Chapter 219: Qinggang’s Doll
Chapter 219: Qinggang’s Doll
Since the leader told him to wait a while longer, Lu Xin had no choice but to reluctantly stay where he was.
He saw the girl called Doll, shed the heavy black outer skirt that made her look somewhat bulky and cumbersome, and throw it directly onto the floor. Underneath the skirt, she was wearing black, form-fitting thermal underwear that hugged every curve of her figure. The beautifully laced Roman boots on her feet were kicked aside as well, revealing small, fair, and crystalline bare feet.
She did all this in front of Lu Xin remarkably naturally, completely unlike she was facing a stranger.
A strange man, at that.
After taking off the boots, she walked towards Lu Xin. Then, just a Lu Xin tensed slightly, she walked straight past him and sat down on the sofa covered in European-style cloth. She hugged a soft plush cushion and quietly started watching TV.
On the TV screen, a man with a serious expression looked out at the audience, posing his soul-searching inquiry: “Face yourself honestly.”
“What do you truly want to do right now?”
“……”
“Lone Soldier, continue reporting your current observations.”
On the comms channel, having barely waited a minute, Chen Jing’s voice inquired again: “What is Doll doing now?”
Lu Xin replied, “She’s watching TV… and still looking at the commercials…”
“Huff…”
Chen Jing audibly breathed a sigh of relief: “Then that’s fine.”
After that, silence descended on the channel.
“What does ‘fine’ mean?”
Lu Xin couldn’t help but actively ask.
Right now, he was holding his bag and had no idea where to put it. The room was unnervingly clean – unnervingly clean for any sign that someone actually lived in it. Every single object had its own distinct style. Lu Xin felt completely out of place in this room. He didn’t even know where he should sit. As for the owner of the room, she clearly wasn’t the type who would urge a guest to quickly take a seat.
Feeling awkward and confined, Lu Xin had no choice but to ask himself: “What am I supposed to do now?”
“For you now…”
Chen Jing’s voice emerged after a short pause, laced with a hint of uncertainty: “Try and see if you can leave.”
“That’s it?”
Lu Xin thought about it. He glanced at the girl still hugging the cushion and watching TV, then turned and walked towards the door.
But after taking only a few steps, he stopped.
He turned around and saw that the girl had stood up.
She kept hugging the cushion, seeming reluctant to put it down. Her eyes were still darting glances at the TV screen, yet she had started following close behind him.
Lu Xin sighed inwardly in resignation. Speaking into the channel, he said, “It seems like I can’t leave.”
Chen Jing’s voice came after another pause: “Why not?”
Lu Xin glanced back at the girl, then let out a long sigh: “She’s actually rather clingy…”
……
……
“Clingy…”
Chen Jing seemed momentarily thrown by Lu Xin’s answer.
Then, after a brief pause, she said, “Then stay put for now and await Headquarters’ decision.”
“Oh… okay.”
Since the leader instructed it, Lu Xin had no choice but to comply.
The girl, who had already gotten up and followed him to the door, seeing that he didn’t seem intent on leaving immediately, looked up at him briefly. Then, she slowly walked back to the sofa, sat down, hugged her plush cushion once more, and quietly resumed watching TV.
No one was talking on the comms channel, and the owner of the room was paying him no attention.
Lu Xin felt rather bored.
He stood for a moment, then walked over to the side and dragged over a soft, cotton-like puff.
It looked like it was meant for sitting. Lu Xin put his bag down and proceeded to sit on it…
…He hadn’t expected it to be this soft. As soon as he sat, he plummeted downwards. Luckily, he instantly utilized Little Sister’s body control ability. Just as he was about to land disgracefully on the floor, at the last second in a rather exaggerated motion, he forcefully straightened his waist and barely managed to steady himself back onto his feet.
The movement was rather abrupt. Lu Xin wore an awkward expression.
The girl on the sofa turned her head and glanced at Lu Xin. He could only offer her an embarrassed smile in response.
The girl’s face remained expressionless. She was silent briefly, then shifted her body sideways slightly, making some room on the sofa beside her.
“Was… was she making space for me on the sofa?”
Lu Xin was surprised.
The girl turned to look at Lu Xin for a moment, then scooted just a tiny bit further to the side.
Lu Xin scanned the room again. While the space was actually quite large and held many things, there truly seemed to be nowhere else expressly meant for a second person to sit or lounge comfortably.
It was as though the room’s owner originally never expected any other visitors. Therefore, apart from her bed and the sofa that – although it looked soft – measured no more than one and a half meters in length, there was simply no other stool or seat to be found.
Standing around wasn’t good either, so Lu Xin sat down beside her.
When the girl saw him sit, she shifted slightly closer to him, continued hugging her pillow, and quietly watched the television.
Not knowing what else to do, Lu Xin also watched the television.
The TV was on mute, but subtitles were displayed. On screen, a bespectacled, scholarly middle-aged man, holding a bottle of Jiannao Bushen Pills, passionately addressed the audience: “Wanting something? Don’t think I don’t know!”
“Under the Crimson Moon, everyone’s under pressure.”
“Work hard all day to make money, support the family, build the future. But at night, low energy? Wife complaining about what to do?”
“The salvation of men everywhere, the fountain of happiness and bliss, only ninety-eight…”
“…”
Lu Xin glanced at Doll. Her large, vacant eyes stared intently at the screen, appearing deeply engrossed.
Lu Xin said, “How about… we change the channel?”
