Fourth Perspective - Chapter 8

“You don’t have to worry too much, we didn’t find any logic factors on you, so there is no chance of you being polluted.” The boy in the baseball cap put on a light expression, “To be honest, this time was pretty good. White Garden died from his logic skill breaking down and his logic skill didn’t break out of control. It just broke down, scattered in the air, not causing any contamination.”

The boy summed everything up in one sentence, “A logic skill breaking down and a logic skill going out of control are two very close, but very different things.”

Hearing the word ‘contaminated’, Xiao Jinyu’s breathing slowed, an indescribable feeling entered his heart.

Looking at the boy, Xiao Jinyu revealed a curious expression, “What does it mean for a logic skill to go out of control?”

The boy didn’t even think before saying, “What are you asking this for? This kind of thing is super terrifying, it’s better if you don’t know.”

The young man’s expression didn’t change. The glucose solution ran through his veins, the back of his hand felt a bit of a cold prickling, but at this moment, Xiao Jinyu’s heart was colder than that.

It definitely wasn’t what he thought it was.

….His conjecture must’ve been wrong!

Xiao Jinyu: “I’m just worried that I would encounter this logic pollution later, so I wanted to know a bit more about them. Are you not allowed to tell?”

The short-haired woman glanced at him, “It’s not that we’re not allowed to say, it’s just that you haven’t awakened your logic skill, so there’s no point in knowing too much. Instead it might turn into panic. But you’re a person with a lot of potential.”

If it wasn’t for that potential, he wouldn’t have been noticed by White Garden, and dragged into the logic skill.

“So… I’ve decided to tell you.”

……

“I told you before that, someone’s logical skill is part of themselves. Not one person can resist the urge to reflect on it. Just like ‘Who am I, Where did I come from, Where do I go’? These are philosophy’s three big questions and are also human’s unchanging riddles. They’re questions that every human has thought of before.”

Xiao Jinyu nodded his head.

This was easy to understand, a lot of people look at their mediocre lives, live through their unchanging days, but as soon as they slow down, having time to ponder, they’ll wonder, ‘What is the meaning of life?”

The short-haired woman continued, “Likewise, users will also wonder. Users ponder their own logic skills. ‘What is my logic skill, why did it appear, what other unknown things are there’.

“Once you start thinking, the logic skill will break down. Users doubt the logic skill, thus doubting themselves. Then… they’ll walk on the path of suicide.

“But there’s still another situation…”

Her voice suddenly became cold, the short-haired woman’s face became grim, “Logic skills separate themselves from their owners, living independently!”

Xiao Jinyu’s pupils shrank, “Logic skills can even separate themselves?”

The short-haired woman answered with a question, “Why can’t they?”

Xiao Jinyu was dumbfounded.

The woman said coldly, “Never take your logic skill as your tool, as something belonging to you, a slave that will only take your orders. It is it, you are you. It might have been born from you, but it completely has the power to remove itself from you, living as its own entity. When you are unable to control it, when you start doubting it, it will abandon you. And at that moment, you will lose control of your logic skill! Anyone who enters an out of control logic skill, including the user, is deemed to have been contaminated.”

“Polluters…

“Must be killed!”

The atmosphere immediately froze, looking extremely stiff.

Quickly, the short-haired woman moved aside the bangs on her face and smiled to relieve the atmosphere, “Alright, I said that a bit seriously. You weren’t scared were you?”

Xiao Jinyu: “……”

“No.”

The short-haired woman: “Anyways, once you encounter an out of control logic skill, you probably won’t be able to escape it. Regular people can only die. But out of control logic skills aren’t very common here, they mostly appear in the radiation sites, you won’t go there. As for avoiding the polluters.. that’s easy.”

Hearing ‘Polluters’, Xiao Jinyu’s nerves were stretched taut. All the hairs on his body stood up, but not a single drop of curiosity was exposed on his face. He said towards the woman, “It’s easy to avoid the polluters?”

“Of course.” This time. Before the short-haired woman could speak, the boy in the baseball cap already responded, “The appearance of the contaminated is too obvious! Let me give you an example…” He started to think, “Um, I’ve seen a polluter. I remember that after being polluted, his face was pulled to about half a meter wide, skin all broken up, body covered in blood, and limbs became something like an animal’s. At that time, he climbed up a perfectly vertical wall, eyes bloodshot like a beast’s, and searched everywhere for prey! Super scary.”

