Chapter 2: Mysterious Space, Blue-Haired Girl

"What is this?!"

Kaleidoscopic black, multicolored white—the kind of colors that probably only exist in the imaginations of demanding clients.

The vibrant black and multicolored white coalesced into a bizarre yet harmonious tapestry, resembling a world woven from the intertwining threads of galaxies and cosmic seas, depicting a surreal and dazzling dreamscape that ultimately converged into perfect equilibrium.

"A dream? No, this isn't a dream."

Bai Qi had experienced lucid dreams before, but his consciousness had never been this vivid. Most importantly...

Lowering his gaze, Bai Qi scanned his completely naked body, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement. "I'm not exactly an exhibitionist, you know."

The grin spreading across Bai Qi's face seemed to undermine the credibility of his words.

Yet, he couldn't deny the surge of excitement that coursed through him.

This bizarre and unsettling situation, instead of filling him with terror, ignited a long-awaited thrill.

That was Bai Qi.

If ghosts were to materialize in the real world, he wouldn't flee in panic. Instead, he'd approach them with unbridled curiosity.

Bai Qi's thirst for knowledge and spirit of exploration rivaled that of the greatest visionaries—those who dedicate their lives to unraveling the ultimate truths of the cosmos.

As for life and death, do you think a solitary millennial burdened with a twenty-eight-year mortgage would even care?

Perhaps death would even transform him into a ghost!

If the process of becoming a ghost adhered to human understanding—if negative emotions determined whether one could become a ghost and the power they wielded afterward—how many Ghost Kings would modern society produce?

"Could this be what they call the soul?"

Bai Qi clenched his fist, examining the hand that was both familiar and alien to his physical form. Then, he lifted his head and surveyed his surroundings.

How could he describe this subtle, ethereal sensation?

It felt as if his entire body were enveloped in deep blue velvet, or as if he were gazing upon a sky teeming with stars in a bizarre, upside-down realm where day and night had lost their boundaries.

Ethereal and boundless, the feeling evoked an involuntary sense of peace.

"This feeling..."

A Milky Way-like radiance flowed silently as Bai Qi wandered through this mysterious space. He could vaguely sense a connection between himself and this enigmatic realm.

It was as if he could control the space, yet he didn't know how. Or perhaps his power was insufficient?

Unable to discern cardinal directions—or perhaps none existed—and with no passage of time, Bai Qi explored until his mind grew weary. Still, he couldn't grasp the fundamental nature of the mysterious space.

Then, without warning, a sensation akin to freefalling from the clouds seized him.

The bad news: Bai Qi had been ejected from the mysterious space.

The good news: this encounter was no mere fluke.

The following night, Bai Qi traced that strange sensation and reentered the mysterious space, only to be once again cast out without progress.

During the day, under the care of his nurse, Bai Qi suffered only the lingering pain of his fractured bones, finding no other disturbances.

Though his mind and body felt heavy and exhausted, Bai Qi's heart was light. He could finally rest.

The company sent a colleague familiar with Bai Qi to visit, ostensibly to check on him, but also to discuss some business matters.

Theoretically, a traffic accident on the way home from overtime work should qualify as a work-related injury, with the company bearing partial responsibility. But that was just theory.

For ordinary workers, the Labor Law was a distant castle in the sky. Simply surviving was difficult enough; who had the time or energy to argue with a company?

Bai Qi, with his fractured leg and no relatives, certainly couldn't afford a professional work-related injury assessment.

Unsurprisingly, the company offered no compensation.

In a rare display of "mercy," the boss settled Bai Qi's wages up to that day.

The price? Bai Qi's voluntary resignation.

While employers cannot terminate labor contracts for employees who become ill or injured on the job during their legally mandated medical leave, there's no issue if the employee initiates the resignation.

This was exactly what Bai Qi had expected.

His heart remained utterly calm, even harboring a faint urge to laugh.

After years of relentless overtime, being hospitalized felt like a genuine luxury to Bai Qi.

The two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

Crisp white curtains swayed gently in the breeze, and Bai Qi, now accustomed to the antiseptic scent of the room, lay on the pristine hospital bed.

