Chapter 510: Can You Tell Me Your Name?

"Anything else?" Teacher Hu's finger hovered over the juicer's switch. One light press of the button, and the Hunchbacked Boy's arm would end up like the crushed carrots inside.

"No more, there's really nothing else." The boy didn't dare resist. The blades had already sliced his slender fingers, but Teacher Hu seemed completely blind to the injuries, forcefully shoving the boy's hand deeper into the machine.

"I am conducting checkups for your classmates, do you understand?" Teacher Hu's voice gradually smoothed out; he seemed to have calmed down. "This is something only adults do. You're still young, so you don't understand, but I'm helping those children."

Terrified into silence, the Hunchbacked Boy nodded repeatedly. He was just a child, after all. Frightened by Teacher Hu, he couldn't even muster a thought of rebellion; if the teacher ordered him to kneel and kowtow right now, he would do it without hesitation.

Concepts of dignity and self-respect had yet to form in this child's heart. Under the indoctrination of Elder Chen's will, he had completely negated his own existence.

"You must not tell anyone that I go to the Rehabilitation Center to help out, especially the director." Teacher Hu released his grip. The Hunchbacked Boy hurriedly yanked his arm back. His fingers were covered in deep cuts, his blood mixing with the carrot pulp into a vivid, gruesome red.

"You are an unwanted orphan, and this orphanage is your only home. You have nowhere else to go. I am a teacher here. I enforce the rules. You'd best be obedient and keep your mouth shut. If I hear even a whisper about this outside, little guy, I will juice your hand and force you to drink it!"

The hand growing out of the back of Teacher Hu's head yanked the Hunchbacked Boy's ear, forcing him to stare at the juicer on the floor—forcing him to watch as the carrot pieces were pulverized completely into liquid.

"Clean this place up before you go back. And remember, let all of this rot in your heart." Teacher Hu rubbed the Hunchbacked Boy's head. His actions were gentle, but his tone was freezing cold.

It was over ten minutes after Teacher Hu left before the Hunchbacked Boy finally reacted. His hand was covered in bloody lacerations, and he seemed to feel a kind of pain he had never experienced before. He squatted beside the cabinet, whimpering like an abandoned stray dog.

'Is he crying?' I had seen everything from outside the window. I had wanted to step in several times, but ultimately held myself back.

In the entire Middle Dream Layer, not a single person had called the boy by his name. Perhaps this was his greatest tragedy: no one cared about him, and not a single person even remembered his name.

After cleaning up the kitchen, the boy walked out. I didn't know his state of mind as he wiped his tears away and shoved his mutilated hand into his dirty, torn pocket. He put on his usual expression, unwilling to let anyone see his sliced-up hand.

Sneaking around, the boy returned to the dormitory. His room was on the second floor, near the public restroom. It was a very small, messy room with four beds in total.

A Plush Bear had been tossed onto the bed closest to the restroom. The moment the Hunchbacked Boy entered the bedroom, he lay down on that bed. He pressed a pillow over his head and hugged the Plush Bear—which was even dirtier than he was—pouring out the bitterness in his heart. It seemed this was his way of escaping everything in reality.

'That bear is here!' The Plush Bear in the Hunchbacked Boy's arms was incredibly familiar to me. It was covered in knife wounds and torn to shreds, its cotton stuffing tangled with red thread, barely retaining the shape of a doll.

Children's laughter echoed from the stairwell. The brothers Fu Ming and Fu Xin had returned with another boy.

'No wonder they could follow the Hunchbacked Boy to the director's office. They share the same dorm.' I waited until the boys entered the room before stepping out from the corner to peek through the door.

The four children in the dorm were clearly divided into two factions. Fu Ming, Fu Xin, and the other boy joked around, their three massive heads taking up a large portion of the room's space. Seeing his roommates return, the Hunchbacked Boy quickly adjusted his expression, not wanting anyone to tell that he had been crying.

"Hugging a doll every day. Even more squeamish than a little girl."

"Hurry up and throw that broken doll away. It stinks, and it's making the whole room smell."

The tall Fu Xin started complaining as soon as he walked in. Normally, the Hunchbacked Boy probably wouldn't have said a single word in retaliation, but today was different. He had been pushed too far, so he subconsciously shot back, "That smell is coming from the restroom, not from it."

"Oh ho, look who's grown a spine." Fu Xin and Fu Ming surrounded the Hunchbacked Boy's bed. The two children forcefully yanked at the Plush Bear in his arms, trying to snatch it away. "Throw it away right now! You filthy thing! Everything you brought with you is just as filthy as you are!"

The Plush Bear was already covered in rips to begin with. Because it had been used for the Hide-and-Seek Game multiple times, the stuffing inside was full of all sorts of bizarre things.

As they tugged at it, the gashes on the doll were ripped wide open. Cotton stuffing, unclean white rice, and fingernails spilled out.

Afraid that the toy bear would be torn apart, the Hunchbacked Boy had no choice but to let go, helplessly watching his roommates seize his doll.

They threw the somewhat moldy Plush Bear onto the floor and kicked it out the door.

