Angry

Liu Shiling stared wide-eyed over there and saw a shadowy figure. Because the balcony lights were off, she couldn't make out who was standing there.

She took out the chopsticks that Xiang Kun had given her, gripped them tightly in her hand, and then stared intently at them—holding these chopsticks helped her concentrate and make it easier for her to see and hear information that she usually ignored.

After watching for a while, her eyes started to sting. Although she couldn't see much clearly from the images, she was certain that the figure standing on the balcony of apartment 803 was the short-haired girl named "Da Lu," and that her shoulders were trembling slightly, as if she were crying.

Why is she crying?

Was she being naughty and got spanked by her mother?

Did you wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night?

Faint sounds of a man and a woman arguing could be heard coming from the room behind "Da Lu," or perhaps her parents were arguing and she was crying from fright?

Liu Shiling's mind was filled with all sorts of strange speculations, and she couldn't help but recall the scene from one night in January when her mother and father were arguing.

That night, she was very sad and was scolded by her parents again. So she packed her schoolbag and wanted to run away from home to stay with the bald uncle. But as soon as she stepped out of the neighborhood, she regretted it because it was so cold outside.

Without realizing it, Liu Shiling seemed to have forgotten that she was currently angry.

Meanwhile, on the balcony of apartment 803, "Da Lu" was standing there silently weeping. Through the gaps in the balcony railing, she noticed the little girl on the balcony diagonally below, looking up at them.

Because Shiling's Mother was already asleep, Liu Shiling didn't turn on the lights when she went to the balcony. However, the lights in their living room were always on, so by the light coming from the living room and from her elevated position, "Da Lu" could vaguely recognize that the little girl standing on the balcony looking this way was probably Liu Shiling, whom she had scolded that afternoon.

"Da Lu's" first reaction was to shrink back, avoid Liu Shiling's gaze, and hide in a corner.

But then she remembered that the lights on her balcony were off, and the door to the room was closed, so it was pitch black. Even if Liu Shiling looked this way, she shouldn't be able to see her.

So she wiped away her tears and snot, and slowly craned her head to look over.

Liu Shiling, who was standing on the balcony diagonally below, was still looking this way with her head tilted back. Their eyes met for a few seconds, and she finally realized that Liu Shiling was indeed looking at her.

"Da Lu" also immediately thought of the last thing she said to Liu Shiling that afternoon. In fact, she regretted it the moment she said those words. She knew very well how Liu Shiling felt at that time. In fact, of all the people around, she understood the hurt and feelings that those words brought the most—because she had also been said those words to herself, and more than once.

Liu Shiling and "Da Lu," two little girls, stared at each other across the air between two buildings in the dead of night, past 1 a. m., though neither could really see the other's eyes or expression clearly.

Liu Shiling was momentarily at a loss for what to do. Logically, she should still be angry, but she didn't know how to express it. "Da Lu" wasn't watching cartoons anymore, so cutting off their electricity wouldn't make a difference. Besides, she couldn't use "magic" in front of him.

She just started swearing? Liu Shiling has never sworn before, she really doesn't know how to do that...

Besides, if she's speaking softly, the other side can't hear her; if she's speaking loudly, it will disturb others at this hour, and if she wakes her mother up, she'll probably get a spanking.

So the two girls, who had only met in the afternoon, weren't really friends, and even had a bit of a falling out, just stared at each other from a distance, neither of them moving or saying a word.

After a while, Liu Shiling glanced at the paper airplane she was holding, which was folded from calendar paper. After thinking for a moment, she took the Coin out of the airplane's Coin compartment and then threw the paper airplane toward the balcony where "Da Lu" was.

The paper airplane's design and weight were all based on the Coin. Now that the Coin is gone, its flight trajectory has changed somewhat. However, Liu Shiling knows her folded paper airplanes very well. She changed her throwing technique and used her sensory abilities to slightly control it as she released it, allowing the paper airplane to still fly steadily upwards and get stuck in the middle of the balcony railing of apartment 803.

After taking the paper airplane down, "Da Lu" looked at it for a while, then suddenly turned around and went back into the room.

Liu Shiling scratched her head, not quite understanding why she had thrown the paper airplane at them. Perhaps she simply wanted to end their staring contest?

However, just as Liu Shiling was about to leave the balcony, "Da Lu" came out again and threw the paper airplane back.

However, Liu Shiling's paper airplane was specially designed to be thrown from a low place to a high place, and "Da Lu" himself was also bad at throwing paper airplanes, so the airplane clearly flew towards Liu Shiling's balcony upstairs.

