Night fell.
Su Ziyu sat on the stone steps at the door, watching the stars. Recently, for some reason, he often reminisced about past events, particularly feeling an immense longing for the leisurely life on Earth. In the past couple of days, he sensed a slight change in the villagers' attitude toward him, a change that wasn't friendly. While ordinary people might not notice it, for Su Ziyu, who grew up living under others' roofs, it was quite apparent. This brings us to his past. Originally, Su Ziyu should have had a happy family and a beautiful childhood, but unfortunately, his father was unreliable, fell into the damned drug addiction, and in the end, everything fell apart.
Many things from childhood are forgotten.
Su Ziyu had been fostered at his uncle's house since he was five or six years old. His childhood wasn't very pleasant because his uncle already had a son and a daughter, and the family's financial situation was just average. At first, Su Ziyu's life was tough because his aunt was very pragmatic and didn't like him, seeing him as a burden added to their family. Fortunately, Su Ziyu was smart and understanding from a young age. He knew how to adapt to the environment rather than waiting for the environment to adapt to him. Under such circumstances, he began helping with house chores within his capability from the age of six or seven and gradually changed the family members' views about him.
His sister and brother's attitudes toward him became much friendlier. They no longer saw him as a threat to their parents' affection. His aunt also treated him much better, at least acknowledging that he was easy to raise.
It wasn't until Su Ziyu started school that his childhood became much happier.
The reason was simple.
He was good at studying, better than other kids, and his grades were always among the top. Being good at studying was the best talisman for a child without parental protection. Because he was good at studying, he wouldn't be bullied at school, and even if someone called him a 'wild child,' all he needed to do was tell the teacher with a tearful face, and the teacher would reprimand the person and call their parents. Being good at studying also improved his aunt's attitude toward him, as she began to see him as a promising child rather than a burden. Later, she treated him even better than her biological son. When Su Ziyu was eight, he once said, "I will study hard and repay you well when I'm successful in the future." He said this two more times—once in high school and once in college.
For a young child to speak of repaying others shows such helplessness, but he truly had no other choice.
For a weak child, studying was his strongest protection.
During that era, the dropout rate among rural children was quite high. Su Ziyu never worried about tuition fees. After his sister and brother lost interest in studying, he became the hope of the whole family. Because he was good at studying, he had a good experience in high school. Back then, there were quite a few troublemakers in schools, and fights over trivial matters during puberty were common. After entering junior high, teachers could no longer be his protective umbrella. He studied a lot and fought fiercely, often targeting vulnerable spots in fights. After getting into one or two fights privately, nobody dared to bully him anymore.
Facing rebellious kids, he had to learn to protect himself.
Su Ziyu transitioned smoothly into college. He was admitted to a very good university, Fudan University.
After high school, Su Ziyu spent some time working on construction sites, mainly to earn some living expenses because tuition was already a significant burden on his uncle's family. Construction sites were good places. As long as he was willing to work hard, he could earn money without any requirements, and there was no wage delay. It also helped him get physically fit.
During college, he became truly independent. He no longer had to cautiously please those around him, didn't need his uncle's care, didn't need the teacher's protection, nor live by watching others' faces. He worked part-time while searching for his future direction. Eventually, he studied computer science, but after graduation, he ventured into mobile gaming. That was the time of a mobile gaming boom, where even decent games would have monthly revenues in the tens of millions. He successfully ascended to management within a few years after graduation and entered the million-dollar annual salary bracket, achieving a bit of success.
During this period, Su Ziyu had been in several relationships, breaking up and making up, but none reached the end. Perhaps, at his core, he felt a bit lonely and didn't know how to love someone properly.
After getting a job, he helped rebuild his family's house, and when his cousin was about to get married, he even helped him buy an apartment in the city. Initially, Su Ziyu wanted to pay it off in full as a way to repay his uncle's family for raising him. But his uncle stopped him. This man, who wouldn't dare make a sound when his wife scolded him, shook his head and refused, insisting that Su Ziyu should only help with the down payment and that the cousin should repay it later. This man, who rarely spoke, had his own principles, just like Su Ziyu, who always repaid kindness without owing anyone. Since then, he settled in Shanghai and later adopted a very fat orange cat.
Su Ziyu wasn't very materialistic, so when he had some money, he liked to travel and collect some strange artifacts. This continued until he bought a golden hourglass supposedly from Egypt from a secondhand dealer.