Doll turned her head to look at Lu Xin, her face expressionless, then turned back to the screen.
“Seems like she doesn’t really want to talk to me…”
Just as Lu Xin had that thought, he saw her turn back towards him, holding something fluffy and white.
It took Lu Xin a moment to realize it was a remote control covered in a white fuzzy slipcase.
“Thank you.”
Lu Xin quickly said, taking the remote and slowly started flipping through the channels.
Nowadays, television mostly showed reruns of pre-Cataclysm movies and TV shows, some local Qinggang news reports, and a whole lot of commercials. Many ads imitated pre-Crimson Moon ad styles and were actually quite well-made.
Lu Xin cycled through several channels until he finally found a cartoon channel. He slightly increased the volume.
“Orokanado odo yo…”
On screen, a man spoke with a completely blank face.
Lu Xin felt this was better than watching ads, but unsure of the hostess’s opinion, he snuck a careful glance at her.
That’s when he noticed the owner of the room wasn’t watching the TV screen. After handing him the remote, she had lowered her head, painstakingly using her fingers to comb the long tassels hanging from a plush toy, as if determined to smooth them out completely.
Her fingers were slender, white, and delicate, with a hint of baby fat, but there was an eerie emptiness to her movements.
“I remember Geko saying before… she’s not quite… right?”
Lu Xin observed the girl who seemed almost flawless, pondering this.
But she seemed perfectly normal; it was just that she somehow gave an inexplicable feeling of existing in a different world.
After watching a few episodes of cartoons in this room, Lu Xin felt this impression growing stronger.
Close to half an hour passed, and he hadn’t heard the girl utter a word.
She just sat there quietly, stroking the tassels of the stuffed animal.
After repeating this for nearly thirty minutes, she suddenly stood up. Just as Lu Xin felt a flicker of hope anticipating a change, she silently walked over to a house constructed from differently colored plastic building blocks.
With a light touch, she pushed the little house over, then began picking up the scattered block pieces one by one, slowly reassembling them.
She had a mountain of these little plastic building blocks.
Barefoot, she squatted on the floor, meticulously putting them together as if she could go on forever like this.
Lu Xin watched her do this for over half an hour, then shook his head. “So boring…”
……
Lu Xin’s murmur wasn’t loud, but the girl suddenly turned her head to look at him.
Her small face seemed slightly displeased.
Lu Xin paused for a moment, then pointed at the television. “I meant him.”
The girl turned her head back and continued picking up the small plastic pieces, carefully assembling them, discarding one that didn’t fit.
Just as Lu Xin felt this boredom might never end, a voice finally came through the comms channel.
“Lone Soldier, can you hear me?”
“……”
Lu Xin immediately straightened up. “Present.”
Chen Jing’s voice on the channel sounded grave. “Are you sensing anything unusual?”
Lu Xin focused inwardly for a moment. “It’s kinda stuffy in here.”
Chen Jing’s voice immediately came back, this time seemingly addressing someone else nearby: “Normal?”
Lu Xin soon heard another voice, slightly farther away: “As long as he harbors no inappropriate thoughts towards Doll, it’s normal.”
“Oh!”
Chen Jing’s voice resumed:
“Lone Soldier, listen closely. Doll is Qinggang’s most powerful Ability User, but she also has significant issues. When she first appeared in Qinggang City, she was only about five or six years old, yet she almost caused citywide Chaos…”
“At that time, almost half the city wanted to harm her, while the other half was desperate to protect her…”
“It was Professor Bai who intervened, protecting her with a special Parasitic Artifact.”
“Since then, she has existed as Qinggang’s unique Ability User, assisting us in resolving many problems.”
“……”
Lu Xin gave a small nod, glancing again at the girl.
She didn’t look old, perhaps only sixteen or seventeen.
But whether it was Gecko’s offhand remarks or Chen Jing’s current explanation, both indicated she was likely a very experienced Ability User.
“You encountered Doll once before in Satellite City No.2 and received her file.”
Chen Jing continued, “But what I must tell you now is this: as Doll grows older, both her abilities and her uncontrollable negative effects are intensifying, nearing unmanageable levels. Therefore, whether stationed at Headquarters or deployed on missions, Doll must remain within an isolated space.”
Lu Xin nodded again, a bit puzzled about why Chen Jing was telling him this.
“Ordinary people cannot communicate with Doll, but they can make simple requests. She typically agrees to these requests and excels at tasks like rescue or cleaning up Contamination. However, to date, she is incapable of deep interaction.”
“And you, so far, are the first person observed who can communicate directly with her.”
“This means you can influence her, and such influence is often mutual.”
“Now, please answer me this question seriously: What feeling do you get when you look at Doll?”
“……”
“Feeling…”
Upon hearing Chen Jing’s question, Lu Xin’s first instinct was to consider activating “Mother’s Perspective” to observe her.
But he quickly dismissed the idea. From Chen Jing and the others’ attitudes, he could sense this girl’s crucial importance to Qinggang. Given that, he shouldn’t risk stimulating her with any ability-related actions.
So he merely followed Chen Jing’s instruction, looking earnestly at the girl.
She continuously picked up different colored plastic blocks, glanced at them, set them aside, picked up another.
A repetitive action, repeated over and over.
Her entire being seemed mechanical and vacant, making her thoughts utterly incomprehensible.
But after watching her for a long while, Lu Xin felt a subtle shift within him. Slowly, he spoke:
“I feel… she’s very lonely.”