Carrying a bag of bread in his hands, Fan Jialuo returned to the Moon Bay Garden Community and climbed up the spiral staircases of his building step by step.

Residential Unit 1, Building 1 looked quite different in the daytime compared to what it was like in the night. It became strangely quiet, just like a nocturnal beast waiting to open its eyes upon the descent of night.

The evil hidden in the rooms on the fourth, seventh and fourteenth floors seemed as if it had never existed, all traces of it vanishing under the bright rays of the scorching sun.

However, on the 17th floor, a commotion was currently ensuing.

Two police women in uniform were questioning the female resident who lived on that floor. A young woman wearing glasses, who was looking severely distressed, protected the other woman's son firmly behind her, stroking his bruised arm carefully.

The female resident on the 17th floor spoke in a loud voice and displayed a foul attitude, directing this attitude even towards the officers. She just continued to repeat, "What's wrong with my son? Did I break the law? If he is disobedient, am I not allowed to educate him?"

The woman with glasses retorted angrily, "Is that what you call education? You're abusing him! Yangyang comes to school with a new wound every day. It's even worse today. His entire back is blue. The doctor said that he was beaten very hard, to the extent that even his internal organs have been injured!

"This is the examination report. You can take a look at it! Beating your son as if he is a sworn enemy in this manner, do you even deserve to be called a mother? If I don't call the police to arrest you first, Yangyang will be killed by you sooner or later! Police Officer, you must not let her go!"

Fan Jialuo stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at the scene with his usual indifferent eyes.

He knew one of the two policewomen. She was Liao Fang, a police officer from the First criminal investigation team of the Chengnan Branch Police Station.

Liao Fang had always been forthright when handling affairs. She directly handcuffed the little boy's mother and let her colleagues escort her to the police station, while she remained there and waited for the little boy's father to return home.

The young woman wearing glasses was a school teacher. She was scheduled to lecture a few other classes later in the day, so she also took her leave.

After she helped the little boy through the door of the house, Liao Fang habitually glanced around at her surroundings. Only then did she discover the slender figure standing in the shadow of the dim stairway. This person possessed an unforgettable pair of dark and deep eyes.

"Mr. Fan, you are back! I was just wondering if I would be able to meet you today!" Liao Fang exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, long time no see." Fan Jialuo walked slowly towards the door and looked down at the little boy, who returned his stare eagerly with his large eyes.

The little boy became thinner and thinner day after day, his cheeks had deeply sunken in, and only a thin layer of flesh was left on his arms and legs.

When he walked, he looked like a skeleton that could break at any moment. However, as time went by, more and more scars representing pain and sin had gathered on this frail skeleton. This showed that the domestic violence he was experiencing was escalating day after day.

Liao Fang also noticed the direction of his gaze. She patted the little boy's hair and sighed, before saying, "Mr. Fan, you live on the 18th floor. You should know about his family situation, right? His mother is an abuser. She scolds and beats him every day, and doesn't even feed him properly. He's so pitiful."

"Don't say that in front of the child." Fan Jialuo handed the bag containing the bread to the little boy and softly touched his glabella, from which oozed an air of death.

The little boy took the bread at once, and that pair of surprisingly large eyes burst into joy.

The spark of fire representing his life was about to cease completely, but the fire kindling in his soul was still blazing, containing an unsuppressable tenacity for survival, all because of the hope a single loaf of bread gave him every day. It was burning desperately.

Liao Fang covered her mouth in guilt and whispered, "I'm sorry, I was careless. Mr. Fan is more attentive than me. I'll go make Yangyang a glass of milk to drink with the bread, and then put him to sleep. His physical condition is very bad. I heard the doctor say that even his internal organs have varying degrees of injury."

Fan Jialuo didn't say anything more, and simply stood at the door silently as he watched Liao Fang rummage around for milk powder.

The little boy, Xu Yiyang, opened the wrapping around the bread and took small bites of it. There were no other adults in the house at this moment. He could enjoy his food leisurely, without having to worry about which corner of the house his mother would suddenly rush out from and take everything from him.

Fan Jialuo lowered his gaze to look at him, a dark light flickering in his eyes.

Liao Fang couldn't find any milk powder, so she could only pour Xu Yiyang a cup of warm water instead. After that, she tried to put him to bed.

She wanted to hug the pitiful child, but because of the many years of abuse, the child seemed to suffer from PTSD, and so refused to be touched by anyone, even refusing to speak. He was slowly turning into a puppet, one that had no power to resist and was unable to speak.

Xu Yiyang dodged around the house, refusing to go to bed. He climbed up and down on a stool to open several cabinet doors that were out of his reach, as if looking for something.

Liao Fang, who could only watch all this in distress, finally said "Yangyang, please come down. What are you looking for? Just tell Auntie, okay? Auntie will help you find it. It's dangerous to use the stool like this."

She did not dare to touch the child, for whenever she did so, his whole body would tense up, and he would look incredibly frightened as he opened his mouth wide, as if to screaming—but only silence could be heard.

