Seeing the thoughtful look on his face, Mo Xie's father felt both astonishment and a faint unease.
In the end, he merely ruffled Mo Xie's hair and let his tone turn light again.
"All right, little philosopher. We can talk about those questions slowly when you're older. For now, let Daddy hear what else you can say. Can you say 'Mom' too?"
Mo Xie nodded and called out in a clear child's voice, "Mom."
That single word instantly swept away the last trace of doubt and unease in his father's heart. A huge wave of happiness and pride drowned him once more.
"That's right, that's right! Hahaha! My son really is a genius!"
Overjoyed, his father scooped him up and spun around in place, laughing loudly.
Lifted high into the air, Mo Xie's field of vision widened.
He looked at his father's openly delighted face, at the bright sunshine beyond the window, and at the vibrant life surging within this small body of his.
Meaning…? Mo Xie repeated silently in his heart.
[Your parents are overjoyed that you have finally begun to speak. Yet along with that joy comes concern over how far your behavior exceeds that of an ordinary child.]
[After a series of simple follow-up tests, their concern turns into surprise, shock… and even fear, because they discover that you possess a great deal of knowledge, as though you never truly forgot it all. It lies far beyond the bounds of ordinary genius.]
[After all, no matter how gifted a child is, they must at least have learned or encountered such things before. You, however, have had no contact whatsoever with the knowledge you display.]
[Apart from that, your behavior otherwise fits that of a normal child, and so your parents do their best to ignore this abnormality and fulfill their responsibilities with all their hearts.]
[Age 5: Not wanting to waste your talent, your parents send you to school early. You, however, consider it a waste of time. Even though you do not regard yourself as a genius, you have no desire to spend time on such basic knowledge.]
[Age 6: You are admitted to university, causing quite a stir.]
[Age 7: You begin to feel that the teachers lecturing you are not even as capable as you are. As for entering a laboratory? Your age is too young, and everyone remains hesitant.]
[Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—you happen to meet a senior student at university with beautiful long green hair.]
[Unlike you, she is a genuine, undeniable genius. But clearly, she has not yet fully matured, and when faced with a cheat like you, she is defeated utterly.]
[She believes you are "the same kind" as her. Using that as a starting point, the two of you gradually become familiar with one another, and she learns quite a bit from you.]
[Age 8: This green-haired older sister gives you a small but profound lesson in what a true genius looks like. Other than Honkai-related knowledge, you have almost nothing left to teach her.]
[During that same year, as she continues learning from you, she also realizes that your learning ability can only be called excellent, not genius. But that still cannot explain the knowledge you possess.]
[From then on, you always feel that the look in her eyes whenever she sees you is strangely unsettling.]
[Age 9: The green-haired older sister leaves. Before departing, she tells you with fanatical excitement that she is going in pursuit of even deeper knowledge, and invites you to come with her.]
[You look at the anticipation in her eyes and feel nothing at all. In fact, your first instinct is to call the police.]
[After all, your family is complete and your parents are alive and well, while the look in her eyes makes her seem less like someone inviting an assistant or partner, and more like some creepy woman trying to abduct a child.]
[In the end, she gives you a regretful glance and leaves anyway. Still, she promises you that her invitation will remain open forever.]
[You, however, feel that she is not looking at a collaborator or helper at all, but rather at an experimental subject.]
[That same year, your mother's temperament changes abruptly. Once gentle and soft-spoken, she suddenly becomes irritable and prone to anger. You begin to feel uneasy.]
[Age 10: Bad news arrives. Your mother is going to a very faraway place.]
Inside the hospital room, Mo Xie stood beside the bed, looking at the woman lying there—once so gentle, now so thin she seemed little more than skin and bone.
In his memories, there was the image of her humming softly to lull him to sleep, and the faint scent of sunshine that always seemed to cling to her.
But now, all that remained was the steady ticking of the machines and the faint wisp of white mist beneath her breathing mask, so weak it was almost invisible.
"Mom is going… to a very faraway place."
The woman's eyes were clouded, yet she struggled to gather the last bit of light within them. They brimmed with reluctance and guilt.
This was the first time in an entire year that Mo Xie had heard her speak so gently—just as she had during the first nine years of his life.
With difficulty, she raised a hand. Her thin, bony fingers seemed to want to touch Mo Xie's cheek, but after only reaching halfway, they drew back again instinctively.
"Don't be afraid…" his mother whispered, her voice frail as a thread, almost drowned out by the machines. "Mom is just… going very far away…"
"Mo Xie… you must… live on well… for Mom's share too…"
Mo Xie opened his mouth, but no words came out. Sourness and emptiness swelled within his chest.
He wanted to step forward and grasp the hand his mother had just reached toward him with, but his father held him back tightly, not allowing him to move even half a step closer.
Mo Xie knew that his father was doing this for his own good.
Because from his mother's deathly pale skin, the large purple-pink patterns beginning to spread across it, and the knowledge within his mind, he knew what this was.
Honkai sickness.
In the end, all Mo Xie could do was nod—hard, again and again.
His mother's lips seemed to lift ever so slightly, as though she wanted to give him one last smile.
The final trace of light in her eyes slowly faded.
Then it froze forever.
A shrill, piercing tone rang out from the machine.
The door to the ward was pushed open, and doctors and nurses hurried in.
With reddened eyes, his father forced back his grief and gently drew the rigidly frozen Mo Xie into his arms.
The sound of adults crying, the noise of the machines, the chaos of hurried footsteps…
Everything blurred into indistinct haze.
And in that moment, Mo Xie was struck by a deep and terrible fear.
At last, he fully understood what his father had told him when he was little:
When someone dies, everything is gone.
No consciousness. No sensation. No future.
All love, all memories, all unfinished words, all unfulfilled promises—everything would, with the cooling of that body, return completely to nothingness.
His mother had not gone to some very faraway place.
That was only a pale, gentle lie adults told to cover over the cold truth—
Obliteration.
Live on.
That was not only his mother's final wish, but also the thought that had appeared in his heart after dreaming of that stranger in his childhood.
Mo Xie raised his head, slipped free of his father's embrace, and cast one final look at his mother's peaceful face—peaceful, and yet forever without life.
In that instant, a seed took root completely within his heart.
A seed mixed with extreme fear, defiance, and an infinite longing for life.
-------
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