IPT 1

Chapter 1 – Angel Welfare Home

 

At half past six in the morning, the Angel Welfare Home in the Abyssal Essarath Special District was still immersed in the dark night, with only a few dim street lamps lit sporadically.

 

The dormitory building was quiet, the children were asleep, and several gray-robed wardens of the orphanage turned on incandescent lamps and pushed open the closed old iron doors one by one.

One of the managers also began to shake the brass bell in his hand: “Get up, everyone get up immediately.” 

 

The children were woken up one after another, squirming to get dressed, and the rusty iron beds creaked.

 

The chief manager stood in the middle of the corridor and shouted, “The distinguished guests from the top of the clouds come to inspect the abyss, and they will also come to our Angel Welfare House to have a look.” They got up half an hour early today, cleaned up after themselves, so they wouldn’t make the guests sick.

 

The children, whose faces had been sleepy, immediately refreshed themselves when they heard this, and their movements became quicker.

 

“…… The two children who were selected last time are now living a good life on the top of the clouds, and they eat every day. Don’t say you’ve seen it, you can’t even think of it……”

 

The children quickly got dressed and rushed to the water room. Some of the shoes were not properly put on, and they were only anxiously pulled on their feet, snapping all the way.

 

The management continued to patrol the room, stopping at the door of Room 16.

 

This room used to be a utility room, and the area was not large, so only four bunk beds were stuffed. Under the bright light, each bed was bulging with a motionless quilt bag.

 

“Why can’t you get out of bed yet?” The chief steward frowned and looked inside the room.

 

The management next to it explained: “Although all the children on this floor live, the children in room 16 are not very old. They had just turned six and had only moved down from the children’s area on the second floor last month, so it was hard to wake up today.

 

“There are a lot of high-level people here today, and our main purpose is to take this opportunity to get milk powder, and then to select people. No one in the whole hospital is missing, so let’s all hurry up.”

 

“Okay.”

 

The managers patted the children’s faces one by one and unwrapped the quilts one by one. The abyss of November had cooled down, and the heat that had been trapped by the thin quilt had suddenly dissipated. The children who had slept to death were awakened by the cold.

 

“Get up, wake up, don’t sleep again.”

 

The children got up in a daze. One of them was about to cry with a pouting mouth, but when he opened his eyes and saw the manager standing in front of the bed. He swallowed the cry again, and only pulled the clothes and pants at the end of the bed and began to put them on.

 

The manager’s eyes fell on the corner bed, and he found that there was still a little boy lying there.

 

The boy was wearing only a pair of underwear, and even if the quilt was removed, he still insisted on sleeping with his eyes closed. He curled up into a small ball, his cheeks bulging, and he was sucking his thumb in a hurry.

 

Shen curled up in a dream, dreaming that he was holding a bun in one hand, but only halfway through eating, it began to snow in the canteen of the welfare home, and the chill of the bones penetrated into his body.

 

He felt that he could still hold on for a while, and persevered until he finished eating the buns, but suddenly the sky was spinning, his body was in the air and falling, and while his feet stepped on the ground, the cheer came into his ears: “Shen, stand up!” 

 

The people in the room watched Shen curl up and stumble a few drunken steps, almost falling to the ground, but the manager grabbed his arm and stabilized the person.

 

Shen curled up and opened his eyes, and his first reaction was to look at his hands. And after being stunned for a few seconds, he looked at the management in front of him and asked blankly, “Where are my buns?”

 

“Still talking in your dreams. There’s no bun, go get dressed.”

 

Shen curled up and didn’t move. He shrunk his toes and trembled, staring at the manager with those big eyes.

 

“Aren’t you cold? Yes? Get dressed and go to the cafeteria, and you will be able to eat breakfast right away. “The manager pointed to the bed, “You usually eat so actively, hurry up.”

 

Shen curled up and didn’t say anything more. He only crawled back to the bed to get dressed and looked down at his hands from time to time, looking a little dazed.

 

“I want to eat big buns too……” The child on the bed next to him was already putting on his shoes and muttering.