The short-haired woman also nodded her head, “What Xiaotong said was correct. These types of things like polluters, as soon as you see them you’ll know. We’re unable to describe them, but as soon as you see them you’ll understand…

“This is a polluter.”

The hand hidden under the blanket was clenched hard, but Xiao Jinyu’s expression didn’t change as he nodded, like he was responding to the two.

And they didn’t notice his abnormality. They said a few more things, then the short-haired woman looked at the glucose solution on the rack, before saying to Xiao Jinyu, “In about half an hour, your infusion should be done. Mr Xiao, we already told you what you wanted to know, so now, it should be your turn to tell us… what happened in the White Garden space. As mission information, we have to record all of this.”

His fingers slowly loosened and Xiao Jinyu nodded his head, “Of course.”

Using a few minutes, Xiao Jinyu quickly explained to them what he had experienced in the forty hours inside White Garden.

The endless darkness, his nerves during those forty hours, the torture of his body. But when told out loud, it seemed like nothing really happened. Other than examining their surroundings at the start, most of the time was spent sitting in the darkness with the man in glasses, numbly waiting for the train to enter the station again and again.

As Xiao Jinyu told, the short-haired woman recorded. As she listened, she secretly looked at the young man in front of her a few times.

….this young man was smarter than she had thought.

Calm, wise, firm, and determined.

It would be impossible to leave the White Garden space with a single one missing.

“Alright, thank you for your cooperation, Mr Xiao. White Garden’s scattered logic factors have already been collected and it’s about time for us to go.”

Not having the intention to overstay, the short-haired woman held out her hand.

The boy in the baseball cap looked at this scene in shock. Sister Min was an old user who awakened three years ago and they’ve been partners for a lot of logic storm missions, but seeing Sister Min pay this much attention to a regular person was a first.

Xiao Jinyu lifted his head and looked at her, and also held out his hand.

Qi Simin: “Congratulations for not awakening, and I hope that you will never awaken.”

Xiao Jinyu: “……”

“I accept your words.”

Qi Simin blinked, “You remind me of someone.”

Xiao Jinyu froze.

If it wasn’t for the fact that the short-haired woman really didn’t look like someone to just start up a conversation out of nowhere, he would’ve thought the other had some other meaning behind her actions.

Seeing Xiao Jinyu’s shocked eyes, the short-haired woman laughed, “Don’t think too much into it, you remind me of a polluter.”

Xiao Jinyu: “……”

The boy: “……”

This isn’t any better than just striking up a conversation!

The short-haired woman smiled, “He was my younger brother.”

His heart stopped for a moment, and after thinking for a bit, Xiao Jinyu asked, “Your own younger brother was a polluter? Then he’s…”

The short-haired woman glanced at him indifferently and without even thinking about it, “Polluters, must be killed.”

***

Just as suddenly as they arrived, the two left just the same.

The empty infirmary only left Xiao Jinyu himself.

Before they left, they didn’t explicitly tell him not to tell others about logic skills, thinking that he would definitely keep the secret. They could’ve also thought, even if he told other people, they wouldn’t believe him.

Xiao Jinyu indeed wouldn’t tell others.

He never does things that have no meaning.

Before the glucose infusion was completely done, Xiao Jinyu called in the medical personnel to help him remove the needle. After checking his belongings, making sure nothing was missing, he took out his phone and took leave from his professor, before walking out of the station, towards home.

It was still working hours, most of the people in the community were at work or school. Xiao Jinyu walked alone in the empty community, rode the elevator, pressing down on his floor.

The elevator stopped and Xiao Jinyu quickly walked out of it. He unconsciously sped up in the corridor, when suddenly, a door opened.

Auntie Wang held a trash bag while walking out of the door, seeing Xiao Jinyu, she asked in shock, “Xiao Xiao, aren’t you going to school? Why are you back?”

Xiao Jinyu, “…I forgot to bring something.”

After finishing, he continued to walk forward, brushing past Auntie Wang.

