The Torn Photograph

The day before school started, Li Chen was squatting on the floor packing his luggage, while Shi Ji sat nearby, sipping fruit tea and nibbling on small biscuits from a plate.

He watched Li Chen’s busy figure, glancing at the suitcase on the floor—a small black one, with a capacity that wasn’t even half that of a regular suitcase. Yet, even after packing for a while, Li Chen’s belongings didn’t even fill two-thirds of it.

Li Chen folded his clothes with meticulous care, his slender fingers smoothing out every wrinkle in the fabric. His bangs fell forward, and his eyelashes didn’t blink, giving him an air of unexpected submissiveness.

Shi Ji took a bite of a biscuit, letting the bitter coffee flavor melt slowly on his tongue.

In the original setting, no matter how much the original owner loathed Li Chen, he never stopped him from attending school. The primary reason was that the original owner’s parents had been very close with Li Chen’s parents; before they passed away, they had entrusted the original owner with taking good care of him.

As Shi Ji pondered, he switched hands to prop up his chin. His gaze lingered on the top of Li Chen’s head until the boy sensed his stare and looked up. Their eyes met for a fleeting second before Li Chen looked away first, though it wasn’t long before he began stealing glances back at Shi Ji from the corner of his eye.

Shi Ji saw right through those sneaky movements. He put down the half-eaten biscuit and said bluntly, “Am I that good-looking?”

Li Chen froze. He knit his brows and tilted his head in confusion.

“If I’m not good-looking…” Shi Ji drawled deliberately, “—then why have you been staring at me this whole time?”

Having spent so much time in this world, Shi Ji had perfected the original owner’s knack for “counter-accusing” others.

His words hit the mark. Li Chen’s eyes widened in disbelief, his expression practically screaming: How can there be someone as shameless as you in this world?

Li Chen pressed his thin lips together and took two deep breaths before muttering, “Who’s looking at you?”

With that, he jerked his head down, nearly burying his chin in his chest, yet he still couldn’t hide the faint reddening of his ear tips.

Shi Ji wanted to laugh, but just as the corners of his mouth began to lift, the system’s voice went online without warning.

[Loading next plot segment—] [Plot loaded successfully.] [Next Task: Seize Li Chen’s photograph and tear it up.] [Time to complete: Within 30 minutes.]

[Data synchronizing… Synchronization complete.]

Along with the new task, a countdown timer appeared in Shi Ji’s mind. The bright red numbers ticked down, each second feeling like a hammer blow to his heart.

‘Wait, no way. This sudden?!!’

Shi Ji scrambled to his feet, the suddenness of the movement startling Li Chen. He turned his head, searching for anything that could hold a photo, but after scanning the room, he didn’t see so much as a scrap of paper.

Right—this was his room. Why would there be a photo of Li Chen here?

But Li Chen’s original home had been converted into a flower garden. Where was he supposed to find this “photograph”?!

Shi Ji inwardly cursed the absurdity of the system’s task. He then strode toward Li Chen.

The youth remained in his previous position, his pupils following Shi Ji’s trajectory. When Shi Ji stopped, his gaze stopped as well. His rosy lips were slightly pursed, and his expression was like that of an innocent little animal.

Shi Ji locked eyes with Li Chen for two seconds, then glanced down. As if by plot-mandated coincidence, he happened to see the corner of a photo peeking out from a side pocket of Li Chen’s suitcase.

A sense of absurdity washed over him.

The ticking clock in his head urged him on. Shi Ji had no choice but to bend down and reach for the photo in the pocket.

He looked down. The paper in his hand was clearly years old, its edges slightly yellowed. The image showed a man and a woman hugging a small boy. The boy had a cat-shaped balloon tied to his wrist; the woman was kissing his cheek, while the man on the other side leaned his chin affectionately on the boy’s tiny shoulder.

The happiness of a family of three practically radiated from the photo. Shi Ji stared at the boy’s misty-blue eyes for a few seconds before realizing: this was Li Chen as a child.

The people beside him must be his parents.

And the system wanted him to tear this?

Shi Ji unconsciously frowned.

‘What kind of immoral task is this!’

“What are you doing!” Li Chen reached out to snatch the photo back. Just as his fingers were about to touch it, Shi Ji twisted his body to dodge. Li Chen missed and lunged upward, standing up abruptly. His eyes were wide as he roared, “Give it back!!”

Shi Ji held his hand high, staring at the man and woman in the photo. He felt they looked strangely familiar.

‘Have I seen these two somewhere before?’

Li Chen glared at him: “Give it back!!”

He pulled and yanked at Shi Ji’s arm. The suit fabric was crumpled into a mess by Li Chen’s grip, and the button at the cuff snapped right off.

