Fortunately, despite saying “don’t take it slow,” Mu Lian was much more reliable than Wen Qianshu, who was single-mindedly focused on pursuing someone. First, she took her to check for any injuries, then notified her family and explained the day’s events clearly.
After that, she also took the two of them to dinner and saw them off on the shuttle.
Before entering the house, Wen Qianhua snorted coldly, raised her head with a sullen expression, and pushed open the main door, only to see a snow leopard sitting on the ground, squinting at her.
Wen Qianhua: “…”
The little leopard cat’s fur stood on end. It immediately turned and darted away, but the snow leopard leaped up, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, and tossed it into the house.
Wen Qianhua and her mental body never got along; they were always at odds. But this time, she followed it inside faster than anyone. “Brother, what are you doing! Put it down—”
Wen Qianshu looked at the white cat on the ground, was silent for a moment, and then said, “Good girl, run inside on your own.”
After entering the house, it was pandemonium.
The eldest Wen brother caught both of them and scolded them together.
The second Wen brother was initially trying to break up the fight. As he was trying, he heard that Wen Qianhua had skipped class, so he had to give up on her. After trying for a bit longer, he remembered that Wen Qianshu had not only failed to run from danger but had stood there watching the show, so he gave up on her too.
The second Wen brother’s black cat, which had been jumping around behind the snow leopard, now flicked its tail, moved a little farther away from them, and demurely licked its paws.
Wen Qianshu: “How was I—”
watching the show?
Before she could finish her sentence, she saw the news being broadcast on the living room TV. In the shuttle’s surveillance footage, the out-of-control Sentinel was being restrained by other Sentinels, and they were brawling together.
And right in front of this chaotic brawl stood a Guide—as steady as a mountain, completely unmoved. Only at the end, as if seeing something, did she suddenly step on an armrest, push off the seat with her hand, and jump out.
Although the person’s face was pixelated, her family could still recognize that it was Wen Qianshu.
What was worse, the screen paused at that exact moment, and the news anchor said, “The police would like to remind everyone again, when encountering danger, be sure to take cover in a timely manner, and do not…”
Wen Qianshu: “…”
Fortunately, the previous “Wen Qianshu” was taciturn and didn’t seem to talk much with Wen Qianhua, and this family wasn’t suspicious. Otherwise, her persona would have collapsed long ago.
The eldest Wen brother lectured her at length, repeatedly warning her.
Then their parents came home, and the sequel began.
The three of them spoke all at once, a torturous assault from all sides. Accusations entered both her ears simultaneously with no way out, so she could only swallow them.
Her parents nagged while they worried, and worried while they couldn’t help but continue nagging.
After much repetition, the two of them were finally let off the hook.
When they went upstairs to their rooms, even the little leopard cat hung its head and climbed the stairs silently.
Afterward, Wen Qianshu finished her shower and sat in her room, drying her hair while looking through some files.
This family’s living situation had changed drastically since “Wen Qianshu” was attacked. Previously, the Wen parents and the eldest brother were all busy, often away on business trips, and the three of them were rarely home at the same time. Later, they either changed jobs or adjusted their positions, and no matter how busy they were, they would come home.
The second Wen brother was in university back then and had now graduated, so he simply found a job nearby. He had more free time, so he often tidied Wen Qianshu’s room. The row of flowers on Wen Qianshu’s bedroom windowsill was all planted by him. “I hope she’ll be happy to see the flowers when she wakes up.”
2333 saw Wen Qianshu raise her head, seemingly examining the flowers, and explained, “This is a flower unique to this world. Its flower language is ‘hope.’ I’ve checked it; there are no negative effects.”
Wen Qianshu nodded and continued looking at the windowsill. Since she had woken up, the second Wen brother rarely entered her bedroom anymore. Those few pots of flowers were delicate, and now, lacking water, their stems were drooping.
Wen Qianshu was silent for a moment, then averted her gaze. She picked up the hairdryer with one hand and rested the back of her other hand on her phone.
Here, phone data is stored in an identity chip and automatically syncs to a new phone.
Recently, Wen Qianshu’s identity had finally passed through layers of review, confirming she was no longer in a comatose state and allowing her phone data to be synced via her identity chip. Wen Qianshu hadn’t touched it, keeping the previous settings and loading the data onto her new phone.
Before long, the phone indicated that the data loading was complete.
Wen Qianshu moved her hand away and saw the phone screen light up. The lock screen was a family photo of the Wens—it wasn’t a very perfect photo, more like a candid shot taken before the actual one.
Wen Qianshu’s thumb brushed across the screen, over her parents at the top adjusting each other’s collars, over her brothers nodding and chatting, and stopped on “Wen Qianshu’s” face. She was turning her head, smiling at Wen Qianhua, while Wen Qianhua looked up, grinning as she leaned close to her, as if saying something.
