OFTLHFRO C1

Chapter 1: The “Stepdad” of Three Kids

“Little Daddy(papa)! Sob sob… Wake up, please!”

So noisy…

Why was there a child crying?

Such a loud voice would definitely attract zombies.

Luo Mingchen frowned, struggling to wake from a long, muddled dream. Staring up at the grey canopy above him, he couldn’t react for a moment.

A little boy lying beside him cried out again, “Little Daddy…”

Before the words even faded, a furious pounding erupted outside: BANG BANG BANG!

Instinctively, Luo Mingchen pulled the boy close, clamping a hand over his mouth as his eyes locked on the source of the sound. In his other hand, a kitchen knife materialized out of thin air, drawn from his personal space ability.

The child gaped in shock at the blade that had seemingly appeared from nowhere.

A man outside roared impatiently, “You little bastard! Open the door, now!”

Zombies didn’t talk… right?

Luo Mingchen gave the boy in his arms a puzzled glance.

The boy’s clothing was old and worn, but the style was unlike anything Luo Mingchen recognized—more traditional than modern.

What’s more, his own clothes matched the same style.

Before Luo Mingchen could ask anything, the door burst open with a violent kick.

A towering man strode in, club in hand, glaring with wide eyes. “You sickly wretch! Leave those brats here and get out!”

Luo Mingchen couldn’t fathom why this man dared to shout so loudly. “Yell like that again, and when the zombies come, we’ll all die.”

His powers hadn’t fully recovered yet, and this guy clearly had no energy signature at all—if zombies came, he wouldn’t survive a second.

“What the hell are you talking about? You cursing me?!”

Lin Tianlei raised the club to strike.

Though Luo Mingchen appeared weak, he was still a level-four water-ability user. Releasing the boy he’d been covering, Luo Mingchen easily caught the club mid-swing and kicked the man clear across the room.

Lin Tianlei slammed into the wall, dizzy and reeling. Before he could get up, a kitchen knife was pressed cold against his throat.

If not for the risk of the blood scent drawing zombies, Luo Mingchen would’ve already sent him straight to hell.

Lin Tianlei shrieked in terror, “Aaaah! Murder!”

“Shut up,” Luo Mingchen said coldly.

The tone alone made Lin Tianlei tremble, silencing him instantly.

Two men dressed in dark blue strode in from outside. One muttered in annoyance, “Takes this long just to grab two kids?”

They froze upon seeing Luo Mingchen holding a blade to Lin Tianlei’s neck.

Luo Mingchen narrowed his eyes at them. “Who are you?”

Though Luo Mingchen looked pale and frail, the knife in his hand kept them cautious.

“We’re ren yazi,” one said—a term for human traffickers¹. “He said he wanted to sell three kids.”

Luo Mingchen fell silent for a moment, an unbelievable thought dawning—had he transmigrated?

Huo Xiang, not understanding how the previously unconscious “Little Daddy” suddenly awoke with such strength, nonetheless knew they could only rely on this strange man now.

Clutching his little sister, Huo Xiang hid behind Luo Mingchen, pitifully tugging at his clothes and whispering through tears, “Little Daddy, we’ll be good to you from now on. Please don’t let Uncle sell us.”

Little… Daddy?

Luo Mingchen was utterly baffled.

One trafficker said, “Young man, you just married in two days ago, and now your husband’s dead this morning. We hear you’re poor yourself, forced to marry another man. Let us take these three brats today; you can return to your family without paying back the bride price. Isn’t that better than raising three kids alone?”

“Three kids?” Luo Mingchen paused. “Where’s the other one?”

Thinking he was persuading Luo Mingchen, the trafficker quickly explained, “Tied up outside. Wild as a wolf cub—that one will grow up ungrateful, you’ll see.”

From his words, Luo Mingchen pieced it together: he’d apparently become these three children’s “stepdad,” their father was dead, and this man wanted to sell the kids and seize the house.

Luo Mingchen lowered his gaze to the seven- or eight-year-old boy still clutching a filthy little girl, no more than two.

Huo Xiang’s eyes were red and swollen, fat tears plopping down his cheeks. “Little Daddy, please don’t throw us away…”

The words struck Luo Mingchen hard. Back when his own mother had died, he too had begged his so-called father—only to be ignored.

Resolute, Luo Mingchen clasped the boy’s small hand and faced the men with steely eyes. “These children call me father. I won’t sell them. My… husband is dead, but both the house and the children are mine.”

“You—”

Lin Tianlei started to shout, but Luo Mingchen’s glance cut him off.

With a flick of the knife, he asked calmly, “Do you have an objection?”

Lin Tianlei swallowed hard, unwilling to bet his life.

Everyone in the neighboring villages said Wang Chen (the body’s original owner) had a gentle temperament and soft voice. Lin Tianlei had assumed he could easily drive him out, sell the three burdensome brats, and pocket a bit of silver.

Who would’ve thought this man was a living demon—immense strength and skilled with a blade to boot.

The traffickers tried another angle. “But he already took our money.”

“That’s between you and him,” Luo Mingchen said flatly. “I’m alive, and I’m the children’s guardian. What kind of family sells kids and houses without even consulting the spouse of the deceased?”

When they still hesitated, Luo Mingchen narrowed his eyes and raised the knife. “Don’t force me to act.”

People who trafficked children weren’t exactly saints. Realizing he wouldn’t budge, the two exchanged a glance—and attacked.

“Ahhh!”

Two screams echoed in quick succession.

Outside, the boy tied up and struggling froze in astonishment as he watched.

The newly married “Little Daddy,” previously assumed dead, now wielded a gleaming kitchen knife with icy calm—dragging their uncle like a sack of trash and tossing him out the door.

“Get lost!”

The three fled, tails between their legs, not daring to look back.

Luo Mingchen tilted his head up toward the long-lost blue sky and white clouds, breathing in the fresh air, feeling lighter already.

Huo Xiang stared at him in awe, eyes shining with admiration. “Little Daddy.”

Luo Mingchen gave him a small smile and crouched to untie the ropes binding the eldest boy.

Though he’d accepted reality, a question nagged at him.

“Am I really the one your father married?”

He addressed the oldest child.

If he’d transmigrated, fine—the personal space power remained. But why were his abilities still intact too? No discomfort, no residual memories of the body’s original owner.

At this, Huo Yuhui’s gaze turned complicated. “You carry the token Father gave you. But… the wedding rites haven’t been completed yet.”

He wasn’t sure whether revealing this would make the man leave.

“Token?”

More pressing than that, Luo Mingchen wanted to know what he currently looked like.

So, lifting the kitchen knife as a makeshift mirror, Luo Mingchen was met with a face startlingly familiar to his own.

¹ Ren yazi (人牙子) — Literally “human tooth,” slang for human traffickers or brokers who bought and sold people (often children or women) in pre-modern China.

“小爹爹 (xiǎo diēdiē)” literally translates to “little daddy.”

In context though, it’s not “tiny father” but more like a cutesy, childish way to say stepdad. The kids are calling Luo Mingchen that because:

• • • • They’re little, so they add “小” (little) as an affectionate or softening term, similar to “Papa” vs “Father.”

 

• • • • It’s also kind of awkwardly sweet because they’ve only just met him and are still testing the waters calling him dad.