Chapter 153: Three Twenty-Seven [Late Night Update! Please Subscribe and Vote!]

Packing two pieces of meat patties, Lin Huang handed one to the boy.

“The one in your hand fell on the ground when you tripped earlier. You should just throw it away.”

The boy held a piece of meat in one hand but hesitated.

“Come on, give it to me.” Lin Huang reached out, asking for the dirty patty.

After a moment’s hesitation, the boy handed it over.

Lin Huang took it and casually tossed it into a nearby trash bin.

The boy stared intently at the bin, clearly reluctant to let go.

“Alright, stop staring. Eating dirty food will make you sick,” Lin Huang said with a helpless smile, patting the boy's shoulder. “If one patty isn’t enough, I’ll buy you something else.”

Hearing this, the boy finally withdrew his gaze and began to devour the patty eagerly.

Lin Huang walked alongside him, chewing on his own piece.

After only a few bites, the boy had already finished his piece and looked up, staring fixedly at the one in Lin Huang’s hand.

“Wow, you eat that fast?” Lin Huang was surprised at the boy’s speed.

He tore off a portion from his own patty and handed over the rest.

The boy took big bites once more.

They hadn’t gone far when the boy finished the second patty and again looked up at Lin Huang.

“Seriously? You’re still hungry?” Lin Huang’s face showed surprise.

The boy nodded.

“Fine, I’m not really full either,” Lin Huang admitted. He hadn’t even eaten a third of his own patty. “Let’s look for something else.”

They continued wandering through the night market.

After only a few steps, the boy stopped in front of another stall.

Lin Huang looked and saw another barbecue stand.

“This kid really loves barbecue, huh?” Lin Huang sighed, but bought two more patties, both for the boy, while ordering several large skewers for himself.

They ate as they moved toward the exit of the night market.

Soon, the boy finished the two new patties again. Still seemingly unsatisfied, he looked up at Lin Huang once more.

Lin Huang helplessly handed over the remaining two skewers.

“You’re a bottomless pit, stuffing all this in,” Lin Huang said, amazed. The patties were about the size of a palm, and he could barely manage two, yet this boy had eaten four and was still hungry.

As they walked forward, the boy suddenly stopped in front of a room.

Lin Huang thought the boy had spotted some food inside and peeked in, only to see it was the back kitchen of a barbecue shop, where a wild pig was being slaughtered.

The boy’s eyes fixed on the animal.

Lin Huang frowned. “What, you want to eat it raw too?”

He pulled the boy away, bought some more barbecue, and they continued to the night market’s exit.

Lin Huang, having eaten a little of everything along the way, was full, but the boy kept going.

Lin Huang counted: the boy had already eaten sixteen patties, not including other food items. His appetite was extraordinary. And he only ate meat—no vegetables, fruits, or sweets.

Thinking of the boy’s gaze at the slaughtered pig, Lin Huang couldn’t help but wonder, “Could it be that at home, he’s always been fed raw meat?”

But he quickly dismissed the thought.

“What’s your name?” Lin Huang finally asked.

The boy looked up at him and spoke for the first time, “Three Two Seven.”

“I asked for your name. What do those numbers mean?” Lin Huang was puzzled.

The boy pointed to himself with a finger and repeated, “Three Two Seven.”

“You’re called Three Two Seven?” Lin Huang frowned slightly—it sounded like an identification number.

The boy nodded.

Lin Huang fell silent. No decent parent would name their child with a number. Numbering someone felt like something done in a prison. This meant the boy’s background was likely not from a normal family.

The boy looked about eight or nine years old, definitely under ten. If he wasn’t from a normal family, Lin Huang felt uneasy about sending him back.

He hesitated for a moment. Knowing he would leave this place in about twenty days, it seemed improper to take the boy with him. So he chose to wait patiently for now.

Until well past two in the morning, the bustling night market gradually quieted, and the crowds dispersed.

By the time the last light in the market went out around three a.m., no one had come to claim the boy.

Lin Huang looked at him helplessly. “Looks like you’ll have to come back to the hotel with me for the night. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go to the Alliance government and see if we can find any information about your identity.”

The boy nodded.

Lin Huang then took him back to the hotel room.

“You should take a shower and then sleep,” Lin Huang said, filling the bathroom with water and placing a children’s bathrobe by the door. “Wear this when you’re done. I’ll wash your clothes later; they should be dry by morning.”

The boy undressed and went into the bathroom. Lin Huang gathered the clothes and tossed them into the automatic washer.

