The very first thing Jing Ci did after waking up was contacting River.
He was distinctly aware that the last experience wasn’t ideal at all. Although he had a feeling that this was a moment where he shouldn’t pressure River, he was also worried about the other falling into a hole due to the failure.
River’s response was curt – he was alive, but absolutely not in the mood to talk. Jing Ci accepted that with a click of his tongue.
After a short shower, he threw himself onto his bed, rolling around to find one of the positions where his shackles wouldn’t annoy him. His damp hair was rapidly cooling down, but he ignored the sensation and stared at the ceiling deep in thought.
Well, he had treated the last game as just a game, but that was likely the wrong way to go about it.
The games’ difficulty couldn’t be underestimated. They needed attention and effort to solve.
River needed the games – and the feeling of accomplishment at solving them – to grow more lively.
And Jing Ci… Jing Ci needed River.
The young man touched his own throat with his slender fingers.
Drowning.
Breathless, with the world weighing down on him. His body felt like lead – every movement too exhausting, every breath taxing, even existing being a chore.
His thoughts were a garbled black mass, like someone trying to blacken out a piece of paper, hovering inside his head like a dark cloud.
His soul was screaming, screaming, screaming to get away, to hide from everything, to just find a secure place and rest, to be away from the world and all these useless things.
Jing Ci took a deep, long breath and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, the black mass was pushed down, clearing his head.
He didn’t know when he had first started feeling this way, but along with it came an angry determination to not give up. The more his mind tired, the more he struggled and refused.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
When the professor came in, Jing Ci was already back to normal and hiding the Gamblers’ phone. Ming Liang appeared suspicious of his recent movements, so he strutted over to Jing Ci’s drawer and pulled it open without a word.
Ktf sbecu wjc vlvc’a rabq tlw – tf kjr lc j yjv wbbv, jcv bvvis meglber jybea tbk atf Xjwyifgr kbeiv gfjma lo tf ibra atf qtbcf.
Cqqjgfcais, la kjr eccfmfrrjgs ab kbggs jybea la. Zlcu Oljcu mtfmxfv bea atf vgjkfg, fsfr wbnlcu bnfg atf qtbcf jr lo la vlvc’a fzlra, jcv mibrfv la jujlc.
Jing Ci smiled, showing his teeth.
“Good morning”, Ming Liang greeted belatedly.
“Good morning, Prof.”
Jing Ci let himself fall back onto the bed. So, the phone was invisible to everyone else? In that case he might as well play around with it right under their nose. That’d trouble the professor, surely.
“Your mood is bad.” The professor took his usual place with his usual notes. It was almost infuriating how pleased he sounded that Jing Ci was in a bad mood. “Why is that? What happened in the dream?”
“Nothing that’s any of your business.” Jing Ci rolled his eyes and grumpily curled up with his face towards the wall.
The professor didn’t mind the rude behavior. “Someone died.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“A rather young girl. Did you do anything?”
“Nope.” He wasn’t too interested in throwing people to the shadows. There was basically no reason for him to do such a thing – just normally killing them ensured that they wouldn’t bother him after all. He didn’t have to care about their life once they were out of the dream.
On that note, maybe he should have tried feeding River’s brother to the shadows… That could have been a good idea. He’d suggest that if they ever ran into the guy at night again.
He just had to find a way to do it without endangering himself.
“Your friend didn’t appear?”
The professor wasn’t planning on stopping his questioning anytime soon. Jing Ci stifled a sigh.
“Did.”
“But the night didn’t go as planned. I see. You still don’t want to talk about them?”
“Nope.”
“Fine. Then… Oh, the usual reminder. It’s time for your examination soon.”
That drew a reaction from Jing Ci. The young man’s shoulders drew tighter to his body at the mention of the examinations.
He had acted like they were nothing when he was talking to River, and that wasn’t wrong, in a way. They weren’t painful or anything, but to ensure the safety of the doctors, he’d be put under a drug that’d keep him motionless.
To be aware of everything and conscious but unable to move or talk, who’d like that kind of thing?
“Great”, he said sarcastically, his tone unusually fierce. He really was in a terrible mood today. “What’s my payment this time?”
“What do you want?” Ming Liang didn’t mind hearing Jing Ci out. His answers were, after all, valuable material.
Jing Ci turned on his back, twisting his neck to look at one of the walls. The one his shackles were attached to. “…How about windows?”
“You want to look outside? How unusual. You’ve been showing much more interest in the outside world since the moment you met your friend. Before, you didn’t care at all… Hmm. I wonder if this is specifically related to your interest in them or if their existence has changed your view on the outside world as a whole…” The professor muttered something under his breath, continuing his notes. He gave a joyless smile. “But, a window is a no-go. Not that there’d be anything for you to look at other than maybe some fish.”
“Fish are better than a wall”, Jing Ci commented dryly.
“You never cared for fish.”
“Well, now I do.” Irritated, the young man snapped at the older professor, who was leisurely sitting while watching him.
Ming Liang gave a little “hehe”. He tapped a bony finger on the table. “Don’t change too much, Jing Ci. If you change too much, I’ll have no use for you. Ah, although I could just hand you over to some of our visitors… They offer good pay.”
“If you don’t mind them going down with me”, Jing Ci threatened, eyes narrowing.
“You know very well we wouldn’t leave you able-bodied if that was my plan”, the professor countered easily. In the end, he smiled happily. “But I actually don’t think that is something that will happen anytime soon. I’ll have you here for many more years to come.”
Obviously Jing Ci was aware that the end of the professor’s interest would mean his death, but he couldn’t stop himself from throwing out another comment. A childish fit, maybe. “You’ll get bored of me sooner or later.”
“I won’t.” Ming Liang stood up and left the cell. He gave Jing Ci a creepy smile from outside. “You’re different from others, so you’re interesting… But do you know just how different you are, Jing Ci?”
They held each other’s gaze. Ming Liang’s voice lowered into a whisper, but it was audible enough in the silence.
“Have you ever thought… that others, put into a situation like yours, go insane in a short amount of time? Fifteen days on average. Fifteen days in solitary confinement is what’s needed to cause permanent psychological damage. When we brought you here, how old were you? Do you remember, how long did we leave you without any contact, bringing you food through robots and not giving you anything to spend your time with?”
Ming Liang left.
On the bed, Jing Ci pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.
That professor was just being annoying, that was all. He was unhappy that Jing Ci refused to give out information about the dreams, which were a topic of interest for absolutely everyone.
For now, he had to think about how to continue. He needed to be more active in the games and help out River more so that they could solve them for sure. That was important for River to feel better, and a more active River was a lot more fun to interact with.
They were both different. They were both different, which meant that they were the same – one group of two people different from everyone else.
He could handle this situation. He wouldn’t let Ming Liang make him feel worse. The guy was only goading him anyway – there were people who managed to stay years in solitary confinement, no problem.
Even if the cell he had been in at the start had allowed him absolutely no social contact.
Even if the cell had been in almost absolute darkness.
Even if there had been almost no sounds.
Even if it had lasted three months.
…It was okay.
Even if he was different, as long as he wasn’t alone, he could handle it all.
Poor boys
Thank you for the chapter!! <3
Jing Ci, hang in there bud huhu T_T
And thanks for the chapter! <3
Oh my god, the horror of the last paragraph
I don’t know if I’m just emotional but strangely, Jing Ci in this chapter just makes me want to cry.