CH 7

After the curse took effect, things were okay at first. She could still get by in the orphanage, eating and sleeping there. Even though there were no more beds, it was still better than sleeping on the street. 

But during that time, this little girl cried almost every day. She cried until her heart was breaking, but no one could hear her voice. She would only stop crying when her throat went hoarse. Her little friends were still playing happily without her, while she could only watch them from afar and couldn’t participate.

Sometimes her little friends would miss her and ask the head of the orphanage, “Where did Sui Sui go? Why hasn’t she come back?” The head of the orphanage could only shake her head and say she didn’t know. Whenever this happened, Sui Rui would desperately shout, “I’m here!” But it was of no use. The feeling was one of utter hopelessness.

At least she was still alive. But when she was seven years old, one night she cried herself to sleep, and when she woke up, she found herself lying in a pool of blood, surrounded by the bodies of all her friends. Her clothes were soaked in red blood. The entire orphanage was empty of any living souls!

Even the kind and gentle head of the orphanage had been brutally murdered, with only half a head remaining and not enough limbs left to piece together a complete corpse.

The killer was unknown. When she was six, she had lost her existence overnight, and then when she was seven, she lost everyone who remembered her overnight. Not a single person who knew she had existed was left. That feeling of utter despair and pain, even today, cannot be dispelled.

Since then, in this world, there is no longer a person named Sui Li’er.

At first, she was still young and only knew she had to survive. So she began a life of wandering and sleeping in the open air. She would go to convenience stores to steal food to eat. She would go to clothing stores to steal clothes to wear.

When she wanted to take a bath, she would jump into the river to wash. In the summer, she would just sleep on the ground. In the winter, she would spend long and lonely nights in other people’s shops. Every day, she would ask passersby on the street,

“Can anyone see me?”

And every day, no one would respond.

This continued for more than half a year. One afternoon, she was still walking on the road, crying softly and asking,

“Is there anyone… sob…”

A little boy walked over and looked at her, saying, “Aren’t you a person? Are you blind?”

Looking at the little boy in her memory, Chen Ling suddenly froze, his face full of shock! Why was he surprised…

Because that little boy was him!

Did he come to this dimension as a tourist when he was young? How could that be? Chen Ling had no recollection whatsoever. He had been to too many dimensions, so it was normal not to remember such a boring dimension.

But he still found it hard to believe, and couldn’t help but marvel at the coincidence of fate. So it turns out that he had met her ten years ago…

Wait a minute… ten years ago! What happened ten years ago? Suddenly, Cheng Ling remembered…

That year, he was training with his father when he accidentally hit his head and passed out. When he woke up, he had some missing memories, but he didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. Now, looking at Sui Li’er’s memories, the missing memories suddenly appeared in Cheng Ling’s mind!

Ten years ago, he did come to this plane. As soon as he arrived, he said it was boring and wanted to go to another world. But his parents and sister insisted on buying souvenirs to take home. So they wandered around, and Cheng Ling followed absentmindedly.

As they were walking, Chen Ling suddenly heard a little girl crying and shouting, “Can anyone see me?”

He followed the sound and found Sui Li’er. At that time, Sui Li’er was dirty all over her body, and Cheng Ling looked at her with disgust. He didn’t even notice that Sui Li’er had been beautiful since she was young.

When Sui Li’er saw Cheng Ling looking to her, she immediately wiped away her tears and looked at Cheng Ling with joy on her face, “You can see me?! And you can hear my voice?!”

Although Cheng Ling was young at the time, he was very arrogant and said, “What else could it be? What are you talking about?”

“Sniff… sniff… sniff…”

Suddenly, Sui Li’er burst into tears, her nose running and tears streaming down her face. She had finally found someone who could see her. But Chen Ling couldn’t understand what was going on. At that time, he didn’t know that Sui Li’er was cursed, he just thought that this little girl loved to cry.

Chen Ling furrowed his brow and said, “Hey, don’t cry. Here, I’ll give you some lollipops. Stop crying.” He then took out a handful of lollipops from his system space.

Sui Li’er wiped away her tears and pouted, “Give me all of them.”

Chen Ling quickly pulled his hand back and said, “If I give them all to you, what will I eat? You can’t be too greedy in life!”

As Chen Ling remembered this, he couldn’t help but rub his forehead. It turned out this was something he had taught her. Good job.

“How about this? I’ll give you half of them, okay? Stop crying!”

