Fang Xu was not the only one who found it familiar. As the filmer’s lens lingered on the Christmas tree and finally locked onto the child sitting beneath it, the trainees watching this scene unconsciously widened their eyes.
This, this was…?
The tall pine tree was decorated exquisitely with strings of fairy lights and various sparkling trinkets, and gift boxes of all sizes were placed neatly under the tree.
Pure white artificial snow was evenly spread on the ground, and the snowflakes and ice crystals added a strong winter atmosphere to this scene. If placed in reality, this would definitely be a perfect holiday photo spot.
However, when these beautiful decorations shared the frame with the little boy wearing a plush Santa hat sitting among the gift boxes, they instantly became a dull and unremarkable background.
Although everyone had been laughing heartily at their younger selves or their peers in the videos, objectively speaking, all those children were actually quite good-looking. They were the kind of handsome little boys who would be chosen to play the dragon-slaying hero in a kindergarten play.
But the little blonde boy in front of them, who looked like a doll, had already surpassed the category of “handsome little boy.” The moment he made eye contact with the trainees outside the screen through the lens, he triggered their cuteness defense mechanism;
Too… too cute (>///<) Want to squeeze his cheeks! If the dragon in the play saw this child, it would probably give up on kidnapping the princess, instead reach out its claw, grab this child by the collar, and fly away, roaring and breathing fire, to a place where even the hero couldn't find it. Then the name of the play would no longer be "The Dragon-Slaying Hero Saves the Princess," but should be renamed "The Daily Life Of A Dragon Dad Raising His Child"... Fang Xu looked at the little boy's face with baby fat in the close-up shot and suddenly understood. He remembered….Wasn't this the video that went viral online many years ago? Back then, many netizens had taken screenshots to use as profile pictures, and ranked alongside various popular young idols, became one of the most popular male profile pictures for those years. Even now, whenever a blogger edited a video with a title like "A Look at Good-Looking Foreign Kids," this blonde-haired child wearing a Santa hat would be used as the cover or the finishing touch that appeared at the climax. In the comment sections, some would ask about the current situation of this child. Unfortunately, no one knew. Instead, some people poured cold water, confidently saying that foreigners had short peak periods. The cuter they were as children, the easier it would be for them to become less attractive as they grew up. Fang Xu also remembered that in the early years, a foreign blonde internet celebrity had deliberately put his own photo together with this child's photo and captioned it "10 years later." Netizens had screenshotted this and spread it domestically, lamenting that the little blonde had indeed grown up to be less attractive. Although he was still quite handsome now, he couldn't compare to when he was little. But not long after, this internet celebrity was exposed by his elementary school classmate, stating that his blonde hair was dyed, and this guy had always had brown hair from childhood to adulthood. Netizens: Damn it! I knew my all-time favorite old-school profile picture wouldn't turn into a teenager who can't even wear his pants properly! Liar, get lost (ノ｀Д)ノ! The trainees who, like Fang Xu, had recalled the origin of the little blonde boy, looked back and forth between the screen and Quentin in shock. The expressions on their faces seemed to speak volumes, changing as fast as emojis. No way... Everyone is a handsome guy, how come my childhood and QT's childhood seem different? Haha, some people appear to be pure amateurs on the surface, but have already become viral sensations across the entire internet over a decade in advance... Quickly ask me that question! Quickly ask it!!! The trainees had a lot they wanted to say, but unfortunately, the person in question was lying on Yan Qiao's lap. From the back row's perspective, the hoodie completely obscured his face, with only a few strands of hair sticking up and shining in the light from the movie screen. They didn't know if he was asleep. Probably not, since the people sitting around him were all talking to him...so envious. Quentin was quite well-adapted to the gazes around him. He looked at the child on the screen, bundled in a thick winter coat, noticing the boy's neatly combed hair, clean face, and well-coordinated clothing colors. It was obvious at a glance that this child was very well taken care of. Had he looked like that as a child? His features were probably similar. He didn't remember very well. Quentin could understand the discussions of the onlookers in the video. This was some mall's Christmas lottery event, and the gift boxes under the Christmas tree were all lottery prizes. There were only five minutes left until the lottery officially started. Customers who had lottery tickets came over one after another, waiting for the drawing. But the child sitting among the gift boxes was so adorable that the customers' attention shifted from the prizes to the little boy. "Oh my god, what a beautiful baby!" "Look at that little face, I really want to pinch it." "Is this little treasure today's special lottery prize? Which lucky person can take him home?" ... Well, that was pretty much their discussion. Perhaps because the situation of the little boy in the picture was too different from Quentin's childhood experiences, he didn't feel any sense of identification, nor did he feel that these compliments were directed at him. As a child, he had been called "the monster with green eyes" or "the wild child with bad upbringing." The adults in town wouldn't hit him, but would secretly tell their own children to stay away from him. As for compliments and such, only his grandmother and mother would hold him and say those things. Quentin was lost in thought for a while before refocusing on the screen. The video’s timeline had reached 2017. The child wearing a hospital gown had his head down, his expression unclear. The baby fat on his cheeks was gone, and his small face was mostly covered by a mask. The person filming seemed to be squatting on the ground, looking up to make eye contact with the boy. Their voice was low, but it was clear they were very young. They coaxed gently, "Quenny, do you remember what day it is today? Today is Quenny's tenth birthday, okay?" The boy stared at the camera, his green eyes wary like a small animal's. He asked coldly, "Will there be a cake every year from now on, and will we go to the amusement park every year?" The filmer laughed. Although it was a very young voice, it gave people a sense of peace, like a burning fireplace in winter. "Of course. Future birthdays will get better and better. So Quenny needs to listen to the doctor and take his medicine obediently, you know?" "...Mm." The trainees looked at the child in the hospital bed and couldn't help but marvel at how well-behaved Quentin was as a child, completely different from the kind of naughty kids who got beaten every day like they were. At first, they thought that Quentin just happened to be sick on his tenth birthday. The subsequent timeline of the video progressed more and more densely. 