Chapter Ch110.1 - Waking Up

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The storm in Floating City lasted for several days.

Psychologist Zhou Nan stepped out of the consulting room, and the assistant who’d been waiting outside immediately got up to close the door for him.

“No need.” Zhou Nan accepted the white lab coat and spoke gently, “Just leave it a little open.”

The young psychologist walked through the warmly lit corridor and waited outside the research room.

From one wall away, Researcher Song was excited as he reported, “Brother Wei’s consciousness fluctuations are all normal, and the emotional lock has undergone an unlocking phenomenon. This is faster and better than expected for the fourth course of treatment.”

Arjun: “Are you sure? The equipment had such a major malfunction…”

“Brother Wei has already come out of his subconscious memories. He’s expected to wake up in two days.” Researcher Song paused, then knocked on the whiteboard, making it ring out as he looked at Arjun, “Believe in the data. The data.”

Arjun looked at the graph and was struck dumb in shock.

Calling the unravelling of Wei Shi’s emotional lock ‘rapid progress’ was not overemphasizing it at all. It was like a panacea that subverted Floating City’s understanding of all their prior cases.

There was a knock at the door.

Mao Dongqing made a ‘wait’ gesture and walked out of the research room with Researcher Song.

“The patient’s condition is better than I expected.” Doctor Zhou Nan said in a gentle tone, “There’s basically no psychological trauma. His response speed is fast, and his ability to reason is clear.”

Researcher Song let out a sigh of relief and looked towards the end of the corridor, “Did you forget to close the door?”

Zhou Nan shook his head, “I told them to leave it ajar.”

“I just said, ‘basically’ no trauma.” Zhou Nan said, “I did notice something. The patient will be more nervous than usual if the door is closed. The difference is so small that the patient himself may not even realize it.”

Researcher Song paused for a moment, “Claustrophobia? I don’t remember Little Witch having––”

Zhou Nan: “The symptoms should be mild. Trigger conditions are also needed.”

Mao Dongqing looked at Zhou Nan’s coat that was folded up in his arms. He suddenly asked, “White coats?”

Zhou Nan nodded, “There might be other triggers.”

Mao Dongqing: “Let’s go and take a look.”

Against the same type of half-covered glass window as the research room, Wu Jin was busy listening to the radio.

The antique radio had been taken from the big boss’s room and given to him by Red, and he’d even casually fished up a cat to help him relieve his boredom.

Wu Jin was wearing a translucent eye mask, and his fingertips were sliding across the terminal screen. The black cat was curled up on the quilt, occasionally jumping up and meowing.

Zhou Nan smiled, “He has an affinity with animals and is full of energy. For the first 30 minutes, I thought you’d assigned me the wrong patient.”

Mao Dongqing’s gaze swept through the ward and finally settled on the red-brown, solid wood door.

The decorative diamond pattern was very common. If it wasn’t looked at carefully on purpose, it could easily be ignored.

Researcher Song reacted in a flash and spoke in surprise, “This––”

Mao Dongqing: “Have him live on the sixth floor. The glass door there provides a wide view.”

Researcher Song nodded immediately, “He’s still being influenced by the subconscious.”

Zhou Nan raised his eyebrows in curiosity and turned to talk to Researcher Song in a low voice, “&#k2026; Affected by the subconscious? &#k2026;He saw Brother Wei’s memories when he entered the emotional lock&#k2026; The transformation took place behind a closed door&#k2026; so that’s what it was.” He nodded. “I see.”

Zhou Nan said, “The patient’s psychological trauma comes from Brother Wei’s memories. After separating from the memories, the patient should heal on their own after a period of time. It’s a temporary issue, not a serious problem.”

Researcher Song replied quickly, “Alright. Let’s observe for a day and give it a try.”

On the other side of the door, Wu Jin was told that he’d be changing wards, and he bounced out of bed with a swish. His face was red as he refused the nurse’s offer of a wheelchair, and he held the cat in one hand and the radio in the other as he headed towards the elevator.

Zhou Nan: “Find someone to talk to him for a while. Since Mister Wu refused to have follow-up therapy, he might as well be in contact with more people and participate in some social activities. Going out for a walk is also a good idea.”

Researcher Song made a sound of realization and looked at Mao Dongqing, “Where’s your younger brother? Have him come tell jokes to Little Witch!”

The sixth floor of the Floating City Research Institute.

Wu Jin was petting the cat and obediently whiling away the time. After half an hour, he immediately prepared to go downstairs for a walk, in order to sidle his way over to touch and poke at the big boss who was still sleeping––

The nurse was a little apologetic as she handed him a prescription, “Doctor Zhou said that it’s separation treatment today.”

