Today, the Confinent Room completely defied its usual dreary and desolate reputation, instead hosting an incredibly bizarre scene.
Under the cold fluorescent lights, a cloud drifted leisurely in mid-air, carrying two children clad in hospital gowns.
Ji Minghuan sat cross-legged on the Sorsault Cloud. From this novel vantage point, even the overly familiar Confinent Room seed to take on a completely new appearance.
He lowered his eyes. The Sorsault Cloud beneath him continuously shifted colors between pure white and a vibrant rainbow. The body of the cloud churned and rolled like ocean waves, emitting a noisy, rhythmic chugging sound similar to a steam engine.
"Whoa... This is amazing," Ji Minghuan marveled.
He leaned forward slightly, reaching out from the top of the Sorsault Cloud to pat the penguin-shaped broadcasting device. A cold, tallic sensation pressed against his palm.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Sorsault Cloud hadn't floated past it yet, he gave the penguin a vicious slap.
"Smack!" The sharp sound echoed throughout the entire Confinent Room.
At that very mont, the researchers watching through the monitor witnessed the scene. Dark lines ford on their faces as they thought, 'Just what was the point of us modifying this broadcasting device for you...?'
"Aweso, right?"
Sun Changkong placed her baseball cap between her legs. She curled her lips into a grin, revealing a small canine tooth, and bumped her shoulder playfully against Ji Minghuan's.
"Aweso, totally aweso..."
Ji Minghuan offered his absentminded praise while leaning backward. He lay down on the soft, fluffy cloud, feeling as though he had just collapsed onto a damp, tide-swept sandy beach.
He closed his eyes to enjoy the sensation for a mont before turning his head toward the triumphant Sun Changkong. "What other abilities can you use?"
Observing her face from such a close distance, he noticed a light smattering of freckles across her cheeks. Her features and overall deanor were rather boyish, but altogether, she still looked quite delicate.
She shook her head. "I can only use this ability for now. All my other powers are sealed in the upper layers."
"Then how are you supposed to break the seal?"
"The Tutor said he would help
unlock the seal when the ti cos," Sun Changkong explained. "I have no idea how to do it myself."
"You really trust the Tutor, huh."
"You haven't made any mistakes, so you don't trust him..." Sun Changkong rubbed her cute, upturned nose. "I hate myself. I hate losing control, and I hate seeing innocent people die because of my mistakes. That's why I feel like the Tutor's help is really useful to ."
"You're right... It's exactly because I haven't done anything wrong. I haven't killed anyone, yet I was inexplicably slapped with the label of a 'world destroyer' and locked up in here for research. Tell , how could I possibly trust or like anyone in this place?"
"But... wouldn't it be too late if we waited until you made a mistake?" Sun Changkong pondered. "Assuming you really possess the power to destroy the world."
Ji Minghuan fell silent. He propped his palms behind him on the surface of the cloud, tilting his head back to stare blankly at the ceiling.
After a long while, he let out a sigh. "Fine, your logic is absolutely flawless. Basically, I'm at fault no matter what I do. You guys won't be satisfied until the villain script is permanently welded to my hands, right?"
Pausing for a mont, he began to ramble his complaints.
"Just think about it... The Tutor and the others talk about destroying the world every single day. But if the world were really that easy to destroy, it would have happened by now. In thousands of years of human history, not a single Esper has managed to bring about the apocalypse. Let alone an utterly ordinary Muggle like ."
"Honestly, I don't know either..." Sun Changkong shook her head. "You don't feel like the kind of person who would destroy the world. When I heard the Tutor ntion you before, I assud you were a completely bad seed. I was even worried you were going to beat
up when we first t."
"I wouldn't dare, absolutely wouldn't dare," Ji Minghuan replied listlessly. "You are the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and I'm just a lowly commoner. As long as you don't pull a Golden Cudgel out of your ear and beat the living daylights out of , I should be thanking my lucky stars and kowtowing to you on this Sorsault Cloud."
Amidst their soft banter, the Sorsault Cloud continued to drift aimlessly, bringing them within inches of the cold fluorescent tubes overhead.
Sun Changkong suddenly looked up and told him, "My na isn't 'Great Sage Equaling Heaven.' I'm Sun Changkong."
Ji Minghuan waved it off nonchalantly. "I know your na. You've probably heard mine too, right?"
"I don't think it counts without a proper introduction. What does a na matter if you only hear it from soone else's mouth?"
"Then I am Ji Minghuan. Hello, Sun Changkong."
Sun Changkong remained silent for a mont. "Does this an you're the first friend I've made here?"
"You could say that. But you aren't the first friend I've made here. I have two other friends locked up in this place."
"Then they must be real tough characters too?"
"Yep."
"It's nice to be able to make friends with you. Back in my village, everyone called
an annoying feral child. No one wanted to be my friend, and the other kids would always throw stones at ." Sun Changkong stared into space, her lips trembling slightly. "Later on, a kindhearted family finally adopted this feral child. I finally had people who treated
so well. They didn't throw stones at
and treated
like their own family... but then my actions ended up getting them killed..."
She paused, a self-deprecating smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Isn't it hilarious?"
"Why do you say you got them killed?" Ji Minghuan reasoned. "A Mythic-tier Anomaly Fragnt—isn't it completely normal for it to lose control? Anyone carrying a thing like that would inevitably lose control of it."
Sun Changkong shook her head. "You don't need to make excuses for . If I hadn't gone up to the mountains to play that day, if I hadn't found those ruins, none of that would have ever happened."
