Becoming a god by raising witches

Locke nodded emphatically, "But leave the cooking to me. There's no extra food left at home to waste."

"Ah, I'm sorry."

Hannah blushed shyly as she thought about her cooking skills, wishing she could disappear into the ground in embarrassment.

They're siblings, yet Locke's cooking skills are several times better than hers—it's so unfair!

Hannah started doing the laundry, while Locke went back to the apartment to cook.

Even in poverty, there was a ray of sunshine that warmed the hearts of the brother and sister.

Hannah turned around, looking in the direction of home, and began to regret her impulsive decision.

Can I really protect this warm little home?

If I hadn't refused Editor-in-Chief Lloyd that night, would I not have been fired? Would I have had the money to buy my brother a new coat?

But just thinking about Lloyd's disgusting bulbous nose and lewd eyes gave Hannah goosebumps.

She turned on the tap and carefully washed the wool coat and two wool vests.

I don't know if it was a hallucination, but it seemed like a dark, indistinct thing floated past in front of me.

When Hannah looked up, she saw nothing again.

Chapter 5, Don't Mess with Locke

Locke made potato pancakes by mixing the cheapest breadcrumbs with mashed potatoes, which served as a quick lunch.

If he had time, Locke could make his own knife-cut noodles from flour, but unfortunately he was in a hurry to find a job, and both he and Hannah were short on time.

Hannah brought the washed clothes back to her apartment, hung them up in front of the window, and said admiringly,

"The windows have new patterns, it's a really good idea."

Locke knew she was referring to his practice of pasting old newspapers on the windows, and shook his head helplessly. "After all, asking Uncle Martin for help is an unwise choice."

“I’ve told him many times not to let Kai do this kind of thing. They’re bound to get into trouble sooner or later.”

Hannah sighed and sat down at the simple dining table.

The siblings had a simple lunch of fried potato pancakes and water, then said goodbye and continued their journey to find work.

Locke walked down Pete Street, surrounded by a dense network of red lines, like an ocean of life. They all had one thing in common: none of them were more than 30 years old, and the shortest was only a week.

As he passed by Uncle Martin, who was still looking for work on the street, he noticed that Kai's life bar had changed from 432,768 hours to 48 hours. In other words, in two days, the freckled boy might be beaten to death for breaking someone's window.

Martin's lifespan also decreased from 262,800 hours to 8,731 hours, meaning that after Kay's death, Uncle Martin would not last a year before dying.

Thinking of this, Locke couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow. After three years as neighbors, he knew that Uncle Martin was actually a decent person. He wasn't Uncle Martin's biological son, but an orphan that Uncle Martin had taken in. It was only to repay Uncle Martin that Kay had acted so irrationally.

"Locke, looking for a job again?"

Uncle Martin greeted Locke with a smile.

Locke patted his cheeks, trying to make a fierce expression, and grabbed the freckled boy, Kai, who was snickering beside him.

Uncle Martin was surprised to see Locke, who was usually very easy to talk to, suddenly transform into a violent sheriff and beat Kay up without saying a word.

This act of hitting a child in front of the parents attracted the attention of passersby.

They were all poor people in the neighborhood, whistling and watching the spectacle with great enthusiasm.

"Haha, who got beaten up?"

"It's Kai."

"Serves them right, they must have smashed the Locke family's windows again."

They mocked each other, but no one intervened to break up the fight.

"Waaah—I was wrong, I was wrong, Brother Locke, please forgive me, Daddy, save me."

Kai cried very loudly.

Locke showed no mercy this time. The neighbors had beaten Kai countless times, but he hadn't learned his lesson because it hadn't hurt him enough.

If Locke wanted to teach Martin and his son a lesson, he couldn't hold back, nor could he just punish the fleshy buttocks.

Seeing that Locke was serious, and considering that Locke's sister had recently lost her job and the siblings weren't doing well, and that this situation was likely to upset them, Uncle Martin took out his meager savings.

"This is 20 Micks. I've only done these two orders today. Locke, stop fighting. I'll compensate you."

Uncle Martin reached out to grab Locke, but Locke shoved him away. The 20-mick coin fell to the ground, and a homeless man immediately tried to snatch it, but Locke kicked him away.

Despite his thin build, Locke exercises every day to avoid getting sick and save money, and he could easily take on one or two homeless people who were already starving and skin and bones.

