I, Valon, am frantically searching for my mother.

Wayne looked at his empty paws and the thin rope around his neck—with hanging from it was half of the large gold coin Anna had given him.

This is his only remaining asset.

Apart from this half gold coin, Wayne was completely penniless.

Now I'm truly penniless.

Wayne grinned, revealing a wry smile.

Before he left, he left almost all of his property to Tia's mother.

This behavior... how should I put it?

He is neither a green dragon nor a holy lord; rather, he is more like a human.

Wayne sighed.

One of the most important reasons he did this was that Wayne discovered his mind was gradually becoming dragon-like.

Sometimes, he would subconsciously want to turn everything in front of him into treasure and hide it away, or he would have extremely selfish and cold-blooded thoughts over the smallest things.

If these things were still barely tolerable for Wayne, then what Wayne truly could not accept was that he was becoming quite irrational because of some of the dragon's vices!

For example, offending the little girl's mother Anna for half a gold coin.

Is this something a dragon with a tile system could do?

The dragon's nature has begun to influence Wayne's development and utilization of the system, which is something Wayne absolutely cannot accept.

Moreover, compared to purely brutal and treacherous dragons, Wayne doesn't mind retaining a bit more humanity.

Of course, this alone was not enough to make Wayne go against his nature and give away all his money.

There is another important reason.

Wayne saw the shadow of Comrade Li Shufen in Tia's mother.

Comrade Li Shufen was Wayne's mother in his previous life, not the superficial mother he knew from the past, but his real mother.

Wayne's original name was Li Wayne, and his mother's name was Li Shufen. However, this does not mean that Wayne took his mother's surname. It just so happens that his father's surname was also Li.

The old man's name was Li Jianguo. Both his parents' names sounded a bit rustic, so the two old folks had a brilliant idea and gave their only son a more sophisticated name:

Li Weien.

The name is indeed quite fancy, but the only problem is that it's too fancy, to the point that Wayne was often teased by his classmates as a foreigner when he was in school.

Li Jianguo, Wayne's father, was a soldier who guarded the border for many years and rarely returned home. Over time, Wayne's memories of this tough father became somewhat hazy.

The person who has truly been with Wayne throughout his life is his mother, Li Shufen.

Just by hearing this name, you can roughly tell what kind of personality your mother has.

My mother, Li Shufen, is the kind of mother figure that is very common in rural China.

She doesn't possess any extraordinary abilities, but she has an insatiable desire for control. Aside from constantly telling Xiao Wayne to study hard and be a good boy at school, she can't do anything else.

In Wayne's memory, his mother was quite strict with him.

Whether you're out having fun with friends or just lounging at home, you'll be questioned.

At its worst, even if he tore off a few pieces of toilet paper, Comrade Li Shufen would ask him what he was going to do with them.

So much so that Wayne would bring extra toilet paper when he defecated, secretly hiding it in his crotch, so that he wouldn't be without toilet paper when he was working in his bedroom at night.

By then, young Wayne had become middle Wayne and entered his rebellious phase, so naturally he wouldn't give his mother such a redundant question a friendly look anymore.

The real serious arguments between the two began when Wayne was 18.

At that time, Wayne had just been admitted to university and was full of vigor. He was preparing to accept his classmate's invitation to work a summer job for a few months to earn some extra money to help support his family.

However, Comrade Shufen still believed that Wayne's task was to study hard and that he should take this time to start working on university courses.

Having studied for 15 years, Zhongweien, whose resentment rivaled that of the Evil Sword Immortal, naturally wouldn't agree.

Then, the two had a heated argument.

Wayne doesn't remember the details of the argument very clearly. He only remembers that he and his mother were really angry that time, and they probably wanted to vent all the resentment they had accumulated over the past ten years.

As a rural woman, how could her mother possibly be a match for Wayne, who had received modern education, in an argument?

Seeing that she was about to lose, but unwilling to give up her control over her child, Comrade Shufen instinctively used her last trick.

She raised her hand and gave Wayne a big slap, a child's favorite treat.

A hard slap landed, and not only was Wayne stunned, but even his mother was frozen in place.

Wayne was often beaten as a child; slaps were not uncommon in rural education. But since he was 12 and began to truly understand things, his mother has never hit him again.

This time, after discovering that her beloved son might be out of her control, Li Shufen once again chose to take action.

Thankfully, it was Wayne who got beaten up. If it had been some humanoid creature, it probably would have already logged into some sweet potato subspace, posted Comrade Li Shufen online as a biological mother, and then made the rebellious girls collectively climax and denounce their original families.

Returning to the matter at hand, Wayne had forgotten exactly what his emotions were at the time.

He only remembers covering his face, and in that instant, the world seemed to go silent.

He looked into his mother's wide eyes, which were filled with fear, regret, and a hint of bewilderment.

That was the first and last time Li Shufen hit her son, who was already taller than her.

Wayne didn't cry or make a fuss.

He silently picked up the bag from the ground, pushed open the door, and stepped into the night outside.

His mother called after him, her voice trembling with tears.

Wayne didn't respond, but walked silently along the country road to find his classmate, and then boarded a bus to another city.

That month, my mom made countless phone calls.

Wayne answered the phone, his tone eerily calm: "Mom, I'm doing fine out there. I'll come back as soon as I've made some money."

On the other end of the phone, Li Shufen's voice lacked its usual assertiveness, only a soft, disappointed "Oh."

A month later, Wayne finished his work and returned home.

He didn't disturb his mother, but quietly stuffed the more than three thousand yuan he had earned into the old wallet at home, one bill at a time.

When he appeared at the door, Li Shufen was stunned for a moment, then rushed up and hugged him tightly, bursting into tears.

But as she held him, she pushed Wayne away, stared at his face, and then started to laugh through her tears.

That day, for the first time ever, Li Shufen didn't let him continue studying his university courses, nor did she question him about what had happened that month.

Instead, he took Wayne to the county amusement park.

That was the place Wayne had talked about countless times when he was a child, but his mother refused to let him go because she thought it would "interfere with his studies."

That day, they rode a pirate ship, a roller coaster, and ate a lot of junk food that they weren't usually allowed to eat.

Wien still finds it difficult to understand his mother's emotions.

Is it guilt? Or the joy of finding something lost again?

Or is it a sense of relief that comes from finally realizing that her son has grown up and she has to let go?

……

Let's return to the present.

After saying all that, what Wayne wants to say is that he really saw the shadow of his own mother in Tia's mother.

Especially after learning that the other party had kicked him out of the house, he secretly followed him, drove prey for him, and provided protection, etc.

Wayne thought back to when he was younger.

When he was about seven or eight years old, Wayne was beaten by his mother one time, and he cried and made a fuss about running away from home.

It was already completely dark by then, and the village streetlights were dim. He walked along the country road, sobbing, feeling both scared and hungry, and constantly thinking that bad people were behind him trying to grab him.

He stumbled along, his face streaked with tears and snot, silently cursing his mother as a terrible person.

Finally, a pair of rough, warm hands suddenly scooped him up from behind and wrapped him tightly in an embrace that smelled of cooking oil and soap.

Only then did little Wayne dare to cry out loud.

That's when Wayne realized that no matter how much he misbehaved or ran away, his mother would always be watching over him...