Chapter 24

"Where did this come from?" Xu Mo held the ten-yuan note and asked Xiao Qing, who flicked her tongue but couldn't speak.

Xu Mo had no choice but to put the ten-yuan note away. To others, this ten-yuan note was nothing, but to Xu Mo at that moment, it was like a timely rain.

In the days that followed, Xiao Qing would bring back a ten-yuan note every day, and Xu Mo couldn't help but worry secretly.

It was clear that Xiao Qing had stolen the money from others. If she were caught, and beaten or injured, wouldn't he regret it for the rest of his life?

He repeatedly warned Xiao Qing not to bring money back from outside, but she couldn't understand him and continued as usual.

One day, what Xu Mo feared finally happened. Xiao Qing was injured in the tail while stealing money.

When Xu Mo returned home, she was listless, lying on the pillow with her eyes closed. Hearing the door open, she struggled to open her eyes and glanced at Xu Mo, flicking her tongue, then immediately closed her eyes again, seemingly finding it difficult even to open them.

Xu Mo held her in his hands, pressed her against his chest, and gently stroked her wound, feeling both pity and pain. He bought some medicine from the pharmacy, applied it to her wound, and bandaged it up.

He himself was reluctant to take medicine when he was sick, but he couldn't bear to see Xiao Qing suffer. At this moment, in his heart, Xiao Qing was like a family member.

Xiao Qing's injuries were not serious, and she recovered in a few days. Xu Mo, worried that she would go out to steal money again, kept her confined for several days. After this lesson, Xiao Qing seemed to be scared and did not steal money again after Xu Mo released her.

It had been more than a month since Xu Mo returned from Beishan. Although he still hadn't found a job, he had found a few part-time jobs and earned a few hundred yuan, improving his life and even paying the rent for this month.

However, although he had earned money and found some clues in the practice of Quiet Breathing, he wasn't in a hurry to buy a quilt. He was very curious and wanted to see if Quiet Breathing could really be practiced successfully, and what it would be like after practice. Would it just mean he wouldn't be afraid of the cold?

Xiao Qing fed on toxic powder and secreted snake saliva every two to three days, leaving Dream Powder on the green fruit. Xu Mo carefully scraped it off and collected it separately to avoid mixing it with the Dream Powder he brought back from Beishan.

Unfortunately, the Dream Powder he brought back from Beishan was almost used up, and the amount of Dream Powder Xiao Qing secreted each time was not enough for him to use for a day. The toxic powder he used to feed Xiao Qing would also be exhausted soon. At that time, the source of Dream Powder would be completely cut off.

Additionally, Xu Mo discovered something that troubled him greatly in his exploration of Quiet Breathing. After taking Dream Powder, when he practiced Quiet Breathing, his breathing and blood circulation accelerated, and his pores expanded, causing a large amount of energy to be consumed. The heat generated by the energy consumption was released through his respiratory system and pores, wasting it.

As a result, Xu Mo had to eat something every night to replenish his energy when he practiced Quiet Breathing, which cost him the money he had earned with great effort.

Therefore, when he bought food, he could only choose cheap or discounted items, which still weren't enough.

However, he couldn't think of a solution for the time being. Unless he could control his breathing to slow down while his blood circulation accelerated, and indirectly affect the expansion of his pores through blood circulation, retaining the heat that would otherwise be released.

This sounded simple in theory, but before he truly mastered Quiet Breathing, he couldn't do it.

Although he had fully grasped the principle of Quiet Breathing, he always felt something was missing, preventing him from breaking through. This made him very anxious, and he couldn't focus on anything for many days.

One morning, he went out to look for a job, preoccupied with the matter of Quiet Breathing. At noon, he couldn't resist returning home.

On the stairs, he saw a young woman he had never seen before, who must have just moved in.

Xu Mo couldn't help but glance at her. She was of medium build, about 27 or 28 years old, holding a baby in her left hand, a large luggage box over a meter tall in her right hand, and a backpack on her back.

The large luggage box looked very heavy. The woman was drenched in sweat, and with each step, she would pause, struggling to climb the stairs.

Xu Mo felt a surge of sympathy and stepped forward to take the large luggage box. The woman was surprised, then repeatedly thanked him, her tone sincere, but she was so tired that she was out of breath.

Xu Mo asked, "Just moved in?"

The woman wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled, "Yes." She was average-looking, but after sweating, her hair was damp, and her smile looked charming.