"Disgusting." Supporting their massive heads, the three children kicked the Plush Bear around like a soccer ball. The Hunchbacked Boy scrambled off his bed, threw himself to the ground, and shielded the Plush Bear with his body, looking exactly as if he were protecting a friend.

"Get lost!" The three children had no intention of stopping. In their eyes, kicking the Plush Bear or beating the Hunchbacked Boy made little difference. Their violent outbursts were simply to amuse themselves.

Footsteps soon echoed from the corridor again. I hurriedly hid in the restroom, using my phone's camera to watch.

A six- or seven-year-old girl walked over, accompanied by a female teacher. The teacher was extremely fat, resembling a mountain of flesh, but compared to Teacher Hu and the big-headed children, her appearance was still relatively normal.

What truly caught my attention wasn't the female teacher, but the girl holding her hand.

'Ye Bing?' My eyes flickered with a hint of surprise. Aside from the Hunchbacked Boy, this little girl was the only normal human I had seen in the Middle Dream Layer.

She was exquisite. Her skin was pale and flawless, resembling a jade sculpture carved by a master.

'If this girl is truly the childhood Ye Bing, would taking her out count as completing the mission?' After a moment's thought, I quickly dismissed the idea. If this were Ye Bing's dream, doing so would naturally be fine. But right now, all the clues faintly indicated that this wasn't Ye Bing's dream at all! The Ye Bing I was seeing might just be a memory fantasized by the master of the Dream Realm.

'I'll watch and see what happens. No need to rush.'

The obese female teacher reprimanded Fu Xin and Fu Ming before hauling the Hunchbacked Boy up from the floor. The disgust in her eyes was completely undisguised, though her words were much more tactful. "Why is your hand bleeding? This is outrageous. You three, come here..."

Through their conversation, I learned that this chubby female teacher was the orphanage's vice-director, primarily in charge of the children's health.

She was a formidable woman, relentlessly scolding the Hunchbacked Boy's three roommates.

At the same time, the girl who seemed to be Ye Bing picked up the Plush Bear and handed it to the Hunchbacked Boy.

"Thank you." The girl's voice was crisp and clear, like the sound of ice gently colliding in a stream as winter passed.

The Hunchbacked Boy was at a loss for what to do. An unprecedented emotion swelled in his beautiful eyes.

The events that followed deviated somewhat from my expectations. After Fu Ming and the others were thoroughly chewed out, the vice-director led the Hunchbacked Boy and the little girl to the infirmary.

After a simple bandaging, the vice-director left on business, leaving only the Hunchbacked Boy and the girl who resembled Ye Bing in the corridor.

"Did you just arrive at Heaven's Gate?"

"Yes."

"Let me take you to a fun place." A radiant light sparked in the Hunchbacked Boy's eyes. Hugging the Plush Bear—previously his only friend—he reached out to the girl.

The girl was extremely withdrawn. Even though she felt a trace of gratitude toward the boy, her overall attitude remained lukewarm. "Where to?"

She didn't take the boy's hand. The Hunchbacked Boy's hand hung in midair, but he didn't feel awkward. He scratched his head and smiled. "Follow me."

The two children crossed the playground, entered the teaching building, and ran straight up to the third floor.

'Where are they going?' I followed closely behind, sensing that the Middle Dream Layer had reached a crucial juncture.

A ladder sat in the most inconspicuous corner of the third floor, leading directly to the roof.

"Come on." The boy climbed the ladder first. As he did, he kept his back perfectly straight—a detail he likely hadn't even noticed himself.

The top of the ladder connected to a simply welded iron hatch. It wasn't locked. The boy pushed it open forcefully and climbed out.

The girl followed him. I waited a good while after the two had gone up before I followed suit.

Slipping through the iron hatch, my line of sight broadened immensely. From here, one could overlook the entire orphanage.

Heaven's Gate was built in a very remote location in the suburbs, surrounded by vast stretches of wasteland. Only a single concrete road connected it to the outside world, and there were no residents nearby.

'This place is completely isolated from the world. In a certain sense, it really can be considered a "heaven".'

The cold wind brushed against my cheeks; everything felt so real. I stared at the dense darkness at the edges of the Dream Realm, searching for the two children.

"I'm the only one who knows about this place." The Hunchbacked Boy's voice drifted over from a distance, where there was a small shed used for storing sundries.

Originally, the teaching building wasn't as tall as the Rehabilitation Area building, but if you factored in the storage shed, this could be considered the highest point in the entire orphanage.

"Give me your hand, I'll pull you up. You can see something special from here."

The boy leaned over the edge of the shed and reached out to the girl. She took a step back, still choosing to refuse, though her tone revealed a trace of curiosity. "See what?"

The Hunchbacked Boy didn't force the issue. He gestured excitedly, "That place is really bustling. There are so many people, and so many cars. Compared to the orphanage, I think that place is the real heaven. By the way, can you tell me your name?"

The girl hesitated for a moment before finally replying, "I'm Ye Bing. The director gave me that name. What about you?"