forget the river mirror

Chapter 4 Awareness
District [-], Little Sun Orphanage.

……

"...Alright, I'll let you know the result."

Lin Chuan hesitated for a moment, but still complied with "Xiaoyou"'s request.

Although neither he nor the voice in his head knew who came up with his name, they had been arguing over the name "Lin Chuan" for several years.

In the end, they couldn't stand each other, so they gave each other nicknames.

Because when the voice in his head is called out to help, Lin Chuan's right face will be filled with light marks, so Lin Chuan from the Profound Mirror Realm was called "Xiaoyou" by him, and he naturally became "Xiaoyou" "Xiao Zuo"

……

The drizzle outside the window did not know when it had stopped,
In fact, even if Xiaoyou didn't mention it, Lin Chuan also had the idea of ​​trying meditation. On the one hand, because the ninth district was getting more and more chaotic, and Chenguang Biology was eyeing the orphanage, he couldn't call Xiaoyou out every time he encountered danger. help.

On the other hand, there is also the idea of ​​helping Xiaoyou solve the problem.

In Lin Chuan's view, the voice in his head is also a part of himself. Although he doesn't know the specific reason, it is probably similar to the fact that his left and right brains have their own consciousness. Helping "Xiaoyou" is helping himself.

Lin Chuan, who received the admission letter from the ideal university, naturally knew about the mental illness of multiple personality disorder, but he didn't think Xiaoyou was his second personality, because he seemed to exist in a real world.

Lin Chuan has been a serious person since he was a child. At the beginning, he chased after Dean Wu and asked why the sky was blue. He didn't stop until Dean Wu told him about the wavelength of light.

And his exuberant thirst for knowledge, the root cause is to find out why there is another person's voice in his mind. Although he has not been able to find out the truth so far, luck and misfortune depend on each other, and it is precisely because of the voice in his mind. With this voice, Lin Chuan learns everything very quickly, as if he has a dual-core brain...

Lin Chuan took a deep breath, put all these troubles behind him, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began to meditate with a special breathing rate.

After an unknown amount of time, the diamond-shaped mirror on Lin Chuan's neck suddenly flickered, and then he felt his consciousness being pulled into a strange place by an inexplicable force.

Lin Chuan looked around, but could only see pure white seamless walls.

Immediately afterwards, a pale golden shadow appeared behind Lin Chuan, and the gentle breath seemed to condense into wings, caressing him gently, and at the same time, an unknown nursery rhyme rang in his ears.

Before Lin Chuan could hear what the nursery rhyme was singing, the pale golden shadow completely enveloped him, and the warm feeling made his consciousness gradually blurred. When he opened his eyes again, he found that he was naked. Soak in a water tank.

The surrounding scenery is familiar yet somewhat strange.

The slightly dilapidated yard was kept neat and tidy. Although the vines on the grape trellis could not bear any fruit, they also added shade to the orphanage. Dean Wu, who had disappeared long ago, was lying under the trellis On the rocking chair, she was shaking her cattail fan contentedly.

The yard was full of water tanks, and all the small heads were lying on the edge of the water tank with a sad face, but the head in the tank next to Lin Chuan was particularly conspicuous, because Er Bald's shiny bald head was reflecting the light, but At this time, the second bald boy was still very young.

This familiar scene reminded Lin Chuan of the "tragic experience" at the beginning.

At that time, he had just been taken back to the orphanage. Every summer, Dean Wu would fill the water tank in the yard with water, and throw them into the tank one by one when the sun heated the water.

At that time, Lin Chuan was already a ten-year-old boy, and it was too embarrassing to be stripped naked and thrown into the water tank, but old man Wu refused to let him wash in the house, saying that it was the place of girls.

So Lin Chuan always hoped that the bathing time could be shorter every time.

The second bald man was even more ruthless. Every time he tried his best to find a way to get into the house, but he was beaten every time with a bruised nose and a swollen face...

Although he knew that the world in front of him was illusory, Lin Chuan was still very happy to see Dean Wu again, but before he could speak, Dean Wu, who was lying on the rocking chair, looked at him strangely, and then A gratified smile appeared on his face, and he lightly waved the cattail fan in his hand.

In an instant, the world before Lin Chuan's eyes shattered like a mirror.

Lin Chuan, who was sitting cross-legged, suddenly opened his eyes, and the world in his eyes began to slowly reverse: a drop of rainwater rose from the puddle outside the window with ripples, slowly returned to the leaves, and deposited in the sky. The dark cloud also stagnated for a moment.

