Chapter 1 Sleep Talk
"Restricted level psychic, number 1002 - 'Ji Minghuan', the instructor is here to visit, please prepare for interrogation as soon as possible."
At the top of the ceiling, a cold and hard command sounded from the speaker-like broadcasting equipment, breaking the silence that had long enveloped the prison cell. Incandescent white light tubes lit up in rows, and the cold light spread down, filling every corner of the room.
A series of extremely aggressive movements, like a sudden rainstorm, fell into an uninhabited lake, stirring up the fish swimming at the bottom of the lake.
Ji Minghuan, lying on his side like a fish on the plain white and thin bed, woke up from his sleep.
He slowly turned over, his thin face facing the ceiling.
The boy in hospital gown had his eyelids trembling slightly, as if the light coming towards him was too dazzling.
His bloodless lips opened slightly and he yawned. Then, like a machine executing a set program, he raised his hand stiffly and slowly and rubbed his temple.
"Let's just die..."
He whispered to himself and sighed languidly. His right hand, which was kneading the bridge of his nose, slowly dropped back to the pillow and drooped on the bed like a kite with a broken string.
He lay there for a while, motionless like a corpse. It was not until he heard the annoying sound of footsteps that he ended his five-second nap and suddenly opened his heavy eyelids.
Blink.
The dilated pupils contracted under the stimulation of the cold light, and the retina completed focusing in an instant.
Raising his clear eyes, the boy in hospital gown stared motionlessly at the familiar silver-white ceiling.
Ji Minghuan was staring at the surveillance camera under the ceiling.
He had a blank expression on his face, as if he had not yet woken up. As he listened to the footsteps getting closer, his nose twitched slightly.
It was probably because his sense of smell was so sensitive that it was different from that of ordinary people, just like that of small animals, so his impression of a person was first the smell, and then other aspects - to be honest, he didn't like the astringent smell of disinfectant on the "mentor", which made him feel that this person was a bit artificial, and it always reminded him of the doctors in the welfare home who regularly came to inject immune serum into the children. They always wore masks, revealing only their cold eyebrows and noses, and held the needle in their hands, and a sense of alienation came over them.
After confirming the visitor by smelling the scent, Ji Minghuan turned his head from the pillow and glanced at the entrance of the prison cell.
In his sight, the isolation doors made of unknown metal material opened one by one to both sides. At the end of the corridor, a man with a shiny back hair and a white coat came as expected. He walked in with a smell of disinfectant.
The steps were light and slow, but the sound of footsteps still echoed clearly in the prison cell.
Ji Minghuan leaned against the headboard, sat up silently, and lifted the quilt covering his legs.
After a while, the man finally walked through the heavily opened electronic door and stepped into the prison cell.
"Good evening, teacher... Is it that you always have to come when I'm sound asleep?"
Ji Minghuan said hello while looking sideways at the man. His tone was casual, as if he was greeting an old friend.
What was reflected in his eyes was not a fake person as distant and indifferent as disinfectant, but on the contrary, it was a warm face. It is no exaggeration to say that this face can completely replace all the characters who symbolize intellect and justice in TV dramas: either a smart and gentle elder, or a wise man who is good at seeing through people's hearts.
But this did not affect Ji Minghuan's dislike for him.
If it were in the past, that is, when Ji Minghuan was still in the welfare home, whenever he met someone he disliked, he would make full use of the special nature of his identity as a "fatherless and motherless little brat" and act unreasonably and throw a tantrum, so that he could get away from the other person as he wished.
However, there are disadvantages to doing so, that is, the director will be locked up in the attic of the library - that place is recognized as the "confinement room" by the children in the welfare home, which is extremely scary for them, especially in the dead of night. But Ji Minghuan doesn't care, even if he stays alone in the attic at night, he is not afraid, so he can make the director very angry every time.
But now it is clear that he is still a "fatherless and motherless little kid". He has just changed the place, but he can no longer rely on this identity to use the same tricks.
The reason was obvious: Ji Minghuan was locked up in this strange place that looked like an iron box. His every word and action was monitored these days. There were no windows, only vents, so he couldn't see the sky and couldn't tell the difference between day and night. When the lights were off, the surveillance box on the ceiling looked like the eyes of the devil, which made people feel cold all over.
The key point is, why was he imprisoned here?
In fact, even Ji Minghuan, the person involved, couldn't figure it out. He just found it unbelievable. Every night he would lie on the bed, prop his arms behind his head, stare at the dark ceiling and think carefully about the whole process:
——About a month ago, he was still staying in an orphanage in Lijing, the capital of China. One night, he went to sleep in the dormitory of the orphanage, and when he woke up, he found himself in this cell. The horrifying thing was that he was unconscious during the transfer here, as if he had moved instantly. Of course, it is not ruled out that someone drugged him.
