Xiao Bo calmed down after a while. He and Wei Chen were sitting in the corner while the guests arrived to throw some fake comforting words at them and left.

Wang Mu Chen and Feng Mian took care of the rest. They tried their luck in probing the strange death of Song Yi Ming which looked more like a homicide rather than a suicide.

Unfortunately, they got no information about it. As if someone more powerful than them had restricted anyone from knowing the truth of Song Yi Ming's death.

The only person who knew about it was the Butler Pei of the Song family but for some reason, he was terrified to utter even a word about it.

Later, the Li family arrived there. The whole family was so enthusiastic and thought to welcome Xiao Bo so warmly just the other day but never imagined that they had to attend the funeral of the one who was responsible for their youngest son's miserable life for seventeen years the next day.

The elder Lis—Grandpa Li Yu Ze and Granny Yi Ran, immediately recognized their youngest grandson even without anyone telling them cause Xiao Bo was the male version of his granny.

This was also why Li Feng Mian thought the smile of Xiao Bo resembled his Granny back then.

They wanted to speak with Xiao Bo but seeing how he was in no mood to talk with anyone, sitting beside his brother Wei Chen, looking lost, the Grandpa and Granny just paid their respects to the deceased and left the room.

Taking the hint Zhao Yang and Xia Dan also didn't try to initiate talk with their youngest son, Xiao Bo. But Li Hui Ying didn't care about that she wanted to take her younger brother away as soon as possible. She wasn't a woman with lots of patience to begin with.

Also, she found it utterly intolerable that Xiao Bo who suffered under Song Yi Ming all these years, had to do the rituals of the funeral of the person who abused him. She felt like it was a cruel joke and wanted to save her younger brother from it.

She crouched down in front of her younger brother, "Xiao Bo, you don't have to be present for these rituals. He did raise you for seventeen years- No, he tortured you rather than raising you. He is not your Father anyway. Come back with us to B-city and forget about all the past related to this bastard!"

Wei Chen glared at her for cursing his father. Song Yi Ming wasn't a good person while alive but no one should talk disrespectfully of the deceased and that too at their funeral. That was common sense in the least.

Li Hui Ying ignored Wei Chen as if he didn't exist beside Xiao Bo. Her eyes were only glued on her younger brother waiting to hear his reply.

Xiao Bo clutched onto the hem of Wei Chen's shirt tightly and looked away. He was already confused at the moment and didn't want to deal with his so-called real family now.

His emotions were everywhere. He had no idea what was happening anymore. He feared the uncertain future. He was weak at heart, to begin with, and sensitive to the fault.

Overthinking, that was what made Xiao Bo insane. The sudden reveal of his birth secret, the new family, and most importantly the way Wang Mu Chen was treating him.

No matter how many times he tried to console his cowardly heart, that all of this wasn't some hallucination or delusion he was having but the reality, still a hair of doubt remained at a corner bugging him consistently.

Mu Chen noticed Xiao Bo's expression and knew straight away that the younger was scared and uncomfortable.

He placed his hand on Hui Ying's shoulder, "Dajie, now is not the time. Look, he is not feeling good."

Hui Ying bit her lips and directed her anger toward Wei Chen, "You! Because of you and your father, our Xiao Bo became timid like this. How else are you threatening him for Xiao Bo to be this fearful of his real family?"

Wei Chen clenched his jaw and remained silent. He took a quick glance at Feng Mian standing behind Mu Chen and then Hui Ying.

>>>Ah, maybe it runs in the family...

"Hah... "An exhausted snort left through Wei Chen's lips.

Li Hui Ying's eyes widened as she got ticked off by that expression of Wei Chen, "You, how dare you!" 

She was about to grab Wei Chen's collar but Xiao Bo held her hand immediately and shook his head while Feng Mian crouched down to stop her.

"Jiejie, let's not do this here. See, even Xiao Bo doesn't want you to do that. Calm down for now. We can discuss this later with Xiao Bo. If he wants to see off his father-"

"That bastard isn't his Father, Mian!" Hui Ying snapped.

"Right, the person who kidnapped our Xiao Bo, okay? It's up to our little brother to decide, we can't force him to do anything he doesn't want to," Feng Mian spoke.

Wei Chen raised his right eyebrow gazing at Feng Mian.

>>>...You're the one to talk to.

Feng Mian felt the sharp stare of Wei Chen and looked at him but the latter turned away not wanting to make even eye contact with him. 

"Lady, if you want to take Xiao Bo with you take him," Wei Chen spoke without facing her.

Xiao Bo tugged on the clothes of Wei Chen. Anxiousness was written all over his face.

"...that is if he wants to come with you willingly." Wei Chen smiled at his little brother and stroked his hair to comfort him.

Li Hui Ying's blood pressure reached the roof seeing their interaction. To her, Wei Chen was someone who ill-treated Xiao Bo all these years and she wanted her younger brother to come with her to their family so that they could make up for everything and give him a good, peaceful life.

But Xiao Bo was so attached to Wei Chen in contrast to her imagination where she thought her younger brother hated his fake family to the core and wanted nothing to do with them anymore.

As reality shattered her illusions she became furious. In the Li family, she was a hot-tempered woman who would act first and think later.