2018, 2019, 2020... The blonde boy slowly grew taller, and his face gradually became more and more handsome. Each age had its own unique charm; awkward stages or anything like that simply didn't exist. The videos corresponded to Quentin's birthdays each year. As each birthday came, the boy's figure appeared on snowy mountains, grasslands, by the sea, and in the desert. His carefree happiness was enviable, but observant people gradually noticed that although the boy in the video enjoyed his birthday trips very much, that frail, sickly feeling became more apparent each year, and his temperament grew calmer and more indifferent. Wearing a windbreaker and leading a camel, he slowly walked through the wind-blown sand. The indifferent expression on his face made people feel that in the next second, he might stop walking, let go of the rope in his hand, fall backward following gravity, and turn into a gust of wind merging into the howling dust storm. ...It was all due to the overpowering charm of his face. Even though he was just tired and expressionless, it still allowed people to imagine such a free and romantic scene. After 2021, the boy's birthdays returned to the familiar hospital room. The trainees' chatter gradually decreased. They covered their mouths and buzzed like mosquitoes. "What's going on? Quentin's health is bad? No way? I couldn't tell at all!" "Don't joke... The King Of Rolls has bad health? How many people can do morning runs every day like him and persistently check in at the gym? He is very fit, okay!" "Ahem, actually, at the very beginning, you could tell Quentin's stamina was just average, but he improved too fast." The people sitting next to Quentin all cast concerned glances his way. Quentin could feel their hesitation to speak. Obviously, they wanted to ask him about his illness, but were afraid of getting a bad answer. Quentin remained silent. Don't ask. If you ask, he doesn't know either. Please go find a doctor. "System, when you created my body, did you bring over my past life's illnesses too?" The system's electronic voice sounded even more confused than Quentin. [Host, you were sick before?] Quentin: "...Probably not? I always felt I was quite healthy before I died." But how could a healthy person die suddenly from illness? Most likely, he had an illness but didn't know about it, like sudden acute disease or something? The "Quentin" in the video didn't look like he had a sudden acute illness. It looked like he had some kind of chronic terminal illness. Inexplicably, the person filming the video managed to create the feeling of a deceased wife's memorial video, as if the next transition would be to light rain, a black umbrella, white flowers, and a tombstone. Before watching the video, Quentin had hoped for the appearance of new memory fragments, but even until now, nothing new had appeared in his head. He had also considered that the production team might have contacted his "parents" in this world, and had mentally prepared himself to see those "parents" in the video. But there were none. Perhaps the system-fabricated "parents" didn't exist in reality, or perhaps the video the production team obtained didn't come from his "parents." Quentin leaned more towards the latter. His past in this world was too complete, so complete that it didn't seem like the data the system had filled in based on his earlier casual fabrication of "poor health, inconvenient to attend school." It seemed as if there really was a child named Quentin who was seriously ill and struggled to grow up. In fact, the source of the video was quite obvious. The person filming the video starting from 2017 was the same person. The voice, belonging to a young male, also matured over time. This person never appeared in the frame, and Quentin was also unfamiliar with his voice. But since he was contacted by the production team and had accompanied the boy in the video for his birthdays every year since 2017, it seemed he probably played the role of the boy’s guardian. 2017 was a very subtle point in time. In his past life in 2017, Quentin's grandmother and mother had passed away one after another. The 10-year-old Quentin had to travel across the ocean to seek refuge with his biological father. In this world, the unfamiliar "guardian" appeared, and "Quentin" also returned to China from abroad. Everything seemed reversed from his past life. Including his physical condition. That was also reversed. Quentin had been incredibly healthy as a child. Otherwise, how could he have climbed walls and trees and crawled through dog holes? After arriving in the United States, he had also carried a knife to fight and ran away from home. Even though he often stayed up late writing songs later on, it hadn't affected his insistence on exercising, cultivating the energy and stamina to party and dance for over three hours at concerts. Quentin calmly compared his past life experiences with the various details revealed in the video. He felt no sympathy for the boy in the video who looked exactly like him, nor did he find him pitiful. But the trainees intently watching the video were heart broken. They watched the boy wearing a hospital gown, sitting on the bed, reading and writing, diligently doing test papers and correcting mistakes. They watched him sitting by the bedside playing guitar for the sick children who came to visit, watched him riding a bicycle around the hospital building on a beautiful sunny afternoon, watched him sitting by the window, wearing headphones and watching the heavy rain outside... The video recordings became more and more frequent. The content was very warm, and nothing related to pain or illness was mentioned. The protagonist at the center of the story never showed any negative emotions. But the camera has feelings. The camera can speak. What the filmmaker conveyed to the audience was a profound sadness, as hazy and damp as rain and fog. So, no matter how bright the sunshine in the video was, no matter how handsome and brilliant the boy was, the audience still felt uneasy, their hearts gradually clenching tighter as the years marked on the video increased. People kept casting glances towards Quentin in the front row, as if only seeing the living, breathing Quentin could give them enough courage to continue watching the video. Quentin watched the video and, for a moment, understood the boy's feelings. He was calm, enjoying life with a faint detachment, accepting death much earlier and better than anyone else. This couldn't possibly be a person fabricated by the system. Even if there was an extremely remote possibility that he originated from the system, after these experiences in the video, he had already come to life.
ah don’t end here 😔
ahh don’t end here 😔