Two months ago, at Saint Dili Welfare Institute.
Ji Minghuan and Kong Youling huddled in the corner of the computer room, sharing an old antique keyboard from who knows where, playing the two-player mini-ga "Fireboy and Watergirl."
Their shoulders squeezed together, arms pressed against each other. The two small faces in front of the screen were very focused, eyes shining brightly.
While passing a small level, Ji Minghuan deliberately ssed around, moving the little fireboy off the switch, causing the ice boy controlled by Kong Youling to fall into the molten lava.
He giggled beside her.
The white-haired girl shot him a glance and gently bumped his shoulder with her head.
Just this one unconscious touch brought Ji Minghuan into a completely unfamiliar world that belonged only to him.
Ji Minghuan had never imagined that the shape of his ntal world would be a library.
On reflection, it made sense: from childhood to now, he only found a sense of belonging in the library at the welfare institute. Neither children nor nurses wanted to co here; it was deserted, as if the sprawling library belonged to him alone.
The library that constituted his ntal world had many differences from the real-world library. Most of the bookshelves in this library were empty, while the corners with books were divided into several areas with signs: mory, emotion, knowledge...
He and Kong Youling sat in the empty library, staring blankly at each other.
After a while, Kong Youling finally looked away from his face, raised her head, and curiously surveyed the surroundings, her snow-white bangs slightly swaying.
"This place..." she opened her mouth.
"Did you just speak?" Ji Minghuan was stunned for a long ti, as it was the first ti he’d heard Kong Youling speak.
Kong Youling also heard Ji Minghuan’s voice for the first ti, montarily frozen in place.
They tilted their heads, looking at each other like two little penguins eting on an ice surface, observing each other.
Quickly, the two realized that this place wasn’t the real world but a space housed within the spirit.
In the ntal world, mutes could speak, and deaf people could hear sounds, so before being taken to the laboratory, thanks to Kong Youling’s abilities, the two often entered each other’s ntal world to play within this month.
Kong Youling’s world was a winter street, snown piled by the roadside, children chasing and playing, lanterns hanging everywhere, with fireworks sparking in the sky;
Ji Minghuan’s world was a twilight library, the sun outside always half sunk below the horizon, with the other half forever hanging above the mountains.
Not long after this, Ji Minghuan, as an ordinary person, unexpectedly displayed astonishing talents within his "ntal world."
He once had Kong Youling try entering the ntal worlds of many people, like nurses, teachers, other children, but mostly they just took a glance and returned.
Then they soon discovered Ji Minghuan was the only one who could distort his own ntal world and change its form. Or rather... the essence of doing this was "splitting": he split off a new ntal space and used it to briefly cover the original ntal space.
It looked as if he had truly changed his ntal world.
Ji Minghuan often pulled Kong Youling into his ntal world to play.
She said she wanted to see the ocean, and he conjured up an ocean. The two sat barefoot on the beach, looking up at the sea under the sunset, watching the waves rise and fall, with the tide pushing one or two shadows of boats, flickering in the distance;
She said she wanted to see the universe, and he built a universe from the pictures in books. Like one among countless teor fragnts, the two drifted aimlessly and alone in the vacuum of the universe. While the universe was silent, their minds could speak, and they heard each other’s voices.
Yet, it must be known... even Kong Youling, as a "psychic ability user," couldn’t do these things herself.
This was the most unthinkable aspect.
Not long after, even without relying on Kong Youling, Ji Minghuan could independently enter his own ntal world.
Therefore, in the detention room for a month, he wouldn’t be bored out of his mind. Most of his hysterical behavior was just for the experinters watching from the other side of the caras.
Most of the ti, he seed to be lying in bed doing nothing, but actually, he was always roaming in the ntal world.
He could change this world arbitrarily using his imagination, like creating a television or a computer full of gas.
From the ntor’s probing these days, he should be a superpower level slightly inferior to Kong Youling’s spiritual ability user.
Because he must pass through two layers of "protective layers" outside to enter another’s true ntal world;
While Kong Youling didn’t need to, she could just reach out and surpass two protective layers to directly reach the depths of another’s heart.
Either the psychic ability had no effect on others of the sa type, or Kong Youling’s ability level was much higher than the ntor’s, so the ntor couldn’t break through Kong Youling’s ntal defense.
Since he couldn’t exploit Kong Youling, he could only co probing Ji Minghuan’s "self" from ti to ti.
Of course, the ntor would never know that as an "ordinary person," Ji Minghuan could arbitrarily manipulate his own ntal world, even change its appearance, which is why he always bamboozled the ntor during the countless probes, leaving him utterly confused.
Every ti the ntor entered his ntal world, Ji Minghuan could stand from a higher dinsional perspective like God, overlooking every corner of this world, taking in every action of the ntor.
Yet, even if the ntor did find Ji Minghuan’s "self," it would most likely be useless.
Because Ji Minghuan’s "self" wouldn’t speak, it was just an empty shell that Ji Minghuan had kicked to the corner of the library and hadn’t paid attention to since.
And the "self" the ntor saw earlier were actually all disguises created by Ji Minghuan.
Back to this mont, with the ntor’s departure, Ji Minghuan’s spirit returned to reality.
He turned over in bed, opened his eyes to gaze at the empty detention room for a while, then closed his eyelids again, falling into a tranquil sleep like a corpse.
Judging from the surveillance footage of the detention room, every experinter inside would likely think he was rely sleeping.
No one could have expected Ji Minghuan’s consciousness had long left that dark cage, arriving in the body of another youth located in Li Jing.
...
...
China Li Jing, Gu Yima District.
Controlling "Gu Wenyu’s" body, Ji Minghuan awoke from the bed in the room.
Opening his eyes, he glanced at the ti on the wall; it was "five o’clock in the morning". He reached for his phone under the pillow, turned it on, and switched off "Do Not Disturb Mode."
Imdiately, a "ding" sound ca, with several WeChat ssages popping up, all from the sa person.
[Gu Qiye: The tickets are booked, it’s a 9 o’clock flight tonight. It only takes two or three hours to get from Li Jing to Tokyo, and we’ll stay at a nearby hotel once we arrive. I’ve also booked the hotel, located right next to the airport.]
[Gu Qiye: Rember to inform Dad so he can prepare ahead.]
Ji Minghuan yawned, smacked his lips, and replied by typing on the phone’s virtual keyboard.
In the dim light, the brightness from the screen illuminated his eyes, with tears of fatigue still gathering in his eyes.
[Gu Wenyu: Oh. I’ll go call Dad. Once we’re in Tokyo, I want to visit Akihabara first. I heard it’s the "nerd sanctuary."]
"We’re heading to Japan tonight, so soon... I’m a bit curious what Big Bro would think if he runs into Little Sis and her captain in Japan."
Ji Minghuan muttered to himself, opened the "calendar" on the hopage, and glanced at the date.
Today is July 12, 2020, nine days until the Tokyo underground auction kick-off:
——There are nine days remaining.
Reviews
All reviews (0)