Crying Until Blind

The phone screen glowed faintly.

[Lin Mo: Just passing by, no need to thank me.]

[Dongfang Shuye: You don't need to worry about Ning Qingcheng. No one dares to lay a hand on her.]

[Lin Mo: Hard to say, your place is as leaky as a sieve.]

Dongfang Shuye replied almost instantly, his words revealing an eagerness to prove himself.

[Dongfang Shuye: It's different now!]

Lin Mo could even imagine him grinding his teeth while typing out that line on the other end.

He casually replied.

[Lin Mo: If you say so.]

Then he cleanly shoved the phone back into his pocket, leaving the other party to fume in impotent rage.

At this moment, Lin Mo was sitting in the sofa in the living room of the Ning family manor's large villa.

The reason for saying "in" was because the sofa here was truly comfortable; Lin Mo's entire body had sunk right into it.

Although there were no longer any servants around, the water and electricity were still working normally.

Xia Zhi walked over holding two cups of steaming hot tea, the fragrance instantly dispelling some of the desolation.

"Try it. It's the Ning family's private collection, good stuff you can't find on the market."

She handed a cup to Lin Mo. "It's strange, actually. The people from the branch office surprisingly didn't really touch anything here."

Lin Mo took the warm white porcelain teacup, his fingertips feeling the just-right temperature.

He blew on the hot steam and said lightly, "It's not strange, it's smart."

Xia Zhi was taken aback.

"Dongfang Shuye left it."

Lin Mo explained, "When confiscating a home, don't take everything. Leave some mementos for Ning Qingcheng to see, making him appear humane. Of course, Ning Qingcheng might just fall for it."

The tea was top-tier Lapsang Souchong. The rich aroma of honey and fruit entered his nose, invigorating him just from the smell.

Lin Mo's divine sense, however, was not on this cup of tea.

In the master bedroom on the second floor, the little girl named Ning Qingcheng was curled up under the covers, sleeping soundly.

Wet tear stains still hung on her long eyelashes, clearly showing she had cried herself to sleep out of exhaustion.

Even having awakened her abilities, she was ultimately still a child; her sorrow and exhaustion wouldn't decrease in the slightest because of it.

However, the ceiling in Ning Qingcheng's room was quite high.

At least higher than the one at Lin Mo's house.

Two suitcases, almost half as tall as her, stood by the bed, stuffed to the brim.

As expected of the eldest daughter of the Ning family. Even with her home gone, her extravagance remained.

Lin Mo withdrew his divine sense, feeling no ripples in his heart.

"She didn't cause any trouble after coming back, did she?" Lin Mo took a sip of tea and asked casually.

Xia Zhi sat down beside him, the sofa similarly swallowing half of her body. Holding her teacup, she sighed faintly. "She didn't cause trouble, she just cried."

"She searched the entire villa and didn't take anything except for a few old photo albums. Then she sat on the carpet, flipping through them page by page, and as she flipped... she started crying."

Xia Zhi's voice was a bit downcast. "She cried her heart out. Nothing I did to comfort her worked. In the end, she just cried herself to sleep."

Lin Mo nodded, a trace of imperceptible absentmindedness flashing through his eyes.

"It's normal. Her home is gone, crying is to be expected." His tone was flat. "Back in the day, I also cried my eyes out, much worse than her. At least she met us."

Hearing this, Xia Zhi turned her head to look at Lin Mo.

In her impression, Lin Mo was powerful, mysterious, and carried a bit of cynical laziness. She simply couldn't associate him with the words "cried my eyes out."

But she also truly believed his words.

"If you hadn't met Perfected Lord Beixuan..." Xia Zhi's voice carried a hint of cautious probing, "What would you be like now?"

Lin Mo's movements paused for a moment.

His thoughts were instantly pulled away, piercing through this body and drifting toward another entirely different life.

Over there, there was no system, only a corporate slave eating instant noodles in a rented apartment, bowing and scraping for a few thousand bucks, suffocated by the pressure of life.

In his own awareness, there were no bullshit Awakened ones, only endless cigarette butts and an endless sight of liquor bottles.

As for now.

Reincarnating was already overpowered enough, and it even came with a system. How could you play without a nerf?

These thoughts flashed through his mind, so fast that even Xia Zhi failed to catch his momentary lapse in concentration.

His life would probably be just like that.

However, Lin Mo still said seriously, "If it weren't for Perfected Lord Beixuan, I'd probably just be an ordinary person in this life."

After saying that, he downed the tea in his hand in one gulp.

"It's time to take the little girl back."

Lin Mo stood up from the sofa and placed the teacup on the coffee table.

Xia Zhi followed behind to clean up. Hearing this, she paused and sighed helplessly, "She won't be easy to take back. She doesn't say it, but in her heart, she has absolutely no intention of leaving."

This house was probably Ning Qingcheng's only remaining comfort.

"That's why you can't spoil children. The more you spoil them, the more disobedient they become."

Lin Mo's tone revealed no emotion, and he was already walking toward the second floor.

His footsteps weren't heavy, but every step seemed to step on some special node.

Just as his hand grasped the doorknob and gently twisted it open, on the large bed inside the bedroom, Ning Qingcheng, whose eyes had been tightly shut, suddenly opened them.

She wasn't awakened by the sound.

But by a vigilance engraved deep within her.

That spatial fluctuation was like a massive boulder smashing into a tranquil lake, causing her entire nervous system to instantly tense up.

Almost as a conditioned reflex, she sprang up from the bed, like a startled cat, looking warily toward the door.

In her field of vision, Lin Mo's tall figure was leaning against the doorframe, blocking the light from the hallway and enveloping her in a shadow.

There was no expression on his face; he just looked at her indifferently.

"Don't be so agitated. I just dropped by to take you home."

Home.

This word stung Ning Qingcheng like a needle.

She tightly gripped the bedsheets beneath her, her eyes instantly turning red. Her voice carried an uncontrollable tremble and stubbornness.

Ning Qingcheng couldn't help but say, "This is my home!"

Lin Mo looked at her, looking like she wanted to cry but was desperately holding it in, and walked over silently.

The mattress sank significantly under his weight.

He sat down, ignoring the little girl's wary shrinking back, raised his hand, and ruffled her fluffy head with just the right amount of force.

Seeing the little girl's red eyes, Lin Mo walked over, sat on the bed, and gently patted Ning Qingcheng's head.

The action couldn't be called gentle, but it carried an undeniable force.

"A home for one is quite lonely."

His voice was very light, but it acted like a key, instantly unlocking the floodgates of emotion that Ning Qingcheng had forcibly locked away.

That tightly wound string snapped.

The long-suppressed grievances and sorrow erupted like a flash flood. The girl could no longer hold back and burst into loud wails.

"You might as well come back with me. At least it'll be a home for two."

The heart-wrenching crying quickly attracted Xia Zhi from downstairs.

The crying brought Xia Zhi over.

Xia Zhi looked at Lin Mo with a helpless expression, "Look at you, you made her cry again."

"Is it my fault?" Lin Mo felt helpless. He then scooped up Ning Qingcheng in one arm, grabbed her luggage, and walked out.

"Let's go. It's better not to stay in this place of heartbreak, otherwise she'll cry herself blind."

Xia Zhi followed behind. Seeing that Ning Qingcheng put up no resistance, she breathed a sigh of relief.