This comforted Xia Tian a lot—after all, Yi Heye was the only person he could talk to.
Back in the dorm, Xia Tian collapsed onto his bed in despair—lying down made his back hurt, but lying face down wasn't much more comfortable either.
He tossed and turned in bed, groaning, and secretly wiped away a tear before raising his head to try and distract himself.
"You know what? I've never seen such a perverted person before." Xia Tian recalled with extreme pain, "They even went after my brain-computer interface..."
Upon hearing this, Yi Heye noticed the reddened skin on his face and asked in surprise, "What do you mean...?"
Surely not? Surely not even such a small hole...
"Ah, that's not what I meant!" Xia Tian realized her slip of the tongue and corrected herself, "When they were doing *that*, they connected some kind of machine to my brain-computer interface. I don't know if they were trying to copy all the weird stuff in my head... but I was so scared, I couldn't get anything weird in my head at all..."
These words surprised Yi Heye. Logically speaking, a brain-computer interface cannot copy the imagination and memories in a person's brain. He couldn't understand what this so-called machine was for.
"Speaking of which, how old are you?" Xia Tian asked, wiping away her tears. "We look about the same age..."
"..." Faced with this topic again, Yi Heye was speechless.
He wanted to tell Xia Tian that he was almost ten years older than him, but then he remembered that his current identity was "He Ye," a poor underage boy.
So, he could only reluctantly say, "...Seventeen."
Summer showed her only smile of the day: "Then I'm still your brother."
Yi Heye didn't want to talk anymore, so he turned around and climbed onto the bed.
Behind him, Xia Tian, who was left speechless, was once again trapped in the nightmare that had just ended. He sighed, tears streaming down his face from the pain of his wounds.
He wasn't unfamiliar with hardship, but this was different from being cheated out of money on a construction site or being verbally abused by a restaurant owner in the back.
He thought he had already witnessed the darkness of society, but he never expected that the life he experienced would continue to shatter his cognitive limits step by step.
He sighed heavily once—when he was a child, he always thought that only adults sighed like that, but now it was his turn.
Summer realized that she had turned 18 last month—she had become an adult.
As summer drifted into a hazy, confused state of mind, Yi Heye was trying to fall asleep.
He didn't seem to have exerted much that day, but that didn't stop him from feeling so tired that his eyelids were drooping.
However, whenever Yi Heye closed his eyes, he always felt that something was missing.
He knew what to point out, but since there were people around, he didn't want to bring it out.
Yi Heye glanced back at Xia Tian quietly, and after confirming that the child was focused on her sorrow, he took the little sheep doll that had been hidden from the pillow and hugged it to his chest.
Sleeping here, he didn't dare remove his prosthetics. After turning over, his two arms were just big enough to hug each other—he rarely hugged anything in bed, but this little lamb was an exception.
The soft, fluffy lamb nestled comfortably in his arms, and the faint scent of sandalwood dispelled the unease of the unfamiliar environment, allowing Yi Heye to quickly calm down and drift off to sleep.
However, just a second before he was about to fall asleep, Xia Tian suddenly exclaimed softly from the other end of the line: "Where did you get the little sheep? Why didn't I receive it!"
Yi Heye was startled and hurriedly opened his eyes. Just as he was about to turn around and hide the lamb, he heard Xia Tian plead, "Can I hold it for one night?"
Yi Heye was fully awake this time, and decisively shoved the lamb back into his arms: "No way!"
Upon hearing this, Xia Tian burst into tears again: "Why?!"
……Why?
Yi Heye was surprised that he would ask this question, which really stumped him.
He was about to pretend he hadn't heard when he heard Xia Tian mutter to himself like a mantra: "I'm all alone, so miserable and lonely, I really need something furry to comfort my wounded heart..."
Yi Heye was getting annoyed by the nagging—it was clear that if he didn't get a reasonable explanation, the child could keep nagging all night.
He simply flipped himself over and held the lamb up to Xia Tian.
