After Johnson left, Ella Jr. became Ressley's little follower, and Ella Jr. always followed Resley except for class and sleep time. During meals, little Ella would sit across from Resley with a plate. During breaks, little Ella would leave her classroom to find Reslie and stay quietly by his side. Of course, Resley, who has an awkward and not frank personality, ignores this strange and persistent little girl in most cases.

"Resley, what do you mean by surgery?"

"I don't know!"

"Liar, you know!"

"I don't want to tell you."

Little Ella puffed out her cheeks and swore in her heart that she would never pay attention to Reslie again. But the oath lasted less than five minutes, and little Ella forgot about it.

"Resley, what is freedom?"

"You're annoying!"

"If you tell me, I won't bother you."

"Freedom is the right you have to do whatever you want."

"So what is a right?"

"You're ...... enough"

Resley held the book in his hand and stopped talking.

Over time, the older children got to know this strange three-year-old child and jokingly called her a little heel. Despite the fierce competition between them, they will show the innocence that they should have at this age. Maybe it's because little Ella is still young and doesn't belong to their competitive team.

"Little Ella, don't follow Lesley, follow me, my sister likes you." Mia, who is the same age as Ressley, said.

"No," little Ella shook her head, turning and running to Resley to sit down.

Ressley, still grimacing, ignored her, but secretly stuffed a candy into her hand.

Candy is very hard to come by for the children in Group B. Generally, only on major festivals, the trainers will give a little charity. In the eyes of these children, candy is the greatest happiness in their painful lives.

"Why do you keep following me?"

"Because I want to be friends with you."

"I said we don't need friends."

"But I want to."

"Forget it, I can't make sense with you."

"Resley, I'm the highest-rated three-year-old, so, Resley, you don't have to worry about me being sent out and destroyed...... I'll be with you. ”

Little Ella's mind was full of Reslie huddled in the corner that day. Lesley would cry for Johnson, and the others would just be glad it wasn't themselves who were sent out. Ressley's heart is softer than anyone else's, and she understands the meaning of friends better than anyone else. His usual tough attitude is nothing more than to put on armor for himself to protect himself from others. But under the armor, he was still the child shivering in the corner.

"Leslie, when I'm older enough to run faster, shall we get out of here?"

"Impossible."

"I went out once, and as long as I wasn't discovered, I could leave."

"You can go out just because you're too young to know you can't run far, and when you grow up, you'll be watched, and when you get to the age of eight, you'll have surgery to transform your body, and you won't be able to do without them anymore."

Little Ella tilted her head, although she didn't quite understand what Resley meant, but she felt that it shouldn't be a good thing.

"What did you see outside that day?"

"It should be the sky, white clouds, sun, and things that I don't know what are flying in the sky."

"That's a bird."

Reslie smiled bitterly, tears glistening from the corners of his eyes, reflecting the intense white light in the room. He tried to grasp something with his hands, but all he touched was the cold wall. The little bird that lived in his heart fluttered its wings and rushed to the vast world beyond the walls.

"Ella, we're in a cage."

Children over the age of eight have to line up to enter the laboratory every six months, and at this time, little Ella sits quietly at the door of the laboratory and waits for Reesley. The children who came out of the lab all had gloomy faces, and little Ella wondered if they had been bullied in the lab or punished by the trainers. Mia tells Ella that she has to wait until she is eight years old and must enter the lab. Ella asks her why, and Mia replies that she can't live if she doesn't go in.

Seeing Resley emerge from the lab, little Ella immediately ran to him and followed him to his bedroom.

"Ressley, what's in the lab?"

"The man in the white coat and the trainer."

"Did they do anything to you?"

"Give me an injection."

Little Ella frowned, remembering that when she had an injection before, she closed her eyes and didn't dare to see the needle tube pierced into her body, gritting her teeth to hold back her tears.

"Won't it hurt?"

"No, get used to it."

"The book says that the man in the white coat is a doctor, and a doctor is a person who heals people. Are you sick, Resley? ”

"Hmm...... He was terminally ill and had no cure. ”

"That's not going to work!" Little Ella burst into tears, and she hugged Ressley's arm, as if as soon as she let go, Resley would leave her forever.

When Resley saw little Ella crying, she was at a loss for a while, not knowing what to do.

