Chapter 60

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Chapter 60: Truly A Little Angel

Who in Fanzui City didn’t have a few screws loose? 

Maybe not to the point where you’d feel embarrassed to drive without a body in your trunk, but at the very least, everyone had one or two people they secretly wanted dead.

Soaked in such an atmosphere, whether someone had succeeded in killing their target, or chickened out, or someone else beat them to it… or even if they just lived with the constant dread of being on someone else’s hit list—

In this kind of repressive environment, anyone could end up mentally twisted. As a result, the once-underappreciated field of psychology had gradually become a hot commodity—so much so that even therapists themselves were caught in a brutal rat race.

Take someone like Raven for example. 

Running her own tiny practice, lacking fame, with only average skills, having spent most of college napping through lectures, and unable to even manage her own family relationships—she only occasionally got a client or two when she slashed her rates.

This was, after all, the southern part of the city, where the economy was particularly bleak. Not many people were willing to spend money on something like therapy.

That’s why most days, she had enough free time to clock out before school ended and go home to cook. But today was a bit different. The client had specifically requested an after-school appointment.

Raven glanced at Mi Xiaoliu, quietly fiddling with a stress-relief toy in front of her.

How rare. Kids this age usually had to be coaxed or even dragged in by their parents when there was something wrong. 

Even if they agreed to cooperate, there was always some trace of reluctance on their faces.

But this one—completely quiet and obedient.

It matched the first impression Raven had of her, when she’d seen her outside the supermarket not long ago, such a well-behaved little girl…

Yes, a girl. Her instincts hadn’t been wrong—this was unmistakably a little lady.

“Are you a boy or a girl?” Raven asked in her calm, measured therapist’s voice.

She stepped out from behind the desk. The chairs were placed side by side, not face-to-face—something to ease the pressure.

Mi Xiaoliu paused for a few seconds, thinking. “I’m… a girl?”

“Mhm, that’s right.”

Raven had actually asked her the same question a few times earlier. Whenever more than three minutes passed between questions, she’d need a few seconds to think about it before replying.

Leaving Mi Xiaoliu with her toy, Raven went over to whisper to Heli.

“Her case is a bit special. It’s not your typical gender identity disorder… She doesn’t think she’s a boy, but she also frequently forgets or fails to recognize that she’s a girl. In cases like this, giving her a few gentle reminders each day can gradually help her self-correct.”

“I’ve tried. It doesn’t work,” Heli shook her head.

Even dressing her in girls’ clothes at home didn’t help. She obeyed everything else—except this.

(Because Sasha said not to, if possible.)

“Has anything bad ever happened to her?” Raven probed. “A therapist is duty-bound to keep client information confidential.”

She was hinting at possibilities like molestation.

“No,” Heli said firmly.

She had checked thoroughly. Besides, Easter was only interested in abilities and chemical research—they were rarely the perverted type.

It was baffling. Even if she had amnesia, that shouldn’t affect her gender identity. Heli had told her the truth—she should remember it. Her body would also tell her.

Could it be that just because she was mistaken for a boy when first found, that fixed the perception?

“Is she an ability-user?”

“She is.”

Raven nodded. “Has anyone ever done something extreme to her because of that? Verbal abuse, for instance…”

Heli frowned.

There were worse things, but they weren’t suitable to discuss.

Raven took it as Heli being in the dark. After all, kids often kept such things from their parents.

“Then, could I talk to her alone for a bit?”

This was a standard part of the process, so Heli didn’t object.

Once they were alone, Raven went straight to the point: “Xiaoliu, have you ever experienced something really, really bad?”

Mi Xiaoliu put down the stress toy and stared at her in silence.

If Heli had been there, she’d have known that silence meant “I don’t know.” But Raven wasn’t Heli, nor did she have Lu Mingxue’s mind-reading abilities. She simply assumed the girl hadn’t opened up yet.

“Then… has anyone ever bullied you?” Raven tried a different tack. “Don’t be afraid—I won’t tell your mom. If you’re honest with me, Auntie can give you a little reward.”

“…Yes,” Mi Xiaoliu finally replied. “Gloria.”

She bullied her all the time.

A girl?

Raven was stunned. That wasn’t what she expected.

In an instant, her mind conjured a brutal scene: a vicious girl kicking a younger Mi Xiaoliu down in school, leading a gang of lackeys to insult her, stomping on her face, even ordering boys to drag her into the men’s restroom so the whole class could laugh at her. 

The girl’s dignity and identity shattered, she began to hypnotize herself—maybe I’m not a girl, so using the boys’ room wouldn’t hurt so much… Only by thinking that way could her broken psyche find some relief.

As expected, no matter how gently Raven tried to coax her afterward, Mi Xiaoliu stayed silent.

Just like Yiwen.

“Funny coincidence—my daughter used to dress up like a boy too,” Raven tried opening up. “I’m not making this up. Back in middle school, she made me co-sign so she could start a live stream. She actually made it big. You might not believe this, but she was around your age and earned more money each month than me and her dad combined…”

“Later, she got doxxed and harassed online. Terrified of being recognized, she cut her hair short after we moved and only dared go out looking like a boy.”

Even as a therapist, Raven couldn’t heal her daughter’s trauma. All she could do was help her run—new name, new face, new city—to escape the cruelty.

Then her husband went missing. They fought. Their already fragile family turned cold.

Raven didn’t dwell on her own story—she hadn’t forgotten her mission was to heal this thirteen-year-old girl.

“Here.” Mi Xiaoliu handed her a lollipop Heli had given earlier.

Was she… comforting her?

“Thank you.”

What a pure little angel.

Raven accepted the candy and, without thinking, reached out to pat her head.

But Mi Xiaoliu instantly stood up, backing away two steps and guarding her forehead with wary eyes.

“…” Had she been hurt there before?

What a good child… and yet she’d been through all that…

There will always be people in this world who try to use their darkness to wound these innocent little angels.

By the end of their private chat, Raven still hadn’t gotten Mi Xiaoliu to open up.

“At school, do her classmates know she’s a girl?” Raven asked Heli afterward.

“No. Not even on paper—she’s listed as male.”

“You should have her classmates treat her like a girl,” Raven suggested.

It might make her stand out or even be mocked, but most high schoolers were beginning to outgrow childishness… even if they were replacing it with that overconfident teen awkwardness.

Students at an ability-user school should have more patience and empathy. They’d grown up being stared at, after all.

Heli nodded—but clearly didn’t intend to follow through.

“If you like this, you can keep it.” As they left, Raven gave her the stress toy Mi Xiaoliu had been squeezing—that was the “reward” she’d promised.

Chances were, the girl would be back.

She hadn’t been able to learn anything in just a few hours. It had happened before—but today, for the first time, Raven hated how little she knew.

In truth, her own daughter wasn’t so different from this girl—just less extreme. Even so, giving her the silent treatment during this phase must be crushing for her daughter.

Raven glanced up at Yiwen’s dark window.

She was probably still lost out there. Or maybe playing vigilante again.

The thought made Raven bite her lower lip in frustration.

She opened the door—and was surprised to find a meal waiting for her on the table.

She knew—it was her daughter’s way of saying I love you.

Raven went upstairs, used the spare key to enter her daughter’s room, and picked up the backup uniform she’d forgotten to put away in a rush… then began cutting it into fine shreds. 

The cut-resistant material made the task frustratingly difficult.