Even though he couldn't utter a single sound, the way he looked, as if being deeply tortured by fear, was truly heartbreaking.

Affected by anxiety, Liao Fang started sweating.

To the side, Fan Jialuo took out a package of paper towels from his backpack, cleaned up the wrapping paper and the bread crumbs that had fallen on the ground bit by bit, and then put them into a garbage bag, so that he could take it away later.

Seeing the floor being restored to its previous clean state, Xu Yiyang jumped off the stool and slowly walked towards Fan Jialuo, once again looking at him with eyes that shone brightly.

He had been looking for a rag to clean up the floor, but hadn't been able to find one.

"Go to sleep," Fan Jialuo said softly.

Xu Yiyang nodded obediently and went into the bedroom.

Liao Fang, who had been tortured to her limit by the small boy's strange temper, couldn't help but stare blankly. She now knew for certain that there existed no one in the world who could not be handled by Fan Jialuo!

Fan Jialuo turned his head to look at her and explained softly, "His mother forbids him to eat what other people give him."

"Ah, so that's the reason! She doesn't let him eat the food given by others, but then she also makes him go hungry everyday. How could there be such a mother in the world?"

Liao Fang shook her head and sighed. "Mr. Fan, I know you are a good person. Can you please watch over this child?"

Fan Jialuo walked to the door with the bag of garbage, and his reply to her was something she had never expected. "I can't do that."

"Huh? Why can't you?" Liao Fang said in a hurry, "You live so close by. You can always take a look whenever you have a little bit of time. It won't be very troublesome."

Fan Jialuo had stepped back into the dimly lit corridor. His handsome face was partially hidden, but those deep black eyes of his could be seen clearly, as they shone with a gloomy light.

"You are asking someone else to take care of this child, but you seem to forget that there is still a father in this family?"

Liao Fang showed a look of disgust at his words. "If his father was reliable, I would not have asked you. Although the perpetrator of the violence is his mother, his father, as a silent bystander and abettor, is equally guilty. In the case where both parents are unreliable, we can only rely on other people for help."

Once again, Fan Jialuo shook his head, his drooping eyelids covering the light in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help him."

Liao Fang couldn't help but be struck by worry at this reply. "No, Mr. Fan, why can't you help him? Is it too troublesome for you to come and take a look every day? I also know about the 50 million yuan kidnapping case that our Bureau just cracked. You saved Mr. Shen's daughter with only a few sentences, so why can't you save Xu Yiyang? If you want to, you can definitely help him. I know you have that ability!"

Fan Jialuo slowly walked into the dark doorway leading towards the stairs, and it seemed as if he was walking into an unknown abyss.

Without turning around, Fan Jialuo spoke, "Let me ask you a question. If you see a train heading straight forward, and a bit further down its route comes a fork. There are five people standing on the railway tracks on one of these two paths, and then there is only one person standing on the route the other fork leads to. The train's brake is not functioning at all, and this means that it will soon hit anything in front of it.

"There is a wrench right next to you. With a gentle push, you can change the tracks of the train to direct it onto your chosen route. What choice would you make? Would you hit five or only the one? And why?"

His voice was ethereal and cold, and sounded far away, as if it was coming from another dimension.

Liao Fang followed behind Fan Jialuo, taking two steps towards him, and said without any hesitation, "Of course I will push the switch and hit the one person. When there is no other choice, it's always worth trading one life for five lives."

As Fan Jialuo slowly climbed up the stairs, his voice sank as he questioned, "Have you ever thought more deeply about it? Those five people were playing on the train tracks, and it was their fate to get hit; the other person was just walking on the road in perfectly good condition, crossing the rail tracks enroute to his house, and it was his fate to return home safely. But your gentle push reversed everyone's fate. People who shouldn't be dead, died, and people who shouldn't live, lived. Do you still think this is fair? Do you still think it is worth it?"

Liao Fang was locked in place by this seemingly light sentence that actually held enough weight to directly torture one's conscience and soul. All she could do at this moment was watch as the slender figure in front of her walked into a corner.

The ethereal voice that poured down from above was like a drizzle of cold rain, one that brought with it helplessness and loneliness.

"For me, I will stay away from the wrench, and let fate make the choice by itself. Because in front of fate, every one of us is equal. There is no person defined as noble or lowly, nor is there any worthy and unworthy person.

"When you try to change their destinies, you bear not only the life and death of one or five people, but also the weight this causality, that you have effected, will have on the world. Do you understand what that means?

"It's a force you can never really face, for it will tear your body and crush your bones, the impact eventually breaking your body into tiny pieces. If I can save people with just a few sentences alone, can't I also ruin them in the same way?"

"But it's a pity that sometimes fate can't be changed by anyone. At present, the only thing I can do is to gently pluck at a string of fate and then carefully observe its turning point. I am far from being as powerful as you think I am."

Fan Jialuo ceased his steps for a moment. "Keep an eye on that father."

After leaving behind this sentence, the young man's voice completely dissipated into the air.