However, this strange scene lasted only for a moment, and immediately the scene in front of Lin Chuan returned to normal, but it seemed that the pixels had been increased several times, even under the dim moonlight, the floating dust in the air could be clearly seen.

Lin Chuan's attention was instantly attracted by the moonlight, because there were many tiny particles that were invisible before, and now they were like fireflies, emitting light blue light.

Lin Chuan subconsciously reached out and touched one of them, and the little "firefly" naturally melted into his body as the light flickered.

Those flying fluorescent lights also seemed to have found their direction, and began to gather towards Lin Chuan's body.

According to Xiaoyou, these are auras, because they can only be seen under the moonlight, so they are also called Yuehua.

But other than that, there are many tiny particles that look annoying, and they also melted into Lin Chuan's body along with those auras.

Lin Chuan frowned, but he didn't stop practicing. Soon, a looming meridian emerged on Lin Chuan's body surface, like a crack in the dry earth, eagerly absorbing the spiritual energy from the outside world, and it gathered in a short time It became a light blue air flow, which began to flow through the meridians, and finally gathered in the dantian.

……

Just when Lin Chuan Jueling succeeded, the first security area, the basement of the headquarters of the Federal Assembly, also sounded harsh sirens at the same time:
"Abnormal fluctuations in the empty mirror have been detected! The sky is about to shatter, please recharge! Request recharge!"

Even if it's just a cold mechanical voice, one can hear a sense of urgency.

The basement under the Federal Parliament was as big as two football fields, and the semicircular roof was like a huge dome that was knocked down. At the same time as the alarm sounded, the dome screen covering the entire basement suddenly lit up.

Immediately afterwards, eight blurred figures were also projected onto the round conference table in the middle of the basement by the projection system. Except for an old man in military uniform whose face could be seen clearly, everyone else was hidden in the shadows.

On the dome screen, a shirtless young man in beach shorts got up from the deck chair, came to the screen, and asked with a smile, "The sky is about to shatter?"

The old man in military uniform on the conference table asked blankly:
"You seem happy?"

"Happy? Emotions are just a piece of data to me, but I just don't care. After the spiritual energy recovered, you concealed the existence of the empty mirror. Didn't you already consider this day at that time?"

The young man on the dome screen looked indifferent, as if there was no difference between the ear-piercing alarm and the melodious symphony.

"If it is broken, it will be broken. What should come will always come. Use the No. [-] emergency plan. General Lin. I will leave the security work of the empty mirror to you. Everyone performs their duties. It is so late, so don't disturb others. Dreamed."

The projection wearing a luxurious nightgown yawned after finishing speaking, and then dissipated directly, obviously unwilling to waste any more time.

The remaining projections on the conference table also looked at each other silently, and then they all chose to leave, leaving only the old man in military uniform silent.

The young man in the dome screen sighed, put away his cynical look, and said seriously: "General Lin, go to work, the sun will rise tomorrow, and the Federation will still be that Federation."

The old man in military uniform took a deep look at him, but finally chose to leave without opening his mouth.

The young man on the screen rubbed his ears. He seemed to feel that the siren was a bit noisy, so he snapped his fingers. The empty basement instantly fell silent and returned to darkness.

……

……

It wasn't until dawn that Lin Chuan finished his practice. Although he didn't sleep all night, he was extremely energetic.

Lin Chuan did not communicate with Xiaoyou in a hurry, but rushed into the bathroom directly. At this time, his body was covered with dirt, and the smell was really indescribable.

Sparse streams of water dripped down Lin Chuan's hair. He picked up some water, splashed it on the mirror, and washed down the rising mist.

Lin Chuan looked at himself in the mirror. After realizing his spirit, the muscles on his body became much firmer, and his pale face became ruddy.

What changed more was vision and hearing. Lin Chuan found that if he focused, he could even see the pores on his body clearly, and Er Bald's earth-shattering snoring sound seemed to be a little closer...

Just as Lin Chuan wanted to share Jueling's successful experience with the voice in his mind, he was interrupted by a hasty knock on the door.

At first he didn't pay attention, the group of company dogs would come over almost every morning, but then he heard Ao Wu's screams, Lin Chuan quickly put on his clothes and rushed out regardless of the water droplets left on his body.

At this time, the yard was already full of company employees in suits and leather shoes. The leader had red hair in the style of Mohawk, and there were delicate mechanical skins attached to his bald scalp on both sides. At this time, Ao Wu was captured by him. Step on your feet.

Lin Chuan was stunned after seeing his face clearly:
"Jiang Yang?"

