Fourth Perspective

Xiao Jinyu fell back and the howling, furious wind bombarded his ears.

For a brief moment, every cell in his body screamed for his survival. Adrenaline was quickly secreted to his veins and his heart swelled, filling his entire chest. Every hair on his body stood up, his breathing rapid, and the moment the train lights entered his eyes, his blood rushed to his head.

Live.

He wants to live!

The train unhesitantly rushed towards him and the cold metal stuck to his skin. Xiao Jinyu’s eyes opened wide and at the moment before his death, his unwillingness and anger caused blood to flow to his eyes, quickly flooding it.

The next second.

His back hit a wall.

“Augh…”

His back exploded with pain, Xiao Jinyu couldn’t help but make a sound. Just a second before, the train had really felt like it hit him, and in the next, he suddenly hit a wall. Xiao Jinyu couldn’t help but look at that wall and when he saw the words, “Changjie Station”, he stilled. In an instant, his body that was stretched to its limits, relaxed.

He’s back.

He really came back!

Changjie Station was the station right after the station he gets on everyday!

But he only relaxed for a second. Xiao Jinyu immediately calmed down and scanned his surroundings.

Hold on, why was Changjie Station also empty, with not a single person in sight?

His nerves were stretched taut once more, Xiao Jinyu’s eyes swept around again. The blinding station lights, three rows of plastic chairs, and the LED screen spinning from the ceiling. As well as the two people holding roses, in a weird pose, standing on one leg, in the middle of the platform, staring right back at him...

...Wait.

Xiao Jinyu twisted his head back towards the pair in the middle of the platform.

Six eyes looked at each other.

Xiao Jinyu: “......”

Short-haired woman and the boy in a baseball cap: “......”

Xiao Jinyu: “Excuse me, sorry.”

The other two: “...”

The young, seemingly fourteen or fifteen year old boy wearing a hat, couldn’t help but stop Xiao Jinyu, “No! What does your expression mean?! How do we look like perverts?!” 

Xiao Jinyu: “You’re male right?”

“Of course.”

Xiao Jinyu looked speechlessly at the pink lace dress on him.

The boy in a cap: “......”

Xiao Jinyu: “Sorry, I disturbed you two.”

“You come back! There’s a reason behind me wearing this dress, ok! That White Garden was actually a big shot crossdresser, and using the method stated on the data provided didn’t let us enter his logic skill, so we could only resort to this, thinking that copying his daily actions would let us in, ok?!”

White Garden?

Logic skill?

Eyes not fluctuating, Xiao Jinyu turned around, and said calmly, “Who are you?”

While the boy in a baseball cap rushed to explain himself, the short-haired woman examined Xiao Jinyu, already guessing his identity. “You’re one of the two passengers who got pulled into the White Garden space?’

Xiao Jinyu didn’t respond, but agreed silently.

The short-haired woman laughed, “Pretty good, we didn’t even need to enter and the people inside came out by themselves. Loosen up, don’t be so anxious. To be honest, we’re here to save you.”

Xiao Jinyu caught the point: “I came out?” 

“Yeah, did you not notice that you already returned to Zhongdu City? Changjie Station, Zhongdu’s second subway line.”

‘......Changjie Station, Zhongdu’s second subway line.’

Right, here is Changjie Station.

It’s the place he passes by everyday getting to and from school.

He’s back.

His taut nerves suddenly relaxed at this moment. Being stuck in darkness for more than forty hours, his body and nerves had hit their limits long ago. Xiao Jinyu couldn’t hold on anymore and fell to the ground. Closing his eyes, in the light, he saw the woman’s shocked expression and the two rushing towards him.

Were these two, like the so-called ‘White Garden’, ghosts as well?

Whatever, he didn’t have the energy to think anymore.

Before he fainted, Xiao Jinyu suddenly thought, ‘a boy in a pink lace dress, dancing on one leg, in the middle of the subway station. If he really was a ghost, he must be a funny ghost’.