Anyway, someone said the right to interpret it lies with them.
“Because this was a gift from my boyfriend, no one else can hug it, understand?” Yi Heye said.
Author's Note:
Summer: I'm leaving, I'm leaving.
Chapter 100, number 100
Upon hearing this, Xia Tian first stared blankly, then finally realized what was happening and began to wail loudly again: "...Damn it, damn it."
Provoked, Yi Heye became smug and happily snuggled into bed with the lamb in his arms—he discovered that under Jian Yunxian's tutelage, his skin was getting thicker and thicker, and he could say such things without blushing at all.
But his action of turning around and shrinking into the covers was interpreted by Xia Tian as a sign of anger. So, this sensitive child quickly knelt down by the bed, trembling, and apologized to him: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take your little lamb, I just wanted you to listen to me a little longer..."
Summer had just suffered a huge shock, and as soon as she closed her eyes, her mind started replaying those horror movie-like scenes. Now she was clearly trying to distract herself by talking and chatting to ensure that her mind didn't completely collapse.
Yi Heye, who usually has low empathy, could completely understand his state at this moment—he was the same when he first broke his arm. He was so emotionally broken that he couldn't sleep and desperately wanted to talk to someone, but he had no one to rely on.
So he turned around, sighed, and started a conversation: "...Are you usually this prone to crying?"
Upon hearing this, Xia Tian burst into tears again: "I...my mom said I have a faucet hidden in my eyes..."
Yi Heye was completely helpless against him. After all, he was a desert creature who wouldn't shed a tear even if someone chopped off his hand. He couldn't quite understand these guys who used to be water taps, let alone say any words of comfort.
—Even though he knew that Xia Tian was truly suffering at this moment.
After thinking it over, Yi Heye, his eyes drooping with sleepiness, mumbled, "Then tell me, I'm listening..."
Summer was moved to tears again, and he began to recount his memories in a blur—he described in detail how his father, who indulged in all sorts of vices, was a terrible person, and then, with tears streaming down his face, he recounted his mother's three failed divorces. As he spoke, he began to talk about how the girl he had a crush on almost got together with him, but in the end, she had to quietly give up because of him...
Yi Heye originally intended to listen to it as hypnotic white noise, but he didn't expect the child to tell stories with such intonation that it immediately woke him up—perhaps this kid has a talent for crosstalk, Yi Heye thought while holding the lamb.
"Seeing your little sheep makes me really sad," Xia Tian said pitifully. "The girl I liked used to give me a doll, and I would hug it every night when I slept. But then my dad tore it to pieces when he was drunk."
Summer, overwhelmed with sadness, curled up in a corner, and struggled to suppress her envy, muttering softly, "Waaah... I didn't mean to steal your lamb, but your partner has such good taste, your lamb is so beautiful..."
Yi Heye looked at his thin back, then glanced at the little lamb in his arms—
Giving him the lamb is absolutely out of the question, but if we don't stuff something into the child's arms, he probably won't get a good night's sleep tonight.
So he turned over, went straight to Xia Tian's bedside, and, under the child's questioning gaze, directly took away the clean towel that Xia Tian had placed next to her pillow.
Summer, not knowing what kind of magic he was going to use, approached with her puffy eyes looking aggrieved. She watched as the man skillfully flipped and turned the towel with his two hands, one real and one fake, symmetrically rolling it up on both sides. Then he flipped it over and folded it in half. After a series of operations, he tied the two corners of the towel roll with two rubber bands and pinched out two round ears.
As soon as Yi Heye finished, Xia Tian exclaimed joyfully, "Little Bear!"
This is a little bear made of towel. Although the workmanship is rather rough, you can tell at a glance that it is a vivid image.
"It's so beautiful!" Xia Tian said, her eyes brimming with tears.
Yi Heye said warily, "None of them are as cute as my little lamb."
Summer immediately nodded: "Not as pretty as your little lamb."