 

Shen curled up and finally slowly woke up, knowing that he was dreaming just now, but he was even more lost, and muttered in a low voice: “He didn’t wait for me to finish eating the buns before calling me.” 

 

On the second floor of the upper floor are children under the age of six, and there are quite a few babies. Seeing that everyone in this room had woken up, everyone followed the manager to the second floor.

 

Shen curled up. He likes to wear a pullover T-shirt, because his head would always be wrapped in it and he couldn’t find the neckline. He was now covered in a T-shirt again, listening only to the footsteps of the other children leaving the house.

 

“Why are my shoelaces disobedient……”

Hearing this voice, Shen curled up with joy, and turned his head under the T-shirt in the direction of the voice: “Lin Duozhi, are you still there?” 

 

The boy sitting on the bed opposite to the shoelaces replied, “Yes.”

“You help me find my head, and I’ll help you tie your shoes.”

 

The two children helped each other and got dressed.

The children in the welfare home wear a gray T-shirt all year round, and when the weather turns cold, they only add a gray cotton shirt outside. The cotton coat was hard and heavy, and in order to prevent children from wiping their noses with their sleeves, a piece of plastic skin was inlaid on the lower half of the sleeves.

 

Now that it has just entered November, the abyss is the temperature of the morning and evening, and the children in the welfare home have put on and taken off their cotton clothes. If anyone sees their messy clothes, they can’t tell what season it is.

 

Both of them put on cotton clothes and went out with their respective toothbrushes and basins, and the corridor was full of rampaging children as they walked against the wall.

 

“Did you dream of eating buns just now?” Lin Duozhu, who was walking behind, asked.

“Well, two.”

“What kind of stuffing?”

Shen curled up and tilted his head to recall: “I don’t remember. Anyway, I know it’s delicious.”

“Is there meat?”

“Possibly.”

Lin Duozhi was a little regretful: “You should dream of eating chicken thighs, that one is all meat.”

“But I don’t remember what the chicken thighs tasted like, only the buns.” Shen curled up and smacked his lips.

“Oh, actually, I don’t remember either.”

 

After taking two more steps, Shen curled up suddenly, and a small hand was held together, as if holding something: “Come on, this bun is so hot.”

 

He bared his teeth and gasped in his mouth, and Lin Duozhi hurriedly took it.

 

“It’s hot, it’s hot, eat it slowly.”

“Shhh…… What a fragrant bun. The two children pretended to eat buns, puffed out their mouths and chewed, making exaggerated swallowing sounds.

 

“What’s that stuffing of yours? Show me. Shen curled up and said.

Lin Douzhi pointed out: “It’s a sugar cube filling, what about you?”

Shen curled up and took a bite and said in surprise: “Meat! It’s all meat!”

 

The two children were smirking against the wall, and Shen curled up in his vest and was pushed. He lunged forward, knocking Lindo’s fingers to the ground, and the toothbrush basin tumbling down to the center of the hallway.

 

“Get out of the way, good dogs!”

 

A boy in his early teens kicked open a small basin and hurried past the two men.

 

Shen curled up and fell to the ground, not caring about the pain on his body, swishing two steps forward, and holding the small basin in his arms. Then he touched the back that was hurt and glared angrily at the boy’s back.

 

The boy turned his head to look back, and Shen curled up. He retracted his gaze, collected the anger on his face and looked honest.

– He has suffered several losses, and he knows that he can’t mess with these senior students, lest he be beaten up.

 

Lin Duozhi, who was next to him, slowly got up, hung his head and picked up his small basin: “Let’s go.”

 

Shen curled up and walked a few steps, turned around unwillingly, and saw that the boy had already entered the dormitory, so he clasped his hands in front of his chest, raised his short index finger and thumb, and shouted violently: “Spiritual attack!”

 

“Be quiet, be quiet.” Lin Duozhi hurriedly pulled his clothes.

 

The two children continued to walk towards the water room, and when they were sure that the boy would not appear again, Lin Duozhi began to cry.

 

“My nose hurts.”

 

Shen curled up with pain in his back, and he wanted to cry too, so he only held back his tears and said, “If my mental power attacks, he will also be in pain.”