Wen Qianshu stared at the photo for a while, her brow slightly furrowed.
She unlocked it and started flipping through the photo album. There were many photos inside, many of them of Wen Qianshu and Wen Qianhua together.
In the photos, they ate snacks together, read comics together, and had pillow fights squeezed onto the same bed. In one photo, the two of them had their arms around each other’s shoulders, legs spread apart with terrible posture, smearing cream from a birthday cake on each other’s faces. Wen Qianhua was even the one losing—her hair and collar were almost piled high with cake.
Wen Qianshu stared at the photo for a while, the corner of her mouth twitching, and she cursed under her breath.
But at the same time, with a click, she turned on the hairdryer.
The sound of the hairdryer was very loud. 2333 asked strangely, “What did you just say?”
Wen Qianshu: “I didn’t say anything.”
2333: “Did you discover something?”
Wen Qianshu: “Yes.”
2333 waited for a moment and, realizing she wasn’t going to continue, asked, “And then? What did you discover?”
Wen Qianshu: “I discovered that this world is really outrageous.”
2333: “…”
2333: “?”
Wen Qianshu continued to look at the photos, lost in thought.
She never would have thought that Wen Qianhua actually had a problem with her memory. Before the incident, she probably didn’t dislike her sister. On the contrary, their relationship was very good, very close.
These photos didn’t look fake, and they matched the Wen family’s behavior. The Wen family clearly respected their privacy, yet they wouldn’t hesitate to let Wen Qianhua take Wen Qianshu to a classmate’s birthday party—because that was how they normally interacted; Wen Qianhua had always loved hanging out with her sister.
Tampering with memories?
Can mental power achieve something like this?
It shouldn’t be possible. If it were, this world would surely have laws to prohibit it, right?
The more Wen Qianshu thought about it, the stranger it seemed. She went back to look at the files 2333 had collected on Sentinels with hypersensitivity syndrome—they were just as messy.
These Sentinels came from different backgrounds, had all sorts of strange professions, and the onset of their illness varied. Other than being Sentinels, there seemed to be no other commonalities.
Wen Qianshu: “2333, check for me, did any of them experience the death of a direct relative—”
“Add school bullying to that.”
2333: “Yes, a few of them did, but most did not.”
Wen Qianshu rubbed her temples; her head ached.
2333’s searches were fast, but it needed a specific target; having it extract keywords directly could easily lead to overlooking important information. Wen Qianshu decided to do it herself. She went through the files one by one, staying up all night, which made 2333’s scalp tingle.
2333: “Do you want to sleep for a bit? This body can’t take it, can it?”
“Why sleep so long in life, when one will sleep forever in death.” Wen Qianshu raised an eyebrow. “Besides, can’t you guys help me adjust my physical condition?”
2333: “?”
2333: “Don’t just randomly learn to talk like an AI.”
2333 resigned itself to its fate, lowered her need for sleep, and adjusted her physical indicators. It didn’t forget to remind her, “But we can’t adjust it too much at once. Otherwise, if the people of this world line find out, we’ll have to initiate the memory-wiping procedure.”
“I know.” Wen Qianshu looked up and smiled, but there was no smile in her eyes. “Weren’t you the one who deleted my memories?”
2333: “…”
Why did it have to bring that up? Wouldn’t it have been better to just do as it was told?
Wen Qianshu lowered her head, turned another page, and highlighted a line with her stylus—”father’s domestic violence.” She dragged it out, pasted it into her digital notebook, and circled it in red.
She stretched her legs and put her arms behind her back, stretching them out while looking at the notes she had organized all night. They were densely packed, listing each person’s timeline and the events that occurred at the corresponding times. Almost every person had words circled in red—
“Domestic violence,” “assault,” “death of a close relative,” “school bullying”…
2333: “Their pasts are so tragic. No wonder they couldn’t bear it.”
“Do you really think it’s man-made?”
Wen Qianshu started comparing the Guide doctors they had seen, ticking off the ones with high frequencies. “If it’s not man-made, why have these situations only appeared frequently in recent years?”
2333 sighed and was about to say something, but it detected footsteps. “Someone is coming to call you for breakfast.”
The next second, Wen Qianshu stuffed all her electronic devices under her pillow in one go, lay down, and pulled the blanket over her entire body.
A knock sounded on the door, and the second Wen brother said gently, “Qianshu, it’s getting late. Get up and have breakfast.”
Wen Qianshu drew out her words and mumbled, “Mmm—you guys go ahead and eat. I’ll get up in a bit—”
The person outside agreed, and the footsteps faded away.
2333: “Actually, he wouldn’t have come in.”
“I know,” Wen Qianshu said. “Isn’t this a conditioned reflex—”
In her first world, she had gone home a few times later on. No matter how old she got, she was always afraid of being caught by her family playing on her phone late at night. Whenever her mother passed by the door, she would subconsciously cover her phone.