Then, from the voices coming from the broadcasting equipment on the ceiling, he learned some not-so-good news: this damn place was an experiment.
And Ji Minghuan... is their research subject.
That's right, the research subject. They repeatedly emphasized that Ji Minghuan was a restricted-level supernatural being, standing at the top of the rating sequence established by the United Nations, with unspeakable potential hidden in his body, and some even predicted that he would destroy the world.
So they hoped that Ji Minghuan would cooperate with their research, and threatened that if he did not, his fate would be self-evident.
But Ji Minghuan had no idea what was going on. When he first arrived, he explained helplessly: Since I am a person with special abilities, or what you call the most dangerous rating sequence, how could I not know it myself?
No one paid attention to his rebuttal.
After that, whenever he was questioned by the other party, he could only hold his chin and roll his eyes and tell them that he had some supernatural power, and that he was just a Muggle that could be found everywhere, as rare as a dirty stray dog, and that you could find a lot of them on the street. Are you sure you didn't find the wrong person? Although there are not many people with the surname Ji in China, what if there is someone with the same name as me?
Unfortunately, the experimenters were unwilling to believe his words, thinking that it was just a meaningless excuse, and their attitude was quite cold and harsh.
At this point, what else can Ji Minghuan do?
All he could do was to accept his fate, lying on this hard bed like a mummy every day. When he woke up, he would hold his cheek with his hands and stare at the hard ceiling in a daze.
There wasn't even a TV in this shabby place. When he was bored, he could only draw circles on the ground with his fingers, trying to let his imagination run wild. But staying in this tin box, he felt as if his imagination was also restrained. His brain was like a broken music box, clicking and unable to move, but the tinnitus never stopped.
It was difficult to get a breath of fresh air here, and no one would pay attention to him whether he yelled at the monitor above his head or rolled around on the too-clean floor. But once he did something self-harming, the collar on his neck would emit an electric current, paralyzing his whole body, and then inject a sedative into his neck to make him fall asleep quickly.
After all this, Ji Minghuan had completely given up struggling. Anyone with claustrophobia would go crazy if they stayed here. Even if a normal person was put in here for a long time, they would most likely suffer from schizophrenia.
From then on, whenever the "mentor" and the "officer" came to visit, it was the only time Ji Minghuan could communicate with others in this iron box. He found joy in misery, and he didn't dislike their coming.
Speaking of these two people, Ji Minghuan sincerely thought that their performance was very interesting.
The reason why the "mentor" is called a mentor is because he claims to be here to teach Ji Minghuan how to control his supernatural powers. He looks like a good person, gentle and tolerant, and he guides people step by step;
The "officer" was just as his name suggested, he wore a military uniform and was stern and mean. He looked like a bad guy, violent and gloomy. He often took corporal punishment measures against Ji Minghuan and scolded him harshly at every turn.
One of them plays the good cop and the other the bad cop, and the personalities they play contrast with each other. Their methods can be described as "whip and sugar" - this process is very effective whether it is training a dog or a child.
Fortunately, Ji Minghuan was different from ordinary children. He knew what tricks these two were playing, so he was not wary of the violent and aggressive officer, but the mentor in front of him who seemed kind but was actually dangerous.
He understood this truth. This mentor was the one who tamed him, and the officer was just a guy playing the villain. After realizing that this officer in German uniform was just being mean for the sake of being mean, Ji Minghuan's meanness lost its original offensiveness.
When the officer scolded him, the instructor would often pretend to be embarrassed behind him, nodding slightly and pushing his glasses up to look as if he couldn't bear to watch.
Ji Minghuan naturally saw this scene. After all, this was what the other party wanted him to see.
He scoffed at this but didn't show it.
What's funny is that when the mentor met with him, he did not directly use words to belittle the officer or denounce his behavior, perhaps because he thought that doing so would seem more or less false and deliberate.
Even when meeting with Ji Minghuan alone, the instructor would defend the officer: "He is just like that. We don't like the way he does things. We all think he is too rude and hasty. You don't have to take it to heart. In fact, we are all doing this for your own good. If you can understand how dangerous your special ability is as soon as possible and cooperate with our work, there will be less trouble in the future."
Ji Minghuan just held his cheek and nodded nonchalantly at that time, still not taking it to heart. Because he knew very well that whether these people played the good cop or the bad cop, there was no difference in essence: they were just bad guys who locked the child in the laboratory for more than half a month without saying a word.
All in all, during the day or at night, this prison cell once again welcomed the time for the mentor to visit.
The tall and thin man in a white coat pulled a chair and sat down at the table not far from the bed. He adjusted his glasses on his nose and looked up at Ji Minghuan.
