First encounter with “Su Daidai”

“Sigh, the sky has fallen.”

The sky above the orphanage was always gray and gloomy, making it a bit hard to breathe.

Perhaps it wasn’t that the sky itself wasn’t blue, but just that in the eyes of an orphan like Yang Yuan, the world was shrouded in a persistent haze.

One moment, he was still that unnoticed orphan in an orphanage in his original world, watching in horror as a truck roared towards him.

Before the cold touch of death could reach him, the next moment, the world spun, and he had already fallen heavily into this completely unfamiliar world.

“Transmigrated before getting hit by the big truck?”

“Then I’m quite lucky, but my body hurts so much…”

Fortunately, not long after Yang Yuan fell, a few passing older sisters helped him up from the ground. After confirming that he only had minor scrapes, they patiently asked about his situation.

“Little brother, where do you live? How about we take you home?”

To Yang Yuan’s surprise, the language here was exactly the same as in his original world, saving him the trouble of pretending to be deaf and mute.

“I… I don’t remember… I don’t have a family.”

He explained haltingly, a line that was second nature to an orphanage veteran like Yang Yuan.

Hearing this, the smiles on the girls’ faces faded a little, and their eyes showed sympathy.

“No family… then how about coming home with big sister? I’ll raise you!”

The overly enthusiastic older sister left Yang Yuan a bit dumbfounded.

Although he knew he wasn’t bad-looking, he had never encountered such directness in his entire life in his original world.

“Stop fooling around. With the little brother’s situation, we should take him to the city hall or an orphanage.”

“I know, I know, just kidding.”

While getting into the car, Yang Yuan heard the older sisters’ enthusiastic discussion.

“This little brother is so handsome. He’ll definitely be very good-looking when he grows up.”

“It’s a pity he’s still a bit young, otherwise I could…”

“Can you not be like a pervert? Aren’t you afraid of being arrested and locked up for three years?”

In the end, with the help of these overly enthusiastic older sisters, he was sent to the local orphanage.

In this strange yet fortunate new life, Yang Yuan quickly discovered that this world seemed to be a bit different from his previous one.

For example, some people could crush stones with their bare hands, some could create fire out of thin air, and some could disappear in an instant like the wind.

“Next up is a hero newsflash. Hero rank No.27, [Iron Linglan], successfully stopped a bank robbery yesterday.”

“Hero?”

From the news broadcast on the street, Yang Yuan discovered the existence of these so-called heroes.

Scenes that had originally only appeared in movies and comics in his memory seemed to be real here.

“This world… is a bit unreasonable, isn’t it.”

Yang Yuan didn’t know what this meant, only vaguely feeling that he might have come to a place far more complex and dangerous than he had imagined.

“Yuan-yuan, oh, from now on, this little place is your new home.”

Auntie Zhang, the caregiver, took Yang Yuan’s hand with her warm, rough palm and led him to the activity room in the orphanage.

Yang Yuan’s appearance aroused the strong curiosity of the little girls, their gazes all focused on the newcomer.

Although there were quite a few little boys in the orphanage, Yang Yuan still caused a stir.

His quiet temperament stood out among the children, and combined with his healthy complexion, he looked more delicate and handsome than the other little boys, immediately attracting a lot of attention.

“Wow, it’s a new little boy!”

“He’s much fairer than Little Fatty!”

Auntie Zhang clapped her hands, signaling for everyone to be quiet. She pointed to a corner of the classroom where there was a half-empty desk.

“Yang Yuan, you can sit next to Dai-dai.”

“Dai-dai, he’ll be your deskmate from now on.”

Yang Yuan walked in the direction Auntie Zhang pointed. As he approached, the little girls who were originally whispering to each other all focused their gazes on him and the girl in the corner.

“No way, why is he sitting with Su Dai-dai?”

“Exactly! Su Dai-dai stole cookies last time and got scolded by Mama Li. She’s a thief!”

“She barely even talks. The new little brother definitely won’t like her either.”

Yang Yuan ignored these voices and walked straight to the corner seat, where he saw the girl called Su Dai-dai huddled at the very edge, her body looking a bit thin and small.

The girl’s bangs were very long, almost completely covering her eyes.

When Yang Yuan walked up to her, Su Dai-dai didn’t look up, just timidly shrank further into the corner, making a large space for Yang Yuan.

As soon as Yang Yuan sat down, the girl next to him moved slightly, as if hesitating about something.

After a few seconds, a voice so faint it was almost inaudible reached Yang Yuan’s ear.

“He… hello, my name is Su Dai-dai.“

Su Dai-dai’s voice was very small, as if she was afraid of startling Yang Yuan, or as if she hadn’t had a normal conversation with anyone for a long time.

Yang Yuan could feel that when she spoke, her body seemed to lean a little towards him, but she quickly shrank back, as if afraid of being rejected.

Faced with the girl’s friendly greeting, Yang Yuan didn’t reply, just gave a faint nod.

He instinctively didn’t want to form too deep a connection with anyone here, because any connection could bring trouble and complex emotions he didn’t want to face.

But even such an extremely cold nod made Su Dai-dai a little happy, the corners of her mouth slightly turning up.

Although Yang Yuan couldn’t see her eyes, he could imagine that at this moment, Su Dai-dai’s eyes might be sparkling with light, the joy of being treated normally after a long time.

‘No matter which world it is, things like bullying and isolation still happen…’

Yang Yuan sighed silently in his heart. He had seen such scenes countless times in many places before.

In this world distorted by superpowers, these dark sides seemed even colder and more cruel.

Unfortunately, Yang Yuan had no intention of being anyone’s savior. He had seen too many cliché hero stories.

He was not one of those glamorous heroes; he was just an ordinary person, a stranger struggling to survive in this new world.

Now, Yang Yuan believed that his own life should be the top priority.

As for the girl next to him, he only hoped that she could fend for herself and stand up for herself instead of continuing to be bullied.

At lunchtime, the cafeteria was noisy, with children scrambling to line up for food.

Yang Yuan carried his small tray and found a seat by the window, his gaze inadvertently falling on his deskmate not far away.

He noticed that Su Dai-dai was always the last one to get food.

The girl was lowering her head and picking at the pitifully small amount of food on her plate, her movements slow as if she was reluctant to finish it.

This made Yang Yuan a little confused. Although the food at the orphanage wasn’t lavish, the basic supply was sufficient.

Why did Su Dai-dai only get so little? Wasn’t it uncomfortable to not eat her fill?

“Forget it, it has nothing to do with me.”

After returning to the activity room, Yang Yuan sat at his desk, bored, folding paper airplanes.

“Guu~~~”

A stomach growl, so clear it was a bit embarrassing, reached Yang Yuan’s ears.

Su Dai-dai, who was originally trimming her origami, suddenly froze, her small body shrinking abruptly.

Yang Yuan clearly heard it, but he deliberately turned his head to look out the window, pretending he hadn’t heard anything.

But he could see from the corner of his eye that Su Daidai was biting her lips. Her cute embarrassed and shy look made Yang Yuan feel distressed.

“Don’t be soft-hearted… Don’t be soft-hearted…”

Yang Yuan muttered to himself, trying to suppress his compassion.

He repeatedly reminded himself that he came here to seek stability, not to be anyone’s hero, and he must not care about these messy matters.

It was not until lunch the next day, when Yang Yuan saw Su Daidai’s actions again, that the last line of defense in his heart completely collapsed.