“Wait,” Shi Ji frowned, racking his brain.

‘I’ve definitely seen these two before!’

“Let me look one more time.”

“GIVE IT BACK!!”

In the next second, Shi Ji was hit by a powerful force. He fell back onto the floor, the back of his head hitting the ground with a thud. The sharp pain made him nearly unable to open his eyes.

He hissed, drawing in a sharp breath. Before he could even exhale, a weight suddenly landed on him. Li Chen was pinned over his abdomen, one hand grabbing for the photo while the other pried at Shi Ji’s fingers with all his might.

His slender knuckles popped and cracked. Shi Ji gritted his teeth, his face turning pale from the pain.

Then, a flash of insight struck his mind.

He remembered—it was in that newspaper!!

RIIIIIP—

Before he could process the thought, the sound of paper tearing exploded in the room, harsh and sudden.

[Congratulations to the Host for completing this plot segment. 500 points awarded, loaded into the database, data synchronization complete.] [Detection: Host character OOC level 0. 300 points awarded. Detection: Risk of supporting characters noticing character replacement is 0. 200 bonus points awarded.] [Current total points: 15,200.] [Entering intermission.]

The force prying at his fingers vanished. Shi Ji looked over and saw half of the photo remnant in his hand. The other half was in Li Chen’s.

Li Chen kept his eyes lowered, staring silently at the remaining half. The boy in the middle had been torn into an irregular shape, leaving only the woman kissing his cheek and the tender smile on her face.

Shi Ji opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the words were stuck in his throat. He couldn’t speak.

Li Chen stood up, the hand holding the photo dropping listlessly to his side. It was as if his soul had been drained out of him in an instant. He gave Shi Ji a look of utter despair.

Those misty-blue eyes were void of light. The corners of his eyes were a deep red. The room was so quiet that… the only sound was the drip-drip of tears hitting the floor.

“Why…” Li Chen’s thin lips parted, his voice raspy. He asked in confusion, “This is the only thing my parents left me…”

“Why did you have to destroy it!!”

His emotions flared; his chest heaved violently. Tears spilled out uncontrollably, clinging to his long lashes. He gasped for air as if he couldn’t breathe, his hand holding the photo trembling even harder.

Watching Li Chen like this, Shi Ji was overwhelmed with guilt.

His brow was knit tight. He wanted to apologize, but he didn’t know from what standpoint he could even offer one.

He knew he shouldn’t have done it.

Li Chen’s shoulders shook. He threw the remaining half of the photo at Shi Ji, his eyes clouded with moisture. He spoke through gritted teeth: “I hate you, Shi Ji.”

“I hate you so, so, so much!”

He practically screamed the last sentence. The magnified sound pierced through Shi Ji’s ears. Li Chen reached up to wipe his eyes, turned around, and ran out without looking back.

The door was slammed shut with a heavy bang. Shi Ji watched the retreating back, his heart sinking into an abyss.

The next day, when Li Chen left, Shi Ji was already gone from the house.

He dragged his suitcase out the front gate and hailed a taxi. Before getting in, Li Chen turned to look at the second floor of the villa. Soft sunlight hit the window, and a morning breeze curled through, making the leaves of the potted plants sway.

Li Chen took only a single glance before immediately looking away. In the entire, vast Shi household, no one cared when he left.

Only Auntie Lin had held him and cried all night, then stuffed a pile of suppressant patches into his hands the next morning with red, swollen eyes.

Li Chen raised a hand to touch the back of his neck, then climbed into the car.

The taxi driver hit the gas. The scenery outside the window began to recede, eventually blurring into flickering shadows as the speed increased.

Li Chen had no heart for nostalgia—or rather, there was nothing here worth missing. He lowered his lashes, only to notice something strange in his trouser pocket.

He frowned and reached inside. Immediately, a familiar texture made his pupils shrink.

Li Chen pulled the object out and looked closely.

—It was the photograph, carefully pieced back together.

The two torn fragments had been meticulously joined along the jagged edges. If it weren’t for the noticeable line running through the middle, it would be hard to tell the photo had ever been torn.

Li Chen blinked.

‘Did Shi Ji do this?’

His heart began to thud heavily against his ribs. An obvious answer was about to break through the surface.

Li Chen traced the seam of the photo with his fingertip. In that subtle movement, he could almost feel a lingering warmth left behind by Shi Ji.

‘Wasn’t he always obsessed with destroying the things I liked and cared about?’

Li Chen thought back to the flash of guilt he had seen on Shi Ji’s face the day before.

In that moment, Li Chen had almost thought that Shi Ji didn’t want to tear the photo at all.

He pulled back his thoughts and tucked the photo carefully into his backpack. Then, he leaned back and let out a long, heavy sigh.