Then, he got utterly scammed.
"Ugh. I wonder how my fat orange is doing!" Su Ziyu sighed as he looked at the night sky.
Thankfully, there was no need to worry about his uncle's family. His cousin and cousin-in-law were around, with a villa in the countryside and a small building in the city. Su Ziyu had meticulously arranged everything for them after earning money, even buying a retirement insurance, as a way to repay their upbringing. Since living independently, he would just go back during New Year to visit. There wasn't much to worry about over there. He hardly had any truly close friends, as people in big cities are very pragmatic. But it could be said that Su Ziyu got along quite well with others. The only thing he was truly attached to was his orange cat, which accompanied him for a long time but later became so fat that it almost lost the ability to hunt.
"I hope someone adopts it. At least don't let it become a stray cat." Su Ziyu murmured softly.
He dusted off his pants and stood up. The whip marks on his back had healed considerably, but he still needed to recover well.
The next day.
When he got up, he heard a commotion outside. Upon opening the door, he saw a young man with a sword, seemingly named Rote, or something like that. The young man's gaze was unfriendly, and recently, the villagers' attitudes toward him were increasingly hostile. Even though Su Ziyu hadn't done anything, the people were growing more and more dismissive of him.
Isolating behavior.
Maybe he inadvertently offended someone, as villagers sometimes pointed fingers at him.
"Su." Thankfully, Lina's attitude remained friendly. She brought Su Ziyu some food and backed away the young man in front. Language barriers made normal communication impossible, but Su Ziyu sensed that something must have happened in the village, something not very good.
Lina didn't teach him swordsmanship that day. Instead, they set traps around the village.
Two villagers were watching him outside. It seemed like his movement range was restricted again. That young man named Rote had an unfriendly look at him recently, and Su Ziyu didn't know why. Anyway, in the past couple of days, they suddenly became unkind toward him. Maybe it was a hallucination, but he vaguely smelled a scent of blood, easily recognizable, coming from the second wooden house at the front.
Days passed one by one.
Lina's visits became much less frequent, and her expression looked somewhat bleak each time she came. The young man named Rote often followed closely behind, his eyes constantly fixed on Su Ziyu. The man named Ken rarely appeared. The one time Su Ziyu saw him, there was a wound on his arm, wrapped in a bandage. Su Ziyu didn't know what was happening. He couldn't communicate normally with these natives, and his activities were restricted to the vicinity of the wooden house.
"I must learn to endure." Su Ziyu told himself.
He is someone who is good at adapting to the environment, fully aware that causing trouble now would easily lead to problems, especially when the natives were increasingly antagonistic towards him. Because of the golden hourglass, he might not stay in this world for long. Honestly, the people here are a bit fierce, and he doesn't want any accidents to happen now. To be frank, he's quite lost and unsure about what to do every day other than waiting for his spirit to recover and then studying the mysterious golden hourglass, trying to understand the extremely complex runes engraved on it.
But his gains were minimal because it's an activity that exhausts a great deal of spirit.
However, his efforts weren't fruitless. He discovered a rune resembling a scale, with some special markings on it. Unlike his previous encounter with the Serpent-man, he found an additional rune engraving, which might very well be the key to the golden hourglass. Honestly, the people here seem rather fierce, and he doesn't want any accidents to happen at this point. So, he's cautious to avoid causing extra trouble. He finds comfort in his adaptive nature, knowing very well that disrupting the status quo could easily lead to trouble, especially in a community that has become increasingly hostile.
Yet, he hasn't learned much as it is a mentally draining task.
He didn't sleep as early since his injuries had mostly healed. In the past, he usually went to bed by eleven or twelve. This habit wasn't easy to change. In the evenings, he had nothing to do without a phone or computer to play with, so he would look at the sky or draw a chessboard on the ground to play by himself.
After all, life back on Earth was much more abundant and fulfilling than here.
Back in Earth, playing some games every once in a while would be a standard form of entertainment for him, but here, he had almost no such outlet.
"Ah!"
Just as Su Ziyu was drowsily drifting into sleep, he was startled awake by a sharp scream. Chaos erupted outside, with the hurried sounds of footsteps and some anxious and chaotic voices. Many torches were lit as people rushed about, adding to the commotion.
............
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