Chapter 4 System
Ren Ye held Jia'er's hands as she jumped up and down in excitement, strolling along the sidewalk with her Papa. Ren Ye didn't have any reaction and allowed the little girl to act as she liked.
She became extremely cheerful, completely different from the little girl he met at the hospital. She tugged his sleeves and pointed her tiny finger toward a place nearby. Ren Jia's height was the same as his thighs so it was naturally easy for her to grab her Papa's sleeves.
"Papa! Ice cream!" Jia'er glanced at him with her gleaming eyes and thoughtful expression with her tiny palm grabbing his hand. Ren Ye nodded his head and looked toward the store.
'She knows exactly where the ice cream place is…who even bought her here?'
From the hospital till here, it was Jia'er who guided the way with her tiny fingers, Ren Ye was quite impressed with her memories, especially for a kid.
'The ice cream store must be her favorite place in the city for her to remember the directions so accurately…' Ren Ye stated inwardly.
Old Yi chuckled slightly, 'It was her who guided me to you as well. I am sure she remembers her favorite places and her favorite people…'
The store was filled with youth and parents with their children, some of them were throwing tantrums and crying their eyes out. The parents looked extremely helpless as they tried to silence their kids. It was an extremely noisy place.
Ren Ye's eyes dimmed slightly, with unconcealed annoyance. He proceeded to cast his eyes onto Jia'er, who was also staring at him with her big luminous eyes.
'I hope she won't be joining that group of crying children if I refuse to buy her ice cream. If she does cry, I may have to leave her here and find her mother…'
Although Ren Ye had such thoughts, he didn't intend to do anything about it or simply abandon a child. He trusted an adorable kid like her wouldn't disappoint him with such acts.
Both of them waited in line, having to listen to the cries of her fellow toddlers. Even Jia'er began to get annoyed as she frowned slightly with a pout, she proceeded to look toward her dad for comfort.
"Papa, do you not like crying children?" Her lustrous eyes dimmed faintly with gloom.
Ren Ye glanced at her with his droopy eyes and responded frankly, "No."
'I don't even like kids, to begin with…'
"Does Papa like Jia'er?" She pouted with her eyes growing fuzzy, appearing as though she would burst into tears if he says yes. Ren Ye's usual cold eyes grew complicated as he noticed her emotional state.
Ren Ye lifted one of his hands and placed it on top of Jia'er head, caressing her little head.
'This kid is rather sensitive and seemingly longed for her father's warmth…'
Ren Ye couldn't help but compare her to his past life and youth. While he didn't speak, he had a lot of thoughts going inside his head.
'I couldn't help but recall my past memories, painful and sore fragments of my soul. I was once a child who lacked a belonging to this world, my parents passed away when I was a teenager and all I had was myself.'
'I envied my fellow mates whose parents were alive and their lives, they were happy and lived stably with enough food on their plates, not needing to worry about hunger. I had none of that…'
'All I ever wanted was to have a figure whom I could rely on, who would provide me with a home and most importantly, one who would assure me I am completely safe and loved…'
Looking at Ren Jia, he couldn't help but sympathize with her current emotions.
Ren Ye straightened his lips into a straight line, his face clouded in the gloom.
"Jia'er…what flavor do you want?" Ren Ye wasn't good with sweet and honeyed words; he could only express himself through his actions. He rubbed her head gently, reassuring her with this action.
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He tried to smile at her but his smile came out worse than he expected, causing Jia'er to slightly muffle her childish giggles and abandoning her previous state.
Ren Ye stood up and lifted Jia'er from the floor, onto his arms. He walked to the counter and allowed Jia'er to choose whatever flavor and toppings she liked.
She chose strawberry-flavored ice cream and topped it off with biscuits and rainbow sprinkles. Ren Ye was convinced by Jia'er to order ice cream for himself after seeing the reluctance on his face after seeing the price.
"Papa! You should get the mint chocolate one!" She giggled and pointed at the green-colored ice cream in front of her. Ren Ye sighed inwardly with reluctance and counted the amount of cash left in his wallet.
'Ye! Get me a chocolate chip cone!' Old Yi chortled inside his head.
'Old Yi! Not you too!' Ren Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
**
Old Yi detached himself from Ren Ye in an invisible manner and ate his ice cream, sometimes engaging in small talks with Jia'er and chuckling. Ren Ye headed out with a lifeless and pale face, holding the melting mint chocolate ice cream with his stiff hand.
"Old Yi…If you consume food, where does the food go considering you aren't fully human?" After some thoughts, Ren Ye asked Old Yi with a pensive look.
"Since when couldn't a spirit like me eat? It simply disappears with a lasting aftertaste in my tastebuds." Old Yi sneered, "I may not be a full human, but I can still appreciate wonderful parts of life."
Ren Ye nodded his head and glanced at the little girl who was eating quite messily, he wiped the mess off her face with his sleeves, not caring about how dirty his sleeves were going to get.
"Jia'er, how old are you?" Ren Ye asked her with a soft tone.
Jia'er, whose attention was on devouring her ice cream, "Jia'er is three-year-old! Papa should know Jia'er better than anyone else…"
'Three-year-old?' Ren Ye was slightly caught off guard but recovered quickly and his expression turned pensive.
'The more I find out about her…the more convinced I become that I got someone pregnant three years ago…'
He went through the memories of this body, having found nothing. Three to four years ago, he was dallying around with my studies although he was in a relationship with a classmate.
