Chapter 1010: Chapter 290: The Mastermind and the Greed of the 5th Legion
Chen Ming stepped towards the small building.
As he passed by Thousand Faces, he opened the door to the small building and asked: "What do you want to do?"
Thousand Faces sidestepped Chen Ming, walked ahead of him, and said, "Just to show you my past, tell you what you will face. I’ve already died, there’s no need to be wary of a dead person, right?"
"You don’t seem like a dead person."
"Feel closely and you’ll realize I truly am dead."
Chen Ming said no more and entered the small building.
And filthy, was the first impression the small building gave him.
Stains everywhere and furniture arranged chaotically without any signs of cleaning cluttered the ground floor.
Thousand Faces also showed some disgust in his eyes upon seeing these things, leading Chen Ming straight up to the attic.
As they passed the stairwell, Chen Ming could see the second and third floors had several different types of card tables.
Scattered piles of cards, overturned teapots, cigarette butts, and trash covering the ground were the main backdrop of the second and third floors.
Only when Chen Ming entered the attic could he feel the environment had clearly improved.
However, there were still various piles of clutter in the attic, making the entire Space Station seem quite cramped.
Moreover, the attic had only a small window in the corner, causing the entire attic to be very dark.
Chen Ming quickly noticed beside the small window, there was a small bed where even a child of thirteen or fourteen years old could only lie down by curling up.
Thousand Faces confidently came to the side of the small window, opened it, and sat on the bed.
"Seeing all this, you probably know how I was back then."
Thousand Faces finished speaking, opened the drawer of a narrow bedside cabinet presumably used as a desk, and started rummaging through it.
"When I was young, I experienced a lot of family violence, suffered harsh treatment from my father. My only entertainment at the time was playing this game with nearby peers."
Thousand Faces finally took out a transparent plastic jar from the drawer, filled with various Glass Beads.
This was the external manifestation of Thousand Faces’ Spiritual Energy.
"My first Glass Bead was a found one, the others I won myself."
"Winning Glass Beads from others made me feel very happy, but my father couldn’t stand it and one day scattered all these Glass Beads onto the road outside."
Thousand Faces pointed outside the window.
Chen Ming leaned over for a glance.
Outside the row of small buildings lay a road, beside which was a reasonably large field of grass, all dense with weeds, and beyond it a river.
Chen Ming turned back his gaze, continuing to listen to Thousand Faces’ narrative.
"That day, my happiness was gone, but when I returned home, I hadn’t realized it until I finished my homework, ate dinner, and tidied the house. Then I discovered my Glass Beads were missing."
"I didn’t dare to ask my father, only dared to search for them myself, and eventually found some of my Glass Beads in the heap of weeds across the road."
"I spent a lot of time collecting the Glass Beads back, but many were still missing, and by then it was already late at night."
"When I got home, my father was furious and directly smashed the jar filled with Glass Beads on my head."
"Before I lost consciousness, all I heard was the sound of Glass Beads scattering everywhere."
"The next day when I woke up, I was amazed to find all the Glass Beads gathered and placed back in this jar."
"I thought my father had come around, but quickly I realized I was wrong."
"His intention was for me to personally throw these things into the river."
"I refused, and all that followed was cursing and beating."
"In the end, he dragged my beaten body, unable to move, used my hand to pour the Glass Beads into the river."
"I kept crying, which annoyed him, so ultimately, he even forced me to swallow a Glass Bead that didn’t fall into the river."
"He left me like a dead dog on the riverside, and I only heard his final words before he left, ’Trash.’"
Thousand Faces’ tone had no ripples, as if he wasn’t telling his own past, but a stranger’s story.
"The next day when I woke up, I was already in the hospital, and the Glass Bead in my stomach was removed."
"This Glass Bead happened to be the first one I found; such a coincidence, right?"
"I took this only remaining Glass Bead back home."
"I apologized to my father, admitted my mistakes, feigned a posture of reform."
"I cut ties with friends who played with Glass Beads, avoided interactions, and pretended I wouldn’t touch Glass Beads anymore."
"I studied desperately in school, exerted myself to learn from those reputed as good kids, learned their strengths, turned myself into an embodiment of merits, masqueraded as the person everyone wanted to see."
"During that time, I desperately tried to prove I wasn’t trash."
"I succeeded."
"But it was useless."
"Everything I showed was in vain."
"My father still regarded me as livestock, and outsiders couldn’t intervene in my family."
"Yet I kept pretending, as at least this could make me suffer less physical pain when I got home."
"Although it couldn’t stop him from causing me difficulties moving when drunk."
Thousand Faces said, lifting his head, shifting his gaze from the jar on his legs to Chen Ming’s face.
Then he saw Chen Ming leaning against the window, tilting his head, seemingly listening to nonsense.