He never expected that Jiang Yang, who grew up together in the orphanage, would bring someone over.

After confirming that Ao Wu was fine, Lin Chuan stopped the second bald man who ran out shirtless, and asked:
"What are you doing here?"

"These are two contracts, and the working period is only ten years. Don't toast and eat fine wine. After three days, if you haven't joined the job, I will bring people over to eat dog meat hot pot."

Jiang Yang directly threw the two contracts on the ground, and then kicked Ao Wu over. After all, he had lived together for several years, and he knew very well that Ao Wu was Lin Chuan's weakness.

Where did Jing Xuan suffer from this kind of grievance, and he was about to go up to do it without saying a word, but Lin Chuan grabbed him tightly, and quickly grabbed Ao Wu who was about to rush up with his other hand.

None of these two things are worry-free.

Seeing Jing Xuan with a displeased face, Jiang Yang sneered, and said pointedly:

"I'm doing it for you too."

"Fuck you!"

Lin Chuan could hold back Jing Xuan, but he couldn't shut his mouth.

Jiang Yang was not surprised at all, he would be surprised if Jing Xuan didn't scold people, but he didn't intend to do anything, even if there were only three people left, the orphanage is a federal institution directly, and it is included in the IPC's speedy support list. He didn't want to provoke those living hell kings.

Seeing Jiang Yang lead the people away, Jing Xuan spat fiercely: "Fuck! What the hell!"

Lin Chuan squatted down to check Aowu, and after making sure that it was fine, he rubbed its head, walked over to pick up the contract, and went back to the house in silence.

Jing Xuan, who was following behind him, sat down with a sullen face.

"It's okay, I let Ao Wu live in my room at night, if they break in, the IPC will naturally expel them." Lin Chuan comforted, then picked up his schoolbag, and said easily:
"I'm going to school, don't go boxing today, just call me if you have anything to do."

Although Jing Xuan was somewhat reluctant, he did not refuse.

Lin Chuan, who walked out of the orphanage, always felt that something was missing. When he looked up, he found that the war fortress hanging outside the safe zone had been transferred away at some point.

In the past, he always felt that the floating fortress covered the sun, but recently the ninth district has become more and more chaotic, and the sudden transfer of the fortress gave Lin Chuan a bad feeling.

It’s just that the pedestrians on the dilapidated streets still look numb, and the urban area in the distance is still bustling. Lin Chuan felt that he might be thinking too much, so he laughed a little self-deprecatingly, and said to himself in a low voice:
"I feel refreshed."

……

……

Ninth District, Third Middle School.

The setting sun in the west shone into the classroom, and Lin Chuan, who was lying on the table in the last row, frowned at the sunlight, changed his position and "sleep soundly".

The cyan spiritual energy invisible to the naked eye is slowly melting into Lin Chuan's body.

Some people looked like they were sleeping, but they were actually cultivating secretly. Lin Chuan understood the truth of the introversion.

As the only student in the whole school who was admitted early by Ideal University, as long as Lin Chuan does not snore, the teacher will not disturb his sleep at all.

……

Only in the evening of the day can the sunlight pass through the tall buildings and enter the classroom, but the precious sunset is quickly drowned by dark clouds. There was also a ripple.

Teacher Wang, who is over half a century old, pushed his glasses and patted all the projection equipment helplessly. Even though technology has developed to this day, this universal repair method has not been eliminated.

Teacher Wang heard that those high schools above the 70th floor have already started teaching in the metaverse. Not only can they see and feel it, but they can even go back to history and feel the weight of that era.

The most important thing is that teaching in the Metaverse can also work at home... But he has to squeeze the empty track of the morning class every day to come to school to use these old-fashioned holographic projection equipment.

Most of the students under the podium were also drowsy, and Teacher Wang has long since realized that he is not surprised. The road is chosen by himself, and no one can work hard for them. With the development of society today, these people living in urban areas cannot starve to death.

When the school bell rang, dark clouds had covered the sky, and Lin Chuan, who was in the last row, also opened his eyes, and a faint cyan flashed through his eyes.

Lin Chuan practiced according to Xiao You's "Xuan Qing Jue" for a whole day, and the spirit energy rushing in the meridians obviously increased a lot.

The group of students subconsciously ignored the existence of Lin Chuan. Except when the test results were announced, the name Lin Chuan always appeared at the top of the list, and he had almost no sense of presence on weekdays.

Lin Chuan has long been used to being alone, and he doesn't need to share his sadness with others, so he can enjoy his happiness alone with peace of mind.

