Chapter 489: Chapter 297: The Seventh Child, Zeus
"Did you just say that the Great Sage Equal to Heaven in your head has met me?"
Ji Minghuan raised his eyebrows, looking at Sun Changkong with a face full of surprise and asked in confusion.
Logically, he had stayed in the orphanage all his life and had never been to any remote mountain village. How could the odd awareness in Sun Changkong’s mind have had a chance to know him?
Moreover, it’s known that not long after Sun Changkong obtained the fragments in the ruins, he started showing signs of losing control and frenzy, and was then taken to the Salvation Society base for control, thus becoming isolated from the world.
Therefore, before Ji Minghuan came to the Salvation Society, their life paths were like two parallel lines that had never intersected.
Under such a premise, how was it possible for Sun Wukong in her mind to have seen him? It was simply unbelievable.
"Yes." Sun Changkong nodded, "Why would I lie to you?"
Ji Minghuan lowered his head in deep thought for a moment, then quickly got out of bed and put on his slippers.
He quietly sat down next to Sun Changkong, looking puzzled and turned his head to look at her, then at the floor, his eyebrows nearly twisted together into a look of confusion.
"Why?" Ji Minghuan couldn’t figure it out no matter how he thought about it and finally spoke up, "This doesn’t make sense."
"Why what?" Sun Changkong tilted her head, "I don’t know either, I still wanted to ask you."
"What’s going on?" Ji Minghuan muttered, "Could it be that I accidentally wandered into Sun Wukong’s ruins when I was a child too? Does the Great Sage’s ruins have chain stores? But I have no memory of that at all, I can’t have amnesia, right?"
"I don’t know." Sun Changkong frowned, "Sun Wukong said its memory isn’t much left. Plus what’s in my head is just a fragment of its awareness, now it has to sleep a long time to wake for a bit."
"Is it asleep now?"
"Asleep."
"Before it fell asleep, did it say anything else?"
"It also said, maybe it saw you from the memory shared by other fragments."
Sun Changkong said while turning his head to look into Ji Minghuan’s eyes, letting out a couple of hums, "But I prefer to believe we met when we were kids, doesn’t that make us fated?"
"Really?" Ji Minghuan didn’t believe it, "Please, no matter how bad my memory is, how could I forget a little red-haired girl like you? You look so distinct, and besides, I’ve never been to the countryside, alright? I’ve been in Li Jing since I was born."
Sun Changkong was taken aback, blinked, then slowly lowered her head, her eyes shaded by the brim of her cap. She smacked her lips, her little fangs twitching.
"Of course..." She said hesitantly, "Kids born in the countryside can’t play with kids from the big city, you just look down on me."
"Hey, hey, can you stop acting like a keyword-detecting robot?" Ji Minghuan was stunned, "I really don’t look down on you, this is too much sensitivity."
"Then why did you say that!" Sun Changkong raised her head and glared at him, her eyes still red.
"Isn’t it just stating the facts? I’ve never been to the countryside, how could I have known you as a kid?" Ji Minghuan sighed, "Besides, shortly after you found Sun Wukong’s fragments, didn’t you get taken to the Salvation Society?"
"That’s true."
Sun Changkong’s voice was still somewhat low.
"Alright, don’t be upset." Ji Minghuan bumped her shoulder, "Didn’t we make a pinky promise?"
"So?"
"So, I’m gonna celebrate your birthday, right? If I looked down on you, why would I celebrate your birthday?" Ji Minghuan paused, "Besides, you’re too sentimental. Whether we lived in the countryside or the big city, didn’t we all get caught in this hellhole? We’re all in the same boat."
"I just... wanted to know you a little earlier." Sun Changkong mumbled.
"Why?"
"Because then no one else would get the jump on me!"
"You’re so silly. Just because you haven’t met others, you think I’m so special." Ji Minghuan chuckled, "I’m just a mere Restricted Level superpower user, what’s so special?"
He bumped her shoulder again, "When you get out of the Salvation Society in the future, you’ll find plenty of muscular hunks outside, not all annoying androgynous types like Urushibara Ryuri, oops, I mean pseudo male."
"What about Kong Youling? What’s special about her?"
"She’s family, my only family." Ji Minghuan said, "The book says, people need a bit of irreplaceable something to be themselves, otherwise they’ll slowly lose their way, lose themselves. So with her, I won’t go bad, don’t you think?"
Ji Minghuan said lightly, glancing at the surveillance camera, as if locking eyes with someone.
Sun Changkong took a deep breath and suddenly opened her mouth to shout, "So annoying."
Riding the whirlwind, the Somersault Cloud suddenly floated over and bounced Ji Minghuan back and forth like a 300-pound strong man, sometimes extending a large white hand to toss him into the sky.
If this were a game, the "Combo X100" prompt would already fill the screen.
During the time Ji Minghuan was being tossed around by the Somersault Cloud, Sun Changkong lowered her face and shouted angrily:
"Why can you pat others on the head to comfort them, but bump my shoulder to comfort me? It’s not fair at all!"
"Because you’re the big sister!"
Ji Minghuan shouted, seemingly enjoying being tossed around in the sky by the Somersault Cloud, like lying on a trampoline.
"I don’t want to be the big sister!" She thought for a moment and added.
"Then don’t be."
"Also, my birthday is September 5th, Ji Minghuan, remember it."
"September 5th, got it. Can you please make it stop? I’m getting dizzy now."
"No way, no way! Weren’t you asking the Somersault Cloud to take you to the restroom to wash up?" Sun Changkong said angrily.
The Somersault Cloud didn’t continue the mischief but quietly stopped beneath Ji Minghuan, then carried him to the restroom connected to the confinement room.
