Compared to five years ago, Mei Yiqiu has aged considerably. The wrinkles on his face have deepened, and his hand holding the pipe trembles slightly. Only his head of white hair remains stubbornly bushy, radiating rays of wisdom.
"So you went to the Great Nebula M42, that's quite an achievement!" The professor took a pack of cigarettes from his drawer and tossed it to Qingmu, then puffed on his pipe.
Qingmu waved his hand and said, "I've given it up."
"Cough cough cough..." The professor suddenly coughed violently a few times, then stared wide-eyed at Qingmu, as if even more shocked than when he heard the story of the Itza People, "Give it up?!... Hmm... How did you do that?"
Qingmu smiled and said, " Ramla doesn't seem to have tobacco, nor do they have women who roll cigarettes on their thighs."
Mei Yiqiu laughed loudly, "I don't smoke cigars! I still prefer my pipe... cough cough..." He took two deep drags, then coughed again, "... cough cough... cough cough cough cough..."
Hearing the cough, Mei Ziqing came in and said with concern, "Professor, I told you to smoke less, but you just wouldn't listen!"
She pressed a few buttons on the touchscreen on the wall, changing the room's air circulation system and increasing the oxygen supply, instantly making the air in the room fresher.
She reached for another box of medicine in the cabinet, but Mei Yiqiu suddenly screamed, "No! I won't take my medicine! Take it away!... cough cough cough..."
Mei Ziqing helplessly spread her hands towards Qingmu.
Qingmu had already seen Mei Ziqing in the corridor before coming to Mei Yiqiu's office. Everyone Qingmu saw after returning had changed, except for this woman, who was exactly the same as she had been five years ago—still so gentle and beautiful, as if she would never age. The corners of her mouth always maintained the standard smile of a Japan woman, sometimes making one wonder if she was a robot.
"The professor is getting more and more stubborn!" Mei Ziqing whispered to Qingmu. "His lungs aren't very good, and he refuses to take his medication, but his smoking habit is getting worse..."
"I won't die!" Mei Yiqiu's hearing was still excellent. He shouted angrily, banging his pipe on the table. "I won't die! Cough cough... Are you cursing me to die? Cough cough... cough... I don't want to take... cough cough... take medicine!"
"Professor, I didn't mean that!" Mei Ziqing said, sounding a little aggrieved.
Qingmu then realized that Mei Yiqiu had truly aged. He had thought the professor's lack of surprise at his story in Ramla was due to composure, but now he realized that it was probably just that people get old and don't care about such things anymore.
"Professor, you're not feeling well, you still need to take your medicine," Qingmu said, speaking up for Mei Ziqing.
Mei Yiqiu calmed down a little, but her chest was still heaving. "Fine, fine, you all think I'm old, even you think so! Hmm... even you think so!"
He angrily put the pill in his mouth, and when he drank water, he probably choked and started coughing again.
Cough cough... cough cough cough cough...
He coughed incessantly, his body was even cramping, his back was hunched, his head was buried under the table, and he was coughing and vomiting into the trash can. It was unclear whether he had thrown up the medicine he had taken.
Even so, he did not let go of the pipe in his hand; as soon as he stopped coughing, he tried to put the pipe in his mouth.
Mei Ziqing looked at Qingmu for help.
Qingmu couldn't bear to watch any longer. He shook his head, snatched the pipe from Aoki, and said, "Professor, you can't smoke anymore."
Mei Yiqiu gasped for breath, glaring angrily at Qingmu, but there was nothing she could do.
"Professor, I hope you can help me analyze the matter concerning Ramla and the Holy Land." Qingmu hoped to divert the professor's attention by changing the subject. "How likely is it that Gaia Consciousness truly exists? What are the risks of activating those altars? I have a feeling someone has dug a pit for me, waiting for me to fall into it."
"Then let's jump!" Mei Yiqiu said, panting. "What's the big deal? The Earth has been very peaceful these past few years; nothing has happened. This is thanks to the panic caused by the Parasitic Consciousness invasion back then. Politicians and businessmen aren't jumping around like before, afraid of being labeled as Parasites if they do. Instead, YouTube and Douyin are full of idiots pretending to be aliens. Now everyone is proud to be a ' Parasites,' isn't that ridiculous? It's as foolish as someone being proud to be a traitor eighty years ago and even wearing a label on their forehead to announce it to the world. Cough cough..."
