As the tender spring shoots grew and their green leaves flourished, June arrived.
It had been a month since Ling Yi entered Mobius’s body.
“You there?” [I’m here.] Inside Mobius’s body, Ling Yi answered softly.
“Let’s see.
What’s the number today?” Standing before the mirror, Mobius asked while fixing her hair.
For the past month, Mobius had asked Ling Yi this almost every day, as though she couldn’t wait for the person in her head to get lost.
[50.] “Oh, not bad.
Looks like you’ll be gone soon.
It’s taken a little longer than the twenty days I expected, though.” Mobius brushed her teeth, walked out of the bathroom, and checked her schedule for the day.
After a month, Mobius had thoroughly acquainted herself with the hopeless fool in her head and gradually grown accustomed to her presence.
[Heh.
Neither of us gets to decide whether I leave.] Once they got through the difficult beginning, Ling Yi slowly began breaking down Mobius’s emotional defenses, allowing the young girl to gradually lower her guard.
“I’ll decide once I figure out the connection between consciousness and the body.” Mobius proudly raised her little head.
She was certain she would eventually find a way to separate Ling Yi from herself.
There was no way she would keep sharing her body with that idiot consciousness forever.
[Speaking of which, why are you dressing yourself up today?] Ling Yi was rather shocked to see Mobius carefully choosing an outfit after washing her face and brushing her teeth.
For the past month, Mobius had never bothered dressing up even when she went out.
Washing her face and brushing her teeth were entirely out of the question.
She would eat breakfast, throw on her pajamas, and head straight to the library.
Laundry, cooking, cleaning…
Mobius had left every daily chore she was too lazy to do to Ling Yi.
She rested in the consciousness space, ordering Ling Yi around more and more often.
But today was different.
Mobius was actually taking care of herself!
For some reason, Ling Yi felt as though her child had finally grown up.
“No.
I have something important to do today—more important by comparison.” A trace of complicated emotion suddenly rose in Mobius’s heart, but it quickly vanished.
[Did something happen?] Ling Yi stopped joking around and asked Mobius softly.
Although it had lasted only an instant, Ling Yi had still caught the brief emotional fluctuation in Mobius’s heart.
There weren’t many things that could make Mobius sad, and Ling Yi wondered what it could be.
Although they shared one body, Ling Yi respected the other’s privacy.
Unless Mobius gave her permission, she wouldn’t look into what Mobius was thinking.
“While you were still asleep, I received a message from the neighborhood office.
He’s dead.” Mobius clutched her cuff and answered Ling Yi after taking a deep breath.
[Then are you going to bury him…?] The way she said “he”…
It had to be Mobius’s father who had died.
No wonder Mobius had dressed up today.
“I’m not the one going.” Mobius spoke softly, correcting Ling Yi’s omission.
“We are.” [Yes.
We are.] Ling Yi froze for a moment, then quickly answered.
….
Dark clouds rolled across the boundless sky, enveloping the small town.
Standing in the cemetery, Mobius shoveled dirt into the large pit before her, gradually burying the corpse inside, which no longer looked human.
[Let me do it.
You’re not suited for this kind of work.] As she spoke, Ling Yi seized control of Mobius’s body and began wielding the shovel.
[You’re not much more experienced than I am.] Mobius sat sulkily in the consciousness space, watching her father’s corpse slowly disappear beneath the dirt.
“I’m still better than someone who knows nothing but experiments and how to make instant noodles.” Ling Yi laughed.
She found Mobius rather adorable when she stubbornly refused to admit her feelings.
She had done plenty of dirty, exhausting work in her previous life.
She hadn’t been the sort of shut-in who spent every day at home playing games.
She knew how to dig a hole and bury something.
[Hmph…] “By the way, did you stay in this town all this time just to wait for this moment?” Ling Yi asked as she continued burying the corpse.
[Yes.
He was already dying when I left him.
Once he died, I would finally be able to leave this town.] Mobius gazed at the corpse in the pit.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of attachment in her eyes, only a complicated emotion.
“Do you hate him?
He abused you for years.” [No.
He was pitiful too.
The medicine and illness tormented him until he went mad.
He couldn’t even control his own body, so what would be the point of discussing whether I hate him?] Before she turned six, her father had fulfilled all his responsibilities.
The abuse afterward had been beyond his control, so Mobius couldn’t bring herself to hate him.
By the same token…
Although Mobius could understand her father, the years of abuse had extinguished every last trace of familial affection she might have felt for him.
Burying him now was merely her way of fulfilling her responsibility.
Her responsibility as his daughter.
[It’s so ugly, idiot Ling Yi.
How can a person die so hideously?
The human species is far too fragile.] Mobius gazed at the mangled corpse in the pit and sighed emotionally.
Aside from fulfilling her responsibility, Mobius had chosen to bury her father to reaffirm her resolve—the resolve to make humans evolve.
“All right, all right, my great scientist.
I know you want humans to evolve.
What are we having for dinner?” Even if Mobius wanted to make humans evolve, she still had to think about what they were going to eat first.
[Zhajiangmian…
Do we really have to discuss this in a cemetery?] “Why not?
We’re the only ones left here, aren’t we?
We won’t disturb anyone.” Ling Yi covered the man’s face with the last shovelful of dirt, then looked around.
[…] As Mobius watched the man’s corpse disappear beneath the ground, she suddenly realized that the last relative she had in the world was gone.
She felt immensely relieved, but that relief was accompanied by helplessness and emptiness.
[Will you always stay with me from now on?
Assuming I don’t drive you out.] The question suddenly occurred to Mobius.
If Ling Yi disappeared as well, it seemed she would have to walk the path ahead all alone.
“As long as the number doesn’t reach 100, I can’t leave.
The higher it gets, the harder it is to increase.
At this rate, I might even stay with you until the end of the world.” For once, Ling Yi sensed Mobius’s reliance on her.
[I want an extra fried egg with my zhajiangmian tonight.
Also, book us a flight for tomorrow night.
We’re going somewhere else to live.] For some reason, Mobius no longer wanted to continue the conversation.
She didn’t want to think about it any further.
“Understood, my great scientist.”