Chapter Ch108.1 - Aftereffects

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Floating City laboratory.

The values on the instruments were heading towards normal figures. Researcher Song, who’d been closely watching the monitoring, finally pushed up his glasses and let out a long exhale, “Fortunately he’s alright…”

There was a tinkling sound from the cabinet as Researcher Song took out over a dozen deep purple, advanced mental pacifiers. He looked obviously more relaxed than he had earlier as he sighed emotionally, “Prepare to bring Little Witch out in a bit. Out of all the cases I’ve seen, this is considered a good result. Could it be that Brother Wei is subconsciously protecting Little Witch…”

“Mao Dongqing?” Researcher Song didn’t hear any other sound for a long time and looked back. He saw that Mao Dongqing had spaced out, silent, his shoulders rigid.

Floating City’s law enforcement marshal finally came back to his senses and squeezed out, “Yes, it might… should be.”

R-Code Base.

Wu Jin woke up in the dim light.

Wei Shi appeared instantly, carefully carrying over a bowl of steaming porridge.

The pumpkin porridge carried a light scent of sweet cheese. The youth blew on it carefully and handed the spoon to Wu Jin, “Open your mouth.”

Wu Jin obediently opened up his mouth and licked the spoon before accepting it and drinking it down.

Wu Jin ate two mouthfuls and stopped. His body was a mass of chaotic pain. Wei Shi even went so far as to coax him, tricking him into drinking down another few mouthfuls before Wu Jin finally bit down on the spoon and puffed out his cheeks to prevent Wei Shi from feeding him more.

“Okay, okay, okay.” Wei Shi could only raise up his hands in surrender before he was able to pull the spoon back out.

He was originally planning to drink down the rest of the hot porridge from the bowl, but his gaze stiffened, and he stopped.

He picked up Wu Jin’s spoon and slowly scooped up a bite.

After breakfast, Wei Shi immediately pulled out a small padded jacket for Wu Jin, who was still feeling cold.

“Go outside and get some sunshine. I’ll hold you.” Wei Shi rubbed the little shortie’s hands and led him outside.

The little padded jacket was only a little bit bigger than Wu Jin. It was obviously not Wei Shi’s own clothing.

The youth made light of it and said that he’d borrowed it from the people next door, but Wu Jin could see traces of fighting on the big boss even in the vague lighting. The clothing had probably been stolen or ‘borrowed’ through violence.

A few small words were sewn on the inside of the cuff with needle and thread.

Wu Jin squinted at it for a long time and finally reached out to touch it. He was barely able to make out the words.

Mao Qiukui.

“Wear pants.”

The little shortie was tossed around by the inexperienced youth as he lay there bonelessly on the bed and refused. Finally, he was forced to pull on his pants by the big boss.

“You look good in anything!” Wei Shi vowed solemnly with a forehead full of sweat.

“……” Wu Jin pulled up the quilt to block out the pickle-colored autumn pants that were also from Red.

So, the youth had to turn around and coax him to stretch out his legs to put on his shoes––

Two little, snow-white feet came out of the quilt.

Wei Shi caught one of them.

The youth knelt down on one knee and covered it to provide heat for Wu Jin before seriously putting his shoes on his feet.

Wu Jin tilted his head and watched on for a few seconds before slowly opening his mouth to speak. His other leg shrank back inside, “I’ll do it myself&#k2026;”

His voice was empty and light, floating around the room, but hearing it made Wei Shi’s bones shiver. He opened up the quilt and propped a pillow behind Wu Jin, conveniently fishing out the other foot, “You rest.”

The foot trembled slightly in the cool air. Wei Shi covered it up for over half a minute and felt a little reluctant when he tucked it into the shoe. His arms felt empty, so he picked Wu Jin up in the next second.

“Let’s go.”

There were only two or three other teenagers on the lawn of the dorms.

It was now time for training. Those who could stay in the dormitory building had either been granted sick leave or weren’t afraid of being absent.

Wei Shi wrapped him up in three fluffy layers before going outside, and he walked outside like he was carrying fragile goods.

There was a little child crying in the corner of the lawn.

“Big brother wuwaah––he stole my clothes waah––”

Mao Dongqing was calm, “If he took it, then he took it. It’s not winter, so you won’t be using it.”

“I don’t wuwuwu––”

Mao Dongqing thought about it, “He just got the emotional lock. It’s not considered against the rules for him to beat people up for the next two days. If you don’t bear with it, the consequences will be worse.”

The little child Mao Qiukui started to roll around on the spot, “I just want clothes wahhhh––” Mao Qiukui rolled from one side of the lawn to the other, then rolled around like a wheel. He was crying and howling when he seemed to suddenly see something and crawled over to hide behind his brother.

Mao Dongqing looked up and saw Wei Shi coming out of the dormitory. He left his brother behind and went straight to Wei Shi, taking out a tube of pale-colored recovery agent from his pocket, “You wanted it.”

Wei Shi accepted it without a word.

Mao Dongqing never traded at a loss. He’d be getting the emotional lock half a year after Wei Shi. He currently had one tube, but it would be traded for three tubes from Wei Shi in the future. The two of them traded skillfully, and Mao Dongqing just wanted to peek curiously at Wu Jin when he immediately found himself blocked by the vigilant Wei Shi.

His expression showed that he understood, and he shrugged before turning back to Mao Qiukui.

Mao Qiukui was crying so much he had snot bubbles, “My clothes… he gave my clothes to another child.”

Mao Dongqing nodded, then suddenly thought of something. He warned his brother, “Don’t learn from him. Wei Shi––he’s going against the rules of the base and fell in love early!”

Wei Shi held Wu Jin and walked to the center of the lawn. The sun poured down, and his vision was bright and covered in a layer of light. Wu Jin, however, asked softly, “Is it about to rain?”

