“He’s with the Clown Gang? But why…”
Xiao Si Nuo simply couldn’t understand.
In Center City, due to the familiar unexpected circumstances of the assault, and Xu Chuyao leading the Crisis Response Team to wipe them out completely, the Clown Gang’s image in the eyes of Spirit Power Academy students was just that of a joke belonging to those powerless Spirit Power Users who were bitter and resentful.
Sometimes, even teachers would say in class, “If you don’t work hard to improve yourself now, later you’ll either end up joining the Clown Gang, or you won’t even be able to beat them.”
How could such a petty gang possibly have any connection to a young and promising genius professor?
“That depends on whether you can find out the reason yourself,” Xu Chuyao said with a gleam in her eye. “Now, get to work.”
There were no windows in the Research Institute’s dormitory, no way to see the cycle of day and night, only the air circulator blowing a constant whistling breeze.
Shen Ning’s biological clock kept her on a good schedule early to bed, early to rise, breakfast on time.
But just after breakfast, someone notified her it was time to work.
It was still the same female researcher from yesterday, who led her out of the corridor, bypassed the clean public area, and brought her into a rather strange room.
It was strange because the layout was odd. The space should have been quite large, but all Shen Ning could see was a square table, a white chair, and directly facing the chair was a metal door several meters away with nothing in between.
When she sat down as instructed, she noticed a glass window next to her, behind which sat several people, one of whom was Svina.
It was somewhat like an interrogation room in a movie, where she sat in the interrogated’s seat while the subject was locked behind the metal door several meters away, and behind the glass window were the observers.
Svina leaned close to the microphone and pressed the connect button.
“Miss Shen Ning, can you hear me?”
Shen Ning turned and asked him, “What’s behind that door?”
“You’ll find out, but what we need to know now is what it said to you.”
Suddenly, a faint voice drifted to her ears:
“I’m so cold. Can you give me some glue?”
She had heard this voice yesterday as well.
“What did it say?” Svina asked from behind the glass.
Shen Ning thought for a moment and answered, “It said it was cold. Also, what’s glue?”
Seeing the girl was cooperative, Svina answered her question, “Glue is just glue. It thinks glue can solve its problem.”
Then, with a ding, the table in front of her lit up—it was actually a display screen, showing several lines of text.
[ID 20373, Huangjia Village, Shichen County, Huang Xiaoxia, 37 years old.]
Just as she finished reading, Svina’s next instruction came: “Try talking to it.”
Obviously, this information was meant to help the girl get closer.
But Shen Ning didn’t use that; instead, she asked another question silently, without making a sound or opening her mouth—using her usual way of communicating with the Reflection.
If her guess was right…
“It fell down. So cold, it fell down. Can you give me some glue? I want to stick them back together.”
Success—it really could communicate like this.
The girl quietly took a deep breath. She roughly understood that the thing behind the door was probably what Liu Shu had called “things like us,” meaning abnormal beings caused by Strange Crystal radiation.
“Do you still remember who you are?”
“So cold. Glue. No glue. How do I know who I am?”
Shen Ning didn’t continue to prompt or use its former name to provoke it, but directly reported, “It only repeats ‘so cold’.”
Svina pondered for a moment, then tapped the button on the table. “Next one.”
Shen Ning didn’t understand what “next one” meant until she heard a rumbling sound behind the metal door, as if there was a movable cube room inside, capable of mechanical movement.
The cold woman was gone. This time, a man with a bubbly voice appeared.
“Gulu gulu, can you sing ‘Little Star’? Gulu gulu, Little Star…”
The display screen once again showed the other party’s information— a 40-year-old farmer from a small town.
Shen Ning still followed her own pace, just skimming lightly and asking a few casual questions without provoking the other party.
She remembered Liu Shu’s advice in a dream—don’t easily trust these things—and also Xu Chuyao’s words: “Be cautious in everything you do.”
“That’s right, that’s how it should be.” The Milky Ning Reflection gave a thumbs-up, “Good job, Jian.”
In the following time, the movable cube room behind the metal door changed several times. Shen Ning encountered all kinds of people, or rather things.
Some were philosophers reciting poetry behind the door; some were psychologists but sounded more like patients from their words; some were doctors performing surgeries on themselves. And then…
“Your love was buried, hate was stored away, pain should be forgiven. My love needs no words, hate no thoughts, longing burns hot~”
Some were singers, and they sang quite well.
“Because that’s not someone else singing,” the Sexually Repressed Shadow reminded her. “It’s Broken Sister singing.”
The girl was slightly startled.
So it was already midnight.
At this time, Svina stopped moving the cube rooms and opened the door on Shen Ning’s side.
“That’s it for today. Time for lunch break.”