The entire relationship was entirely non-physical and he didn't touch her for the whole year he was dating her. Not because he was a timid and weak-minded man, it was because he respected her wish of wanting to keep her purity until marriage.
'She is a child…Threatening her to tell the truth, is way too wicked and immoral for me to do…'
'I'll attempt to gain her trust and have her tell me on her own accord…'
As soon as Ren Ye stopped thinking, his intuition was suddenly triggered and sent a shock through his body. Ren Ye spun his head toward the crowd in front of him.
'My intuition was triggered! It meant someone with a level of danger is nearby!'
The instinct of an assassin was embedded deep inside his bones, even in a new body, it was still able to be activated.
Jia'er hummed softly and watched her father turn his head too suddenly, silently observing his expression and she turned to look at where he was looking at.
With the experiences and keen sight of a 'retired' assassin, he was able to spot the accurate location of the person who had triggered his instinct. He squinted his eyes vaguely; he saw through the cover and past the other standbys.
He spotted an average-built man in the crowd, clad in a black t-shirt and shorts, appearing entirely ordinary. Ren Ye was able to recognize him with the perception of the scar on his face.
The average-looking man had a small and unremarkable scar on his face. Although he wore a cap, Ren Ye was still able to figure out who he was.
Zhu Dong!
One of the many debt collectors of his father left behind, a nuisance to his family. Ren Ye remained calm and composed, he remembered he had used a fake name to avoid them when finding jobs and going out.
Instead of running away in a panicked manner, he casually turned his body and walked in the other direction. He integrated himself into the crowd, making himself look completely normal and worthless to look at.
It wasn't long before Zhu Dong left the place in a somewhat hurried way, he strangely turned himself in the opposite direction and walked away from the ice cream store although he was trying to enter the place a while ago.
"…"
It didn't escape Ren Ye's eyes as he noticed the odd behavior of Zhu Dong, he lowered his eyes and his face became unfathomable to read. Subsequently, he glanced toward Old Yi, who was a bit oblivious to his thoughts.
"Was that someone you know?" Old Yi whispered silently, he seemed to have grasped a bit of the situation.
Ren Ye didn't reply and ignored his question, carrying Jia'er who was licking her bowl messily, and made his way home with the guidance of his memories.
Eventually, Old Yi integrated into his consciousness and a line of words in blue radiance materialized artificially in front of him.
[Ding! Mission Completed]
[Reward: Soundproof Gun]
[Bonuses: 5 Bullets]
[Added into Inventory]
'Bonuses…'
'You get bonuses for the quality of your completion. Apparently, you did very well,' Old Yi chuckled and added, 'I seem to have recovered a bit of my power.'
'What power?'
'Healing,' Old Yi continued with an excited tone, 'It isn't too overwhelming but it accelerated speed of the healing and recovery process by 10%'
Below the text, there was a comparably smaller text in the corner of it.
[Details]
Ren Ye willed it and a line of letters popped up on the screen.
[Soundproof Gun: It has the ability to fire without producing the slightest sound.]
[Advantage: Eliminating enemies from a hidden spot without being heard and seen through.]
[Disadvantage: Bullets are required to function.]
[Grade: B]
'Artifacts are divided into Grades; S being the highest and D being the lowest,' Old Yi informed him.
'Sounds pretty reasonable, I wonder how far I am able to shoot from a spot?'
'You may have to test it out,' Old Yi spoke with his hoarse voice, 'You unlocked some new features as well.'
At the upper corner of the screen, there was a [Return] and Ren Ye willed it, not needing to use his fingers to click like a phone screen and could use the power of his mind to press it.
Another screen appeared artificially in front of him. It listed all of his personal details including his relationships, his inventory, his moods, his entire history, etc.
He opened a bar of details of himself by willing it on his profile.
[Name: Ren Ye]
[Education: Jindao University (History Degree)]
[Height: 188cm]
[Weight: 80.5kg]
[Occupation: Retired]
[Traits: Unknown]
"…"
'It listed me as retired and my traits as unknown…' He wasn't surprised as he had expected his traits to be quite complicated. The original Ren Ye and the Night Killer have completely different personalities, with him being reborn, the traits needed to be written down later according to the way he acts as a new person.
Most of them were details he had known in advance, he left the bar and willed it onto the [Relationship] bar.
[Ren Jia: Biological Daughter]
[Ren Jinghua: Biological Sister]
[Fa Qing: Biological Mother]
[Ren Shaoqing: Biological Father]
[Old Yi: System, Friend]
'Even the system listed Jia'er as my biological daughter…and Old Yi as my system,' Ren Ye cast his eyes on the little girl who was laying on his shoulders, her eyes closed and tired.
The four names appeared at the top most of everyone else, below were acquaintances and enemies Ren Ye had.
He pressed [Return] and pressed on [Ability]
[Ability: None]
"…"
'It has to be recorded first before it appears on the screen,' Old Yi spoke with a plain tone, 'Many of the hidden bars also needed to be unlocked as well.'
'For [Ability], you need to demonstrate the skills that you have and put them into use in real life,' Old Yi coughed awkwardly, 'Other details such as your height and weight are something that is visible to everyone…'
Ren Ye nodded his head inwardly, 'Will I gain new abilities if I complete the missions?'
Old Yi chuckled amusedly, 'Isn't it an obligation of the system to do so?'
Ren Ye didn't respond and looked toward the darkened sky, the bright moon shining brightly from afar.
He held Jia'er securely in his arms, his eyes twisted obscurely with a sense of ruthlessness and other emotions.