Chapter 45: Imaginary Time (I)

In the toilet of the screening area, Ke Mingye leaned over the toilet lid, his hands clasped over his chest, his heart pounding.

"Can it be more exciting?"

He whispered to himself, looking up to plan his escape route after being exposed, while looking at the staff member standing in the middle from the perspective of the trick doll.

At this moment, the appearance of this "staff member" in the theater was completely different from the Ke Yinzhi in his memory: he was like wearing a human skin mask, and even the size and color of his pupils had changed. Perhaps it was the work of contact lenses, or perhaps his elder brother had used some ability to change his appearance.

Ke Mingye was not surprised at all; rather, he was used to it.

Living in this monster house, disguising oneself is a necessary skill. If you want to have a second identity that won't change your face, you have to wear a mask, otherwise your family will see through your identity in a minute.
But what's confusing is that basically, those who can change their faces have been seen through by Bai Qiuwu's sharp eyes, otherwise Ke Mingye would not have to send her away specifically to let the deceptive doll enter the theater.

Based on the experimental results on the bus, Ke Mingye believed that Bai Zini’s identity might have been discovered by Bai Qiuwu.

He had observed the process of Bai Zini's transformation, and in the end she relied on a mirror to change the details of her face - this kind of illusion-like rather than physical face-changing would basically be seen through effortlessly by Bai Qiuwu's "fire eyes and golden pupils".

Therefore, it is very likely that Bai Qiuwu already knew that Bai Zini was the "Magical Girl Ashes", but he kept this secret in his heart and did not say it out loud.

The spare phone in his pocket vibrated, interrupting his thoughts.

Ke Mingye turned on his spare phone and received a reply from Bai Qiuwu on the prank app.

"I'm at the western restaurant. Where are you?" she asked.

"Got it, wait for me there for a while."

Ke Mingye typed and sent the message, trying to keep Bai Qiuwu hanging in the western restaurant for a while longer.

At this moment, he had to pray that this damn helmet experience session would end quickly, otherwise if the trickster puppet walked out of the theater and happened to meet the eldest sister who was returning from the western restaurant, it would really be a tragic scene.

"This helmet currently has two functions. One is to reproduce the images you see. Its principle is to directly intercept signals from the 'visual processing area' in the brain and convert them into real images.

Ke Yinzhi paused and continued.

"The second function is that you can try to imagine some images. Similarly, the helmet will try to read your brain signals and convert them into images on the screen. However... due to technical limitations, the second function is not yet perfect and stable. Sometimes the captured images are missing and not so clear."

After listening to his explanation, Ke Yongzhu took the helmet from the staff and said, "What's the point of the first function? It's just like an eye camera. Let me try the second function."

Ke Mingye lowered his head and played with his mobile phone, thinking to himself, the first function of this helmet is not for you, it is for me, okay?

"I'm so excited. I want to try it too!" Bai Zini put her hands together like a primary school student, eager to try it.

Ke Mingye glanced at her and thought to himself, "Classmate Huijin, could you please stop pretending to be so pretentious? You didn't act so innocent and harmless when you put Cinderella against my forehead."

Maybe if she enters Hollywood, she will win the Oscar for Minions the following year. Being a magical girl is really a waste of her talent.

"Of course, everyone can try it." Ke Yinzhi put his hands behind his back and turned to smile at her. "Although there are only two helmets, everyone present has the opportunity to try them out. Take turns."

I was wrong, brother, you are the real acting talent, Ke Mingye thought with disdain in his heart.

In Ke Mingye's impression, Ke Yinzhi has been a very neurotic person since he was a child. Basically, there are strange stories about him circulating in every school he has been to.

For example, he misled others in their experiments and accidentally set off an explosion in the lab. All the classmates who had targeted him in the dormitory dropped out of school without any reason within one semester. Another example was that he skipped two grades in high school and was admitted to the best key university. Two years later, he returned to his alma mater and humiliated the principal in a public speech, criticizing the school's education system without restraint.

What's more, some people even said that the national idol panda "Kafu" who disappeared out of thin air in a zoo around Beijing two years ago was abducted by Ke Yinzhi. This is simply outrageous.

Although he is the eldest son in the family, among his brothers and sisters, the only one who is close to Ke Yinzhi is his second brother Ke Xiaomo. Others don’t like to play with their eldest brother because you can never figure out how his brain circuits work.

Fortunately, my eldest brother has been back from college these three years ago, and his previous unconcealed neurosis has been restrained a lot, as if he has become a different person.

