On this small street, he saw a tiny musical instrument shop and an ice cream shop decorated in soft pink tones. But aside from these two stores, the other shops weren’t much different from those on the previous street.

Passing by a shop dressed up as a mini-mart but actually just a grocery store, he stopped, pushed the door open, and went in, planning to buy a bottle of water to take his medicine.

As the lemon-scented warm air inside the store hit him, he paused at the entrance, feeling a bit like turning around and leaving.

There were four people squeezed into the small space in front of the cashier, each with a chair, either sitting or leaning.

As soon as he entered, the group who had been chatting all stopped, turned their heads, and stared at him in unison.

Brian Carter looked at these four people—from their looks to their expressions, from their clothes to their vibe—each of their faces seemed to have a single word written on it.

No, it was: bad, news, birds.

While hesitating whether to turn around and leave or just go to the shelf to grab some water, Brian Carter caught sight of three more people squeezed in front of the shelves out of the corner of his eye.

He turned his head, didn’t see their faces clearly at first, but saw a floor covered in hair clippings and a shiny bald head, then a pair of big eyes.

Chapter 3

The shiny bald head in front of the shelves belonged to Ashley Bennett. After shaving her head, you couldn’t even tell she was a girl anymore. She was wearing a gray-blue men’s puffer jacket, and if it weren’t for her eyes, Brian Carter wouldn’t have recognized her as Ashley Bennett.

Standing behind her was Eric Bennett, holding electric clippers and a cigarette in his mouth. He seemed a bit surprised to see him, holding up the clippers, frozen in motion.

But Eric Bennett looked different from yesterday—wearing a pullover sweater and casual pants, comfortable and relaxed.

With his looks, clothes, and vibe, he was clearly not the same type as those four friends of his—he stood out, the kind you could spot in a crowd at a glance.

He exuded an “I’m their boss” aura from head to toe.

Brian Carter had always thought he didn’t look like a bad person. Even though his temper wasn’t great and sometimes he could scare himself, he figured it was just a slow-burning rebellious phase he couldn’t get past… But when he was calm and just wanted to buy a bottle of water, he definitely looked harmless.

So when everyone in this grocery store pretending to be a supermarket stared at him in silence with a “you looking for trouble?” expression, he found it pretty baffling.

During all this, the cigarette in Eric Bennett’s mouth dropped some ash onto Ashley Bennett’s bald head, and she lowered her head to pat it off for a while.

Brian Carter didn’t care about these people’s stares. He was always the type of teenager who wasn’t afraid of trouble, unfazed by any “what are you looking at,” especially when he was in a bad mood and feeling unwell.

He walked to the shelf and grabbed a bottle of mineral water.

Looking up, he saw Eric Bennett had already walked over to the shelves. After another silent stare-off between two cans of chips, Eric Bennett said, “Welcome.”

“Is this your store?” Brian Carter asked.

“Yeah.” Eric Bennett nodded.

“What a coincidence,” Brian Carter said.

Eric Bennett didn’t reply, and he didn’t really want to keep talking either, so he tossed the bottle of water in his hand and turned to the cashier.

“Two yuan.” Someone walked behind the counter, leaned on the table, moved closer to him, and stared at him.

Brian Carter glanced at him. The not-so-good-four were still sitting, unmoved; this guy was the one who’d been standing next to Eric Bennett earlier.

He hadn’t seen clearly before because it was dark, but now under the light, he noticed this guy was actually quite good-looking, almost like a girl. Except for the long, narrow eyes, he actually looked more like Ashley Bennett’s sister… or brother… than Eric Bennett did.

He took ten yuan out of his pocket and handed it over. The guy took the money, tapped a few times on the register, then looked at him again. “Da Fei’s friend? Never seen you before.”

“Nope.” Brian Carter took out his medicine, peeled off two pills, popped them in his mouth, and took a few sips of water.

“Not?” The guy’s gaze passed over his shoulder, glanced behind him, and put the change on the table. “Oh.”

After taking his medicine, Brian Carter tossed the half-finished bottle of water into the trash can by the door, lifted the curtain, and walked out.

“Hey, you should’ve bought a small bottle,” the guy’s voice came from behind. “What a waste.”

“…Forgot,” Brian Carter said.

Yeah, why didn’t he buy a small one, since he couldn’t finish it anyway.

Maybe it was because the aches all over his body were getting worse, and his brain wasn’t working right.

He stood on the steps at the door, and for a moment couldn’t remember where he’d been planning to go before entering the store… Go back? Back where? Li Baoguo… no, his new home?

Just thinking about the terrible environment inside and Li Baoguo’s thunderous snoring made his chest feel tight, and then he felt like he couldn’t breathe at all, not even a little.

A field of golden flowers on a black background spread out before his eyes.

Brian Carter couldn’t control his body, sinking down like a spinning sack. He sighed—brilliant.

Ashley Bennett, rubbing her bald head, grabbed her skateboard and walked toward the door.

“Hat.” Eric Bennett picked up his coat from the chair, pulled a crumpled green knit hat with little flowers out of the pocket, and tossed it onto her head.

Ashley Bennett tugged at it a few times and put the hat on properly.