Chapter 427: Chapter 255: Pinky Swear, Funeral, Progression of Division
Ji Minghuan closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and after he made his birthday wish to the neon sign on the cake, the children in hospital gowns gathered around stood agape.
"Why is your wish for everyone to survive?" Sun Changkong glanced at the cake, then at Ji Minghuan, "That’s a strange wish, why would we die?"
"Because if it’s like the Mentor says, and I really destroy the world in the future, then wouldn’t everyone not survive? Isn’t that right?"
Ji Minghuan opened his eyes as he spoke, looking irately at the freckles on Sun Changkong’s face.
The moment the birthday candles were blown out, the warm firelight bathing them dimmed.
In its place, cool lighting spilled down from the ceiling.
Their faces returned to their usual pallor. The children had never seen other colors of light in the base, and the lighting in the confinement room was as formally white as the clothes worn by the Mentor, always bringing to mind the smell of disinfectant.
"Who says?!" Sun Changkong raised his head, confidently refuting, "If that day really comes, I can use the Somersault Cloud to fly you all into outer space!"
"Oh, oh, that makes sense." Ji Minghuan nodded, "But would the Mentor really let you into outer space? If one day I lose control, they’ll definitely have you stop me instead of letting you escape."
He tugged at the metal collar, wiped his neck with his hand, and rolled his eyes, "He’d send you to give me a whack first, then you’d all die together."
"Don’t say silly things... You don’t even look like someone who could do bad stuff." Sun Changkong muttered, as if the next moment she would drop the birthday cake in her hand and rush over to shake him hard.
"Who knows... after all, he’s rated R." Mario said while playing "Ace Attorney" on his Switch.
Kong Youling wanted to write but didn’t know what to say, simply pinching Ji Minghuan’s clothing corner softly.
"Yeah, if I really wouldn’t lose control, the Mentor wouldn’t keep me locked up here." Ji Minghuan reached out and scratched his nose.
Filio had been silent for some time, his gaze always fixed on the cake in Sun Changkong’s hand. He licked the corner of his mouth, ears and beastly eyes sharp like a wild animal spotting prey.
Suddenly he pulled out a plastic knife from nowhere, swiftly carving the cake into six pieces before pulling out six plastic forks, sticking them into the cut cake, lifting only his own piece, and popping it into his mouth.
The children next to him were stunned, especially Shang Xiaoqi. She was a newcomer to the children’s team of the Salvation Society and hadn’t gone on missions with the other kids before, so she didn’t know the extent of their skills.
"Amazing... no wonder our children’s team has such an impressive big dog; other people’s cat can somersault, and we’ve got not only a big dog that can slice cake, but also a penguin that can draw." Ji Minghuan belatedly applauded.
Kong Youling puffed her cheeks slightly, holding a small notebook, and turned her head to glance at him coolly.
"I’ll take mine first."
Mario took a piece of cake, placed it on the floor, and focused on his console, occasionally scooping up the cream like a dessert with a plastic spoon and swallowing it.
"I’ve been holding the cake for so long, and you all don’t even let me eat first!" Sun Changkong said.
It wasn’t until Kong Youling and Shang Xiaoqi took their pieces that Sun Changkong’s hands were finally free, she grudgingly placed the plate on the floor, and picked out a small piece of cake using a cardboard.
Kong Youling and Sun Changkong both ate birthday cake for the first time, quietly together, their red eyes glowing brightly.
Shang Xiaoqi, again sitting alone on the swing, stared at the cake in a daze, seemingly pondering if eating the cake would bind her to others, which did not fit her way of dealing with the world.
"If someday the Mentor asks you to take me out, would you do it?" Ji Minghuan suddenly asked.
"No." Filio shook his head decisively, "Ji Minghuan, you are my first friend."
"Who asks such questions on their own birthday?" Sun Changkong licked the cream off her cheek, tilted her fiery red eyebrows with irritation, and looked at Ji Minghuan.
"Just asking casually." Ji Minghuan chomped the cream into his mouth, and said dully, "Actually, I think the Mentor trained you all so that, one day if I truly lose control and rampage, you’ll team up to take me out."
He nodded earnestly, "Then you’d be the real ’Salvation Society’."
"Ji Minghuan, we won’t let that situation happen, otherwise the Salvation Society would have no meaning." Mentor’s voice came through the broadcast into the Paradise.
Still gentle, still calm, but as his voice fell, the entire children’s Paradise was shrouded in dead silence, only the sound effects from Mario’s Switch ringing non-stop.
"This is my first time eating birthday cake... I just realized how delicious it is, but I think it’s also because you all are here." Sun Changkong softly said, "No matter how good something is, it’s not good to eat alone."
Saying this, she put down the half-eaten cake, suddenly ran up to Ji Minghuan, and reached out her pinky to him.
"What are you doing?" Ji Minghuan, with a fork covered in cream stuck in his mouth, looked at her dumbly.
"Pinky swear." Sun Changkong stared, "You said we’d celebrate my birthday too, and my birthday is still a long way off, so until then... everyone has to stay well."