Liao Fang took two quick steps forward and looked up at the dark stairwell. She asked in fear, "Mr. Fan, what did you mean by those words just now? His father? Is there a problem with him too? Since you can't help Xu Yiyang, does that mean he will continue to be beaten? Can his fate not be changed?"

Even though she had asked such a question, Liao Fang was certain of the conclusion of this case. As the perpetrator of the abuse was the child's mother, the law would be lenient when sentencing her. It wouldn't treat such an abuser harshly, let alone mandate for the child to be sent away from the parents.

Then, when the mother was released, she would certainly vent her anger and resentment onto her child again. Her violence would not be curbed, instead, it would simply continue to escalate.

Liao Fang had dealt with too many such similar cases, and had seen a few of the children whom she had helped actually fall into a more miserable situation.

She was powerless to change reality, so she could only pin her hopes on Mr. Fan. But Mr. Fan's last warning only made her feel even more uneasy.

What happened to the people who even Mr. Fan declared that he was unable to help?

Liao Fang clenched the handrail of the staircase and felt its coldness penetrate into her heart.

It was evening when the child's father finally returned. He looked very gentle from his appearance, and every word that was uttered from his mouth was very refined. It could be seen from his demeanor and gestures that he belonged to the kind of people who had received good higher education.

He had brought meal boxes for Liao Fang and his son, along with a bunch of children's nutritional supplements, and kept repeatedly confessing the guilt he felt for not stopping his wife.

"She has very severe depression, and I didn't know about it until today. It's my fault. I've been too busy at work to pay attention to her and the child." He scratched his hair ruefully.

Liao Fang didn't know what to say. She could only ask the father, once again, to take good care of the child.

The other party seemed to be sincerely repenting his actions, and it did not seem like he was putting on an act of some sort at all. Xu Yiyang's resistance to his father was also relatively slight. When his father patted his head, he didn't dodge, he just stiffened for a moment before continuing to eat the food.

Seeing this, Liao Fang felt relieved. She said goodbye to the father and son and left Building 1.

As she walked out of the building, she looked up, towards the top floor. In her mind, a train passed by on an invisible track. Standing on the two possible routes of this track of fate were one person on one path and five people on another, unknowingly waiting for an impact that would strike them sooner or later.

Fate would be the one to decide when their time on Earth would end, yet she had tried to push the wrench and decide their life and death all by herself!

Liao Fang's heart suddenly trembled, and a deep sense of fear burst forth.

Who was she to decide who the one to die should be? Why was she so egotistical, so arrogant?

What made her think that five lives were more valuable than one?

Did everyone in the world experience such moments of inflated egotism, of getting a swollen head?

Did they think that their values were superior to those of others?

It seemed that only Fan Jialuo lived a sober and reclusive life.

Liao Fang bowed her head and left the building step by step. She was unaware that while she was contemplating these things in her own headspace, an invisible black whirlpool was roaring and sweeping across the community.

—

In order to maintain his best state, Fan Jialuo slept for five days and woke up only because of the urgent ringing of his mobile phone.

Cao Xiaohui told him, in a flattering tone, that all the procedures related to the 'The World of Strange People' variety show had been neatly completed, and that the recording would officially start at 7 o'clock that evening.

It would proceed in a fashion similar to that of a talent show contest. The first round was an audition, the second round was the preliminaries and the third round would be the final selection.

"The registration for the audition was concluded long ago. I used Xinghui's connections to help you get into the program. This season's theme is psychics, and it's just right for you." Cao Xiaohui confidently said, "That one million will be yours!"

"Okay, I'll head to the TV station at six."

Then, after looking at the phone's interface, he found that time was running out, so he rose from the bathtub.

Black water droplets slid down his pale skin. His body seemed to have become more pliable, with every curve and every line being as perfect as if it had been truly created by God. There were also an innumerable number of densely packed mysterious runes, which gleamed with a grayish-white light, covering the surface of his body. These shining runes gradually dimmed and faded away.

He then put on an exquisitely tailored black shirt, and black trousers. As he slowly walked down the stairs, he happened to meet Xu Yiyang, who was returning home from school.

The little boy seemed to be a little fatter, and the bruises on his body had also dissipated by a lot, which showed that his father had been taking good care of him.

Upon seeing Fan Jialuo, his eyes started shining, but he pursed his mouth, as if not knowing how to say hello.

Fan Jialuo stood at the top of the stairs and gazed at him for a long time, and signs of an internal struggle could be seen through his eyes.

Outside the building, the wind howled and raged like a high-speed train, hitting hard against all the obstacles it encountered.

There was a loud bang. It was the sound of a certain family's windows being swept up by the wind.

In the midst of this loud noise, Fan Jialuo stepped forward, slowly approaching the little boy. He touched his forehead with his fingertip, and whispered in a low, almost inaudible voice, "Stay away from your father."

The little boy looked at him with his mouth wide open, finding it difficult to understand what the other was saying.

Why should I stay away from Dad?

Dad didn't beat him, nor did he scold him. He would even bring some food back for him to eat. He was much better than mother.

Fan Jialuo retracted his fingertip and sighed softly.

...