Yi Heye was satisfied and shoved the teddy bear into his arms: "Go to sleep."
Summer immediately hugged the teddy bear tightly, wiping away tears as she closed her eyes in bliss.
Finally able to get a good night's sleep, Yi Heye had just closed his eyes when he heard Xia Tian mutter, "Waaah, the feeling of first love..."
Yi Heye opened his eyes in horror: "Don't talk nonsense."
Summer stammered, "I'm sorry, what I meant was that this little bear reminded me of my first love, which ended before it even began... I... I didn't mean to join you guys."
Yi Heye then closed his eyes peacefully and turned over.
Then Xia Tian spoke up again: "Thank you...brother..."
After saying that, she realized it wasn't right, so she quietly changed her words, saying, "I don't know why, but even though you're younger than me, I always want to call you brother..."
Yi Heye opened his eyes wearily and helplessly: "Then go ahead and shout."
"Okay, bro," Xia Tian replied quickly in a low voice, "Thanks, bro."
"..." Yi Heye gritted his teeth, "If you don't go to sleep, I'll take the teddy bear away."
This trick finally worked, and Xia Tian obediently shut her mouth.
The room finally returned to silence. Yi Heye, holding the little lamb that his "partner" had given him, peacefully drifted off to sleep.
A peaceful and reassuring night.
When the alarm clock rang, Yi Heye had just woken up from his sleep. He got up feeling refreshed, only to find that there were still only him and Xia Tian in the room.
The other roommates didn't come back all night, and I don't know what they were busy with.
Yi Heye washed up with a puzzled look in his eyes, and soon, Xia Tian, who was always following him around, also came over with swollen eyes.
He was still carrying the teddy bear that Yi Heye had given him, which aroused Yi Heye's competitive spirit. He turned around and took his own little lamb with him.
Aside from confiscating all the trainees' communication devices, there don't seem to be many particularly strict rules here—because they are lambs who, even without shackles, would confine themselves in a cage, and no one is worried that they will escape.
They are going to their morning class, which is the meditation training listed on the schedule. The class is held in a special classroom in the adjacent teaching building.
Yi Heye moved swiftly through the corridor, with Xia Tian following closely behind him, clutching the bear and looking anxious.
To get from the dormitory to the teaching building, they had to pass through the corridor where they had taken the "entrance test" yesterday.
It was early morning, and most commuters were still asleep. But some newcomers who had just completed their "test" were being ushered out of the door, like flocks of sheep that had just passed quarantine and were marked as qualified before lining up and silently heading to the slaughterhouse.
They had just endured a long and painful night, and now they were welcoming the daylight, yet it seemed they would never be able to enter it again.
Summer had just emerged from such a nightmare, and seeing this scene again made her tense all over.
Yi Heye knew that those who could cry, like Xia Tian, were actually not so bad. The ones who were really prone to problems were those who became numb and unresponsive like dead people after coming out.
He looked up at the expressionless young man at the end of the corridor, who was staggering as he followed the talent scout out of the house. Then, he glanced up at the railing of the corridor.
When Yi Heye saw that look in his eyes, he already knew what he was going to do. Without thinking, he immediately ran towards the young man, but unfortunately the distance was too far and the young man stepped onto the railing of the corridor ahead of him.
This was a high-rise building with more than ten floors. Yi Heye reached out his hand, just about to grab him, when the young man rolled down without hesitation the next second.
Yi Heye suspected that he had touched the hem of his clothes, but it didn't matter. Amidst the gasps of surprise around them, the young man disappeared before their eyes like a gust of wind.
A full three seconds.
The fall and landing lasted a full three seconds. It wasn't until Yi Heye's brain reacted and he realized he had touched nothing that the loud crash of the body shattering reached his ears.
—It all happened so fast. But this time difference gave Yi Heye ample room to react.
He looked at his fingertips, his whole body feeling as cold as if he had been doused with water.
He had witnessed death before, but the feeling of life slipping away so close was still very unpleasant for him.