Ren Yi stared stiffly at those eyes.
Three eyes faced off against each other. The dust in the air seemed frozen by this eerie silence, every speck's rotation and fall terrifyingly clear.
He shouldn't have been able to see these things.
Human vision had never been this sharp. This unfamiliar perception was like a cold needle pricking the back of his neck.
Both sides strictly adhered to the principle of "if the enemy doesn't move, I don't move," as if competing to see whose eyes would dry out first.
Finally, the pair of eyes closed somewhat helplessly, vanishing into the darkness in an instant.
Before Ren Yi could react, he felt the weight above him lift. The sofa was suddenly flipped over, and Ren Man's silhouette was reflected in his eyes.
Ren Yi's "body" tensed uncontrollably, all his unfamiliar senses focusing on Ren Man.
He tried to speak, but only managed a low, viscous, and unfamiliar cry.
Crap, he forgot he hadn't found his mouth yet.
Absurdity and panic swirled together, turning his thoughts into a jumbled mess.
He even thought, quite inappropriately, that compared to a monster that couldn't speak, a monster that could speak and claimed to be one's younger brother would probably be more likely to scare someone into a mental breakdown.
But right now, he couldn't even manage to be a "speaking monster."
He struggled to move those two eyes to a higher position, aiming them at Ren Man as if waiting for a final judgment.
Ren Man's behavior was somewhat unexpected.
He didn't scream, he didn't retreat, and there wasn't even a trace of terror on his face. There was only a nearly gentle calm.
Like the countless times he had picked up his younger brother from school, he called out softly.
"Xiao Yi?"
That single call caused Ren Yi's mind to go blank for a moment.
Anxiety was still churning in his chest, but that familiar call acted like a sedative, slightly calming his chaotic thoughts.
He watched as Ren Man slowly crouched down until his gaze was level with Ren Yi's "eyes," and his fingertips slowly reached out.
"Don't be afraid."
The tone was too familiar.
So familiar it created an absurd illusion—as if the one going mad wasn't himself, but the world.
Ren Yi watched blankly as Ren Man slowly reached out a hand and placed it on his current body.
The moment they touched, Ren Yi's vision suddenly blurred, as if he had been abruptly pulled underwater.
The already dim light stretched into distorted lines, and the air vibrated.
Ren Man's silhouette slipped away from its human form, revealing a shadow that Ren Yi could not comprehend.
Vast.
Silent.
Like a dark cloud about to unleash a torrential rain.
Ren Yi's "body" trembled violently.
What was this? Instinctive terror took over. He wanted to flee, but found he couldn't move at all.
Ren Yi suddenly realized that the sky hadn't actually turned dark. Rather, something had silently filled the entire room, blocking out the sunlight and completely enveloping him.
Ren Man's voice reached him through the darkness, carrying a familiar warmth:
"You've just grown up."
In the next second, the darkness abruptly contracted.
Immense pressure surged from all directions. Ren Yi felt as if he were being stuffed into a narrow mold. Bones, muscles, facial features, internal organs... those parts that had previously vanished rapidly found their positions under the pressure.
Did it hurt? It didn't seem to. There was only a strong sense of distortion and wrongness.
Then, the darkness receded, and bright light hit his eyes. Ren Yi forgot to blink for a moment, and the sting caused physiological tears to flow.
Ren Yi blinked slowly. After adjusting to the light, he looked down at his hands.
His skin was smooth, his ten fingers distinct, and his feet were planted firmly on the ground.
The body belonging to the human "Ren Yi" was back, even his clothes were exactly the same as before.
The dizziness and fatigue had vanished without a trace, and his thoughts were much clearer.
But he knew clearly that everything just now hadn't been a dream. Those unfamiliar, sharp perceptions hadn't disappeared; they were merely blocked and shielded by something.
He was sitting on the sofa, and Ren Man was right beside him, his brow slightly furrowed, his eyes full of concern.
"Brother...?" Ren Yi ventured, his voice still trembling slightly.
Living, warm, with no strange shadows or bizarre silhouettes... at least not at this moment.
But the suffocating sensation from before remained in his memory, making him unable to even conceive of the thought of resisting.
He wanted to question him, to demand answers. Countless doubts were piled in his mind, but when the words reached his lips, he couldn't say them.
The perceptions that had just escaped the chaos, the vast silhouette that made him instinctively tremble, and Ren Man's worried gaze—it all mixed together, blocking his questions.
"Dinner's ready. Have something to eat," Ren Man's voice interrupted his internal struggle.
Ren Yi's body stood up almost instinctively, following Ren Man to the dining table.