Fortunately, as the paper airplane approached the building, Liu Shiling's sense of it improved due to the shorter distance. She slightly controlled its flight direction, causing it to crash into the balcony railing upstairs, flip over, and fall. She reached out and caught it.

Holding the paper airplane, Liu Shiling looked up at the balcony of apartment 7#803 and saw "Da Lu" squatting on the ground, pressed against the balcony railing and looking at her. He pointed to the paper airplane in her hand, gesturing for her to look.

Looking down, in the light of the living room lamp, Liu Shiling saw three crookedly written words on the wing of the paper airplane:

"Sorry"

Both her kindergarten teacher and Shiling's Mother taught her to recognize characters. Although she doesn't recognize many, she does recognize these three characters.

Liu Shiling blinked, looked up at the "Da Lu" with its face pressed against the railing, then looked at the three words on the paper airplane, scratched her head, and was a little unsure what to do.

After a while, she finally took the paper airplane back to her room, wrote "okay" under the words "sorry" with a watercolor pen, then went back to the balcony and threw the paper airplane up again.

Normally, if someone says "I'm sorry" to you, you should say "It's okay" to forgive them. That's what her teacher and mother taught her.

Although Liu Shiling can no longer get angry, she can't reply with "It's okay." It's not just that she can't write it, but that she doesn't think it's okay anymore.

She could only reply with an "okay" to indicate that she had received "Da Lu's" apology.

After receiving the reply, "Da Lu" scribbled on the plane again before throwing it back.

This time, instead of writing words on the paper airplane, there was a drawing of a smaller airplane with a thumbs-up symbol on the back. It must be said that "Da Lu" clearly has a talent for drawing; he drew very well.

Liu Shiling knew she meant the paper airplane was folded very nicely, so she thought for a moment and drew a few patterns on it as well.

At some point, "Egg Pie" also came out, curled up next to the Little Chubby Girl, and continued to doze off, seemingly out specifically to keep its little owner company, acting as a dutiful guard.

The paper airplane flew back and forth between the two buildings, and the calendar paper on which it was made had unknowingly been filled with scattered Chinese characters and numerous drawings.

Although Liu Shiling couldn't stay angry, she hadn't completely let go of what happened that afternoon; the two of them weren't friends anymore.

However, she didn't reject this way of communicating. It was an experience she had never had before, and she found it very interesting. Moreover, "Da Lu's" painting was really well done.

After many back-and-forths, Liu Shiling made some minor adjustments to the structure of the paper airplane to make it more suitable for the current "flight path." "Da Lu's " technique for throwing the airplane also improved a lot, making it easier for Liu Shiling to sense and control the airplane when receiving it.

Just as "Da Lu" received another paper airplane and was unfolding it to find a spot to continue drawing, a loud slamming sound suddenly came from room 7#803. Even Liu Shiling on the other side could hear it clearly, which showed how strong the door was.

"Da Lu" got up from the ground, looked back at the balcony door, and soon the balcony door was pulled open forcefully. A tall figure walked out, cursing loudly, grabbed "Da Lu" by the hair, and dragged her into the room amidst her screams.

This sudden turn of events startled Liu Shiling on the balcony of the building across the street. "Egg Pie," who had been dozing off beside her little master, also jumped up abruptly and stared blankly in the direction of 803.

Hearing the faint sounds of beatings and shouts coming from inside 803, along with "Da Lu's " cries and pleas for mercy, Liu Shiling was both frightened and anxious. Then she remembered what the bald uncle had said, so she turned around to find her mother to get her phone to call the police. But after taking two steps, she turned back, staring intently at 803, her eyes wide, her expression tense, and unconsciously biting her lower lip.

The lights that were originally on in the room 803 connecting to the balcony and the living room suddenly became extremely bright, and then snapped off.

At the same time, the television, which had been on but at a low volume, suddenly turned up to its maximum volume, almost reaching the limit of the television speakers, and the sound of the advertisements playing on it was extremely loud in the dead of night at two in the morning.

Inside room 803, the range hood and air conditioner were on, the desk lamp was flashing incessantly, and the doorbell and intercom kept ringing.

As soon as this strange phenomenon occurred, the shouting, cursing, and crying stopped instantly, clearly drawn by the sight.

Not only that, the neighbors, who had already been repeatedly woken up by the loud door slamming and the adults arguing earlier, finally couldn't take it anymore and came to bang on the door.