When the boy finished showering and changed into the bathrobe, his clothes were clean and ready.

Cleaned up, the boy looked fair and delicate—he could be considered a little handsome.

“That room is yours; the bed’s made. Go ahead and sleep,” Lin Huang said, pointing to the guest bedroom.

The boy nodded and headed there.

Lin Huang hung up the washed clothes and returned to his own room to sleep.

The next morning, around eight o’clock, Lin Huang woke up.

He was startled to find the boy already dressed in his original clothes, standing silently by the head of his bed—he didn’t know how long he’d been there.

“Hey, kid, don’t stand at the head of my bed like that anymore. When you wake up, you can play in your room or the living room,” Lin Huang said, sitting up.

Seeing the boy still unwilling to move, Lin Huang guessed the reason.

“You’re hungry, right?” he asked.

The boy nodded.

“Wait a bit. I’ll wash up, then we’ll go downstairs for breakfast.”

After about ten minutes of washing and changing, Lin Huang took the boy to the buffet downstairs.

“Take whatever you want, but don’t waste food...” Lin Huang began, then felt the last sentence was unnecessary.

He took an empty plate and filled it with food, finding a seat.

The boy also took an empty plate, wandered the dining area briefly, then returned with a mountain of fried eggs piled high. Lin Huang was both speechless and impressed that the boy managed to stack the eggs over twenty centimeters high without them toppling.

Other diners noticed and frowned; some even complained to the staff.

Soon, a female server approached.

“Sir, your child is wasting food like this. We’ll have to impose a fine.”

“He’s not wasting it, don’t worry,” Lin Huang smiled. “Kid, eat for them to see.”

The boy nodded and swiftly devoured the eggs one by one. In less than two minutes, the entire mountain of eggs was gone.

The server and other diners were stunned.

“Full?” Lin Huang asked, popping a piece of fruit into his mouth.

The boy shook his head.

“Want another plate?” Lin Huang raised an eyebrow.

The boy nodded.

“Your fried eggs aren’t enough. Bring another plate,” Lin Huang told the waitress.

“Sorry...” the waitress hurried off.

Lin Huang realized the boy’s eating habits—he only liked meat and eggs, even more selective than his chubby friend Yin Hang.

Under Lin Huang’s guidance, the boy cleared all the meat dishes from the breakfast buffet. Only then was Lin Huang satisfied and took him away.

“For years, I’ve never gotten my money’s worth at a buffet. Today, I finally did!” Lin Huang chuckled.

After breakfast, it was already half past nine. Lin Huang mounted his Azure-scaled Wolf and rode swiftly to the Alliance government office building.

With the help of staff, they soon located the relevant department.

A middle-aged woman was responsible for registrations.

“Name?”

The boy hesitated, looking at Lin Huang.

“I’m asking you,” Lin Huang encouraged him.

“Three Two Seven,” the boy answered.

“Excuse me?” the woman frowned.

“Three Two Seven,” the boy repeated.

“I’m asking for a name,” the woman said, brows knitting.

“He says his name is Three Two Seven. I asked him yesterday, too. Besides those numbers, he doesn’t speak any other words,” Lin Huang explained.

The woman glanced at the boy, then turned to Lin Huang. “Then you tell me when and where you found him.”

“Around midnight yesterday...” Lin Huang recounted the entire story. “I waited with him at the night market exit until about three a.m. No one claimed him, so I had to take him back to the hotel for the night. After breakfast this morning, I brought him here.”

“What about the Imperial Heart Ring on his hand?” the woman asked.

“He doesn’t have one. I noticed that last night when I found him.”

“In that case, we’ll have to conduct facial recognition. But I must warn you, it may not confirm his identity. If we can’t identify him, we’ll record your information and let you take the boy. If someone claims him, we’ll notify you,” she explained.

“I’m supposed to take him? But I’m leaving this base in twenty days,” Lin Huang frowned. “Can’t you keep him here?”

“We receive at least a hundred children like this every day. There’s truly no place to house them. You seem like a kind person, so we trust you to look after him. If you have financial difficulties, we can provide subsidies...” the woman patiently explained.

“Fine, just do the facial recognition,” Lin Huang said, a bit exasperated.

The woman sent a staff member to take the boy away. About ten minutes later, the staff returned with him.

“Sorry, sir, facial recognition did not identify this boy’s identity,” the staff reported.

“In that case, you’ll have to take temporary custody and register him,” the woman said, spreading her hands.

“All right...” Lin Huang sighed. He couldn’t just abandon the boy, so he reluctantly agreed.