*Slap*

Li Hui Ying slapped Wei Chen hard across his face, "You... you're smiling seeing how Xiao Bo still wants to stay with you, right? You psycho! I don't know what you did but I won't let my younger brother fall for your cheap tricks anymore."

She turned to Xiao Bo whose face paled with widened eyes. She pulled his hand.

"Xiao Bo, maybe you're suffering from Stockholm syndrome or something like that which is why you don't want to get separated from this wretched man, don't worry. We will find you the best doctor in the world to cure your condition. Let's go!"

That was a grave mistake.

She noticed it only after seeing the angry and displeased face of Xiao Bo.

Wei Chen didn't show any emotion. He got up holding his cheek, his eyes directed toward Li Feng Mian, "It's a family thing, right?... To hurt others before knowing the whole truth."

The swollen cheek of Wei Chen barely looked normal after Feng Mian rubbed it with an ice pack the entire last night but now it has become red and inflated again.

Li Feng Mian was feeling a tinge of guilt from the second Wei Chen lost consciousness after his monstrous behavior. The old doctor's scold just added salt to his wound.

Now, the wound was dug open again seeing the state of Wei Chen's face and the situation he was in. Feng Mian felt suffocated facing the other in front of him, he couldn't keep his eye contact with him and looked away.

"Jiejie, if you hurt Wei Chen, Xiao Bo is gonna hate you forever. I know we got information that he too abused our little brother along with his now deceased Father but I think there is a misunderstanding," Feng Mian whispered in her ear and added,

"As far as I got to know Wei Chen cares for Xiao Bo as much as we care for him. So, ease off, will you?" 

Hui Ying gritted her teeth and took a long breath before turning back and walking out of the room.

Xiao Bo immediately cupped Wei Chen's face looking worried, "Does it hurt so much, Wei Dage?"

Wei Chen shook his head with a light smile that didn't reach his eyes. He patted Xiao Bo's head, "... I'm fine."

"But the corner of your lips is bleeding, Dage," Xiao Bo tried to touch the cut but Wei Chen backed off, "It's not because of her slap. She didn't do it that hard... It's an old wound, maybe it reopened."

Feng Mian knew who caused the old wound that was him. He was the one who slapped him so hard that Wei Chen tasted iron on his tongue.

Mu Chen observed the three in the room particularly at his friend who has been acting like he did some big mistake and was trying to repent for it.

Just then a sharp numbing pain surged through his veins on the temple making him grit his teeth. He rubbed with the hard end of his palm to soothe the pain.

When he closed his eyes Mu Chen heard strange voices and saw a place so familiar yet so unfamiliar at the same time.

He stepped back a little still holding his temple but stumbled and knocked off a glass vase in the corner.

"Ugh...!"

The other three immediately glanced at Mu Chen. Xiao Bo ran to him and held his arm, "Are... are you okay?"

As soon as Xiao Bo touched him the unbearable pain till now vanished into thin air mysteriously. Mu Chen was flabbergasted.

However, he didn't want to worry Xiao Bo.

"I am okay, Snowball. Maybe because I didn't eat in the morning, I feel a little light-headed," Mu Chen answered calmly rubbing the younger's cheek.

He said that but the eerie feeling he got seeing the strange scenes in his head out of nowhere gave a chill to his spine.

...

In The Celestial Space,

The Goddess of souls, Valeria was looking furiously at the eye-blinding golden light which had the silhouette of a giant tree.

"You! What's happening? You said that as long as we did our jobs we can save the world from repeating itself and save it from collapsing, didn't you?"

<<<"...">>>

"Then why is the fate repeating itself again? Isn't it the first fate of that world? It already happened, and we saw how disastrous the ending was. I promised that poor child that he will have a happy life this time."

<<<"... *sigh*...">>>

"Don't just stay silent and answer me! You said you've already done your part then why is nothing happening yet? If this goes on we can't fill the cracks of the world with our powers anymore and it wouldn't be long enough before that world perish into nothing!"

<<<"I've sent some reliable ones to fill the cracks. This is happening because the other child gained his awareness too soon and that ill-fated one wanted nothing to do with that world anymore so he forcibly changed it at the cost of his life.>>>

"We have to make sure this world doesn't collapse. If not when the supreme being arrives..." 

The Goddess Valeria's voice trembled badly. She had a terrified expression on her face.

<<<"I know... if the world collapses before his arrival everyone in this universe will have to face his wrath and the consequences of it will not be something we can handle.">>>

Valeria nodded agreeing to it, "Damn it, if only that stupid intern angel didn't do her job poorly. We could have gained the favor of the supreme being but now..."

<<<"Don't put all the blame on her and dust yourself off from that incident. It was your responsibility but you just had to hand it over to a newly appointed intern angel to screw us over.">>>

Valeria gave the golden-lighted silhouette a dark glare and became silent.

<<<"No need to worry. Soon they will reach the timeline and change the path of their destiny.">>>

"I hope so too." Valeria released an exasperated sigh.

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

Ms. Villainess has something to say:

Ahem-ahem! So my Deathtraps, what do you think is happening? Confused and curious? 

Stand by and stay tuned to know more(⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

Oh, btw, it's been a long time since I gave some mini theater spoofs, would you all like me to give them from the next chapter or not? Tell me👉🏻

Then see ya next week, Darlings!