 

“I also quietly attacked just now.” Lindo sobbed and added, “I attacked silently.”

 

“Then he might be dead by now.”

 

“Well, dead.”

 

The two children were no longer so sad, and at this time they also noticed the abnormality of those senior students. They looked puzzled as they went, pricked up their ears to listen, and finally caught the words like Cloud Peak and Honorable Guest.

 

“Ahh Are they you going to choose someone to go to the top of the clouds again?” Shen curled up and covered his mouth, unable to hide his excitement.

 

Although Lin Duozhi didn’t say anything, he kept nodding his head, and his always pale face turned red.

 

The two rushed into the water room with a small basin, and were pleasantly surprised to find that there were not many people inside, and there was an empty faucet, so there was no need to wait in line.

 

Several children in the same dormitory were also there, and when they saw them, they hurriedly chirped.

 

“Come and wash, it’s only our small class here.”

“Hurry up, what if the first class is here again.”

 

Shen curled up and the two hurriedly went to the vacant seat, turned on the faucet, and filled the small basin with water.

 

The water heater in the orphanage has been broken for a while and has not been repaired for a long time, and the children are all washed with cold water.

Although it was not yet winter, the water that they didn’t know where it came from contained fine ice slag, floating in Shen’s curled up small basin, and he could see that he had two cold wars.

 

He didn’t want to wash his face with ice water – in fact, he hadn’t washed it in a week – but today was different, he had to wash it cleanly so that the guests at the top of the cloud would like it si he could be chosen by them.

 

Shen has lived in the abyss since he was a child, and he has never seen the top of the clouds, but it is the dream place of all the children in their welfare home, the place they yearn for.

 

They must be able to eat steamed buns often, their faucet is full of hot water as soon as it is turned on, and there must be a lot of treasures in their garbage dump, and canned food everywhere – there are still more than half of the cans left, and there are endless glass balls……

 

The top of the clouds, the top of the clouds……

 

Shen curled up in his heart for a while, and finally reached out to the basin of ice water, scooped up a small handful with his palm, and slapped it on his face.

 

“Ahh” He lets out a scream, his features twisted and stomped in place, throwing his fists indiscriminately into the air.

 

The other children who were washing their faces were also trembling, but they all laughed when they saw this, and jumped with him, trembling in a shaky manner.

 

Among the children in front of the sink, only Lin Duozhi washed the most seriously, even if his teeth were rattling from the cold, he carefully washed his face and scrubbed his ears.

 

Everyone was making a fuss, and the manager in a gray robe appeared at the door of the water room.

 

“Hurry up and wash up, what are you doing?” The manager snorted.

 

“I’m washing, I’m washing.”

“It’s so cold, I’m going to die of cold.”

 

“Bear with me, there will be hot water when the water heater is repaired.” The manager makes another slap in the air.

 

The children quickly washed their faces and took their small basins back to the dormitory. Shen curled up at the end, but was stopped by the manager: “Shen, you wait.”

 

Shen curled up and stood with a small basin in his arms, tilting his head and looking at the manager motionlessly. His excessively long hair was unkempt over his forehead, obscuring part of his eyes, and two droplets of water hung from his pointed chin.

 

The manager pointed to his head: “Your hair is too unseemly, you can’t see with your eyes, why is it so long and untrimmed?”

 

Shen curled up and shook his head, revealing half of his head and big eyes like black grapes, and then continued to stare at the manager.

 

The manager wanted to reprimand, but there was a gathering whistle outside the building, so he had to wave his hand: “Go back first, you go back to the dormitory first, put away the toiletries, and immediately go to the playground to gather.”

 

It was seven o’clock in the morning, but the whole abyss was still like night, and it was dark in the distance, except for the welfare house with its headlights on. The small playground was full of people. Except for the children in the baby area on the second floor, all the other children were here, arranged in order of tallness, there were two or three hundred people.

 

The top management is about to come to inspect, and the atmosphere of the entire welfare home is very tense. The management ran around, and the dean, who rarely appeared, also stood at the gate, constantly asking about the others.

 

“Where have they been?”