Locke picked up the money from the ground and put it in his pocket; the 20 micks were his reward for doing a good deed.

Although he knew that Uncle Martin had a hard time too, without these 20 mice, he might not have been able to afford lunch today, and the father and son would have gone hungry all day.

But if he stops without taking money, it will give people the impression that he's just playing around, which will embolden Kai.

Most importantly, when Kai sees that smashing someone else's window not only failed to save his father's business but also caused his father to lose all the money he had worked so hard for that morning, he will develop a correct psychological understanding and know that smashing windows is not a good thing.

Sure enough, when Kay saw Uncle Martin pay up to settle the matter, he cried even harder.

"Waaah—Daddy, I was wrong! Brother Locke, I was wrong! Don't take Daddy's money—"

Locke ignored his apology and instead spoke to Uncle Martin.

"Don't let this happen again, I really will kill him."

"Okay, okay, I understand."

Uncle Martin swallowed hard, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes. It was the first time he had ever seen the gentle boy display such a fierce side.

Locke's cold gaze made Uncle Martin determined to keep Kay away from this neighborhood from now on, at least to never linger near Old Tom's apartment again, for fear that Kay would be beaten up by Locke again.

The neighbors and homeless people around were also shocked by the boy's ruthlessness. They lowered their heads silently, stopped discussing the matter, and left the label "Don't mess with Locke" in their hearts.

If they beat children this badly, what about adults?

The homeless man, who had been kicked and fell to the ground and was about to retaliate, shrank back and retreated into the shadows of the alley after Locke said he would kill Kai.

The dirty children on the streets and alleys hid as if they had seen a ghost.

Although he knew his reputation might be affected in the future, Locke felt it was worth it.

Because the lifelines on the tops of the two people's heads have started to lengthen.

Uncle Martin recovered to 262,798 hours, while Kay's time increased to 432,766 hours.

It seems that after this incident, Kay will no longer break windows and cause trouble, and Uncle Martin will not die within a year due to sadness and grief.

At the same time, Locke also received feedback from the system.

[Life Insight: 2/1000]

Changing the fate of 1000 people would upgrade [Life Peeping] to [Life Control], but for Locke at this point, it's still too difficult.

And he found that when he had just attacked Kai, it was as if a beast was awakening inside him.

Even though I knew I was doing a good deed, my emotions were clearly stirred up by some inexplicable force, as if my anger had been amplified countless times.

what on earth is it?

Could it be because I saw these densely packed lines of life?

This scene is indeed suffocating and irritating.

The longer Locke looked at it, the more his head ached.

Therefore, he had to give up his idea of ​​continuing to wander around looking for work and returned to Old Tom's apartment early.

Today, the 20 meters I earned from hitting the kids was barely enough to buy two loaves of black bread, so it wasn't a complete loss.

Locke was trying to reassure himself when a dark shadow suddenly emerged from the dimly lit stairwell, startling him.

He thought he had encountered a paranormal event, but it turned out to be a black cat.

Locke breathed a sigh of relief, watching the black cat's retreating figure and muttering, "Where did this stray cat come from?"

The black cat proudly dragged its tail and disappeared into the depths of the alley.

Locke returned to his rented room, took the torn vest to Mrs. Amor's house next door, and paid 2 Micks to support Mrs. Amor's business. Mrs. Amor's two daughters hid in the steamy room, secretly watching Locke.

Because of Locke's appearance, girls of marriageable age in the neighborhood liked to secretly admire him.

Mrs. Amour's eldest and youngest daughters, aged 16 and 13 respectively, were both at the age of budding romance and would blush unconsciously whenever they saw Locke.

Although they both lived in Old Tom's apartment, they had exchanged fewer than 10 sentences in total, indicating that she was a rather shy and reserved girl.

After receiving the promise that he could get the vest the next afternoon, Locke left Mrs. Amor's house, but he always had the feeling that there was a pair of eyes watching him from behind. When he turned around, he found nothing.

If it had been two young girls spying on him at Mrs. Amour's house, he could understand it, but now that he was home, the feeling of being spied on sent chills down his spine.

"Could it be that we've been targeted by a witch?"

Chapter 6, An Accident

Locke carefully examined every corner of the house, including under Hannah's bed, in the wardrobe, in the desk drawers, and even in the kitchen trash can, but found no trace of the witch.

"Hey, what are you thinking? How could someone as insignificant as me possibly attract the attention of a witch?"