The youth stiffened. He nodded slowly and clenched his fist in a place where Wu Jin couldn’t see.

Wu Jin leaned against his shoulder and whispered, “There’s no sun.”

Wei Shi set him down on the steps, having laid out a soft blanket beneath him. He prepared the recovery agent for Wu Jin, “The sun will come out in a moment.”

Wu Jin gulped it down. Wei Shi then stuffed him with a candy that he quietly and obediently kept in his mouth.

In the morning class being held in the distance, the teenagers ran around at the instructor’s orders. Wu Jin stared at it for a long time before suddenly saying, “I can’t see them clearly…”

Wei Shi changed the subject, “Close your eyes and rest for a while.”

Wu Jin continued to keep his eyes open until Wei Shi covered his eyes.

Wu Jin spoke softly, “The sun is out, am I right? It seems… that I can’t quite see the light.”

Wei Shi’s shoulder trembled.

The aftereffects of the emotional lock affected the five senses, and its symptoms were unpredictable. Wei Shi’s taste had been affected by the fitting, but the little shortie had gotten the most serious aftereffect––visual impairment.

It seemed that the little shortie’s luck had always been bad.

He’d been tossed out the door, visually impaired… and the worst part was encountering himself and blocking the lock for him.

Wei Shi: “Sleep for a while, everything will be fine when you wake up.”

Wu Jin seemed to want to say something, but ultimately agreed obediently, “Okay.”

Wei Shi was immediately flustered. The little shortie really did know; he knew everything. Wei Shi explained hoarsely, “The aftereffects… the aftereffects only last for three months. I’ll follow you wherever you go. I’ll still be there even if you can’t see.”

Wu Jin’s eyes curved, and his expression was full of trust.

Wei Shi’s chest thudded hard.

The aftereffects lasted for three months… up to a year. The more the little shortie trusted him, the more he blamed himself, all the way until the little shortie held his left hand.

Wu Jin’s expression was as though everything was as it should be, “If I can’t see clearly, I’ll hold you––”

The arm that was held suddenly turned stiff.

Wu Jin tugged at the big boss’s hand.

Wei Shi’s voice was sullen and angry, “I’m… too weak.”

If it wasn’t for him––

All of a sudden, the little shortie leaned in, and a light, sweet fragrance reached his nose.

Wu Jin hugged Wei Shi gently. He was still sick, and his strength was limited, but his thinking was still functional.

He had seen scenes that he didn’t have in his own memory during the shock from the emotional lock.

The laboratory, the transformations, injections, the environment of captivity. If he didn’t remember it… then it could only be the big boss’s memory. 10 years ago, the big boss hadn’t had him in his life. When he had been locked, he had had to survive on his own.

“No!” Wu Jin denied.

In the future, you will become strong enough to make people tremble… but I also really like the you from right now!

The youth paused and finally reached out to hug Wu Jin. His blazing hot breath swept over this treasure of his, “Don’t think too much. Sleep for a while, I’ll watch over you.”

Wu Jin slowly nodded and closed his eyes.

The instrument was beeping. In the dim lighting, there were people rushing to and fro.

“Prepare to retrieve him––”

“Blood pressure 66mm Hg, no shock––”

“Mind calming agent, two C tubes, mixed with MHCC.”

“MHCC? Only the genetically modified can…”

“No need for confirmation. Do it.”

“His heart rate is slowing down. 55bpm.”

“Turn down the lights and prepare to turn off the instrument––”

Wu Jin’s eyelashes trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Floating City laboratory.

Researcher Song spoke soothingly, “Relax, look at me.”

His brain suddenly felt like it had been stung.

Wu Jin groaned and was soon supported up by two researchers. A glass of hot water was pushed into his hands, and it was still raining outside. Inside the laboratory, the heating was turned up to the max, and the cold was finally driven out from his bone marrow.

The probes were withdrawn, and the data was displayed out on the virtual projection.

Researcher Song breathed a sigh of relief and finally fell back into his chair, “It’s fine… the emotional lock didn’t come out with you, that’s good…”

He then handed two more recovery agent tubes to Wu Jin, “The aftereffects will last for a period of time. You need to be psychologically prepared, but it won’t last for more than a month with the help of the medication. Also, we suggest that you participate in psychological counseling for at least half a year.” Researcher Song paused and then looked steadily at Wu Jin.

“Also, thank you.”

Wu Jin looked at him weakly and nodded gently after a long delay, “You’re welcome.”

The lights of the laboratory slowly turned up. Wu Jin lay there on a bed with a warm eye compress on. In just a quarter of an hour, Researcher Song had already replaced the hot compresses on his eyes over 10 times, “Your retina and visual nerves are intact. What was damaged was the neural processing center for visual images.”

“We call it reversible visual impairment. The most common visual image is made up of content, orientation, shape, and color. Your current barrier is color, and your perception of light has been reduced. It doesn’t matter during the day, but you shouldn’t go out at night for a month.”

“Alright.”

The blindfold was fixed onto Wu Jin’s face, and Wu Jin blinked against it.

“There’s no specific medicine for reversible visual impairment, but wear it when you go back into the instrument in a moment. It will leave you psychologically much more comfortable.” Researcher Song sighed, “The emotional lock––”

“The aftereffects of the emotional lock is related to the primary negative emotions when entering the lock. Brother Wei lost his sense of taste, and Enforcer Mao lost his hearing––for you, Little Witch, it was vision. For therapeutic purposes only, I’d like to try and understand what you saw when you entered the lock. Of course, you can also choose to skip this topic.”

Wu Jin nodded slowly.

“When I entered the lock, I saw…”

xiin: don’t worry, Little Witch will be fine~