All the other staff left, even the female researcher who had guided her earlier. The girl stepped out of the strange little room, feeling somewhat lost.
“Miss Shen Ning, it’s your second day here. You probably don’t know the way well yet.” Svina came out from the glass room on the other side and gestured politely, “Let me take you to the cafeteria.”
Shen Ning didn’t respond. “I remember someone guided me before.”
“Ah, her dining place is different from yours. Miss Shen Ning, senior technical staff have their own special cafeteria.” Svina repeated the gesture, “Please come.”
At this point, Shen Ning had no choice but to follow him.
Svina walked slowly, clearly…
“You can tell he has something to say,” said the Milky Ning Reflection, who specialized in thinking (only after Xu Chuyao had mentioned it). “And he’s deliberately avoiding others.”
As soon as it finished speaking, Svina started:
“Miss Shen Ning, regarding this morning’s work, what do you think?”
“No thoughts.” The girl’s expression was blank. “If possible, I’d like to take a break, or resign directly.”
Svina chuckled a few times, “Miss Shen Ning is quite humorous. But I still want to hear your views. Those… things you came into contact with behind the door—they used to be living, ordinary people.”
“Roughly, I know.”
The girl answered calmly and quietly as always.
Turning a corner, Svina spoke again, “I thought you’d be more emotional—sympathetic or angry for them. After all…”
“How would I be? Why should I care about them?” Shen Ning chuckled. “I don’t need to sympathize or be angry for them. I just need to care about myself. Don’t forget, I’m one of them.”
“You’re not the same. You’re the only survivor.”
“But now, I’m in the same prison with them. What’s the meaning of survival?”
Svina was momentarily speechless.
Maybe this conversation had shaken him, because he didn’t try to speak to her alone afterward.
The afternoon was spent on light work, and the day ended.
At night, lying in the dormitory, the Sexually Repressed Shadow was the first to speak:
“I can’t take it anymore. We can’t say anything here. It’s suffocating to death!”
“No campus life, no posting fan literature, no Chuyao, no training, nothing at all!”
“Sounds okay to me,” the Milky Ning Reflection said elegantly, sitting in the shadow on the wall. “Thinking at any time, using your brain often, life is quite fulfilling.”
The Sexually Repressed Shadow rolled its eyes, “If we could speak out like you, we’d be glad to think too.”
It waved from the small mirror on the bedside table, greeting others.
“I’ve got a good idea. Since we’re just sitting idle anyway and can’t talk about anything else, why don’t we tell some funny stories about Chuyao? I’ll start.”
“One day, Chuyao sneaked into my room, trying to rub some medicated oil on my head. But I had already set up an ambush. When she was about to do something bad, I suddenly jumped out and shouted, ‘You little rascal, get down, butt up!’ Of course, she refused and stuck out her tongue while trying to run. I grabbed her and lifted her up…”
Amid the Sexually Repressed Shadow’s suppressed voice, the girl closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
Xiao Si Nuo spent more time than expected; there were only so many newspapers, and she even clipped related materials. But this time was different from before, because Xu Chuyao had given a conclusion—like a thesis question—and it wasn’t easy to get it right.
A few days later, Xiao Si Nuo came before Xu Chuyao holding a stack of clippings, dark circles under his eyes but spirits still good. Xiao Hua followed by his side.
“I pieced together Svina’s life story. This guy is practically a winner in life.”
He spread out all the clippings for Xu Chuyao to see.
“After graduating from Fred Academy with excellent grades, he was quickly noticed by the Rockmorgan Family and entered the family’s academic department for further study. Since he’s an Earth Element, his talent for researching Spirit Ore is extraordinary. Within a few years, he joined the Research Institute and showed great enthusiasm.”
These reports came from the Freedom Gazette, Guogen Daily, and Voice of Fred, all telling the same story—the genius Svina’s footprints at Fred Academy, recounting various deeds and relationships during his school days.
His childhood friends, his good brothers, his first love, even some gossip about a mistress were all there.
“His post-graduation career is too smooth, so I thought if something made him mentally ill later, it had to be from his student days. So I searched a lot and found something strange.”
Xiao Si Nuo gestured to the girl beside him. Xiao Hua stepped forward and placed an old newspaper in front of Xu Chuyao.
“During Svina’s student days, he wasn’t shining alone. He had a close classmate known as the Fred Twins. But none of the reports on his past mentioned this person after graduation.”
Curly hair showed a sharp, instinctive look and slammed another stack of newspapers on the table.
“That only indicates one possibility—that person’s matters were unsavory and were cut out. I searched many reports by time and confirmed this event.”
[Tragedy of Freedom! A Fred Academy student drunkenly fought in a nightclub, five innocent victims died.]