Ji Minghuan sat cross-legged, with a helpless expression on his face, on the cloud, looking up at his dispirited reflection in the mirror.
He rubbed his dark circles, thinking he must rescue the main body before his spirit reaches its limit, otherwise who knows what will happen afterward.
However, with all three machines almost reaching their potential limits, there’s no further advancement possible unless the suppressants are removed;
And according to the superpower system’s prediction, a "perfect-level" fourth machine is already on its way.
As expected, this machine will become Ji Minghuan’s strongest combat force, even surpassing Yaguba who has finished digesting the Legendary Whale.
This also means that the final battle is getting ever closer, and thinking about this, Ji Minghuan shifted his gaze away from the mirror, reached out, and picked up the toothbrush and mouth rinse cup by the washbasin.
He sat on the Somersault Cloud, quietly finished brushing his teeth, spat the rinse water into the washbasin, then took a towel to wipe his face, and hung the towel on the rack.
"Giddy up."
Ji Minghuan patted the Somersault Cloud beneath him, and it flew out of the restroom carrying him.
Just then, the metal door at the entrance rumbled open, and a boy in a hospital gown walked in.
Ji Minghuan wanted to greet him, but when he looked up, he was taken aback. The boy in the hospital gown looked unfamiliar; neither Filio nor Mario.
The boy had a buzz cut, white eyes, and black hair, his eyes agile and spirited. He seemed about thirteen or fourteen years old, taller than both him and Sun Changkong by a head.
"Big Sis, who is this person?" Ji Minghuan asked curiously.
"I don’t know either." Sun Changkong shook her head.
"I don’t have a name, but they all call me Zeus." The boy raised his head, grinned, showing a bright smile, and waved at them, "Hello."
Zeus?
Ji Minghuan was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Sun Changkong. Their eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment.
"Is he Zeus?"
"So you are that mysterious fellow?" Ji Minghuan looked back at the boy, "The mentor never mentioned you to us. How did you suddenly arrive, didn’t he forbid you from showing up?"
"I don’t know, I just walked over." The boy put his hands behind his back, carefully walked in and asked, "Don’t you usually wear restraint clothes?"
"Nope." Ji Minghuan said, "Do you have to wear restraint clothes? What kind of restraint clothes, the kind that straps the whole body?"
"They kept me on the bed, not letting me move. Gave me a lot of sedatives." The boy blinked, sighed, "I’m really obedient, but they still wouldn’t let me go. I begged them for so long, and they finally let me meet you."
"You’re so pitiful." Ji Minghuan said, "But everyone is more or less the same."
"Is this the Somersault Cloud?"
The boy looked up, stared unblinkingly at the Somersault Cloud.
"You know a lot." Sun Changkong snorted, emphasizing, "That’s right, this is the Somersault Cloud, but it’s my Somersault Cloud."
"Can I sit on it too?" The boy showed a row of gleaming teeth, "It looks so fun."
"No, she will get angry." Ji Minghuan pointed at Sun Changkong, "She only lets friends sit on the Somersault Cloud."
The boy lowered his head in disappointment, mumbling, "Alright, then I won’t."
With that, he sat cross-legged on the ground, looking up dazedly at Ji Minghuan.
"Why are you staring at me?" Ji Minghuan felt a bit uneasy under his gaze.
"Because you are fascinating. After seeing you, those voices in my head stopped." The boy widened his eyes, tilted his head, "Why?"
"Why what?" Ji Minghuan was puzzled, "What are you talking about?"
"I don’t know!" The boy suddenly sprang up, crawled over from the ground, looked up at Ji Minghuan on the Somersault Cloud, "Can I keep some of your organs? Like, fingers, eyes? You can quiet my brain, I need you. It’s so noisy, really noisy. Those thunders, those voices like chanting. I’m in so much pain, almost going crazy every day." As he spoke, tears suddenly streamed down his face, "I beg you!"
Ji Minghuan and Sun Changkong were shocked, both frozen in place.
After snapping back to reality, Ji Minghuan curiously observed the boy crouched on the ground, wondering if typical mythological fragment holders would be affected to such a degree?
He simply speculated that because Sun Changkong got along well with Sun Wukong, she wasn’t driven insane; Shang Xiaoqi might have not been mentally disturbed since the World Tree lacks consciousness—it’s just a tree, after all, not a person.
But Zeus was different. He seemed to be on the brink of mental collapse from the mythological fragments’ influence.
This kind of power isn’t something ordinary individuals can bear, let alone a mere child.
"Even some hair from you would be fine, anything, I beg you, before they take me away, give me!" The boy continued to plead, repeatedly banging his head on the ground, his forehead starting to swell.
Witnessing this, fear belatedly exploded in Sun Changkong’s mind.
"You stay away from him!" Sun Changkong shouted.
While shouting, she maneuvered the Somersault Cloud to fly Ji Minghuan backward. The boy pursued relentlessly, crawling dog-like under the Somersault Cloud. His four limbs moved at a speed unusual for humans, almost like a centipede.
"Is this some kind of bio-zombie?" Sun Changkong was astonished, revealing her startled little fangs, "Wow, don’t you come closer!"
Seeing the boy closing in, she quickly shrank back, stepped onto the bed, then jumped onto the Somersault Cloud above. With the whooshing sound, the Somersault Cloud swiftly ascended, reaching the ceiling, shoulder to shoulder with the penguin broadcasting.
Sun Changkong fearfully clung tightly to Ji Minghuan, looking at the boy with shock, her little fangs quivering.
"What’s his deal anyway?" she asked, "Would it be too late if I take out the Golden Cudgel and bash him now?!"
Ji Minghuan was silent, shook his head.
The seventh child of the Salvation Society, turned out to be a lunatic? he thought.