In the initial days, he had spent nearly all his time in the Mysterious Space, conducting countless experiments and explorations. However, seemingly due to insufficient soul power, the space offered no response.

The only tangible change was that Bai Qi could now materialize his hospital gown on his body within the space, sparing himself the embarrassment of running around naked.

The sensation of being completely unclad in the void had left him with an odd, unsettling feeling.

In any case, after realizing this limitation, Bai Qi stopped pouring all his energy into the Mysterious Space.

Bai Qi only entered the virtual space at night. During the day, he seized the opportunity to catch up on anime series and classic old shows he'd been saving, focusing primarily on regulating his emotions and mental state.

Perhaps getting enough rest will spark something within me?

After finishing Lycoris Recoil on Bilibili, Bai Qi opened the comments section and began reading with relish.

Honestly, the comments are more entertaining than the anime itself.

Thanking the senior caregiver who had peeled an apple for him, Bai Qi watched the warring factions in the comments section with amusement, joining the ranks of casual observers enjoying the spectacle.

As for his own opinion?

He was just a casual anime fan. If a show was good, he watched it; if it wasn't, he dropped it. There was no need for any complicated analysis.

After scrolling through the comments for over twenty minutes, Bai Qi finally returned to his anime watchlist, his finger swiping across the screen.

[ Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc, Tokyo Ghoul, Inuyasha, Dragon Ball... Which one should I watch first? ] Bai Qi didn't usually talk to himself, but his mind was always racing.

He hesitated briefly, but before he could decide—suddenly!

For a fleeting moment, Bai Qi's soul stirred with an inexplicable tremor. He knew instinctively that something had changed within the Mysterious Space.

Suppressing his excitement, Bai Qi took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He turned off his phone, placed it back on the pillow, and slowly closed his eyes. His soul traced its way back to the unfathomably distant Mysterious Space, navigating it with the ease of opening the door to his childhood home.

High above, beyond reach, the Milky Way shimmered, its ethereal glow bathing the surroundings in an otherworldly radiance. The sight evoked a sense of serene tranquility.

The moment the vision materialized, Bai Qi's eyelids twitched involuntarily. He couldn't help but widen his eyes, his dark brown irises widening in astonishment.

Before him stood a dreamlike figure—a young girl.

Her doll-like face was exquisitely delicate, framed by long, sky-blue hair that cascaded down her back. Against her porcelain-white skin, the strands resembled milk poured into a fine china bowl—smooth, lustrous, and as flawless as the finest white mutton-fat jade.

The flowing locks accentuated the graceful curves of her slender figure. Through her fluttering bangs, he glimpsed a Holy Azure gemstone embedded in her smooth forehead. Her mesmerizing forest-green eyes, swirling like emerald galaxies, reflected a chilling, frozen light.

At first glance, she seemed like the girl next door—pure and lovely. Yet her beauty was so breathtaking, it stirred the deepest longings in nearly everyone's heart. Her exquisite, expressionless face gave her an ethereal, weightless quality.

Most crucially, Bai Qi remembered his own initial state upon entering the Mysterious Space. He still didn't know if he existed here as a consciousness, a soul, or some other form. But whatever his state, external objects like clothing wouldn't be included.

Thus, her flawless, ice-like skin was fully exposed before Bai Qi.

In the silent environment, Bai Qi could almost hear the accelerating rhythm of his own heartbeat. This wasn't excitement at seeing a naked beauty, but exhilaration that the Mysterious Space had finally undergone a change.

Ordinary objects that hadn't undergone "Cognition Deepening" couldn't enter this realm. This meant the crystalline crystal embedded in the girl's forehead was an integral part of her being, as natural as a person's limbs or internal organs.

Combined with her blue hair and green eyes, this practically ruled out the possibility of her being from Earth.

Bai Qi's pupils deepened with thought. Numerous ideas raced through his mind as he silently approached the Blue-Haired Girl.

The blue-haired girl stood motionless, her slightly childlike, doll-like face utterly expressionless. Rather than appearing cold, she embodied the classic Kuudere archetype: emotionless, expressionless, and silent.