Xu Mo asked casually, and the woman's name was Qin Ruolan, who lived next door to him.

Xu Mo helped her drag the luggage box into the house. Inside, it was almost tidied up. Qin Ruolan put the baby on the bed, took off her backpack, and turned to Xu Mo, saying politely, "Thank you, there's water in the box, I'll get it for you."

Xu Mo waved his hand, "No need to trouble you." As he was about to leave, he inadvertently glanced at the baby on the bed and was startled.

The baby was chubby, biting his finger, and staring at Xu Mo with big, black eyes, looking very curious.

"This child seems to be the one mentioned in the Book of Revelation." He hesitated for a moment, and his foot, which had just stepped out, immediately stopped. Qin Ruolan opened the luggage box, took out a bottle of mineral water, and handed it to Xu Mo, "Drink some water."

"Thank you." Xu Mo took it, pretending to be casual, and asked, "How old is the child?"

Qin Ruolan looked back at her child, her face full of affection, "Just six months old."

"Boy or girl?" Xu Mo asked again.

Qin Ruolan smiled, "A boy." She picked up the child and said to Xu Mo, "Do you want to hold him?"

Xu Mo glanced at the baby, who was smiling at him, a smile so innocent and adorable that it warmed his heart. He couldn't help but wonder: How could such a cute child be in danger? Why did the Book of Revelation list him on the sixth page?

Hearing Qin Ruolan's question, he replied, "No, thank you. I'm clumsy and might drop the child." Then he praised, "The child is really cute."

Qin Ruolan smiled, "Thank you." She was naturally pleased when someone complimented her child.

Xu Mo glanced at the baby in her arms again and asked, "Where is the child's father? How can you move alone with such a big task?"

Qin Ruolan's face suddenly turned gloomy, as if she was reminded of something sad, and she lowered her head without speaking.

Seeing her expression, Xu Mo immediately realized something and hurriedly said, "Sorry."

Qin Ruolan smiled bitterly, seemingly aware of her loss of composure, and shook her head, "It's fine, it's just something I don't want to face. There's nothing wrong with saying it. The child's father went missing three months ago."

Missing!

Xu Mo was startled, suddenly remembering his parents. In the year he graduated, his parents also went missing, and there was still no news. Was there any connection between these two events?

He thought for a moment and asked, "How did the child's father go missing? Have you looked for him?"

Qin Ruolan sighed, "How could I not look? I've searched everywhere I could think of, but I couldn't find him." Her tone was filled with deep sorrow and helplessness.

Xu Mo continued, "How did he go missing? Did you report it to the police to confirm it was a disappearance?"

Qin Ruolan looked at him with confusion, puzzled by his curiosity.

Xu Mo smiled awkwardly and explained, "I just find it strange. How could someone go missing in a big city?" He kept the news of his parents' disappearance to himself and didn't tell her.

Qin Ruolan sighed, "If he had gone missing in the city, we might have found him long ago. In fact, I know some things about what happened before he went missing, but I don't know exactly how or where he went missing."

"Oh!" Xu Mo looked at her curiously, "Can you tell me more?"

Qin Ruolan nodded, her face showing a look of reminiscence, "It happened three months ago. The child's father, my husband, was a graphic designer with a low salary, and I was just a regular worker at a paper factory with an even lower salary."

"The housing prices in the big city are quite high. Relying solely on our salaries, we couldn't afford a house even if we worked our whole lives. So, starting last year, he became obsessed with welfare lottery tickets. He didn't buy many, but he bought one every day. He was good at math and quite cautious. Before buying a ticket, he would use probability theory to calculate and select a few numbers he thought had a high chance of winning, and then buy them. However, his calculations were never accurate, and he only won once, for five yuan."

"Probably a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival..." Qin Ruolan thought for a moment and finally determined the date, "On the eighth day of the eighth month, no, the seventh, the seventh day at noon, he received a text message from an unknown source. The message included a set of numbers and told him that these numbers were the winning numbers for the next lottery. It said that if he bought a ticket with these numbers, he could win, not necessarily the grand prize, but at least several hundred thousand yuan."

"My husband, of course, didn't believe it, thinking someone was playing a joke on him. If these numbers could win, why didn't the person who sent the message buy them?"

"Finally, he still bought a ticket based on his own calculations. On the day of the draw, he didn't win, not even one number. But the numbers in the mysterious text message did win. If he had bought a ticket with those numbers, he could have won nearly 500,000 yuan."