Chapter 24 - Lost and Found

What was the usual thought process of an orphan when it saw another child being hugged by their parents?

"He must be more lucky than me! "

"Ugh, I'm so envious of that bastard!"

"Is it necessary for you bunch to hug each other in front of me. Do it when you're at your house!"

Good?

Envy?

Jealousy?

Or Lucky?

Was it worth it for an orphan to curse or pray for familial bond?

Were all orphans jealous of other children?

Were all orphans lucky to have been adopted by some random people whom they would regard as a family? Who could make sure that these families will treat their adopted child with utmost sincerity?

On earth, approximately 5,700 children become orphans every day, which is 1.4 million a year. This means that every 22 seconds, a child becomes an orphan. {Source: Google}

22 seconds is not much of a concern for people. They could grab a glass of water or open their phones to check the weather forecast. Majority of the people didn't even give a damn about an orphan.

These 22 seconds were enough for a life to take a drastic turn. Major contributing causes to this staggering number are war, poverty, disease, accidents, malnutrition and natural disasters. Other complex factors to the orphan crisis are human trafficking, child prostitution, and child slavery. {Source: Google}

Anyone would say that a car accident was what they couldn't avoid. If a mother couldn't survive during her delivery, people would still title it as her fate that she left her child.

But was war unavoidable?

If the government had done more for the people and provided better schemes, eradicated corruption little by little if not completely or at least given more attention to the people that deserved it just to avoid poverty, diseases, and malnutrition?

Was human trafficking, child prostitution, and child slavery also the work of some fate?

What were the officials doing to stop these people from destroying countless lives?

Even after surviving these circumstances, why did these orphan children still long for what they had lost?

Leo was the same.

He didn't know whether his parents had left him or he had lost them. 

Obviously, he had the same mindset as those around him in the government owned orphanage until he was told by a system that his parents were forced to leave him.

Why did they leave me?

Did they not love me?

What did I do wrong?

Will they ever come back for me? 

Who forced them to abandon me?

Did they try to find me?

Were they thinking of me?

Did they have to make a difficult choice?

Do they still love me?

The tears in his eyes blurred his vision.

Numerous thoughts were clouding his thinking when the system lit up in his vision with some information.

[The host need not worry because their parents are still alive.]

"How do I go back to earth?" Leo didn't hesitate to ask because there was no other planet where he grew up.

[The host's parents are not on earth.]

"W-What do you mean? I grew up on earth, so it's obvious that they belong to earth!" He rebuked the system with every common knowledge that he could think of.

[Originally, the host and their parents were never the inhabitants of planet earth from the beginning. The host himself is a child born from two experts of The Supreme cultivation realm. You were born with a universal phenomenon that had attracted the attention of various other universes' forces that ended up making your parents get trapped.]

[Later, It was discovered that you had been poisoned with some special treasure opposite to your universal phenomenon.]

[It is suggested that the host becomes strong enough and save their parents from the entrapment placed on them.]

[Quest — Rescue your parents.

Reward — The reward calculations will depend on how the host will save his parents.

Failure — The failure level will increase the sin ratio.]

"Supreme… universal phenomenon… special treasure… trap… quest?!"

A load of information had entered Leo's head, which made him question himself.

I am not from earth?!

Am I an alien?!

[The Host is not an alien. You are a born human.]

"…"

"Really?"

[100%]

A short question and answer was all that it took to clear Leo's thought process.

"How do I -"

[You need to start cultivating and become strong enough to battle various Supreme level powerhouses or surpass the supreme realm.]

"How long will that take?"

[If uninterrupted by any external force, the shortest time will be at least a few hundred years, or it can be 500 years and more.]

"…"

[If the host is ready, the system can start with the basic cultivation techniques.]

"…"

[…]

"I guess you're the same dumb system from before."

[…]

"Is there no other way?"

[The system already gave the best timeline with no side effects.]

"Ugh… Will they be able to hold on for this much longer?"

[…]

"Can I even see them for once?"

[It's possible, but the system will enter again in a hibernating phase and the host will die instantly.]

"Fine, I accep-"

*BOOM*

Leo's face had turned ashen looking at the roof of his room that had been completely uprooted.

The roof was nowhere to be seen and the sun's rays were directly falling in his room.

"Oh my! A space warped inside this house is really a piece of work." A voice beamed with joy.

The voice originated from a figure floating in the air above the roofless house, where Leo's eyes were reddened with madness for some reason.

"Don't worry, It will be a silent and painless death for you and those beauties. Ugh! I really hoped to have a taste of them, but your parents are to be blamed." The beaming voice turned into resentment aimed at Leo.

Leo was pressurized by the figure's bottomless like strong aura that kept on pushing him on the ground.

[This person was the sole person for the host's parents' current condition.]

A single half transparent panel hovered in his vision.

"Hm? You sure are their son. That determined look to kill me is the same as what your parents had on their face." The voice of the robed man soon turned into that of mockery, and a wide grin appeared on his face that made all the colors in the environment to start fading away.

The robed man raised his hand high above his head and soon dropped it. The moment he raised his hand, a huge hand had materialized of black color that followed with the movements of his gesture. 

The black materialized hand had descended really quick that it had already appeared above the roof's boundary.

"Go to hell or whatever place that would welcome you." He sneered, looking down when the hand had reached half the room's distance.

The hand had covered Leo's entire vision, though it was descending quickly, but he could still see the movements slowly.

He was going to die, or that was what he believed.