Wen Qianshu shot up into a sitting position, locked her files and notes, and went to brush her teeth and wash her face. The little white cat followed at her feet, circling a few times, then slowly went downstairs and sat at the dining table.
Wen Qianhua had already gone to school, and the Wen parents and eldest brother had all gone to work.
The housekeeping robot served Wen Qianshu a bowl of porridge, adjusted the temperature, placed it in front of her, and then peeled an egg for her. Wen Qianshu scooped up the porridge with a spoon, continuing to sort through the files as she ate.
She was so focused on her thoughts that when the second Wen brother sat down, Wen Qianshu looked like she was in a daze.
Fortunately, the second Wen brother didn’t notice. He just said, “Mom and Dad submitted a school application for you. It was just approved this morning. They were going to tell you about it this morning, but you woke up late, so they went to work first.”
The second Wen brother sent her an address. “See when you want to go take a look.”
Wen Qianshu: “Take a look?”
Second Brother Wen: “Yes, Mom and Dad’s idea is that you can go to the school first to check it out, attend for a few days, and if you can’t adapt, you can choose the online option.”
“They really hope you’ll make some friends, but they’re also worried about the age difference with the classmates and that you might feel uncomfortable.”
Sentinel-Guide academies have more courses than regular schools—including Sentinel-Guide mental bodies, spiritual domains, physiology, and so on—and therefore, the program is longer. Wen Qianhua and the others were in their final year, but they were already around twenty years old.
Wen Qianshu: “Do many people choose the online option?”
Second Brother Wen shook his head. “Not many. We need to have contact with the outside world, receive information, and perceive emotions so that our mental bodies can develop better. So it’s very difficult to apply for online studies, but if you want to, the family will find a way to get your application approved.”
Wen Qianshu: “I’ll go take a look today.”
Second Brother Wen: “Do you need me to go with you? I happen to have the day off today.”
Happen to have the day off—he had probably taken the day off specifically for “Wen Qianshu.”
“No need,” Wen Qianshu said with a smile. “Thank you.”
Second Brother Wen: “Alright then. Remember to contact me when you get there.”
After saying that, the second Wen brother was about to get up when Wen Qianshu suddenly stopped him. With a confused expression, she asked, “Why do I feel like Qianhua is different from before?”
2333: “…”
Good heavens, the thief was crying “stop thief”?
The second Wen brother was stunned for a moment and looked at her.
He was very young and handsome, with a scholarly air about him. “Yes, her temper has become more and more—”
He paused, seemingly unable to find the words to describe it, and just continued, “We can’t figure out why either. We’ve asked her many times, but she refuses to say.”
It seemed he had wanted to say this for a long time but couldn’t find a suitable opportunity. Now, he asked cautiously, “You and Qianhua have always been close. Can you keep an eye on her, okay?”
Wen Qianshu agreed, “Okay.”
The second Wen brother breathed a sigh of relief, and Wen Qianshu took the opportunity to ask, “By the way, do Guides need to undergo mental soothing?”
Second Brother Wen was worried. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“No, not at all,” Wen Qianshu said. “I was just curious and wanted to ask.”
The second Wen brother’s black cat jumped onto the table, lay down, and scratched its head with its hind leg.
“They can.” The second Wen brother reached out to stroke the black cat’s head. Noticing the little white cat had also come closer, he petted them both, one with each hand. “Back when you had your accident, about a week or two later, the family was really worried. We were afraid that Qianhua wouldn’t trust the doctors and wouldn’t expose her spiritual domain to them.”
“So Mom performed a mental soothing for Qianhua.”
Wen Qianshu: “And the result?”
The second Wen brother hesitated for a moment before saying, “The result was that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her mental state.”
He explained, “Maybe Qianhua has been gifted since she was young. She’s a very powerful Guide with strong mental soothing abilities, and she can handle her emotions very well…”
But as he explained, he couldn’t continue.
Because anyone could see that even now, Wen Qianhua hadn’t gotten over this hurdle. So how could she possibly have been “completely fine” back then?
The second Wen brother let out a long sigh. He saw the little black cat under his hand turn its head and lick his finger. “I’m really worried about her.”
He said dejectedly, “I’m also very worried about you—”
They sat facing each other at the dining table. Programmed robots hummed as they moved through the house, taking care of chores.
The room’s layout was warm and cozy, complete with photos and pictures.
As noon approached, the wind was gentle, and the plants in the courtyard rustled.
On the second-floor balcony, the sunlight kissed a row of flowers whose language was “hope.”
Wen Qianshu suddenly spoke, “I will keep an eye on her.”
For once, she wasn’t smiling. She just lowered her eyes and looked at the family photo on her phone’s wallpaper. She seemed to be making a promise, but this promise wasn’t just for the second Wen brother. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