If someone were to observe the Little Chubby Girl up close at this moment, they would find that her wide-open eyes seemed to be filled with the fury of a thunderstorm.

If someone were to observe the air near the balcony of apartment 803 carefully, and if there were enough lights, they would notice that two one-yuan Coin were floating nearby, like two mini UFOs, spying on and monitoring what was happening inside apartment 803.

The impact on 803 only lasted for a few dozen seconds. After someone started knocking on the door, Liu Shiling took back the two Coin, "Chocolate" and "Ice Cream".

For a fleeting moment, she herself didn't understand how those two Coin ended up there. For her, handling 803 was far more difficult than causing the entire neighborhood to lose power for a few seconds.

Soon, more and more neighbors went to investigate the 803 theory, and the entire building across the street seemed to come alive.

Not only the building where "Da Lu" lives, but also many residents in other buildings in the community, especially the two buildings in front and behind Building 7, were woken up by the noise.

Not long after, Shiling's Mother was also woken up. She squinted, still half-asleep, and threw on a coat before going to the balcony. Looking at the building across the street with a puzzled expression, she pulled her daughter into her arms, gently rubbing her chubby little face as she muttered, "Why were you woken up too? Your room is on the other side; you shouldn't be able to hear this... It's so cold outside, why didn't you wear more clothes?"

Just then, they heard a noise downstairs. Shiling's Mother curiously peeked down and exclaimed in surprise, "The police are here so quickly?"

Just then, an elderly woman wrapped in a cotton-padded coat came out from the balcony next door. She glanced at the situation in the building across the street and said to Shiling's Mother, "It must be Zhou Taimo from 803 again, drunk and beating his wife. That bastard, with his dog-like drinking habits, still drinks all the time. He's already driven away two wives; this one will probably leave sooner or later too. Sigh, it's just pitiful for Xiaolu, having such a father..."

Just as Shiling's Mother's gossip spirit was ignited and she was about to ask the old lady next door about the situation in apartment 803 across the street, the Little Chubby Girl in her arms suddenly felt heavy. Looking down, she saw that the little girl had fallen asleep again, leaning crookedly against her.

Shiling's Mother had no choice but to take her daughter back to her room.

"Egg Pie" naturally followed him back into the house.

After carrying her daughter back to the room, putting her on the bed, and covering her with a blanket, Shiling's Mother returned to the balcony to check on the situation in the building across the street.

At this moment, the old lady on the next balcony was already chatting with a resident on the seventh floor of the opposite building. Anyway, with such a big commotion, even the police had come. The residents of both buildings had basically been woken up, and people from each balcony came out one after another to see what was going on, joining in the chat.

Shiling's Mother and daughter had only moved here a few months ago, so they didn't know much about the situation and didn't know many of the neighbors. Naturally, they didn't interrupt and just listened from the side.

Then she learned that Zhou Taimo, the male homeowner of apartment 803, had gotten drunk again and was beating his wife. His wife seemed to be injured, and she slammed the door and left to go to the hospital. But Zhou Taimo didn't stop; he even started hitting their daughter, Zhou Lutong. If he hadn't turned the TV up to the maximum volume to cover up the noise and alert the neighbors to knock on the door, the child would have been badly beaten. According to one of the neighbors from apartment 803, when the door opened, they found the child's forehead bleeding.

The reason the police arrived so quickly was because his wife, whom he had assaulted, called the police as soon as she stepped outside.

Hitting even a child? Thinking of the short-haired girl she saw that afternoon playing with paper airplanes with her daughter, Shiling's Mother silently cursed that Zhou Taimo guy and wished him a terrible death. Although Liu Shiling was often spanked by her when she was naughty as a child, that kind of spanking and this kind of spanking were naturally not on the same level.

Then, from the neighbors' conversation, Shiling's Mother learned that Zhou Lutong's mother had been beaten, injured, and left, and why she hadn't taken her daughter with her—because she wasn't Zhou Lutong's biological mother.

Zhou Taimo has had three wives. The one he just chased away was his third wife, while Zhou Lutong was the child of his second wife.

It is said that his two first wives were driven away by his drunken outbursts.

Zhou Taimo was quickly taken away by the police, and his daughter Zhou Lutong was also sent to the hospital for examination and treatment. As for what will happen next, neighbors speculate that the police will probably contact her biological mother. They hope that her biological mother can take her away, or that other relatives can take her in and raise her, so that she will no longer live with her father.

Shiling's Mother sighed, wrapped her coat tighter, and went back to her room to sleep.

