Chapter Ninety-Six: The Welfare Director with a Beastly Heart and a Human Face

In reality, by all rights, a children’s welfare home should receive ample donations from many kind-hearted individuals. How could it possibly be short of funds? Especially for disabled children like Luo Changning, wouldn’t such vulnerable souls inspire even greater sympathy, prompting generous donations in abundance?

In fact, the director of the welfare home did secure considerable donations thanks to Luo Changning. They even arranged for him to appear on television, eliciting public sympathy. However, people are inherently greedy, and the director was nothing more than a hypocrite. The establishment of the welfare home served only his own interests, with the intent of embezzling the charitable funds meant for the children.

Thus, while the donations from benevolent people were insufficient to cover the cost of surgery or prosthetic limbs that would allow Luo Changning to live like a normal child, they were enough to pay for basic food, clothing, and the salaries of his caretakers. Every little bit helped, and the greedy director naturally wouldn’t let such “savings” slip away. He used the money to buy branded clothes and bags for his mistress.

Moreover, the director was overwhelmed with daily affairs and gave no real thought to a nearly invisible, disabled orphan like Luo Changning. This neglect emboldened one of his caretakers to further skimp and cut corners on his meals. As a result, the food Luo Changning managed to eat was even scarcer and of poorer quality.

For instance, the heartless female caretaker would sometimes serve her own leftover lunch as Luo Changning’s dinner, while pocketing the precious milk and fruit that he rarely got to enjoy. Those fruits and milk weren’t supplied by the welfare home but were gifts brought by kind visitors and volunteers.

It’s no exaggeration to say that in his previous life, Luo Changning only ate fruit once in sixteen years—secretly saved for him by the only little girl who befriended him, who discreetly set aside part of her own food. Normally, Luo Changning could only imagine the taste of such delicious and “luxurious” food through the descriptions in the books at the welfare home’s library. It was less satisfying than even the proverbial “feeding on air” or “quenching thirst with plums,” since at least the latter two could be visualized; he could only conjure these delights through words.

At first, he blamed the world’s injustice and people’s indifference. Why did those so-called kind-hearted visitors just take a few photos with him and then leave? Why couldn’t they bring him tasty candies or clean, beautiful clothes like they did for the other children?

But gradually, Luo Changning finally saw their true faces.

Undeniably, there were genuinely kind people among them. But those who maintained a pure, sincere heart solely dedicated to helping the vulnerable, without ulterior motives or considerations, were exceedingly rare.

Those people always looked at Luo Changning and the other abandoned orphans with a pitying gaze, as if they were gods on high and the children merely objects of charity.

If at the beginning, Luo Changning had genuinely liked those visitors who came to comfort him, over time, he grew increasingly cold and distant, wrapping himself in a protective shell to guard the last shred of his dignity. He refused to become a tool for others to showcase their “love” and charity.

Because of this, when taking photos with those visitors, Luo Changning stopped smiling altogether, adopting an expression so cold and indifferent that it could rival Ma Qingyun’s famously icy poker face.

If the hypocrisy of those false-hearted people only chilled Luo Changning’s spirit, making him unwilling to compromise his dignity to please them, what happened next shattered him utterly, driving him to madness. It extinguished all his hope and longing for this world, erasing the last glimmer of faith he had in humanity.

At first, Luo Changning thought the welfare home director was merely a greedy hypocrite, embezzling donations meant for orphans, even skimping on their basic necessities. But when the director’s true nature was exposed, it shocked not only Luo Changning but also stirred a massive uproar across half of the Dragon Continent.

People’s conversations at every meal centered on the scandal at Luo Changning’s welfare home.

Here is what happened: the little girl who came every afternoon to play with Luo Changning and listen to his stories suddenly stopped coming—several days in a row.

At first, Luo Changning worried she might be unwell. But without arms or legs, he couldn’t leave his small bed without a caretaker’s help. He couldn’t even visit her room to check on her; all he could do was anxiously wait for news.

Day after day passed, and the girl did not appear for a whole week.

To this day, Luo Changning still remembers his feelings then: Was he once again abandoned? Had the girl been adopted by a wealthy family, destined to live a life of luxury? Why else would she stop coming without a word? Had she finally, like everyone else, come to despise him for being disabled?

During that period, Luo Changning drifted through his days in a daze, lost in wild thoughts, convinced the girl had found a better home and left him behind.

Of course, Luo Changning sincerely wished her well, hoping she would find kind adoptive parents, plenty of delicious food, fun toys, and beautiful clothes—dressing every day like a delicate princess.

But instead of good news, what Luo Changning received was the discovery of her body, pulled from a well.

When he saw the little girl’s naked body, covered in bruises, Luo Changning felt as if he were being roasted over a fire—tormented by agony, anger, and unbearable sorrow.

Later, the police were finally stirred to investigate the cause of her death, which led to the uncovering of a scandal that rocked half the Dragon Continent.

It turned out that the welfare home director was not only a greedy hypocrite but a monster beneath a human facade. Beyond his indulgences with girls, he sold the most beautiful and charming orphans to so-called philanthropists.

These “philanthropists” were wealthy businessmen who visited the welfare home to select children they fancied. For a substantial sum paid to the director, they could “adopt” the child.

Though called adoption, it was in reality a sale. Once the children were taken, the welfare home ceased all care or oversight, and no one checked whether the adopted children were abused.

Some even adopted multiple children, including boys, whose fates were all but sealed—devoid of warmth and subjected to inhuman torment.