The Fairy Tale of a Murderer - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dragging my feet all the way to my front door with my backpack on, I sighed over and over again.

The System sounded like it wanted to shake some sense into me. “You’ve been here for half a month, and you’re still hiding from him. Why are you just as hopeless as my last host?”

I said nothing. The System snapped, “Let’s see how long you can keep hiding!”

“Sigh.” I let out another breath.

I knew how weird it was for an eight-year-old face to be sighing like this, but I really couldn’t help it.

I was so worried.

Thinking back to my previous life, all I’d done was walk home from work while eating stinky tofu, only to be randomly crushed to death by someone who’d jumped off a building. It had been an absurd and suffocating way to die.

That was when the System appeared.

It said, “I can let you be reborn, but you have to complete a mission.”

After hearing what the System had to say, I hesitated.

This mission was not easy…

But then I thought of my parents. If they knew I was dead, they’d definitely be heartbroken…

The sound of arguing from inside the house interrupted my thoughts.

It was my mother’s voice. “You bring the child back from school and then just lie around playing on your phone. When are you going to realize the child isn’t yours?”

The house went quiet for a moment. Then my dad said, his voice thick with tears, “Fine! I knew it. I suspected it all along, and now you’ve gone and admitted it!”

My mom gave a cold laugh. “Why shouldn’t I admit it? Go to the living room and see if the child you brought home is your daughter!”

I was completely lost. I was still outside. Who on earth had my dad brought home?

I hurriedly entered the passcode and opened the door, only to meet the eyes of the beautiful child sitting on the sofa in the living room.

In the dead silence, my dad rushed out of the bedroom. Seeing the two children in the house, he froze, utterly baffled.

“What… what’s going on?”

I wanted to know that too.

“I believe it now, System. Sometimes, it really is fate.”

The System gloated. “Heehee. Now you can’t avoid him.”

Yes. The child my dad had brought home was none other than Ji Xingrui, who would grow up to become a serial killer.

My dad gave my cold-faced mother an awkward smile. “This kid does look quite a lot like our Qiaoqiao… They both have short hair and yellow clothes…”

Like how? Am I anywhere near as good-looking as him?

I closed my eyes. “System, it’s hard to imagine I agreed to your mission for the sake of this useless old man.”

The System: “…”

I thought back to before I left, when he’d thumped his chest and sworn to me, “Qiaoqiao, your mom is busy today, so Dad will pick you up. Don’t worry, I’ll be right on time…”

He hadn’t exactly lied. He really had been on time. He’d just picked up the wrong person.

My mom was still wearing an apron, probably in the middle of cooking. She glared at my dad and said,

“Hurry up and take the child back! His family must be worried sick!”

My dad quickly squatted down and asked Ji Xingrui, “Kid, where do you live… or do you know your home phone number? I’ll call first and let them know you’re safe, so your parents can stop worrying…”

The beautiful boy’s face was expressionless. His clear eyes were fixed unblinkingly on me, and the words that came out of his mouth made one’s heart ache despite themselves. “I don’t have parents.”

His stare gave me goosebumps. The System comforted me, “He’s just a child. If he wants to kill you, he’ll have to wait at least a dozen years. Being scared now is pointless.”

…If you don’t know how to comfort people, you can shut up.

As soon as the boy said that, my dad fell silent. My mom lowered her head and started wiping away tears. “Such an adorable child. How could he…”

A bad feeling rose in my heart. Sure enough, in the next second, my mom went over and touched his head. “Sweetheart, Auntie’s cooking is delicious. Would you like to stay for dinner?”

Ji Xingrui nodded.

My mom smiled, then turned to me. “Qiaoqiao, take him to wash his hands. Dinner will be ready soon.”

Me: “…”

Watching my parents go into the kitchen, I took a deep breath under Ji Xingrui’s dark-eyed stare and forced myself to say, “Come on. Let’s go wash our hands.”

He was very obedient and followed me into the bathroom.

After he finished washing his hands, I hurriedly found a towel and handed it to him.

As he wiped his hands, he suddenly said, “I know your name.”