It was clear she was still drowsy, as if she had just woken from a deep slumber. Her slender fingers smoothed the soft strands of hair falling across her temples, and an intoxicating melancholy lingered between her delicately arched eyebrows. But soon, her long, curled eyelashes fluttered faintly, as if she were about to drift back to sleep. She seemed to perceive the scene before her as nothing more than a dream.

"Um... hello?"

A sudden, unfamiliar voice startled the blue-haired girl. Confusion flickered in her emerald eyes before she slowly turned her head toward the sound. When she saw Bai Qi, clad in a hospital gown, her sakura-petal lips parted slightly, giving her an adorably bewildered look.

"Human..." Her ethereal voice, as clear and delicate as the fragrance of orchids, carried a hint of surprise. She seemed genuinely puzzled. "Human... why... aren't you disgusted?"

"Hmm?"

The young girl's soft murmur cut through the silence of the two-person space with surprising clarity.

Bai Qi's brow twitched slightly. She's definitely not human.

His expression remained impassive as he studied the blue-haired girl with a grave gaze, yet his eyes involuntarily drifted to the delicate curve beneath her collarbone and the triangular region radiating an enigmatic allure.

Her fragile, almost translucent skin glowed with a dazzling white.

"Ahem, let me preface this by saying I don't know where we are. The fact that clothing can't enter might be a mechanism of this space, so..."

Bai Qi took a deep breath, calming the turmoil within, and spoke in as steady a tone as possible, "Would you like to cover up... the critical areas? Uh, you could use your hair and hands..."

More than the girl's figure, Bai Qi was troubled by why he felt such an inexplicable fondness for her. It wasn't love at first sight, nor mere lust, but a tangible, natural sense of closeness.

"Hmm?"

The blue-haired girl tilted her head adorably at his nonsensical words, a hint of genuine confusion flickering in her emerald eyes.

Then, belatedly, she lowered her gaze, her snowy, icy skin coming into view. She froze, stunned.

Slowly, a blush of seductive, shameful pink crept across her delicate features and fair skin.

Bai Qi had warned her, and the blue-haired girl could sense an unusual intimacy between them, so she refrained from attacking him.

She desperately needed to cover herself, but even her hip-length hair offered little concealment, let alone her dainty hands attempting to shield her most vulnerable area.

If she wanted to hide properly, the safest and most effective method was undoubtedly...

With a burst of astonishing speed, the blue-haired girl vanished from sight. Bai Qi caught only a glimpse of her blue hair swirling before feeling a warm presence closing in behind him.

So fast!

Before he could even finish the thought, a soft, warm hand pressed against his eyes.

Yet the instant their physical forms—or rather, their souls—made contact, both Bai Qi and the blue-haired girl froze. A torrent of information flooded their minds like a dam bursting.

Starting from that cyan-tinged hand, the blue-haired girl flowed into Bai Qi's soul like a tributary finally returning to the sea. As she merged with his soul, the deep-seated sense of fragmentation within Bai Qi's soul mysteriously eased.

In that instant, within the Mysterious Space resembling a summer night sky, the dim stars suddenly blazed with a profound, ethereal light.

The Blue-Haired Girl, who had merged into Bai Qi's soul like a stream flowing into the sea, now separated from his very being.

The serene, dead calm expression on her delicate face vanished, replaced by utter disbelief and bewilderment.

As the light from the Mysterious Space faded, Bai Qi and the Blue-Haired Girl fell silent, their eyes locked in speechless contemplation.

Unlike before, the Blue-Haired Girl showed no trace of shyness, even as Bai Qi's gaze openly lingered on her.

"So? Do you like it?" Her ethereal voice retained its clarity, but her tone had shifted dramatically.

"Yes, it's beautiful—stunningly so!" Bai Qi answered honestly, no longer restraining his gaze as he openly admired the girl's beauty.

She looked like a girl crafted by AI hyperrealism, her beauty surpassing anything possible in the real world.

"Ugh, talking to myself like this feels so weird..."

Their words overlapped completely. In perfect unison, Bai Qi and the Blue-Haired Girl raised their hands to stroke their chins.

P.S.: Time to test your anime knowledge! Can you recognize her?

[TL: NOOOO! This was a nightmare figuring out. It TOOK HOURS!]