It’s like…something was released during that time in college.

"You can imagine the scene freely. If you really don't know what to think of, then maybe I can tell you a keyword." Ke Yinzhi said slowly, "For example, when the word 'player' is mentioned, what will you think of?"

Bai Zini listened to him while wearing a helmet and closing her eyes and thinking.

When she took off her helmet and looked up at the image transmitted to the giant screen in the theater, the scene above was a mosaic world like "Minecraft": under the dark sky, the mosaic version of the Bo Ke family stood above a sky city built with mosaic blocks, pointing guns at each other's heads. Bo Zini was stunned: "It really came out... It's amazing."

Ke Mingye raised his eyebrows and thought that this was too outrageous. Given the current research progress in brain imaging technology in the world, it was impossible to accomplish such a thing.

Therefore, this thing should be brought out by the big brother from the Abnormal Control Bureau. Only the Control Bureau can come up with technology that far exceeds the public's cognition.

But how could the second brother not realize this? He shouldn't be so slow, right? Or... As expected, the eldest brother and the second brother worked together from the beginning and knew each other's identity?

"Your imagination is really good." Ke Yinzhi looked at the giant screen and commented with a smile, "It is inevitable that the picture is a little incomplete and blurry. After all, this technology cannot accurately reproduce the picture you imagine."

Next, it was Ke Yongzhu's turn to put on the helmet, and the scenes he imagined appeared on the screen.

The screen showed a white-haired girl in a bikini with a pair of black wings similar to bat wings on her back. She stood expressionlessly on the beach, with the black tide and a blood-red full moon behind her.

He took off his helmet and looked at the huge screen in the theater. He opened his mouth and his face suddenly turned red.

"Pervert!" Bai Zini was shocked. "You, a primary school student, are still thinking about such scenes that are not suitable for children!"

Bai Ziling looked up at the picture and was slightly stunned.

"A bit...like me?"

She whispered softly, her red eyes wide open and her pupils slightly contracted.

"What is this, a monster girl?" Bai Zini said, and suddenly found a blind spot, "Ah! And it has white hair. You are imagining the appearance of your sister Xiaoling, right, you perverted elementary school student!"

"No, this is an angel!" Ke Yongzhu blushed and argued, "Angels all have golden hair and black wings. I just accidentally imagined golden hair to be white hair!"

Bai Zini did not let him go, and said aggressively: "What kind of angel has such a gloomy background? Why is the angel you imagined so strange? Anyway, the pervert can't escape!"

"Boring! I won't play this again next time."

As he spoke, Ke Yongzhu frowned, put his helmet on the seat, and even his ears turned red.

"Elementary school student, why does the angel you imagined look a bit like a vampire?" Ke Mingye originally wanted to let the puppet tease him like this, but he was stunned for half a second, then he stared at the screen for a while before realizing it.

Wait a minute, so Ke Yongzhu knew that Bai Ziling was a vampire?

Thinking of this, he glanced at Bai Ziling.

Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were wide open beneath her pale white hair, as if she had seen something unbelievable.

Ke Xiaomo didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just children's play.

Soon after, it was Bai Ziling's turn to put on the helmet. Her experience was over soon, and after she took off the helmet, a picture appeared on the giant screen in the theater.

The picture that Bai Ziling imagined was a baby dragon squatting like a cat, raising its head in the moonlight, hiding in the shadows and staring quietly at the night sky.

"What a cute baby dragon." Bai Zini applauded, teasing Ke Yongzhu, "Look at how imaginative your sister Ling is. She's much better than a certain elementary school student who only thinks about bikinis and angels."

"dragon?"

Ke Mingye was stunned again and ordered the puppet to look at Ke Yongzhu out of the corner of his eye.

Ke Yongzhu was looking up at the young dragon on the screen, stunned in place. He pouted and scratched his nose with his hand. His face got even redder for some reason, and he didn't even dare to look at Bai Ziling again.

Ke Mingye looked at his brother and sister's reactions and was completely convinced of one thing in his heart: Bai Ziling should have seen Ke Yongzhu in the dragon state, and Ke Yongzhu should also know that Bai Ziling is a vampire, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence?

Except for Ke Yongzhu, everyone else's reactions were quite calm.

Only Ke Xiaomo's pupils contracted at this moment. He stared at the picture on the screen carefully, as if he had seen something strange, and muttered to himself in a hoarse voice.

"Isn't this... the young form of the Dragon of Disaster?"

(End of this chapter)