“There’s another area, and it’s coming soon.”

“This time it was all high-level dignitaries and their entourage, and we must not make a mistake.”

“Dean, rest assured.”

“Let the children behave better, cheer up, whether they can get milk powder and rations, it depends on today.”

“Understood.”

……

 

Shen curled up and was small, so he stood on the far right of the first row. Although he was wearing a cotton hat, the cold wind went straight into the collar of his cotton jacket. He shivered while staring at the honor guard in front of him.

 

The honor guard was all students from the welfare home, standing face to face with them, all wearing uniform white gloves, red ceremonial clothes, and yellow tassels hanging from their shoulders.

 

Standing opposite Shen curled up was a drummer, his ceremonial clothes didn’t fit well, revealing his frozen white wrists and ankles. He noticed Shen curling up with envy, turned his head a little arrogantly, inhaled deeply, and exhaled…… Sucked back the runny nose that was about to come out.

 

Shen curled up and retracted his gaze, turned to Lin Duozhi behind him and whispered, “I really want to play the drums, wear that kind of clothes, and wear that on my hands.”

 

Lin Duozhi ignored him, standing up straight, chest puffed, occasionally glancing in the direction of the door.

 

“Knock knock, knock knock……” Shen curled up and whispered to him, his two hands tapping in the air.

 

Lin Duozhi insisted for more than ten seconds, but still didn’t hold on, raised his hand and followed the knock: “Knock knock, knock knock……”

 

Shen Qianqian turned around with satisfaction, but saw that the little girl next to him was still scratching her head. The girl had been scratching since she stood here, and the two pigtails had been scratched loosely and were lying on her head like grass.

 

Shen curled up and kindly reminded: “Don’t scratch it, your hair is too unseemly, and your eyes can’t see.” Then he took off his cotton hat and shook his head, “Like me, shake it, come.”

 

“But it’s so itchy.” The little girl only continued to scratch her head.

 

A hurried manager stopped and pulled the little girl out of the queue, reaching out to pull her hair. After a moment’s reckoning, he slapped her on the shoulder.

 

“Where’s the lice?” Management asked angrily.

 

His palm was not heavy, but the little girl was also stumbling, and before she could stand firmly, the manager took her arm and walked to the dormitory: “The distinguished guests are coming soon, what should you do with lice?” You have to go back and wait for them to leave before you come out. 

 

The little girl had unkempt her hair, and under the gaze of everyone, she staggered and ran with small steps, and let out a painful whimper: “I don’t want to go back to the dormitory, I want to go to the top of the clouds, I don’t want to go back to the dormitory……”

 

Another manager shouted: “Don’t look at it, the people in front and behind check each other to see if there are lice on their heads, People with lice go back to their dormitories. 

 

All the children immediately moved, pulling each other’s hair to see if there were lice inside.

 

Lin Duozhi buried his head and let Shen Qianqian check in his hair, so nervous that he couldn’t stand on his feet, and his voice trembled.

 

“What should I do if I have lice? I can’t go to the top of the clouds……”

Shen Qianqian whispered comfortingly: “Even if I see it, I won’t say it.”

“They’ll find out, lice are going to jump on my head.” Lin Duozhi’s voice sounded like he was about to cry.

Shen Qianqian m said, “Then if I see it, I will catch it and throw it away.”

“It’ll jump on the ground!”

“Then I’ll grab it and eat it.”

 

Fortunately, there were no lice in Lin Duozhi’s hair, and Shen Qianqian and docked his head to let him look for it, but he didn’t find lice. A manager who was watching the wind outside ran over the fence and panted and said to the dean and chief administrator at the gate: “Come, come, they are coming.” 

 

The chief manager turned his head and shouted: “Okay, okay, cheer up, get ready to welcome your guests!”

 

All the children who were looking for lice stood up straight, the ceremonial team began to play, and the other children sang in unison with the conductor.

 

“How happy our lives are, how loud our songs, angels gather here, sowing hope…… “

 

In the earth-shattering drum music and loud singing, several headlights appeared in the distance, and a convoy was heading towards the Angel Welfare Home.