"But even if it wasn't you, soone else would have found those ruins eventually. Sooner or later, another person would have bound with Sun Wukong's Anomaly Fragnt."
"That's not true. The Tutor said there are probably less than ten people in the entire world who could be accepted by a Mythic-tier Fragnt. If soone else had found those ruins, they wouldn't necessarily have been accepted by it, and then... those things wouldn't have happened."
"It's fine. It really makes no difference who among you found those ruins, or whether they would have been accepted by the fragnt."
Sun Changkong looked confused. "Why?"
Ji Minghuan patted his chest and declared with absolute seriousness, "Because I'm going to destroy the world sooner or later. Don't worry, everyone is going to die anyway, it's just a matter of when. Does thinking about it that way make you feel less guilty?"
Sun Changkong stared blankly for a second before slowly turning her head to gaze at his overly earnest expression. "You're such an interesting person." She laughed, a bright, genuine sound.
The two locked eyes on the Sorsault Cloud. Just then, the Tutor's warm, genial voice drifted from the broadcasting device. "Ji Minghuan, mind what you say. We will turn a blind eye this ti, but there won't be a next. You can't go around saying such dangerous things in the future."
"It was just a joke. Is there really a need to take it so seriously?" Ji Minghuan sighed.
Sun Changkong thought for a mont before suddenly asking, "Do you have a lot of friends?"
"Of course. I was the person with the most friends at the orphanage. All the kids called
the 'Boy King of the Orphanage'."
"This feral child doesn't understand English," Sun Changkong pouted.
"Honestly, I don't know English either. I was just spouting nonsense." Ji Minghuan twitched his lips, swiftly changing the subject. "Speaking of which, I've been aning to ask: why is your hair red?"
"It's not dyed! I am a natural hair advocate."
"I know, it doesn't look dyed at all."
"Well... During the second year after I obtained Sun Wukong's Anomaly Fragnt, my hair just naturally turned red. It was a really light shade at first, but it got darker and darker until it finally beca what it is now."
As she spoke, Sun Changkong absentmindedly twirled a strand of her dark red hair.
"It actually looks really good. Seeing it makes
want to dye my hair too."
"What color do you want to dye it?"
"White."
"Why white?"
"I have a friend who also has white hair," Ji Minghuan answered without hesitation. "I want to be just like her, so she won't feel like she looks weird."
Sun Changkong was taken aback. She hugged her knees and stayed silent for a mont before responding softly, "Oh, I see."
"How old are you?" Ji Minghuan asked next.
"?" Sun Changkong's eyes suddenly lit up. "Yesterday was my birthday. I just turned twelve."
"Then I'm a few months older than you. It turns out you're the one who should be calling
big brother."
"I don't care. I'm going to be the big boss."
"Alright, boss lady. You're the one with the Golden Cudgel, you call the shots."
Right on cue, the Tutor's voice echoed from the broadcasting device once again. "Alright, that is enough chatting for today. Ji Minghuan, Sun Changkong, it is ti for you to go to sleep... Get ready, then step down from the Sorsault Cloud. Be careful not to fall."
Hearing this, Sun Changkong had no choice but to steer the cloud downward until it hovered just above the Confinent Room's silvery-white floor. She tugged at Ji Minghuan's sleeve, carefully pulling him off the Sorsault Cloud as if terrified he might actually take a tumble.
"See? The Tutor just loves interrupting people when they're having a good ti," Ji Minghuan remarked, pointing at the penguin perched overhead.
"That penguin is actually pretty cute," Sun Changkong replied, her focus entirely different from his as she stared at the broadcasting device.
"Never mind. You should head back and rest too," Ji Minghuan said. "I'm going to watch so TV."
"Bye-bye..."
Sun Changkong bid him farewell, pulling her baseball cap back on and clasping her hands behind her back.
"Bye."
Ji Minghuan sat back down by the television and waved at her.
Sun Changkong also freed one hand from behind her back, returning the wave before turning toward the exit.
She tilted her head slightly, peeking out from beneath the brim of her cap to cast one last, reluctant glance around the room.
Realizing that Ji Minghuan didn't seem to be looking at her anymore, she finally walked out without looking back.
With a heavy "Clang!" the thick tal doors shut tight, plunging the iron box back into pitch-black darkness where one couldn't even see their own fingers.
Ji Minghuan watched television in the dark for a little while longer before clicking the remote control to shut it off. He lay back down quietly on his bed.
'Tomorrow, my Host Body Two will arrive in Venice. Hopefully, I'll be able to scout out a decent demon. At the very least, it should be a bit more useful than the Shadow Demon.'
He pondered for a mont before his eyes suddenly flew wide open. 'Ah, speaking of which, Xia Pingzhou's heart is still with Jack the Ripper. That despicable woman actually had the nerve not to remind
to get it back. Is she treating my heart as a collectible? It seems I'll have to carve out so ti during this vacation to et up with that bastard...'
With those indignant thoughts in mind, Ji Minghuan forcefully squeezed his eyes shut. He retreated into the Library of the ntal World to read for a while.
Bored out of his mind, he flipped through the pages of a book while casually pulling on so ropes. He swung the Black Cocoon's corpse, then gave the Chess Player's corpse a swing, and finally jostled Shasha's corpse around.
When his eyelids grew too heavy to keep open, he let go of the ropes suspending the corpses. He let out a long yawn, leaned against one of the library's bookshelves, tilted his head to the side, and closed his eyes.
A crimson sunset cast slanted rays of light across the young boy's profile. Beside him, the faint phantom of a white-haired girl leaned gently against his shoulder. Before long, the two of them drifted into a deep, peaceful slumber.
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