Kill a Flightless Bird

[The full novel is about 140,000 words, just the price of a cup of milk tea. Please support the official release.]

[Gentle, caring mom-friend top (pretending) x troublesome, clingy, homesick darling bottom (pretending)]

[Slow-on-the-uptake workaholic bottom who unknowingly gets on the top's bad side and only realizes it later x fussy, easily embarrassed top who inexplicably gets flirted with by the bottom and gets drunk after one drink (pretending; in private, he forces the bottom to tighten a collar around his neck and play at choking him)]

Xu Shuli never understood why he had to be so miserable. As a child, he was a good boy who obeyed his exasperating parents. After his little sister was born, he became a caring big brother who looked after her meticulously. At every job, he worked diligently. As long as he could earn money, he'd do anything: even race along the coast on a fire-spitting motorcycle with a bunch of hooligans to save the boss's young master's reputation. When they dragged him into an abandoned factory and beat him until he was covered in blood, he stayed calm and didn't give a damn.

Could things get any worse? Xu Shuli didn't know, and didn't want to know.

The boss's young master used a needle to pierce his ears, haphazardly, leaving them covered in blood. Xu Shuli didn't bat an eye and even said thank you. The young master laughed and called him a monster.

Xu Shuli's life philosophy was this: I don't care how people treat me. First, I just want to earn my money through hard work. Second, I treat everyone well without expecting anything in return, but only in a bland, halfhearted way. At least I won't be the first to throw a punch.

If I'm as plain as air and everyone thinks I'm boring, they'll naturally keep their distance. That's what Xu Shuli thought.

But somehow, the ones who ended up clinging to him were all trouble.

A classmate and friend he'd always been close to, someone he'd shared everything with, suddenly asked him to meet under a bridge, then kissed and nibbled at him before passionately confessing, without a care in the world.

The former boss's young master developed psychological problems and was sent abroad by his relatives to study. After coming back, he still had designs on Xu Shuli, insisting they should be monsters together, even if it meant keeping a bird in a cage.

How could Xu Shuli, who'd spent his whole life struggling to be a good guy, withstand blow after blow like this?

Xu Shuli thought the idea that good people get good things in return was complete bullshit. He'd tried his best to be kind to others for so long, believing that all encounters were fate and good deeds would bring good relationships. So how had he ended up with nothing but "bad ties"?

Xu Shuli stepped back helplessly, only to bump into a solid chest.

Dark clouds loomed overhead. The owner of that chest had once been frighteningly thin, with long hair, standing on a reef amid the raging waves, ready to die. Xu Shuli immediately forgot why he was there too, rushed over, grabbed him, and started pleading, "Come back! You deserve to be loved!" Then he kissed him.

Xu Shuli stared at him, dazed. "Xiao Yu?"

He remembered how, when he was very young, things at home were chaotic, with constant fighting, and he was left to look after his baby sister alone. Once, his father had taken such poor care of her that her diaper was filthy and stinking. As he cleaned her up, he suddenly wanted to strangle her.

But he stopped himself, because he couldn't. He had no right to do that.

Now, Pu Yu was guiding Xu Shuli to fasten a collar around his own neck, grinning as he said, "Please, tighten it a little more for me~"

Xu Shuli realized that his life was truly bound to someone else's. Every move he made could affect whether the other person lived or died.

He had to live well, for the person in front of him.

Theme: Know yourself and embrace a brighter tomorrow.