My hand trembled, and I jerked my head up in panic.

He looked at me and said, enunciating every word, “Your name is Ding Qiaoqiao.”

Because of that one sentence, I spent the entire meal in a daze.

The System said to me, “If you want to complete your mission, the first thing you have to do is overcome your fear of him.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” A psychopathic murderer was scary even as a kid… What if I did something wrong and he held a grudge against me, then killed me when he grew up?

The System said, “Just imagine he’s a little brat. You’re an adult. Do you really need to be afraid of him?”

Right. I was an adult! My life experience, IQ, and EQ absolutely crushed a child’s! What was I even afraid of?

I had to look down on him from above, the way a parent looks at a child!

At that thought, I took a deep breath and put a piece of meat into Ji Xingrui’s bowl.

Ji Xingrui looked up at me in surprise. I lifted my chin and explained, “We’re classmates. We should look out for each other.”

My mom looked at me approvingly. “That’s more like it… But you’re classmates? In the same class?”

I nodded. “Yeah. His name is Ji Xingrui. He sits in the last row.”

“When you came in and didn’t say anything, I thought you didn’t know each other.” My mom poured each of us a glass of water, then reminded me, “Xingxing is small and frail, so he’s easy for other kids to bully. You’re strong, so you need to take good care of him…”

She wasn’t wrong. Ji Xingrui was indeed bullied all the time.

But what did she mean by “strong”?

“System, am I really that sturdy?”

The System said, “Of course. Your little belly is bigger than the male lead’s…”

Me: “…”

I soon learned why.

I casually ate two huge bowls of rice. Ji Xingrui only ate one.

He ate very cleanly, except for the piece of meat I’d given him.

“Looks like he’s a clean freak,” I said.

The System said, “Psychopathic murderers usually are.”

…I’d finally managed to forget that, so why did you have to bring it up again?!

After dinner, my mom found out that Ji Xingrui had nowhere to go, so she decided on her own to let him stay at our house for the time being. Ji Xingrui had no objections.

There were no spare rooms at home, so my mom had Ji Xingrui share a room with me.

I originally wanted to protest, but then I thought, he’s just a kid anyway. Besides, staying close to him would help with completing the mission, so I accepted it.

Ji Xingrui seemed very curious about my room.

When I came back from my shower, I saw him looking at the wish bottle on my desk.

I found a set of pajamas in the wardrobe and handed them to him. “Go take a shower.”

He nodded.

“System, to be honest, he’s actually pretty well-behaved. It’d be great if he stayed like this forever and never went crazy.”

The System was playing games and answered perfunctorily, “Isn’t that your mission?”

By the time Ji Xingrui returned, I was already drowsy.

He was wearing my pajamas, which hung loosely on him. I waved at him. “Hurry up and come sleep.”

Ji Xingrui seemed a little hesitant.

Seeing him stand there without moving, I lifted the blanket and climbed out of bed. “What’s wrong?”

He looked at me, tilted his head, and seemed a little confused.

“Why don’t you bully me like everyone else?”

Those words made my heart soften.

Ji Xingrui had always been bullied by our classmates. I had never bullied him, but I had always kept my distance.

Once, I had wanted to reach out to him too. Unfortunately…

“Why would I bully you?” I asked.

He lowered his head and said nothing.

I continued, “I already said it. We’re friends, so we should look out for each other.”

He asked in return, “What are friends?”

I thought about it, then explained, “They’re people who can be happy together, be sad together, and go through hardships together.”

He nodded, half understanding.

The bed was only one and a half meters wide, but luckily, we were still small, so it wasn’t too crowded sleeping together.

Fresh from his shower, Ji Xingrui carried a faint, pleasant scent. My eyelids kept drooping, and soon I fell asleep.

I had a dream.

In the dream, I was back in my previous life, hugging my person-sized teddy bear as I slept. The teddy bear was very soft and smelled nice, but it was a little restless, constantly wriggling around.

It kept disturbing my sleep. In a fit of frustration, I smacked the teddy bear hard on the butt.

“Stop moving!” I said.