He said, "I'm sorry to interrupt your rest time."
"It's okay. You're always like this anyway. Next time you come, you'll be the same as always without even saying hello."
Ji Minghuan shrugged, made some verbal teasing, and got out of bed.
He walked barefoot on the cold ground, dragged his thin body to the table, and then pulled a chair to sit opposite the tutor. He propped his chin with his right hand, rested his elbow on the table, and said nonchalantly: "Well... why don't you just tell me what you want to talk to me about."
"Let me make it short. I have asked some questions from the orphanage where you stayed before," the instructor said. "They all said that when you were a child, you liked to lock yourself up and wrap your body with rolls of paper towels. That's why the children in the orphanage called you a 'freak'. Are these things true?"
"Ah... is that true? Anyway, I can't remember it clearly."
Ji Minghuan tilted his head slightly, muttering to himself as he recalled the past. After a while, he raised his head, stared at his teacher unhappily, and asked in a strange tone: "Even if what you said is true, don't you think it's normal for people to be silly when they are young?"
"That's true." The instructor smiled. "I heard from the nurses that when you were in the orphanage, you liked to sneak into the computer room to play games?"
“That’s true.”
“What type of games do you like to play the most?”
"Let me think... What Remains of Edith Finch, or Wasted City?"
The instructor shook his head.
"What a shame, I haven't even heard of it."
"Oh, that's a pity." Ji Minghuan responded nonchalantly with his eyelids drooping. He raised his fingers and tapped the table, his eyes moving to the surveillance camera on the ceiling, and then to the instructor's face. Then he asked: "Speaking of which, since you insist that I have superpowers, then what are my superpowers? Are they really as powerful as you say?"
"According to our test, you should be a 'reality-affecting' psychic, which is also the most dangerous category in our assessment system." The instructor paused, "By the way, since you said you like playing games, your ability is likely to appear in front of you in a form related to 'games'."
"Why?"
Ji Minghuan raised his eyebrows and looked up, seeming to be slightly interested.
Seeing the child's wandering gaze finally fixed on his face, the teacher couldn't help but chuckle twice, thinking that he was very humorous and kept the suspense for a while. It was not until Ji Minghuan's eyes began to show impatience that he raised his fingers and "tapped" the table, and began a detailed explanation.
"Any form of superpower will help the superpower user to understand it."
"For example, before awakening, a person with special powers was a fashionable and trendy woman. Then one night, she might suddenly dream of a huge LED billboard, which displayed the 'selling points' and usage methods of her special powers in the form of rotating pictures."
Having said that, the instructor clasped his fingers together and looked up to meet Ji Minghuan's gaze.
"As for you... since you like playing video games, your ability will most likely appear in this form - it will be made into a game level to test you and guide you, thus helping you to clearly understand how to use this ability."
"Game levels..." Ji Minghuan thought thoughtfully.
He looked up at his mentor and asked in confusion, "Why do I feel as if you are talking about superpowers having their own minds and being able to help the user adapt to its existence?"
The instructor shook his head, then raised his hand to straighten the glasses frame on his nose.
He said, "I wanted to deny this statement, but maybe it's just as you said: superpowers have their own will. After all, this is something beyond the scope of science. Throughout history, many people in the West have regarded people with superpowers as God's people and superpowers as miracles. So they believe that superpowers contain God's will, and those who have lost control of their superpowers have angered God and been punished, and have no choice but to sink into madness."
"I see." Ji Minghuan seemed to understand but not quite.
After thinking for a while, he added, "Speaking of which, besides computer games, I also like to play cards. It's actually the only interesting things in the orphanage, but it's much better than this damn place."
"and you……"
"Then one day I might dream of a deck of cards, and on each card is written how to use my superpowers?" Ji Minghuan interrupted him and asked first.
"That's right."
The tutor picked up the thermos on the table and took a sip of the warm tea in the cup.
As he screwed the lid on, he looked at the boy across the table and asked with a smile in his eyes, "Why are you suddenly interested in superpowers?"
"After all, I have nothing to do." Ji Minghuan said sarcastically, "It's better to say... you didn't give me the right to have fun. What else can I do here except facing the wall and thinking about my mistakes? I'm almost bored to death, okay?"
"I'm sorry. Actually, we had no choice."
There was an apology in the instructor's voice.
With a smile on his face, he looked at Ji Minghuan silently for a while, and then slowly said: "By the way, the deaf-mute girl who came with you before... She is actually an albino, which is really rare."
As he spoke, he restrained his expression and asked tentatively, "Do you want to know about her recent situation?"
Hearing this, Ji Minghuan's gaze suddenly paused, and his eyes fixed on the table for a few seconds.