“Wuwu… okay…”

Sui Li’er wiped away her tears and suddenly burst into laughter the next second. Children’s emotions are always like this, rising and falling dramatically. Chen Ling counted out half of the lollipops and handed them to Sui Li’er.

“I’ll give these to you, but you can’t eat them all at once. My mom said they’ll give you cavities. They hurt a lot, and you’ll cry again.”

“Okay!”

Sui Li’er happily took the lollipops and asked, “Thank you! What’s your name?”

Chen Ling replied, “I can’t say.”

“Hmm… Oh…”

Sui Li’er thought that Chen Ling didn’t want to tell her his name, but he was just teasing her. In the world of children, this means he doesn’t want to be friends with her…

But she still wanted to exchange names with him. He might be her only friend in her life. So she plucked up the courage and looked at Chen Ling sincerely, saying, “My name is Sui Li’er!”

Chen Ling just said lightly, “Oh, I’m Chen Ling.”

“Aha! Chen Ling!”

Sui Li’er suddenly exclaimed, startling Chen Ling.

“What’s wrong? Why are you so surprised?”

“I’m so happy!”

Chen Ling thought she was happy because of the lollipops and didn’t say anything else. Just then, her little sister’s voice came from far away.

“Brother! Come on! Mom and Dad are leaving!”

Chen Ling replied, “I have to go now. Goodbye, Sui Li’er.”

“Wait!”

Sui Li’er quickly grabbed him, and some of the lollipops fell to the ground.

“What’s wrong?”

Chen Ling looked at her curiously.

“That… That…” Tears suddenly welled up in Sui Li’er’s eyes.

Chen Ling quickly said, “What’s wrong? Why are you crying again? Give me back my lollipop!”

“Umph…” Sui Li’er quickly held back her tears, tightly biting her lips and refraining from crying again.

She stared at Chen Ling with her big eyes, looking foolishly at him. Chen Ling was amused by her appearance and laughed for the first time in a long time.

Sui Li’er followed suit and laughed, “Um, where do you live? Can I come play with you?”

Chen Ling thought for a moment and said, “Um… I’m afraid that won’t work, my home is too far away. Have you heard of Minghua Forbidden Zone?”

“Um… no…”

Chen Ling sighed, “Oh, well, you won’t be able to find it anyway.”

“Aww…” Sui Li’er pouted again and was about to cry.

Chen Ling quickly said her, “Stop crying!” He really couldn’t stand it when little girls cried. His own little sister cried all the time, but that was because he teased her.

“Um… okay…” Sui Li’er nodded with tears in her eyes, obedient as she had been since she was a child.

“Here’s what, I’ll come find you in the future if I get the chance.”

“Really?” Sui Li’er smiled again

“Really, but I’m not sure when.” He thought for a moment and continued, “How about in ten years… in ten years, I’ll have the permission to travel between dimensions. I’ll come find you then!”

Although Sui Li’er didn’t understand what he was saying, she heard “ten years.”

“Ten years… it’s so long… Can’t we meet tomorrow? If not, how about a week?”

Chen Ling didn’t say anything.

Sui Li’er bit her lip and pleaded, “If that’s not possible… how about a year?”

Chen Ling shook his head. “I can’t do that. Ten years is already short enough. I’ll come find you as soon as I can.”

In the river of his life, ten years really was short.

“Be content! You can’t be too greedy in life!”

“Oh… okay then…”

“And before I come, you can go play with someone else.”

“But other people…” Sui Li’er hadn’t finished speaking when Chen Ling’s sister’s voice suddenly rang out in the distance.

“Brother! Dad said he doesn’t want you anymore!”

Chen Ling was so scared he shook. “I have to go now.”

Then Chen Ling left.

Sui Li’er watched his back and muttered, “But other people can’t see me…”

She stared off in the direction Chen Ling disappeared for a while before picking up the lollipop from the ground and putting it in her pocket. She counted and there were exactly ten.

Her plan was to eat one lollipop a year for ten years.

But by the third year, the candy had gone bad and she immediately spit it out after taking a bite.

So she stole a candy from a convenience store and only ate one candy a year, on the day she met Chen Ling. She used the lollipops to count the years.

For ten years, she traveled the whole country on foot, searching for the second person who could see her. She was searching for the Minghua Forbidden Zone that Chen Ling had mentioned ten years ago.

As if she could ever find it. The Minghua Forbidden Zone was not even on this plane. Finally, she returned to this city a month ago.

And today, she returned to the place where she and Chen Ling first met. The street was no longer the same, buildings had been erected where there were none before.

And today is the tenth year since she and Chen Ling parted ways.