"Are you going out today? After all, it's your day off." Xiaomian still spoke gently.
Wen Xishu felt a force, altering his perception of Xiaomian.
From disgust to habit.
That was his guess, because that force wasn't so dreadful yet. Not nearly to the extent of rejecting one second and finding everything reasonable the next.
Wen Xishu suppressed his discomfort, deciding to go out; he needed to find what he'd lost.
[World Dissonance 50]
[Current Synchronization Rate 50]
That strange prompt appeared again.
Apparently, once his disgust and resistance to Xiaomian were temporarily suppressed, the world dissonance would drop, and the synchronization rate would rise.
But for some reason, these numbers always flashed by.
The clothes Wen Xishu was wearing were still the ones from when he landed on the island.
Xiaomian said:
"Dear, do you want to change into a different outfit before you go out? Though this one has personality, it's indeed rather unrefined."
Although Wen Xishu's possession of the tripartite force led the Ark's soldier commander to believe he had some abilities, deeming him a noble Ability User, Wen Xishu's actual status was quite lowly, merely a cleaner of the outer hull of the Ark.
Now, he stood out in his dark blue maintenance uniform.
Wen Xishu thought to take it as it came and prepared to change into clothes that matched his aesthetic.
But soon, he remembered.
"I came from the Ark... and there were others who came with me, right? I remember we had a way to contact one another."
Thinking this, Wen Xishu started to search his pockets.
Sure enough, he quickly found a square communicator. It appeared to be a post-apocalyptic communication device, stripped of flashy functions with just the call feature kept; all other configurations were used to boost the "signal."
So even in a place like the fragments of Evil Land, far from the Ark signal station, it could maintain communication.
Wen Xishu soon found the names listed on it.
Russell, Smith, Eliot, Jiru, Horn, Judy, Mia.
For some reason, staring at the other names felt fine…
But staring at Judy and Mia's names caused something unexpected.
[World Dissonance 51]
[Current Synchronization Rate 49]
"Judy, Mia..."
Wen Xishu thought about these two names.
Because before entering the fragments of Evil Land, the eight people who landed on the island had actually seen each other.
Wen Xishu started to recall carefully.
Russell, talkative, long hair and beard, Latin style.
Smith, a sickly old man.
Jiru, muscular black man.
Eliot, soldier.
Horn, a child in a wheelchair.
Judy and Mia…
Hiss!
Suddenly, Wen Xishu felt a sharp pain in his head.
Judy and Mia! Judy and Mia! Judy and Mia!
The more his head hurt, the more he kept recalling, continuously filling his mind with these two names.
At that moment, Xiaomian's gaze suddenly turned fierce.
"Dear brother, dear... you seem uncomfortable?"
Xiaomian tried to hug Wen Xishu.
Wen Xishu could accept his friend's joyful celebratory hugs… but couldn't really accept this Sichuan-style hug. He immediately pushed Xiaomian away.
Xiaomian's gaze grew eerier.
"Brother, stop thinking. Please stop thinking!"
Wen Xishu pressed one hand to his head, resisting the pain.
With the other hand, he dialed the communicator.
He called Mia and Judy.
He remembered a part of it; Mia and Judy were a couple, one sexy, one intellectual...
But very strangely, thinking deeper made him feel an unusual dissonance. He wasn't completely amnesiac, of course he remembered Mia and Judy's appearances.
Judy's makeup somewhat resembled Xiaomian's, but that was where it felt weird.
Mia and Judy gave Wen Xishu a natural feeling. But Xiaomian's look made him feel repulsed.
Just thinking about Mia and Judy's anomalies made Wen Xishu realize… the world dissonance kept rising.
It once soared to 88.
As the dissonance hit 90, synchronization dropped to 10.
Xiaomian's expression went through fierceness, eeriness, malevolence… but suddenly turned to sorrow and tears:
"I beg you! Brother, I can't leave you, I love you! Stop hurting yourself!"
Xiaomian actually began to cry, looking heartbroken.
"You'll be targeted! This world… will be very cruel to you."
Wen Xishu guessed it.
So that's it! I lost something, but I have to lower the synchronization rate to obtain my complete self-awareness.
But correspondingly, higher world dissonance may cause the world to target me?
The sky suddenly turned gloomy as if a storm was imminent.
Xiaomian pleaded:
"Wen Xishu! Stop thinking! Stop thinking!"
Wen Xishu also felt deep fear within.
Once world dissonance exceeds 90, his spiritual perception already made him aware of some terrible thing closing in.
World Dissonance 92.
Xiaomian suddenly turned anxious, closing all doors and windows in the room.
"Brother… don't be afraid, let's stay quiet, stop thinking, everything will be fine, I'll close the doors and windows, pretend no one's home! Everything will be fine!"