Monsters Die When Killed

Broom in hand, Chen Zhicheng was about to sweep up the ceramic shards when he suddenly slumped back into his chair. He covered half his face with one hand, remaining silent for a long time.

’The nagging from my parents, the uncertainty of the future... Am I really going to spend my whole life like this? This dead, oppressive, bleak future... It’s a little brighter than absolute, hopeless darkness, but hope is still completely out of reach...’

’A future I can’t accept, one I can absolutely never resign myself to...’

"Yo, Brother Chen!"

A cheerful greeting came from the doorway.

Chen Zhicheng jolted as if startled. He looked up and rubbed his eyes. His exhausted face and slightly reddened eyes made him look like someone who had just woken up.

"You little punk, can’t even let your Brother Chen get some decent sleep!"

He cursed, but inwardly, Chen Zhicheng was relieved. ’I almost let that punk Su Zhou see me about to cry... So embarrassing for a grown man.’

’He said he wanted to buy a potted apple tree. Does he actually want to grow a plant, or does he just want to grow his own apples to eat? Probably the latter. He doesn’t seem like the type to be into flowers and plants.’

’Still, that youthful energy... It’s really something to be envious of.’

Watching Su Zhou leave, the middle-aged man, who was approaching his forties, felt his smile gradually fade. He lowered his head, picked up the broom again, and started sweeping the ceramic shards from the floor.

"Life has to go on."

Late that night, after giving the potted apple tree to Su Zhou, Chen Zhicheng returned to his cramped room above the shop.

He did have an apartment in the residential complex, but living with his parents was just too annoying. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the old folks, but they were constantly hinting and nagging him to go on blind dates, find a partner, and give them a grandchild. It didn’t matter if it was a grandson or a granddaughter; all that mattered was that he settled down, started a family, and carried on the family line as soon as possible.

"It feels like they’re giving up on me, a failed R-card, to gamble on a single-pull SSR."

With a bitter smile, Chen Zhicheng berated himself using mobile game jargon. As he was about to undress for a shower, he suddenly felt a chilly breeze waft through the room... ’But I didn’t open the window! The AC is off, and the fan is off too. So where is this wind coming from?’

This gave him a fright. Recalling the strange Anomalies the neighbors had been whispering about lately, Chen Zhicheng couldn’t help but connect this phenomenon to ghosts—he was a bit of a believer, after all. His legs went weak, and he had the urge to turn and flee out the door.

But just as he was about to turn and run, Chen Zhicheng caught the unexpected scent of a faint, elegant floral fragrance... It was the scent of the ink orchid he kept in his room.

’Don’t ink orchids only bloom at the end of September at the earliest? It’s only the end of July, so how...’

The mystery, falling right into his area of expertise, was too much to bear. In that instant, Chen Zhicheng actually overcame his fear of ghosts. He turned his head to look at where he kept his ink orchid.

And there, he saw a tiny figure dancing gracefully.

It was a tiny figure with a pair of purple-brown wings, looking like little more than a flying insect at first glance. She was joyfully flitting around a plant with wide leaves, creating a cool, sweet breeze with her movements.

’What is that?’

Since her body didn’t glow and her wings were a dark hue, Chen Zhicheng hadn’t noticed the tiny dot at first glance. Now that he saw her, however, he was filled with caution, mixed with a surge of deep-seated curiosity.

"Eek!"

At that moment, the tiny figure noticed Chen Zhicheng’s gaze. She let out a small cry and, with a flash, darted back into an abnormally large orchid blossom. Her pair of wings served as rather wide petals. If not for their slight trembling, even Chen Zhicheng would have had a hard time telling they weren’t part of the flower.

Blinking, Chen Zhicheng held his breath and tiptoed closer to his ink orchid. He widened his eyes and leaned in to get a better look at the flower.

Just then, the tiny figure also turned her head cautiously, as if to survey her surroundings. Chen Zhicheng saw her every move, and they stared at each other, both with looks of surprise.

"Eek!"

Perhaps frightened by his overly large eyes, the tiny figure immediately shrank back into the flower like an Ostrich, trembling.

And in that brief moment of eye contact, Chen Zhicheng had also seen it clearly: the little dot with petal-like wings was, in fact, a tiny humanoid figure made of leaves and petals. Though small, her minute details were strikingly similar to a human’s, and she was even rather cute.

’She’s a little scared of me, huh.’

Normally, upon discovering such an abnormal creature in one of his plants, Chen Zhicheng, who was always wary of the supernatural, should have felt some fear. But for some reason, the scent of the ink orchid had an inexplicably calming effect on his heart.

He even felt a faint sense of joy.

"I wonder what you eat... How about I get you some nectar?"

Chen Zhicheng did as he said. He immediately went to the cabinet, took out some nectar, and used a dropper to place a single drop onto a petal.

The sweet scent immediately coaxed the tiny figure to turn her head. She stared at the drop of nectar, her face a mixture of curiosity and craving. The little figure made of petals looked at Chen Zhicheng, then back at the nectar, and waved her tiny hands as if asking, ’Can I eat this?’

Chen Zhicheng’s reply was a second drop of nectar. This immediately made her let out a cheerful cry.

Watching this tiny humanoid, who looked so much like a fairy from a storybook, sipping the nectar bit by bit, Chen Zhicheng felt a rare sense of accomplishment well up in his heart for some unknown reason.