At this moment, Xia Libing, who was guarding Xiang Kun during his slumber, naturally had no idea what the Little Chubby Girl had gone through after discussing things with her for several hours that night and then putting them into action, nor did she know that the Little Chubby Girl's "magic system" had unknowingly undergone another great leap forward.

The interaction with the Little Chubby Girl was not just Xia Libing instructing Little Chubby Girl. In the process, she also gained a deeper understanding of the "magic system" created by the Little Chubby Girl. Although she did not actually interact with the Little Chubby Girl or see her perform some operations, her understanding remained theoretical.

Based on her previous discussions with Xiang Kun, and her own experience of "creating"—or, as Xiang Kun puts it, "developing"—the ability of "Fantasy Manifestation," understanding the process by which "developers" like Little Apple and Little Chubby Girl, who rely on Xiang Kun's "Super-Sensing Item System," build their own ability systems will help her better analyze and understand the root of Xiang Kun's mutation.

From a traditional perspective, both the "Otherworld Monster System" constructed by Little Apple and the "magic system" constructed by Little Chubby Girl are very childish and unbelievable fantasies of little girls.

However, these "little girl fantasies" actually come into play under Xiang Kun's "Super-Sensing Item System." They can not only "borrow" Xiang Kun's abilities, but also "develop" some abilities as needed. Even Xiang Kun needs to rely on the abilities they "develop" to better expand his own ability system and further derive and combine various abilities.

This truly amazed Xia Libing.

It is obvious that many of the mutations occurring in Xiang Kun cannot be understood using existing knowledge and theories; there are many illogical aspects to the process.

For the time being, they do not have enough equipment for observation and experimentation. So, like Xiang Kun, summarizing, hypothesizing, and constructing based on known phenomena and feelings can help them better apply the abilities brought about by this mutation.

In her notebook, Xia Libing attempted to establish several plausible formulas and models, based on the understanding of the "magic system" that Liu Shiling had told her the previous night and combined with her own understanding.

But the more she pondered it, the more she found the Little Chubby Girl amazing. No matter how much she tried to empathize, she still couldn't understand the Little Chubby Girl's way of thinking, yet she was able to successfully make a difference through Xiang Kun's "Super-Linked Object".

However, through this series of analyses, Xia Libing also discovered that the "system" she and Little Apple built was more of the same type, which could be described using the same framework and model, while Little Chubby Girl was an exception.

She suddenly remembered the canary "Gold Glitter" that Xiang Kun had given to Little Apple. During the Spring Festival, the bird had also entered Xiang Kun's "Super-Sensing Item System," helping Little Apple "develop" new abilities. Xiang Kun then used these abilities to create the ability to create group hallucinations in a "Hyper-Sensory State."

"Gold Glitter's " position in the "Super-Sensing Item System" is definitely completely different from hers, Little Apple's, and Little Chubby Girl's.

So Xia Libing began to hypothesize: perhaps the Little Chubby Girl wasn't simply a "user" and a "developer," or perhaps she was also the "application" and "function" itself, or like those "Super-Linked Object" such as Coin and steel balls, part of the terminal and the system platform?

Following this line of thought, when the previously established models and formulas are applied, many assumptions that were previously invalid, inexplicable, or self-contradictory all become valid.

Clearly, in Xiang Kun's "Super-Sensing Item System," the Little Chubby Girl is more deeply embedded and possesses more characteristics than the others.

Before she knew it, Xia Libing bumped her forehead on the computer desk, then suddenly straightened up with a start, almost falling asleep again.

She glanced back at Xiang Kun, who was still lying stiffly on the bed without any reaction, picked up the can of black coffee next to her and took a sip. However, she knew that consuming caffeine now would be useless. There were three empty cans of Red Bull and one empty can of coffee lying in the trash can next to her, and drinking these kinds of drinks would not have a stimulating effect.

So she got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face with cold water. When she came back, she checked Xiang Kun's various data, then flipped the Coin to sense the connection with the "Super-Linked Object," made a record, and then sat down again to continue looking for questions that could help her concentrate and fight off drowsiness.

She no longer tests "Fantasy Manifestation"Fantasy Manifestation because she knows that using it too frequently can cause mental fatigue and make her fall asleep easily.

There are still six or seven hours until Xiang Kun is expected to wake up; she has to hold on until then.

But she was too sleepy, and soon Xia Libing's eyelids began to close slowly again, her head nodding and her ponytail swaying back and forth, as if she might fall asleep at any moment.