Stronger with Crimson Modifier-Chapter 111: The Beginning (4)

The orphans in the orphanage all had different backgrounds. Some were abandoned, some had lost their parents, and others were there for various reasons.

Regardless of their circumstances, deep down, they all desperately craved the warmth of a family.

Unfortunately, however, families willing to adopt orphans usually fell into one of two categories.

The first were wealthy families who wanted a companion for their child but didn’t wish to have another.

The second were those who couldn’t have children of their own due to some physical issue and hoped to adopt.

But such opportunities were few and far between.

Furthermore, prospective parents would carefully consider all aspects of a child—their personality, character, and appearance—before making a final decision.

After all, adopting a child requires a significant investment of both time and money.

As a result, most children remained in the orphanage until they reached adulthood.

However, unlike the other children, when Xiaoyao heard what Teacher Yan said, her small body trembled as if recalling something terrifying.

"Teacher, I... I don’t feel very well. Can we maybe do this another day...?"

Xiaoyao’s face scrunched up as she spoke, and she reached out to rub her stomach.

Teacher Yan frowned slightly, looking Xiaoyao up and down.

"What’s there to not feel well about? The people here this time are a wealthy couple. They’re very rich. If you miss this chance, you might not get another one."

After speaking, the woman seemed to think of something. She paused, her expression souring as she pointed in another direction.

"Forget it. You can wait for the next one. Xiaoyu, you come with me."

She was pointing to another little girl with a high ponytail, who was about the same age as Xiaoyao.

Unlike her, however, the girl named Xiaoyu was visibly excited.

"Thank you, Teacher! Thank you, Xiaoyao!"

As she spoke,

she started gathering her belongings, clutching the tattered doll with several holes in it that she hugged to sleep every night.

Apparently pleased with Xiaoyu’s reaction, Teacher Yan said,

"Let’s go now. Don’t bring anything. Your new family will buy you everything you need."

Hearing this, Xiaoyu abandoned the idea of packing and gave some of her toys to a few of her close friends.

Then, she happily followed Teacher Yan out the door.

Before leaving, Teacher Yan turned to the rest of the children, a rare smile gracing her face.

"All of you need to be good, eat well, and sleep well. Get yourselves nice and plump. That’s the kind of child people like these days. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Teacher, we understand!"

At her words, the children’s faces lit up with excitement, as if they could already picture themselves being adopted and cherished by loving parents.

Seeing this, Teacher Yan finally led Xiaoyu out the door.

What no one noticed was the girl named Xiaoyao staring after their retreating figures, her eyes filled with profound terror.

She had been at this orphanage for several years.

Six months ago, the once-dilapidated orphanage had been repainted and renovated, after which it began taking in a large number of new orphans.

However, a child was adopted almost every day or two.

At first, Xiaoyao, like all the other children, had been full of hope about being adopted.

But gradually, she began to realize something was wrong.

Over time, several of her close friends were adopted. They promised they would come back to visit her, but not a single one ever returned.

If that were all, an eight or nine-year-old child wouldn’t have thought much of it.

But before he left, the boy she called her older brother, who was a year her senior, had warned her not to get adopted by anyone.

Her brother told her that the director and the teachers were bad people. The children weren’t being adopted at all—they were being eaten by monsters.

He told her to be good and wait for him at the orphanage, and to run away if she ever got the chance.

Unfortunately, months had passed, and she still hadn’t seen her brother again.

And while the orphanage wasn’t heavily guarded, it wasn’t a place an eight or nine-year-old child could easily escape from.

During this time, children her age were constantly being taken away for "adoption," never to be heard from again.

This only deepened her fear.

...

Outside the main room, the two walked one after the other down the hallway.

"Teacher Yan, what do my new mommy and daddy look like?" Xiaoyu asked curiously, tugging on the woman’s hand.

’Is it just my imagination?’ She thought the teacher’s hand felt terribly cold, like a block of ice.

"Mm, you’ll know when you get there," the woman replied dismissively. ’She’s just food. I can’t be bothered to talk to her.’

Just then, however, her steps came to a sudden halt. A tall figure had appeared in the hallway ahead.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Her expression shifted, and she barked out the question.

But the man seemed to have no intention of wasting time on words.

In a single step, his figure blurred. The next instant, he had crossed over ten meters and was standing right in front of her.

A flash of Sword Light.

Before the woman could even react, a sharp pain shot through her face.

Her entire face split open, sending a spray of red and white matter through the air.

THUD!

The woman’s corpse crumpled to the ground.

The little girl, who had been holding the woman’s hand, was yanked forward by the sudden momentum. She stumbled and fell, landing hard on the floor.

She stared blankly at the scene before her.

It wasn’t until she felt something warm on her cheek and reached up to touch it that she saw the blood on her hand.

Her face twisted in terror. Before a scream could even escape her lips, her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed, unconscious.

"Hm?"

The tall figure raised his head slightly, revealing Hu Qi’s somewhat indistinct features.

He glanced at the fallen little girl.

’She’s only tainted by the aura of a Black Blood Species. Still human.’

Seeing the small figure lying in a pool of Black Blood, he grabbed one of her legs, lifted her, and set her aside.

The Black Blood of these thralls, aside from its foul stench, wasn’t particularly harmful unless ingested.

So, the little girl had only fainted from shock; she was in no real danger.

’So they’re raising these orphans as blood-food...’ Hu Qi’s eyes glinted.

The method was rather similar to how humans raised chickens and ducks for their own consumption.

If Secret Martial Artists didn’t exist, and humanity had to rely solely on technology, the world might truly have been occupied, ruled, and conquered by the Black Blood Species.

Then, humanity would be penned up like livestock, providing them with an endless supply of blood-food.

’I have to admit, it’s a pretty effective method.’

After glancing down at the unconscious girl, he paid her no more mind and walked off in a specific direction.

In that direction, he could sense the overwhelmingly dense aura of a Black Blood Species. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The number of Black Blood Species hidden within this orphanage exceeded his expectations.

He had only just arrived and had already killed two of them. This piqued Hu Qi’s interest.

’Could it be that the Lower-Rank Black Blood Species is hiding here?’