Chapter 35: First Cry

Meng Fan mingled among the several dozen children, observing those his own age with keen interest. They hailed from various sects and schools, effectively the pillars of the next generation. Among them, Meng Fan recognized Zhuge Bai of the Zhuge clan and the young novice monk from Lingyin Temple. There were also practitioners of the Northeast's Immortals-Invoking shamanism, as well as Taoists from Maoshan and Wudang Mountain. Even though they all appeared as children, their temperaments and the traces of their respective arts varied significantly, allowing Meng Fan to truly perceive the distinct differences in the various lineages of the supernatural world.

"Interesting, very interesting!" Meng Fan seemed to stand apart from them, watching and studying them.

These children were at the age for play. Some showed off their family’s techniques, comparing whose father was stronger, while other mischievous ones surrounded the young novice from Lingyin Temple, constantly rubbing his bald head. They even used rags found somewhere to polish his scalp, scrubbing it until it shone brightly. The young monk, still just a child and lacking the depth of spiritual cultivation to remain unperturbed, could only roll his eyes while gritting his teeth in silence. If this continued, he might well be forced to transform into a wrathful guardian deity. The other children teased him, saying, "Monks must resist anger, monks must resist anger, hehe!"

Of course, many other children were simply laughing and playing. Zhuge Bai, with his adorable and naive appearance, was quite popular with the girls due to his youth.

"Why don't you have squinty eyes like your brother?"

"I don't know, my brother had big eyes like mine before too."

Just then, Liao Zhong, standing to the side, spoke into his walkie-talkie: "Attention everyone, if there is any risk of the Gu poison leaking, subdue the Gu child immediately and cease all operations. The safety of the participants is the absolute priority."

This was Liao Zhong's plan: to shatter the Gu child's self-perception and her narrow, enclosed inner world, then reconstruct her concept of reality, helping her realize that she was the one who was truly different. Meng Fan did not wish to comment on Liao Zhong's plan. Perhaps destroying a person's "world" was cruel, but compared to the twisted perceptions she held, building a correct world and guiding her in the right direction was indeed what should be done based on a sound understanding of humanity.

What is the fastest way to establish a new world? Drastic illnesses require drastic medicine; it is not a slow transformation, but the total destruction of everything that came before, so that a new "world" can be built upon the ruins.

Meng Fan slowly walked forward, looking at the Gu child—the future Chen Duo—and stood face-to-face with her. He watched as her originally placid, expressionless eyes slowly filled with panic, her body beginning to tremble.

Meng Fan moved closer until he rested a hand on the Gu child's shoulder, channeling his innate energy to project goodwill and establish a connection. If the Gu child’s nature and humanity had been suppressed, and she had no humanity, then one might as well treat her as a body without consciousness—a person who had lived in "darkness" since birth, isolated from the world. And if she lacked natural instincts, one could view it as numbness. But no matter what, a person still feels pain; avoiding pain and fleeing from harm are the instincts of any human, or indeed any living creature. The suppression of these instincts implied that, to some extent, the Gu child was capable of thought.

Looking into the Gu child's emerald eyes, Meng Fan curled his lips into a smile, his hand continuously channeling the innate energy of goodwill into Chen Duo’s body.

"Do you want to suppress it?"

"Suppress your own nature and instincts? Like a piece of wood?"

"Everything around you feels strange, doesn't it? You can't understand it, as if you are the only alien here?"

The Gu child suddenly broke away from Meng Fan’s hand, falling to the ground and scrambling backward. Seeing her like this, the other children approached with concern. To her, these children seemed like the others from the experiments at the Medicine Immortal Association—her peers who kept standing up, transforming into creatures she couldn't comprehend. They closed in on her, as if forcing her to become like them, to become an alien.

The Gu child knelt on the ground, covering her mouth, struggling desperately not to make a sound. In her understanding, that was wrong, but yet... yet...

She clenched her fists tightly, watching these vibrant, energetic children. The world in her eyes—the shackles constructed by the Medicine Immortal Association—began to collapse at this moment.

"Boss, should we stop him?"

Liao Zhong frowned and pressed his walkie-talkie: "No, let's watch a bit longer. I know that child. Have the other children withdraw first!"

The field was now empty, save for Liao Zhong, Meng Fan, and the Gu child.

"Gu child, what are you expecting?"

"Are you waiting for the abuse that usually follows?"

"I see. Compared to that pain, do these unexplainable existences make you even more at a loss?"

"I'm sorry, I cannot return the world you expected to you. Even if you cannot describe it or express it, you should be able to feel it yourself, right?"

"The abnormal one is you!!!"

Liao Zhong stood by, just like the guards at the Medicine Immortal Association used to watch those children. He took out a basketball and tossed it to the Gu child. She caught it in confusion, but then dropped it in sheer terror. Watching the ball bounce away until it came to a rest, the Gu child’s eyes welled with tears. She looked cautiously at Liao Zhong, then crawled over to embrace the ball, just as she used to embrace the peers who died before her eyes.

The Gu child breathed heavily, staring with bloodshot eyes at the figures of Meng Fan and Liao Zhong standing side-by-side. The basketball fell from her hands once more.

No punishment. No abuse...

That "world" seemed to have ceased to exist entirely!

The Gu child tentatively threw the basketball onto the grass, watched it bounce, and stood up to chase it.

Fall...

Then stand up!

She slammed the ball onto the ground with force, and it soared into the sky, blocking the sun from her eyes. Tears flowed uncontrollably down her face.

"Ah—!!!"

It was like the first cry of a newborn.

Watching this scene, Meng Fan couldn't help but exclaim, "Uncle Liao, you really are something. Using us—the peers she sees as aliens—to destroy her perception of the world. Is the next step to establish her correct understanding of reality?"

Liao Zhong glanced at Meng Fan and asked with some surprise, "You figured it out?"

"I figured it out a long time ago!" Meng Fan’s gaze sharpened. "Don't forget, Uncle Liao, our Beastmaster lineage is the most knowledgeable when it comes to the emotions of living things."