No, I Refuse

London's sky was as gloomy as ever.

Wool's Orphanage.

Single Room 201.

Tap!

The heavy wardrobe drifted gently down from the air and landed on the floor.

The 358th Control Experiment was complete. It had fully proven one thing: the stronger my will and the more focused my mind, the greater and more precise the force I could control became... Perhaps this was some kind of idealistic power?

Li Weide looked at the small notebook filled with Chinese characters in his hand, then used a broken pencil to add another sentence at the end.

After multiple experiments, I still could not determine the source or scientific principles behind this power, nor could I tell whether anyone else possessed the same ability.

Li Weide closed the notebook and slipped it, along with the half pencil, into his pocket.

"All right, the Control Experiment can only go this far for now. Next, the second phase of the Repair Experiment..." As he spoke, Li Weide pulled over a chair covered in cracks from beside the bed.

Li Weide raised a hand and lightly patted the chair. It immediately split into fragments and scattered across the floor, as if its previous state had merely been crudely held together with cheap glue and had never been sturdy at all.

He looked at the pieces strewn across the floor, then solemnly extended his right hand and focused his mind once more...

"Repair!"

The moment the word left his mouth, the fragments on the floor slowly began to move. Like a video playing in reverse, they gradually came together and turned back into a chair. The cracks were still there, but at a glance, there seemed to be fewer of them than before.

Li Weide took out a piece of string and measured the longest crack. A delighted smile appeared on his face.

He had discovered that this crack was shorter than it had been after the previous repair! Li Weide took out his notebook again and began recording.

...As expected, this power was entirely capable of repairing objects. The reason it could not fully repair them yet was simply because I had not completely mastered it! As my mastery of this power steadily improves, the repairs are getting better and better!

After the excitement faded, Li Weide looked at his palm. His youthful face carried a trace of melancholy that did not belong to someone his age. This power was miraculous and held limitless potential, but... if he had a choice, he would still rather remain in his own time.

Yes, Li Weide was a transmigrator. A week ago, just as he had reached the most critical step of an experiment in his laboratory, his vision had suddenly gone black. Then he had arrived here, his body's age miraculously reverting to around eleven. Most importantly, he had discovered that he seemed to possess a special ability that could easily affect other things!

It was only after he had been sent to the Orphanage as an orphan that he fully accepted this absurd reality and immediately investigated the basic circumstances of this world.

This was actually Britain in the 1930s! More precisely, he was currently in London, Britain, in 1938.

1938 was hardly a good year, because a Failed Art Student would soon start a world war, and London would be bombed into ruins in that war.

With danger approaching, Li Weide felt that the strange power he had gained might become something he could rely on. Besides, he had long been intensely curious about this miraculous and bizarre ability.

Thus, Li Weide quickly began practicing and experimenting with his power. So far, his progress had been remarkably smooth.

Before he knew it, absorbed in his work, Li Weide silently spent his first week in this era.

Li Weide rested for a while, then dismantled the chair again, preparing to conduct the second experiment according to plan. With war drawing near, he did not have much time left.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, the tightly shut door was kicked open with brute force. The wooden door slammed violently into the wall with a deafening crash.

Li Weide frowned slightly and looked up. A boy about the same age as his current self stood outside the door.

The boy had black hair and could be called quite handsome, the sort who could easily earn others' favor... if his skin were not so pale and his gaze so sinister.

"So, you're the newly arrived Oriental." The boy examined Li Weide. His voice was almost gentle, yet it carried an inexplicable arrogance. "There's nothing special about you... So how did you get that old woman to save the best single room for you? Was it that pretty face of yours?"

Li Weide looked calmly at the boy. "Your way of knocking is certainly unique..."

Because of his former profession, Li Weide had always been good at English, so communication was naturally not a problem.

"You seem a little unconvinced? A week ago, there was another idiot who wasn't very convinced." A cruel smile appeared on the boy's face. "That very night, I hung his pet rabbit from a ceiling beam."

"Oh?" Li Weide noticed the boy's somewhat sickly smile. "So doing that makes you happy?"

"Happy? No. I did it only because I wanted them to fear me." The boy slowly walked in from outside the door. "Only when people fear you will they obey you and follow your orders. And I have never liked anyone defying my will."

"I see... Then may I ask what the gentleman before me, who wishes to be feared, wants me to do?" Li Weide looked at the boy with interest.

At first, he had merely thought the boy might have some psychological problems and enjoyed abusing small animals. Such children were not uncommon in an Orphanage. But now, it seemed reality was not quite so simple.

Seeing that Li Weide appeared willing to yield, the boy could not help smiling smugly.

"I applied to Mrs. Cole many times to move into this room... but she kept making me stay on the dark, damp first floor..." As he spoke, the boy stared intently into Li Weide's eyes.

Li Weide nodded. "I see. You intend to switch rooms with me."

"You're much smarter than those idiots." The boy was quite pleased that Li Weide had understood his meaning so quickly. "In fact, if that old woman Cole hadn't locked me in the dark room for an entire week over a rabbit, I would have come to find you long ago."

Li Weide nodded again. "I completely understand. No one wants to stay somewhere dark and damp forever..."

"So, you agree?"

"No, I refuse."

So... is anyone reading this? I'm really nervous.