Wu Jin’s eyes opened wide.

The nurse sister comforted him, “Mister Wu primarily needs to refrain from going around everywhere. Brother Wei will only wake up the day after tomorrow, and there’s enough time for your treatment to be over before that.”

Wu Jin used his terminal to send a message to Researcher Song, but as expected, he received the same answer and could only spread out on the bed again and continue to study the big boss’s retro radio.

The current buzzed, and the hotkeys were tied to several common radio frequencies.

The first two were related to military and political affairs, and the third was tied to finance and economics. The fourth channel only had long and short knocking sounds, like some kind of variant on Morse code.

The fifth one.:

“Good news, good news! Floating City’s Publishing House <Falling In Love With A Popular Idol> 3rd hardcover edition is about to launch! The sales for the first two editions hit 2500! Five star reader feedback! For details, please call 069-419-…”

“!!” Wu Jin hurriedly switched to the last channel.

“Following the path of an agricultural economy to create a new life of breeding and farming together. Hello, the Azure Cosmos program <Rabbit Raising Book> will begin broadcasting––”

The door squeaked open.

Red came in with a stack of A4 papers, spreading them out over the sofa.

The black cat who’d originally been on top of the cabinet narrowed its eyes and decided that the sofa was softer. It jumped down with a meow and squeezed Red away, and Red could only surrender the sofa and sit down beside Wu Jin on the bed. The black cat came back and plopped down to occupy the bed again, so in the end, Red still had to return to the sofa.

“It hasn’t been very happy these past two days.” Wu Jin hugged the black cat and scratched its chin as he explained quickly.

Red’s expression was bitter, “Oh, isn’t it the ancestor of the base, anyway?” He picked up the documents, “Little Witch, I’ll read it and you listen!”

Wu Jin: “What––”

Red: “Once upon a time, there was a survival show trainee, he… he… hahahahahahaha…”

Wu Jin asked curiously, “He what?”

Red: “Hahaha, he ran away before the game and went to the desert and became a dessert trainee hahahaha…”

Wu Jin: “……”

Red: “Once upon a time, there was an assault position who fell into the water tank. The support position team member was a quick study and constantly threw stones into the tank. And then, and then hahahaha… and then, he and the sniper could finally drink water hahaha hehehe…”

Wu Jin stared at the Red on his sofa who’d become like a ghostly, virtual shadow in the light.

Red: “Hahaha, once upon a time…”

Ten minutes later, Wu Jin was already in a daze.

Twenty minutes later, Wu Jin finally excused himself to accept a call and hurriedly stumbled outside.

At the other end of the communication, Zoe was finally relieved at seeing Wu Jin whom he hadn’t seen for two days.

Wu Jin tried to explain the situation, “Yes, it was a special training lottery. It’s not nearby, it’s a little far away…”

“These aren’t hospital clothes! They’re special training clothing. I look pale? No, no! The light here is too bright. Who’s barking? Oh, oh. Someone’s laughing. He’s telling jokes to himself in the room… No, he’s not a fool…”

Zoe was a little suspicious, but his trust in Wu Jin and the high price for the Floating Base’s special training ultimately prevailed, “Fine, then. Little Witch, don’t play with fools. If you play with them for too long, you’ll become like Caesar. By the way, Little Witch, did Caesar leave with you?”

Wu Jin was stunned.

Inside the room, Red was reporting to his elder brother, “Little Witch seems to be in a bad mood. He isn’t even smiling!”

“Ah, take care of Little Witch? I know, I know, isn’t that a given…”

“Take him out to go walk around? Oh, okay. What? And take the one downstairs away and don’t let him show up at the base again?”

The other side hung up. Wu Jin pushed open the door and stepped in, “Last time when the test was done, is the other student with extroversion E also here––”

Wu Jin followed Red’s gaze and looked out the window.

Caesar, a sturdy man in a white mask, was leading several other extroversion E students to protest at the entrance of the law enforcement office.

“What happened to the agreed upon special Easter egg training activities?”

“Didn’t you say you’d take us to see the big yellow duck in the Floating City moat?”

“We want to see the big yellow duck––”

“We want to see the other students––”

Wu Jin’s eyebrows jumped up, and he hurriedly went downstairs to drag Caesar away.

Red smacked Caesar on the shoulder with a big, fan-like hand, “Brother!!”