The logic belonging to a "human" was screaming frantically: This is wrong! You can't be this obedient! You should be breaking down, you should run, you should figure everything out!
Yet instinct repeated to Ren Yi over and over again.
You are at home.
You are safe.
Be a good boy.
This split feeling made him incredibly frustrated, yet he was powerless to resist.
It wasn't until he reached the dining table that he caught sight of the empty corner.
There had originally been a chair there, the one he usually sat in. Now, the chair was gone.
The heart that had been hanging in suspense finally died.
With a sort of self-abandoning mindset, Ren Yi looked at the food on the table.
Fine, I'll eat first. At least I'll have the strength to think about other things once my stomach is full.
Ren Yi gave up his struggle, picked up his chopsticks, and began to eat voraciously. The braised beef, fried tofu, garlic lettuce, and seaweed egg drop soup were all things he usually loved, and they tasted as good as always.
He ate heartily, but didn't notice that the food melted the moment it entered his mouth. Once in his stomach, it seemed to vanish into thin air, providing no sense of fullness. It wasn't until he had emptied every plate that he realized something was wrong.
He looked up awkwardly at Ren Man and saw that Ren Man hadn't even touched his chopsticks. He was just sitting across from him, quietly watching him.
"Brother, aren't you eating?" Ren Yi asked, his tone carrying a trace of subtle testing.
Ren Man shook his head. "I don't need to."
...Great. He's not even pretending anymore.
Taking advantage of the gap while eating, Ren Yi's chaotic thoughts cleared up a bit:
First, I don't seem to be human.
Obviously, my brother isn't either, and he's well aware that neither of us are.
What are we? Some kind of monsters lurking in the shadows of the world?
No, why did I become like this after the Professional Allocation Test?
"The Professional Allocation Test is one of the core public systems of the new era Alliance."
So... was I "turned" into this by the test?
The truth behind any of these points would be enough to make Ren Yi break down, yet aside from the initial panic, he surprisingly didn't have many intense emotions.
Why? Was it because Ren Man's calm had infected him, or because the "instinct" in his body had long since accepted this fact?
Just as he was wrestling with this, his phone rang from the bedroom, breaking the silence of the living room.
He glanced at Ren Man. Ren Man didn't react, only slightly turning his head to look out the window.
That was his habit when thinking, but to Ren Yi now, it looked like he was deliberately avoiding something.
Ren Yi got up and went to the bedroom to pick up the phone.
The ringing had stopped. The lock screen showed one missed call from a contact labeled "Old Lu, My Son." Immediately after, several message notifications popped up:
"Haha, Stool, I'm finally out of that damn sleep pod!"
"Whoever designed this test, I'm gonna give 'em a punch."
"Hiss, the side effects are really something. My head feels so heavy. My brain is buzzing."
"My parents are calling me out, talk to you later. Once you're out, remember to give me a holler. I've got a lot of complaining to do about this test."
Ren Yi's finger paused, a complex emotion surging in his heart.
Lu Zihan was fine. He seemed to have only experienced normal post-test side effects.
Was Old Lu a "human"? Were only he and Ren Man special? Or was Lu Zihan just like he had been a moment ago, not yet noticing his own abnormality?
He instinctively typed "Don't go," but his finger hovered over the send button, and he hesitated.
He didn't know if Old Lu's world was the same as his, nor did he know if this sentence would scare him.
In the end, he deleted those words and only replied, "I'm already out." After the message sent successfully, he noticed that Lu Zihan's icon had already gone gray.
He returned to the living room with his phone and found the dining table had been cleaned perfectly. The plates and chopsticks were gone, and the tabletop was wiped spotless, without a single trace of grease.
Ren Man sat on the sofa in the exact same position as when he had left, as if he hadn't moved at all.
Ren Yi instinctively sat down beside Ren Man. The moment he drew close, an inexplicable sense of ease rose from his heart, and the previous unease and fear faded significantly.
Ren Yi felt more and more like he must have gone insane.
But his body's reaction couldn't lie. He watched Ren Man pick up the remote and turn on the television. As boring commercials flashed across the screen, he finally summoned the courage to ask, "Brother, are there many... like us?"
Ren Man's gaze shifted from the television, his eyes carrying a trace of imperceptible confusion. "What?"
"I mean... like us, who aren't human..." Ren Yi's voice grew smaller and smaller. "Are there many more in The Alliance?"
Ren Man turned his head, his tone as flat as if he were stating the most ordinary fact:
"There are no humans in The Alliance."
Rate on N.U.
