27: Chapter 27 Childhood Trauma

Those children were still surrounding him.

Chen Mo's cleaver had already struck down three, but more remained, with new figures constantly emerging from both ends of the corridor—all faces he recognized.

The cafeteria auntie, the security guard, and the older child who always bullied him.

They did not speak, simply watching him and closing in step by step.

Chen Mo took a step back, his back against the wall.

He scanned them with his Pupil of the Sequence.

Each one had golden lines; they were all real Ghost Shadows.

Not hallucinations, not illusions, but things that truly wanted to kill him.

"Chen Mo."

A familiar voice came from behind the crowd.

The crowd automatically parted to make a path.

A man walked out.

He was in his forties, wearing a gray Zhongshan suit, with graying hair and a slightly hunched back.

The Dean.

But not the one he had killed before.

This one was older, more haggard, and his eyes lacked that emptiness, possessing the gaze of a truly living person.

"Chen Mo." He called out again: "Do you not remember me?"

Chen Mo gripped his cleaver tightly.

"Of course I remember you."

"Then do you still remember this?" The Dean took something out from behind his back.

It was a photograph.

A yellowed photograph with curled edges.

There were two people in the photo: a young woman holding an infant.

The woman was beautiful and smiling very gently.

The infant was tiny, eyes closed, sleeping.

Chen Mo stared at the photograph.

He did not recognize the woman.

But the infant's face was exactly the same as the one in his childhood photos.

"This is your mother," the Dean said: "Your birth mother."

Chen Mo just stared fixedly, not saying a word.

"When she sent you to the Orphanage, you were only three months old."

The Dean did not mind Chen Mo's attitude; he took a step forward and continued to speak:

"She held you, stood at the door, and cried for a long time, before finally placing you on the steps and turning away."

He handed the photo over.

"This is the only photo she left behind; I have kept it for you all this time."

Chen Mo did not take it.

He looked at the photograph, looking at the woman's face.

That was a stranger he had never met.

But she was also his mother.

"Do you want to know why she didn't want you?" the Dean asked.

Chen Mo still did not answer.

But his hand was trembling slightly.

"Because she had no choice," the Dean said:

"She was too young, had no money, no job, no family; she couldn't support you."

He flipped the photo over; there were a few lines of text on the back.

"Chen Mo, I'm sorry. Mom loves you."

Chen Mo stared at those lines of text.

The characters were crooked, like something written by a primary school student, but every stroke was forceful, as if trying to carve all her emotions into it.

"She came back later," the Dean said:

"When you were five, she stood at the door and watched you for a long time, but she didn't come in."

"Why?"

"Because she was very sick," the Dean said: "She didn't want you to see her like that."

Chen Mo's hand tightened around the cleaver.

But he did not move.

The children were still surrounding him, but no one moved forward.

"Do you know what she said in the end?" the Dean asked.

Chen Mo shook his head.

"She said, let him live well," the Dean said: "As long as he lives well, I can be at peace."

Chen Mo closed his eyes.

He thought of those sleepless nights, thought of the questions he had repeatedly asked himself.

Why me?

Why was I the one abandoned?

Now he knew.

It wasn't because he wasn't good enough, it wasn't because he was superfluous.

It was just because that person had no choice.

He opened his eyes.

"Thank you for telling me this," he said.

The Dean smiled.

"Then are you willing to stay?" he asked: "Accompany us, accompany her?"

The surrounding children reached out their hands simultaneously.

"Stay."

"Stay."

"Stay."

Those voices surged from all directions, drilling into his ears.

Chen Mo looked at them.

Looked at the photo in the Dean's hand.

Looked at the woman's crooked handwriting.

"Mom loves you."

He took a deep breath.

"No."

The Dean froze.

"What did you say?"

"I said no," Chen Mo gripped his cleaver: "I cannot stay."

He took a step forward.

"Because I want to live."

The second strike.

The third strike.

The children fell one by one, golden threads surging into his body.

The Dean stood where he was, watching him.

"Are you really going to leave?"

Chen Mo nodded.

"Tell her for me," he said: "I am living well."

The Dean smiled.

The smile was complex, appearing both relieved and sorrowful.

Then he also fell.

Golden threads surged out.

【Kill E-Class Ghost Shadow "Childhood Shadow"】

【Obtained: sequence fragment × 8】

【Current fragments: 160】

【Obtained special reward: Mental Resistance + 10】

The figures in the corridor all disappeared.

Only Chen Mo remained.

He stood in place, looking at the photograph on the ground.

The photo was still there, but the people on it had vanished.

Only those few lines of text remained.

"Chen Mo, I'm sorry. Mom loves you."

Chen Mo bent down and picked up the photo.

He folded it and put it in his inner pocket.

Then he stood up and continued walking forward.

At the end of the corridor, a new door appeared.

Behind the door was the second floor.

He pushed the door open and walked in.