Don't care about other people's pity eyes, and don't care about other people's jealous malice. Loneliness is never shameful, but it can make roses bloom in the desert.

……

Senior three students have been polarized since ancient times:
Those who can endure loneliness are all studying hard, even if the school bell rings, they turn a deaf ear to it, and work hard to change their fate.

Those who followed Lin Chuan out of the classroom were all crossing their shoulders, chatting about the latest virtual game called "Xianfan" launched by the Federation, and those youthful vitality that has nowhere to be put will probably be left in that realistic virtual world inside.

"Xiao Chuan..."

Teacher Wang, who was waiting at the door of the classroom, stopped Lin Chuan with a look of embarrassment on his face, hesitated for a while, and then said:
"I don't need to go to Zhao Peng's house tomorrow. His family has rented a new tutor robot. These are the tuition fees for ten lessons. I've already exchanged them for cash for you."

Lin Chuan was just stunned for a moment, and then took three hundred-yuan bills in a very casual manner: "Thank you, Mr. Wang, I will finish the last class."

After thanking him, Lin Chuan quickened his pace. From school to Zhongnan District, he had to transfer three empty trains. If he didn’t catch the first shift, he would definitely be late. Although it was the last class, there must always be a beginning and an end when doing things. .

Seeing Lin Chuan's thin back, Mr. Wang sighed with regret.

Lin Chuan didn't think too much about it. He was planning to resign from his part-time jobs as tutor and delivery. Now that Jueling succeeded, he planned to use this time to practice hard, because Jiang Yang's appearance made him feel an urgent need sense of crisis.

……

[The Federal Parliament officially passed the "Awakened Person Management Regulations" today. In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, all awakened persons are responsible and obliged to take the initiative to register with the relevant local departments...]

[The public beta of "Xian Fan" game has started, the queen Song Yanran accepted the endorsement invitation, and it is expected that online currency exchange will be opened in a week...]

[The empty track laying project from the fifth district to the seventh district is about to be completed...]

[The fourth district has started a military exercise in the wilderness...]

All the projectors outside the building are tirelessly broadcasting the news. It is not the first time Lin Chuan has heard of the game "Xian Fan", but it is still a bit strange, even if it is an official game launched by the Federation, it should not appear on the news .

With doubts, Lin Chuan walked down the 33rd-floor air-rail platform, and the air-rail train suspended between the buildings behind him hurried to the next station in a blur.

He carefully avoided the dirty puddles on the overpass, and walked briskly into the nearest apartment building.

The door was opened by a kind-looking aunt.

"Xiao Lin, you have worked hard during this time."

"Should be."

Zhao Peng's mother just said some polite words and went back to the kitchen, while Lin Chuan put on shoe covers and went to Zhao Peng's room with ease.

Apartment buildings like this are very common in the Ninth District, and the furnishings inside are similar. They are all staff rooms provided by the company, and every family is a labor force raised by the company.

The little ghost in the room looked much stronger than Lin Chuan, and looked very anxious.

If he didn't know that he was only in the second year of junior high school, Lin Chuan would have thought he was a 32-year-old brother.

When the door was closed, Zhao Peng took out the brain-computer helmet linked to the metaverse from under the bed, and said in a low voice:

"It's the last day, so please help me correct the wrong questions. I'll play for a while, remember to call me when my mother comes."

Lin Chuan has no idea of ​​educating children with problems, and no one can work hard for others, but simply feels a little unworthy for Zhao Peng's mother.

Zhao Peng’s family, who lives on the 37th floor, can’t even reach a middle-class family. Otherwise, he would have rented a tutor robot for him long ago, and he wouldn’t be looking for a high school student like Lin Chuan who costs 30 yuan a class to make up lessons.

Even so, it cannot be denied that Zhao Peng's parents paid for him.

Lin Chuan shook his head, ignored Zhao Peng who was already immersed in the metaverse, clicked on the transparent tablet on the table, and talked about the analysis of wrong questions on his own.

"Introduction to number theory, 82 points, not bad, need to bring in the formula here..."

"Literature, 83 points, you are not biased, but two jujube trees are two jujube trees, which doesn't have so much meaning. Buying oranges is not a curse..."

"Mechanics is 70 points, all of which are [-]-point papers. You almost failed. Under what circumstances will the refraction of light happen?
A. Occurs at the junction of two media

B. on the water

c. obtuse angle
You choose C?The end of the universe is an obtuse angle? "

"Fundamentals of physics and chemistry, 72 points, what is element 51 of the periodic table... you write an Lsp? It's better to fill in your name..."

