng Jingyi closed his eyes and said, "After the apocalypse came, it thought I had been eaten by zombies, so it found another person to be its host. He is Shen Heng."

He paused for a few seconds after speaking before continuing, "I am not a biological child of the Cheng family."

Cheng Jingyi never imagined things would develop this way.

After the Cheng family's child went missing, the Cheng couple adopted the young Cheng Jingyi.

They originally wanted to find a child around the same age as Cheng Luan, but when they saw that Cheng Jingyi looked somewhat similar to them, they simply chose him.

Cheng Jingyi had a relatively smooth start to the year. He was handsome, always had excellent grades, and was well-liked by his parents.

Until the Cheng family found their biological child.

Whether it's Shen Yisui or Shen Heng, once they return to the Cheng family, they will replace Cheng Jingyi in her original position at home.

Cheng Jingyi had overheard the conversation between the Cheng couple. After bringing Shen Heng back, they were somewhat hesitant about how to arrange things for Cheng Jingyi.

Cheng Jingyi didn't know where to go. The Cheng family was his sanctuary, and the family he had painstakingly built up over the years, but he was ultimately an outsider. Shen Heng was the one who truly belonged to the Cheng family.

Cheng Jingyi often had trouble sleeping at night because of this, and it was at this time that Caiqiu came to his side.

It was undoubtedly adept at sensing people's unease and anxiety, and soon after arriving at Cheng Jingyi's side, it quickly calmed her down.

Cheng Jingyi still remembers what it looked like when he first saw the colorful ball. He was still young then and thought he saw a rainbow made of flowing light.

The colorful ball was different from what Cheng Jingyi had imagined. Although its light was dazzling, it could not be maintained for long and dimmed within a dozen seconds.

The colorful sphere was covered with cracks, and the mechanical sounds inside creaked and groaned, like an alarm or a cry for help.

[Why...why did this happen...I won't care about you anymore, I'll never care about you again...]

The cracks on its body widened, and it crashed and fell onto Cheng Jingyi's desk.

Cheng Jingyi was startled. He picked up the colorful ball and looked at it for a long time before hiding it in his room.

About three or four days later, Caiqiu woke up again. At that time, Shen Heng had just left the orphanage and returned to the Cheng couple's home.