Auntie Wang froze for a bit, turning back and looking at Xiao Jinyu’s rushed appearance, muttering, “What’s going on with Xiao Xiao today.” And not thinking much about it, she continued to bring out the trash.

She didn’t notice that behind her, in the quiet corridor, the tall, black haired young man had walked to the end of the hallway, standing silently for a while by the door of his house.

Xiao Jinyu lowered his head, looking at the old, rusted door handle, while countless thoughts ran through his mind.

Logic skills.

Logic breaking down.

Logic going out of control.

….polluters.

Those two ‘users’ had gone to the subway station to collect logic factors. When he was in the White Garden space, he had seen those colorful dots, and then when the short-haired woman showed him the black phone, they also flew out of the lower part of the phone. If it wasn’t for him dodging in time, the colorful dot would’ve flown through his head.

Then, were those colorful lights logic factors?

Then, if someone entered an out of control logic skill, becoming polluters, then on their bodies… would there be those colorful dots as well?

His breathing stopped and there was only the whistling in the corridor left.

After a while.

Xiao Jinyu took out his keys.

‘Ka-cha’

The old door was pushed open.

The blinds in the living room were pulled shut, leaving only a tiny gap between them. A bright line of sunlight flowed through, illuminating the dust in the air, eventually reaching the sofa, landing on the body of the person sitting on it.

The TV emitted the sound of laughter, still on the show his mom liked the most.

Xiao Jinyu walked into the room, closing the door behind him.

He pursed his lips, walking slowly to the front of the sofa.

“Mom.”

The young man’s voice suddenly rang out and the middle-aged woman watching the show had just realized someone had just come home. She hurriedly turned her body, looking up at her young son.

“Sha sha”

Xiao Jinyu didn’t say anything, just stared right at the hole in his mom’s neck. He didn’t let go of a single detail, digging into the esophagus, trachea, and arteries, examining them one by one.

There weren’t any colorful dots.

None…

Not a single one!

Xiao Jinyu’s entire body relaxed.

His mom is normal, there was no logic factor residue on her body.

It was just difficult for her to talk, to eat, but there were no other differences between her and other moms.

A rock was suddenly released from his heart, but just as he was about to speak, suddenly, a bone deep pain emerged in his brain, exploding. Like someone took a sharp cold cone and stuck it into his brain, blending his brain matter.

No matter how calm someone is, they still wouldn’t be able to bear this pain.

Xiao Jinyu let out a painful noise, cold sweat covering his entire body. He shouted out in extreme pain, rolling around on the ground.

Under the noisy background noise of the TV, his mom sat on the sofa, her white face not showing any reaction. She calmly looked, her cold eyes resting on her son’s body, like she was looking at a dead person, not revealing a single trace of emotion.

“Mom…”

“Mom!”

The extreme pain caused the youth to cry out.

The expressionless woman sitting on the sofa suddenly fluttered her eyelashes, an expression that could barely be seen appeared on her face. She stood up.

“…Sha sha?”

In an instant, the pain disappeared.

After a few seconds.

Xiao Jinyu shook out his arms, lifting himself off the ground. He stood up.

The pain that suddenly arrived, left suddenly as well. But his body still trembled uncontrollably. His body still hasn’t forgotten the feeling of being crushed and grinded into the ground just now.

He slowly walked in front of his mom.

“Mom.”

“Sha sha?”

After staring at the middle-aged woman in front of him for a while, Xiao Jinyu gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and gently swiped on his eyelids.

“Sha sha…?”

The world suddenly changed.

The golden sunlight turned a dark grey and the old furniture also lost its color. In Xiao Jinyu’s eyes, everything became monochrome.

In a blink, the world became black and white.

But when his sight reached his mom’s broken neck, Xiao Jinyu froze. He stared at the grey light dots flying around the dry flesh and blood, nails digging into his palms.

After a few seconds.

Xiao Jinyu: “It’s nothing. Mom, keep on watching TV. I have something to do so I’ll go to my room.”

“Sha sha”

The youth smiled, “What do you want for lunch? I’ll go out and buy some food.”

The author has something to say:

You all always say you don’t understand…

This was written by your favourite baby, would I write anything that can’t be understood…?

Wu wu wu…