"Hey, don't cry...... I just lied to you and joked with you. ”

"Really?" Little Ella will be skeptical.

Lacey nodded forcefully. He crouched down in front of little Ella, eye level with her, and then rolled up his sleeves, revealing seven or eight pinholes in his arms.

"Listen, not all of them in white coats are doctors, and some of them are bad guys. These bad guys have modified my body, and now all of us children over the age of eight have injections every half month, and the contents of the injections can keep us alive. If we don't get the injections, we'll die. ”

"Lesley, if I grow up and become a doctor, will I be able to cure you?"

Resley suddenly laughed and hugged little Ella uncharacteristically. He had never once imagined a future where he would live in an ordinary home, have loving parents, eat delicious meals, buy candy with pocket pockets, and invite him to play football on weekends...... These are just ethereal fantasies, and how beautiful the fantasy is, how difficult the reality is. However, looking at Xiao Ella's innocent eyes, those dusty dreams were awakened, and one day in the future may really come true.

"Ella, you can be a good doctor."

Reslie couldn't bear to tell Ella the truth, their fate could never be in her own hands. They are children who were born to be killers. As for the criteria for determining this, Ressley is also unclear.

"Resley, the kids who live in the building next door to us seem happy and don't have to train, why?"

"In fact, they are the same as us, the same as they are free."

"I don't understand. Reisley, are we really flawed? ”

Resley shook his head, not sure how to explain it.

Reisley is about to turn nine years old, and little Ella has heard that children outside will receive birthday gifts on their birthdays, so what should Reisley give them? Friends give gifts to each other, but she has nothing, and three-year-old Ella encounters the biggest problem in her life.

She was thinking about this problem during the day, when she was washing, when she was eating, and when she went to bed at night, so she was scolded by the trainer. Sophia, who was the same age, found out that little Ella was not giving up, but she didn't ask too much. Sophia and Ella are the same children, but Sophia and little Ella have not developed a deep relationship. Sophia has an extreme personality and excels in the training sessions. However, her prominence does not mean that she has a high rating, but that she is indifferent to her peers during training. Last month, for example, the trainer trained them to throw a knife, and after locking onto the bullseye and determining the angle, Ella threw the knife steadily, and got a high score. When it was Sophia's turn, Sophia locked her eyes on a gecko on the wall, she threw out the knife without hesitation, and the next second, the gecko on the wall was stabbed with a knife in its body, struggling desperately. All the children showed expressions of surprise and pity, for them, this act was really a bit cruel, but Sophia did not care.

If the object is not a gecko, a kitten, a dog, a small animal, or a person, Sophia will not hesitate to throw the knife. The trainer smiled with satisfaction.

Reslie said that the children were not flawed, but little Ella looked at Sophia and felt as if something was missing in Sophia's heart. Little Ella began to wonder if something was missing somewhere in her mind, but she didn't know, so the trainer called them defective children.

Finally, little Ella's abnormality catches Joanna's attention. Little Ella is called to Joanna's office. However, Joanna did not punish her, but only verbally criticized little Ella's absent-mindedness in the past few days, telling her to pay more attention in the future and not let other teachers and trainers seize the handle.

Out of Joanna's office, little Ella breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly caught a glimpse of a distraught Resley in the distance. She excitedly ran up to Ressley and couldn't wait to tell him what Joanna had said to her in the office.

After saying that, Reslie hugged little Ella tightly.

"Great......" Resley's voice choked.

"Resley, do you think I'm going to be sent out and destroyed?"

"Fool, everybody thinks that when they see you go to Lady Joanna's."

"Resley, maybe, I mean maybe, maybe Lady Joanna is a good person."

"I don't care if she's a good person or a bad person."

Reslie hugged little Ella and still didn't let go.

"Resley, I'm sorry for your birthday, I don't have any gifts for you......"

"I don't need a gift." Resley lifted little Ella up in the air and said with a tearful smile, "I've got the best gift in the world." ”

"What is it?"

"Friends and love."

"Resley, what is love?"

"Secret."

Many years later, Ella looks back on her time with Ressley and suddenly understands what the flaws of those children were: what Sophia lacked was empathy, and what the other children lacked was love.

But Little Ella and Reslie are an exception, because they have each other.