The night spread out sinuously, swallowing up this brightly lit city. The subway on Line 1 is very fast. It only takes fifteen minutes to travel from the bustling area to the desolate place. The dark and dilapidated alleys extend infinitely, places that the brilliance of this city fails to reach.

    The church bells rang, low and resounding, intense yet composed, enveloping the city as if in a call.

    He has lost count of how many times this has happened this month. In an instant, it was as if an electric current passed through his brain, and Yu Yi tightly covered his throbbing nerves.

    “Sss……”

    He let out a long breath, his Adam's apple rolling slightly. His hoarse and low voice was full of fatigue.

    “Beep……” The information about the salary arriving popped up on the mobile phone screen. Yu Yi suddenly came to his senses, and unconsciously, even the frown lines between his eyebrows relaxed.

    His tall and slender body leaned against the wall, and his hands with distinct knuckles clicked on the screen. The black mask covered his expression, but the joy that couldn't be hidden showed between his eyebrows: "Now,the little mute can finally have a proper birthday."

    The little mute was picked up by Yu Yi in a pointed church in the city.

    The colorful windows emitted a strange and illusory light, and the black and white tiles piled up to form people's beliefs. Yu Yi didn't believe in gods. As for why he came here, it was purely because he couldn't sleep.

    Strangely, the church door wasn't locked, and there was no one guarding it. Only the eight rows of five-foot-high candles in front of the altar were burning fiercely. Suddenly, he noticed a figure hiding in the dark corner.

    A child was curled up, with wet curly hair falling over his forehead, dripping water continuously, half covering his extremely pale face. The torn clothes exposed the blood-red skin, which was shocking.

    It rained heavily that night. In the darkness, the rumbling of passing cars outside the church became clearer, and it made Yu Yi's ears ache.

    Yu Yi couldn't remember what time it was at night. He only remembered that his head was aching dully at that time.

    The little guy had a pair of slender phoenix eyes, with a cold and aloof look in them. The bottom of his dark eyes was as dark as the sea, as if there was no focus.

    “What's going on here……?”

    “No one told me that I would encounter a homeless child when I couldn't sleep at night!?” Looking into the darkness, Yu Yi carefully sized him up.

    The black hair was sparsely sticking to his straight nose. Perhaps due to having been caught in the rain for too long,the black shirt clung tightly to his skin. The thin torso is so emaciated that it really tugs at Yu Yi heartstrings.

    “……”

    Yu Yi couldn't help but admit that although the little guy in front of him was young, his handsome features and temperament couldn't help but make people secretly marvel.

    At that time, his head was so dazed that he couldn't think at all. On an impulse, he had the idea of taking him home.

    “Yu Yi, you must be crazy…… What are you pretending to be kind for? This is not like your style at all.” After saying that, he put his hands in his pockets, but accidentally took out a cigarette.

    “…” He had never smoked a cigarette in his 18 years of life.

    “Damn it, who put this in my pocket? How come there's even a lighter……”

    Yu Yi wasn't a rule-abiding person. Even in a church, he wouldn't restrain himself.

    Perhaps it was the novelty that made him hold the cigarette with a bit of clumsiness, and he put it to his mouth unskillfully. He kept searching for memories in his mind and imitated the action with a show of expertise.

    The dawn shone through the face of the Virgin Mary statue and fell on Yu Yi. Even his shadow was coated with a sacred color. This feeling of being scrutinized for his sins made him even more excited.

    “Is this how it's supposed to be smoked?” Yu Yi tilted his head slightly. His hands with distinct knuckles protected the faint spark. The cigarette scratched his throat, and with a slight stinging sensation, his eyebrows unconsciously furrowed tightly, and there were already some signs of frown lines.

    The temperature dropped rapidly at night, and Yu Yi's senses became extremely sensitive.

    “Cough… cough…” He took a big puff. Perhaps it was too hasty, and the smell of tobacco choked into his lungs all at once. An unbearable smell filled his nasal cavity. He couldn't tell exactly what it felt like, but he just felt extremely uncomfortable, just like his messed-up life.

    Yu Yi suddenly remembered that when his father left him, he also had a pungent smell of tobacco on him.

    It was a smell that the cold wind couldn't disperse. The more the wind blew, the more it spread, lingering in every corner of Yu Yi's childhood memories.

    The tiny spark in his hand, which he held gently, was intermittently transmitting a little warmth to his fingertips.

    The rain outside the window poured down, and the rumbling of passing cars became louder and louder. But Yu Yi could clearly hear the thumping of his own heartbeat.

    He looked up at the nearly ten-foot-high statue of the Virgin Mary, with the unruly air of a young man. He stepped on the cigarette butt and extinguished it, and said with a slightly playful smile:

    “Even if life is a mess, so what?”

    In the darkness, those eyes, like a young tiger sizing up its prey, stared fixedly at Yu Yi. There was a large "01" engraved on the silver collar, exuding the unique cold luster of metal.

    “01……?”

    “Hello, Lin Yi.”

    “My name is Yu Yi.”