***

The world was chaotic.

In the endless darkness, the black-haired young man ran forward, unable to stop.

A white house, like a ghost lingering behind him, followed him. But no matter how far he runs, the white house will grow to where he is.

Xiao Jinyu looked back, and a horrifying white filled his vision.

Suddenly, he saw a door in front of him.

A rusty yellow door handle, a wooden door with a large piece of skin missing…

It’s his house.

Xiao Jinyu’s eyes lit up, before he used all of his energy, ran to the door and quickly turned the handle. But before he could open the door, the door opened from the inside. Something seemed to emerge in his memory and Xiao Jinyu slowly raised his head.

Before the light, his mom stood in the doorway, kindly looking at him.

The broken esophagus and windpipe were exposed to the air, the dark red flesh shone under the light, letting out the smell of blood.

His mom bent her neck, raising her lips.

“Sha sha…”

……

Quickly breathing in, Xiao Jinyu suddenly sat up in the bed, breathing heavily.

By the sickbed, a boy wearing normal clothing and in a baseball cap looked at him in surprise, and asked, “You only fainted for half an hour before waking up?”

“Half an hour?”

XIao Jinyu surveyed his surroundings.

This seemed to be a small infirmary. The room wasn’t big, only having a single person sickbed and a medicine cabinet. The surrounding white walls seemed to press down on him and Xiao Jinyu, who was on the bed, couldn't help but suck in another breath.

He thought of the white house.

……

He quickly calmed himself.

Xiao Jinyu said, “Nightmare”. Not saying anymore, he lowered his head and looked at the needle on the back of his hand.

The boy in a baseball cap: “Oh, because you were dehydrated, malnourished, and highly alert, you fainted. This is the subway station’s infirmary, the doctor already checked you over, saying there wasn’t anything wrong, that you just need some glucose, so we brought you here for now.”

Infirmary.

Glucose.

It really seems like these two didn’t have any evil intentions and weren’t ghosts either.

Xiao Jinyu asked accusingly, “Where’s your friend?”

“Her? She went to collect the logic factor.”

Logic factor?

Xiao Jinyu silently wrote down this in his mind and suddenly remembered, “Where’s Zhao Zhixin?”

The boy in the cap said: "What Zhao Zhixin?"

“The man who was caught by the ghost with me, he wears a pair of glasses.”

“Oh, you’re talking about the other passenger that was pulled into White Garden with you. He hasn’t come out yet, but he should soon. You’ve already figured out the way to come out so even if he copied you mindlessly, he could come out as well. The time flow in White Garden is different from ours, so maybe in that place the time flow is slower. Our time flow might be faster, so only a second went by there. It’s only been a couple of hours here, so maybe in a few hours, he’ll come out.”

After a long time, Xiao Jinyu raised his head and looked at the indifferent boy in front of him, calmly asking, “This… sir, you’ve been saying many weird things since earlier. Logic skills, logic factors, White Garden space…… I can ignore all of that, but please answer me honestly on one thing.”

The young man looked quietly at him, his eyes solemn and serious, and the boy in the baseball cap stilled. He couldn’t help but take this seriously, “What is it?”

“How long have we disappeared for?”

Taking out his phone and looking at the time, the boy: “Just a bit over an hour.”

Silently, Xiao Jinyu: “The time flow ratio is forty to one.”

“What?”

“I said, the time flow ratio is forty to one. Forty hours in that White Garden space is only one hour in the real world.” 

The boy in the cap asked in surprise: “Unexpectedly it was the White Garden space’s time flow that was faster? Hold on, then based on this, why hasn't Zhao Zhixin come out yet?”

Silently looking down, Xiao Jinyu stared at the white blanket, not answering. After a long time, Xiao Jinyu finally spoke up. The young man’s voice was light and clear, but for some unknown reason, the boy in the baseball cap could hear a bit of sadness.

“He still didn’t dare jump onto the rails.”

“....He’s dead.”