But when he turned to the history of the Federation, Lin Chuan's ears moved, and then he said:
"The history of the Federation is 65 points. There is nothing to say about this kind of rote memorization, but this is not 2145, but 2135. When the third world war broke out in Blue Star, mysterious spies invaded the beautiful country. The nuclear bomb silo, like the three nuclear bombs dropped on Dongying Island, kicked off the prelude to the nuclear bomb cleanup.

The war lasted for 5 years, until 2140, the global crust changed, the five continents converged into the current federal continent, the marine and land creatures began to mutate, the global population dropped from 80 billion to 20 billion, and human beings entered the end of the world.

In the same year, the first advanced artificial intelligence was born, the federal government was formed, the long war ended, and the nine safe zones were established..."

It was just a simple year to fill in the blanks, and Lin Chuan introduced the beginning of the federation in a rambling manner. Although Zhao Peng just filled in a wrong number, it was a real history...

However, the reason why Lin Chuan spoke in such detail was because Jueling's keen hearing allowed him to hear footsteps outside the door.

Zhao Peng's mother outside the door nodded with satisfaction. Lin Chuan is still very reliable. Renting a tutor robot costs 200 yuan a day, while Xiaolin only costs 50 yuan a class. The money is not in vain.

Who would have thought that Teacher Wang with thick eyebrows and big eyes would also earn commission money from Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan finished talking about the history here, and then divided the transparent plate into terrain division:
"Terrain division, 80 points, this question should not be wrong, the area outside the safe zone is collectively called wilderness, not no-man's land, where there are no-man's empty cities after the war, and various dangerous forbidden areas, There are vagrant tribes, there are slave catchers, and there are black market merchants..."

Hearing the sound of footsteps drifting away, Lin Chuan immediately exaggerated:
"Biological programming, 77 points, aren't your parents the P2 employees of Ideal Biology? They can be regarded as dragons and phoenixes among ordinary people. Are you a dragon and a phoenix?"

Zhao Peng, who was immersed in the Yuan universe, didn't care what Lin Chuan said at all.

Lin Chuan didn't care whether he listened to it or not. Anyway, he spent money to explain the wrong question once in this hour, even if he completed the task, he could also complain about it by the way.

It's not shabby to earn money.

Anyway, this is the last class, and there will be no intersection in their lives after that.

It's just that he couldn't understand why Zhao Peng would still make mistakes on rote-memorized topics like history and geography.

After the reunification of the Federation, Chinese has become the official language, and the subject of English has long been out of the scope of the eight-year compulsory education, and Japanese and Korean have also become dialects. Except for some old-fashioned people, most of them Some people can only speak Chinese.

The remaining guidance on number theory is to cultivate logical thinking, and literature is to cultivate expressive ability. There are problems in these two subjects, which can be traced back to the source. It is nothing more than insufficient logical thinking and insufficient reading accumulation.

However, the division of federal history and terrain is for people to better understand the world. Mechanics, fundamentals of physics and chemistry, and biological programming are the most popular subjects, and major companies tend to sign talented employees in this area.

But these are not things that Lin Chuan needs to worry about. He doesn't know what his future will be like, so he doesn't have the time to worry about Zhao Peng.

The two did not disturb each other, one focused on playing the game, and the other focused on the topic, and soon Lin Chuan's mobile phone rang.

"get out of class is over. This is the corrected wrong question, the correct solution, and related knowledge points. You can take a look at it, even if it's just pretending."

Zhao Peng took off his helmet a little tiredly, looked at the document written on the tablet, and soon smiled:
"sensible."

Lin Chuan didn't bother to pay attention to this little kid, picked up his schoolbag and left the room.

Zhao Peng's mother, who was waiting at the door, said with satisfaction: "You have worked hard during this time."

"Should be."

Lin Chuan just responded and walked towards the door. Just as he took off his shoe covers, he saw Zhao Peng's father came back with a birthday cake in his hand.

"Come out, Pengpeng, Dad bought you a cake!"

Zhao Peng's father didn't care about Lin Chuan, he put on his slippers and entered the house with the cake.

Lin Chuan followed the cake uncontrollably and walked a few steps, but he reacted quickly, opened the door and walked out.

At some point, the drizzle was mixed with the chill, and the door seemed to separate two worlds.

Lin Chuan put on a hood to cover his somewhat complicated eyes, but there was a free and easy smile on the corner of his mouth. Anyway, he also earned 300 yuan today, and he was one step closer to collecting tuition fees.

……

(End of this chapter)