Still by the beach, I stepped on the soft sand, one foot deep and one foot shallow.

After walking a long way, I saw some movement behind the rocks ahead.

"You little slut, move again and I'll kill you! Let me have some fun, I'll let you go after I'm done." A man's voice said fiercely.

"Wuwu—" a girl sobbed weakly.

I stopped, my blood seemed to freeze in that moment.

Hearing those disgusting voices, I felt like I was back in the orphanage when I was eight, in a closed classroom with no light.

I reflexively wanted to run.

The girl seemed to have seen my figure, like catching a lifeline.

She was about to call out to me, but when she saw my figure clearly in the dim moonlight, the light in her eyes suddenly went out.

"Damn you, you filthy whore! Still struggling?" The man's voice rang out again, followed by the heavy sound of slaps and punches.

She paused, then resolutely turned her head away, no longer looking at me, her crying and struggling stopped.

At that moment, my heart felt like it was being tightly squeezed, my body uncontrollably took two steps back, shaking my head frantically.

I knew why she suddenly fell silent.

Because she saw that I was a girl.

A fragile and pretty girl, just like her, powerless.

As I watched the motionless girl and the ugly man on top of her, I knew she didn't want to involve me.

I bit my lower lip until it bled, but still couldn't stop the tears from falling uncontrollably.

Why?

I wondered.

The experience of being sexually assaulted in the orphanage made my legs tremble, I almost lost control of my fear just now.

I've been living so miserably, no one likes me, they all curse me and tell me to die.

But just now, that girl wanted me to live.

She wanted me to live.

She looked so young, like seventeen or eighteen, probably still a student, she must be different from me, right?

Will many people love her?

She's at the most radiant age, maybe there are boys who secretly admire her, wanting to give her a pink letter when they graduate.

She might be the precious one in her parents' eyes, maybe she has doting older brothers and sisters.

If she dies, the people who love her will be very sad, right?

I suddenly remembered the fairy tales the orphanage headmother used to read to me when I was a child, she told me that the Monkey King wears a red cape.

I asked her, "What is the Monkey King?"

She said, "He's the hero who defeats the bad guys and protects the weak!"

So one day, I secretly draped a red bedsheet over my shoulders.

"Xiaosui also wants to be the Monkey King!" I said.

The headmother smiled at me, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes were gentle:

"Alright, then Xiaosui must also defeat the bad guys!"

...

So it turns out... even someone like me, like mud, wants to play the hero for once.