Caesar’s tiger eyes were wide and round. “Holy shit, brother!! Why are you here?! I was wondering if they’d stolen Little Witch away and was just about to use public opinion to force them out. I didn’t expect that they even stole you away! ––They even took you away, what are they trying to do?!”

The staff on the side had a huge headache from the ruckus. When they saw that Caesar was leaving, they couldn’t help clapping to celebrate, “Alright, alright, take him away. What kind of extroversion E is this? He’s kicking up a fuss everywhere! And even leading people to protest––if he doesn’t leave soon, he might start styling himself as the Emperor on the spot!”

Caesar gave Red a big bear hug and then glued himself to Wu Jin, “Let’s go, brother will take you back!”

Wu Jin forced his head out from Caesar’s biceps, “Brother Caesar, wait…”

He was just about to find a reason to refuse when he suddenly received a short message from Researcher Song.

“Don’t worry. Brother Wei will only wake up the day after tomorrow. Go back and look around for two days. Separation treatment is a good thing.”

Floating City training base.

The two of them were warmly welcomed by Zoe and Wen Lin upon their return. The sniper and support both gave Wu Jin a warm hug, then exchanged greetings with Mao Qiukui, a fellow classmate from the Crosson Show.

Caesar: “Holy shit! Am I transparent?!”

Zoe patted him perfunctorily on the shoulder. He hadn’t been worried about the Caesar that could easily be tossed away, “I only just realized you’re here. Come, let’s cheer for Caesar. Congratulations on coming back; White Moonlight, let’s all cheer.”

The White Moonlight team felt no surprise upon seeing Red. Besides the fact that Red originally lived in Azure Cosmos, Zoe had also guessed that other teams would send players here for training.

After all, who wouldn’t try to send their children off for extra tutoring?

Wen Lin revealed to Wu Jin, “Jingyi’s Zuo Botang is also here.”

Wu Jin: “Wow…”

Wen Lin sighed emotionally, “Jingyi’s Captain Zuo has beat our Captain Zoe’s sniper scores. Our captain has been in a rage trying to beat the score these past two days.” When he saw Zoe looking over, Wen Lin immediately emphasized, “Of course, Zuo Botang is only specialized in sniping, while our captain has comprehensive development. It’s not the same.”

Zoe was satisfied, “Enough. Remember, come and have a short meeting after dinner today. The company’s PR team has just sent over a reply. From today on, we’ll start preparing for the next elimination match.”

Wu Jin agreed and was just about to slip away when he was shocked by the sniper’s sharp, insightful gaze.

Zoe frowned, “Is Little Witch sick? Why is your face so pale, come here.” The White Moonlight captain reached out and held one of Wu Jin’s paws, “The palm of your hand is clammy.”

The small curls rose up nervously, and Wu Jin tried to prevaricate, “I went to see the big yellow duck in the rain… and caught a cold!”

Zoe: “Caught a cold? Why are you covered up your waist if you caught a cold? Does the cold hurt your kidneys?” He pondered for a moment and felt that it made sense, so he immediately pulled out his own training card to buy Wu Jin some nourishment, “Do you want liver? And some tripe, we’ll make a pot of soup for Little Witch…”

Wu Jin was very moved by this and nodded falteringly.

When he opened up the door to the training room, Wu Jin had to shake his head slightly.

Light streamed in through the glass window, and the scene overlapped strangely with the memories churning in his brain. With his currently weak vision that didn’t process light well, he seemed to be able to see the young big boss with a gun held in his arms. After a few shots, he turned around and supervised him eating small goldfish biscuits.

Wu Jin drew out the knight’s sword.

After coming out of the subconscious, his body had become a lot weaker due to the emotional lock. Even so, he could feel that his body was slowly recovering and getting better by the moment. According to Researcher Song, it might not be obvious from looking at Wu Jin, but his physique was better than most people, and his healing speed in getting over the emotional lock was unheard of.

Wu Jin held the sword up in front of the sun, his hands right up against the cross hilt.

The sword slashed down––

This action affected the nerve center that hadn’t yet fully recovered. Wu Jin hissed lightly, setting down the sword to knead his face against the corner of the wall. After kneading for a while––he came to his senses and realized that he should be rubbing his head.

His mind was filled with the youth holding a gun in the R-Code Base.

Wu Jin then discovered that the big boss’s dedicated training room was very similar to the one in the R-Code Base. From the weapon racks to the target position to the mirror, it was probably set up that way for his convenience.

The young big boss––

He had the soft smell of sunshine, hay, and nuts! Wu Jin giggled foolishly and only picked the weapon back up again after a long time. He slowly wielded the sword like an elderly person doing Tai Chi.