The thin body wrapped in a hospital gown was motionless, frozen in the chair like a statue, or like a pale paper cutting cut out of an album.
After a moment, he opened his mouth and the corners of his lips moved silently.
"she……"
Because he had been locked up in here for too long and had never had his hair cut, he lowered his head and his eyes were covered by his hanging hair.
He didn't know why, but he seemed to not be able to hear clearly... the sound in the cell was probably coming from his own throat.
"Um?"
The mentor looked up from behind his glasses and gave him a confused look.
"She has a name." After a long silence, Ji Minghuan spoke, his voice still very low.
"What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly."
"She's not called the deaf-mute girl. 'Kong Youling', that's her name, I hope you can remember it."
"Oh, sorry, I wasn't paying attention to myself just now..."
"Is she okay?" Ji Minghuan interrupted him.
"She also..."
The instructor smiled warmly, and he looked up and was about to answer, but he suddenly froze in place halfway through his words. At that moment, he met Ji Minghuan's gaze.
The boy across the table nodded slightly, drooping his shoulders, his hands hidden under the table like cut reeds. His face was expressionless, but his dark pupils were terrifyingly empty, like a foreign creature in a deep ravine, choosing its prey.
After a while, the instructor came back to his senses from his shock, turned his head to avoid his gaze, and said, "She is safe now. Although she is considered a rare psychic by our people, objectively speaking, her danger level is far less than yours, so she is relatively freer. Her actions are not restricted as much."
At this point, the instructor paused for a moment and met Ji Minghuan's gaze again. He asked in a low voice:
"Do you want to meet her?"
"when?"
"Tomorrow. I'll bring her here to see you."
"You didn't lie to me?"
"No," the teacher shook his head and denied calmly, "I have no need to lie to you. You and she are both very good children. I will try my best to find a chance for you to meet."
But after these seemingly sincere words fell, what responded to him was deathly silence.
Seeing that the other party was still silent, the tutor picked up the thermos and said, "In short... let's end today's conversation here. Go to bed early." As he said that, he stood up from the chair, turned around and walked towards the exit.
"Goodbye, mentor."
Just as he was saying goodbye to him, Ji Minghuan suddenly raised his eyes and called him.
"Wait... I have another question."
The footsteps stopped abruptly, and the hem of the instructor's white coat had already swept across the metal threshold.
He stopped where he was, half his body turned sideways.
"What's the problem?"
"When can I leave here?" Ji Minghuan added in a low voice, "I... want to go back to the welfare home."
The instructor did not answer immediately, but stood there with his hands behind his back. After a moment of silence, he raised his hand to adjust his glasses on the bridge of his nose, smiling as always.
"If you behave like a good kid and cooperate with us, then maybe... you can leave when you grow up."
Finally, he gave this vague response and left without looking back.
Ji Minghuan sat on the chair expressionlessly, quietly watching his mentor's back as he walked away.
He knew in his heart that he would most likely never be able to leave this laboratory, or... by the time he was qualified to "leave" here, he would have become a corpse that could not open its eyes.
As the sound of footsteps faded away, the instructor's figure was soon covered by the metal door that closed. Then the lights in the "bedroom" went out one by one - if this iron box could be called a bedroom.
Naturally, Ji Minghuan fell back into boredom and had to stand up from his chair.
It was pitch black all around, and he couldn't see his hand in front of him. Fortunately, he had memorized every detail of the prison cell, so he walked silently to the bed, turned around, stretched out his arms, kept a spread-eagle posture, leaned backwards, and collapsed on the bed listlessly.
He was too lazy to even put on the quilt and just closed his eyes. Surprisingly... Ji Minghuan did not feel lost, but had already gotten used to it.
The silent prison cell, the cold and reflective surveillance camera, the instructive mentor and the moody officer made up Ji Minghuan's life for the past month.
In the darkness, the consciousness of the boy in the hospital gown gradually became blurred, as if he was sinking into an unknown dimension.
A sudden feeling of weightlessness lingered over my whole body, as if I was falling rapidly from the rooftop of a high-rise building. The glass curtain wall was dyed yellow by the afterglow of the setting sun, reflecting my distorted figure falling at high speed. The next moment, it seemed as if I had fallen into the icy sea of Siberia. A solitary moon was hanging high in the sky, and in the moonlight, the shadow of the cod was swimming slowly under the ice.
In the end, all that was left was an unconscious blue, so cold that it made people's hearts palpitate and lose all consciousness.
He fell asleep.
【Welcome, our top player. 】
[The "Infinite Split Game" has been loaded, and the next step is to create a "game character". ]
This was the last sound he heard.
(End of this chapter)
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