He coughed again, "Cough cough... But let me tell you, cough cough cough... This is all just the surface. Beneath the calm sea, currents are surging, and the earth is about to undergo a major transformation!"
Mei Yiqiu made an exaggerated expression on his face, his deep wrinkles twisting together like the dry, worm-eaten bark of an old tree.
"Do you know why I made the Dream Guide game? Why I developed the Space Box? Was it just to identify Parasitic Consciousness? No... cough cough... of course not... cough cough cough... We are... the last Guardian of human civilization! There was a coded message on the note Situ gave me back then... cough cough... the coded message—Mirror! Cough cough... Mirror!... cough cough cough..."
Qingmu noticed that the professor seemed a bit crazy, completely different from the sprightly, humorous, and wise old man he used to be.
He looked at Mei Ziqing with a puzzled expression.
Mei Ziqing shook her head helplessly.
"A mirror! There's another world in the mirror... cough cough..." Mei Yiqiu was still muttering to himself, "If this world doesn't work, we'll find another one. The world in the mirror is exactly the same as our world, hiding in the mirror is the best way, isn't it... cough cough cough cough..."
Qingmu felt that continuing wouldn't lead to the result he wanted, and seeing Mei Ziqing winking at him, signaling him to leave, he said, "Professor, I'll come see you another day."
Mei Ziqing also said, "Yes, Professor, you should rest."
As she spoke, she went over and took the bag from the trash can next to the professor, then pulled Qingmu along as they walked out.
They had just reached the door when the professor said, "Wait a minute!"
Qingmu turned around and saw the professor with a serious expression, his white hair disheveled, his eyes filled with profound meaning. He slowly extended his right hand and solemnly said:
"Give me back my pipe!"
Qingmu was taken aback, only then realizing that the professor's pipe was still in his hand. He had no choice but to walk over and return the pipe to the professor.
Mei Yiqiu took the pipe, his expression relaxing slightly. He said, "Some things we know are wrong, but we still can't help ourselves! We've been wrong our whole lives; it's not something we can change just by wanting to."
Qingmu sensed a hidden meaning in Mei Yiqiu's words, but judging from his expression, he wasn't entirely sure. Mei Yiqiu, however, was already impatiently waving his hand, "Go, go, hurry up and go!"
As he left, just as the door closed, Qingmu saw Mei Yiqiu skillfully fill her pipe with tobacco, light it, and then a series of coughs came from inside the office. The door closed, cutting off the sound.
Mei Ziqing opened the trash bag and looked inside, saying, "Thank goodness, the pills didn't come out, otherwise they would have been taken for nothing."
Qingmu asked, "What's wrong with the professor?"
"I don't know either. He's had tests done at the hospital, and apart from some chronic bronchitis, there's nothing else wrong. But he seems to..."
Mei Ziqing pointed to her head, "There's something wrong with him. He keeps talking about mirrors and Mirror World, saying that if you press that button, the whole world can hide inside the mirror. But when you ask him which mirror, or where the button is, he can't explain it clearly, just spouting a bunch of nonsense."
Just then, a laboratory staff member passed by in the corridor and greeted Mei Ziqing respectfully, "Hello, Professor Mei!"
Qingmu looked at her with a puzzled expression. " Professor Mei?"
Mei Ziqing explained with a smile, "Oh, I already got my professorship two years ago, and the University of Tokyo even offered me a position back there, but I still prefer to stay in China. As for the professor... he's like this now, with so many projects in the lab, especially the Space Box and Dream Guide, which are at a critical juncture, and he needs someone to lead them with the book... you know..."
Qingmu understood. Professor Mei was still in charge of the Mei Laboratory, but this Professor Mei was no longer the same Professor Mei.
Mei Yiqiu sat in his office and gently pressed a button. The surveillance footage of Qingmu and Mei Ziqing walking out side by side appeared on the computer screen in front of him.
He put the pipe to his lips, didn't smoke, and gently placed it back on the table. He opened his palm, holding two pills in it. He fiddled with the pills, then suddenly became alert, a knowing, humorous expression appearing on his face, and said to the screen:
"Right and wrong are not always absolute. You may be wrong your whole life, but you'll always get it right once. Good luck, Mr. Sang."