103 Ven (1/2)

Ye Qingxuan stared at the words and images on the blackboard, spaced out. ”Professor, what’s the point of reading all of these ancient texts and trying to understand the world before us? I suddenly don’t understand.” Ye Qingxuan questioned, ”Why should we spend all this time on learning how to translate everything?”

”To find an explanation,” Abraham answered, ”To explain things.”

”Explain? To be honest, Professor, I really need an explanation now.” Ye Qingxuan slumped in his seat and closed his eyes. ”Ever since I arrived in Avalon, I always run into things. Some…bad things. Like I suddenly entered a world that belongs to strange creatures. Everything is foreign and I can’t communicate or understand anyone. I don’t even know how to look at the world anymore.”

He thought of the wild laughter and hoarse voice, and lowered his head tiredly. ”Everything is normal but why does it change at night? Or do I hallucinate during the day and the craziness is the world’s true appearance? Are they wrong or am I?”

His memory had resurfaced, dragging him back to that unlucky day. Werner looked at him with a bloody face. No matter how much pain Werner was in, he still laughed crazily. Contorting his face into a demon, he roared, ”All of downtown wants your life! What’s the use of letting me go? You think I’ll let you go just because you didn’t kill me? Don’t be naïve…everyone in downtown wants you!

”You’re innocent? And innocent people can’t die?

”Where do you think we are? This is Avalon!” Suddenly, Werner expanded and turned into a menacing black figure. It raised a bone saw and sliced through corpses, spraying blood. The sky darkened and the fog was there again. An evil spirit chased after Ye Qingxuan like a shadow. The sharp voice echoed in his ears, ”Purify, purify, purify…”

He wanted to reason with someone, but there was nothing to reason about. He had just wanted to buy something, but had been chased after for some reason. He had just wanted to help someone, but was almost split apart and purified. This crazy world made no sense…

”I don’t understand, Professor.” Ye Qingxuan asked, ”Is there something wrong?”

”Yezi, this world is complicated. Sometimes, we need something to help us understand it.” Abraham gazed at him. ”I often felt confused or scared of things when I was young. This world changes so quickly. Other people’s ideas change quickly too, but I’m too slow and can’t understand them.

”Because of this, I want to find a research method to help me understand these things—to find a solution. At least, you won’t be scared once you understand them.”

”Professor, have you found it?” Ye Qingxuan asked, looking up.

Abraham chuckled dryly in response.

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Late at night in the basement remodeled as the piano room, sharp notes cut through the air like a chainsaw cutting through metal. It was full of ineffable frustration and unsettling pressure.

A spaced out youth sat before the piano, blankly pressing down on the keys. The rhythm and melody that Charles had emphasized was not there.

”Stop, stop, stop. Yezi, stop.” Charles reached out to stop him and shook his head, ”Yezi, are you playing piano? It sounds like you’re breaking things…”

Ye Qingxuan stiffly retracted his hand. ”I’m sorry. I spaced out.”

”I know you’re frustrated, but you can’t keep going on like this.” Unsure of what to do, Charles handed him an orange, ”Here, eat some fruit and calm down.”

Ye Qingxuan shook his head, ”I just want to find a solution.”

”Did you find one?”