The boy in the cap was still silent. He’s seen a lot of dead people and as a user, death was a daily thing. But most of the missions he receives are to clean up logic storm debris, rarely needing to comfort people. Seeing Xiao Jinyu’s grave expression, he opened his mouth, unable to help himself, asking, “Was he your friend?”

“A really good friend.”

Raising his head, Xiao Jinyu’s red rimmed eyes stared at the boy in the cap, “What really is White Garden?!”

The boy’s mouth opened and closed, and just when he was about to speak, a woman’s voice rang from the doorway.

“Eh? You two actually knew each other?”

Xiao Jinyu turned his head towards her.

It’s that short-haired woman.

The woman entered the infirmary with a black, square object in her hand. She smiled and looked up and down at Xiao Jinyu: "Malnutrition and a lack of sleep to this extent, but you only took half an hour to wake up. Have you awakened your logic skill?”

Awakened a logic skill?

Xiao Jinyu’s eyes shrank, not saying a word.

The short-haired woman: "But whether you know the passenger in glasses is still up in the air. From the monitoring, you two got on the bus at the same station, got on the escalator with only two people in between, but you didn’t greet each other, not even speak to each other when passing. Then both got into the subway..." she laughed, "Let me think: standing next to each other, not speaking, and not even looking at each other. You two really are good friends, you two can even communicate without words.”

Capped boy: “Huh? Wait, what do you mean?”

Xiao Jinyu retracted the sorrowful expression on his face.

The short-haired woman thought for a bit and said, “Are you scared that we won’t give you real answers? So you came up with an excuse so we would tell you the truth?”

Xiao Jinyu looked up at her and asked indifferently, “I saw an old movie from before the radiation.”

“Oh? Movie?’

“It’s called ‘Men in Black’. As soon as someone sees an alien, men in black will appear and take out something like the thing you’re holding, clearing their memory.” Like he wasn’t embarrassed at all from being exposed, Xiao Jinyu stared fixedly at this smiling, short-haired woman. Clearly, this woman was the leader of the two.

Xiao Jinyu: “Without cause or reason, I was pulled into this strange world, going through all of this… it could also be called a calamity. I just want to ask for one answer.”

The short-haired woman’s cautious gaze scanned the young man, but the young man didn’t reveal anything, only calmly stating his demand.

Seems like he really only wants to know one thing.

The short-haired woman put away the black phone, “You’re thinking too much. Currently, there’s no logic skill that can erase someone’s memory, so even if we wanted to clear your memory, we can’t. Also, even if you won’t say, we will still ask you about what happened in the White Garden space, since… we still have to test if you’ve already awakened your logic skill.”

Xiao Jinyu repeated, “Logic skill?’

The short-haired woman lifted her lips, “Yes, logic skill. Anyone who encounters a logic skill has a chance to awaken their own logic skill. But before telling you what logic skills are and why you were pulled into that White Garden space, I must ask you something first.”

“What is it?”

The short-haired woman’s expression suddenly became serious. She stared straight at Xiao Jinyu and said slowly, “Before today, in your life, have you seen anything that broke logic, anything strange and unusual?”

Under the dazzling light, the young man’s expression didn’t change. His expression was thoughtful at first, like he was thinking seriously. Then, he looked at the woman in front of him, unhesitantly saying, “No, I don’t remember anything weird happening in my life.”

That examining gaze didn’t immediately leave his body.

Like she wanted to closely examine each detail of the young man’s expression, the short-haired woman coldly looked at Xiao Jinyu.

After a while.

The short-haired woman finally removed her gaze and smiled as she spread her hands, “Congrats, the probability of you awakening a logic skill has decreased by fifty percent.”

The author has something to say: 

Little Goldfish: As long as I’m not embarrassed, the one who’s embarrassed is others, right →-→

The boy in the baseball cap: ……..Can you act like a human?!!!

一一

The next chapter will roughly reveal the worldview.

Rubs hands.

Going to go eat now, muah my babies =3=