Chapter 218: A Gentle Approach

The girl was very close to Lu Xin, leaning in to examine him.

It reminded Lu Xin of watching old pre-cataclysm movies, like leaning close to the screen for a character’s close-up.

The jeep was right behind him leaving Lu Xin nowhere to retreat. He had no choice but to observe her up close, clearly seeing her seemingly poreless skin and smelling the faint cool sweet scent emanating from her.

The girl’s pretty little nose twitched, as if she was smelling Lu Xin too.

However she didn’t react to the hand he extended.

She just looked down seeming a bit unsure of what to do.

So Lu Xin smiled and gently took her hand shaking it briefly.

Looking down at their joined hands the girl’s large vacant eyes gained a slight focus.

The expression on her face also became a bit more lively.

…

…

“Mr. Lone Soldier what are you doing?”

“Why are you holding the Doll’s hand?”

Chen Jing’s tense inquiry came through the broadcast.

Lu Xin blushed slightly at her words turning around wanting to explain, “I wasn’t… I was shaking hands with her…”

Before Lu Xin could answer Chen Jing said, “Put on your headset.”

Only then did Lu Xin realize. He grabbed his bag took out the headset and put it on. Simultaneously the broadcast sound vanished as if the microphone had been shut off directly, but after a brief burst of static Chen Jing’s voice came through the headset, “Emergency Cleanup Team channel established… Testing now… Mr. Lone Soldier can you hear me?”

“Yes I can…”

Chen Jing immediately asked through the channel, “What do you see now?”

Lu Xin looked at the girl watching him intently not daring to raise his voice too much.

He whispered, “I see she’s quite pretty…”

…

Chen Jing paused for a moment before saying, “I’m asking if there’s anything unusual about her.”

Lu Xin thought for a moment. “She sniffed me like a little dog. Does that count as unusual?”

…

Chen Jing fell silent once more.

After a while she collected her thoughts and said, “Now try to see if you can communicate with her…”

“Be careful. Speak gently.”

Lu Xin pondered whispering, “What counts as gentle?”

…

Chen Jing fell silent a third time then said, “Your current tone counts.”

“Alright…”

Lu Xin felt inexplicably guilty sensing that the Leader’s reaction seemed a bit dissatisfied with him.

But orders had to be followed. So he looked up at the girl before him tilting his head slightly to observe her.

She wore the same kind of skirt covered in pretty frills as the last time he saw her, only this time it was black. Her black hair was very smooth styled very cutely. The girl floated silently about thirty centimeters off the ground.

It felt as if she had escaped gravity.

But being so close Lu Xin could feel a large amount of invisible mental power swirling around her.

It was this mental power in the form of telekinesis that kept her floating in the air.

Lu Xin just didn’t understand how she could maintain this use of mental power for so long without seeming tired.

Pushing aside his distracting thoughts Lu Xin looked seriously at the girl.

Then in a particularly gentle tone he asked, “What are you looking at?”

The girl before him or rather the Doll blinked but didn’t answer Lu Xin’s question.

…

Chen Jing lowered her voice on the channel, “Is that your way of speaking gently to a girl?”

Lu Xin sounded helpless, “Then what should I say?”

Chen Jing paused for a moment. “Try to see if you can bring her back to the safe house.”

…

Lu Xin nodded slightly. Looking at the girl again he gestured gently, “Come with me.”

The girl didn’t react to his words.

But as Lu Xin started to turn and walk towards the hotel he felt a light breeze.

The girl holding her umbrella followed closely behind him step by step.

Both Lu Xin and Chen Jing who was watching the scene via surveillance visibly relaxed slightly.

“After entering the lobby turn right and enter the elevator area.”

“Take the elevator to the thirty-third floor.”

…

Chen Jing guided Lu Xin through the channel leading the Doll into the hotel.

The lobby which had been bustling with staff moments ago now seemed deserted. Only the empty check-in counter sat forlornly in the lobby surrounded by scattered messy files and file boxes. As if disturbed by the mental power emanating from the girl the lobby lights flickered slightly but didn’t go out.

This indicated that the girl’s mental power was strong and unrestrained but stable.

After pressing the up button the elevator doors opened quickly. It seemed all the elevators were empty now.

Lu Xin stepped into the elevator first then waited for the girl to float in on her own.

Seeing the umbrella she held nearly touching the elevator ceiling Lu Xin said, “Don’t open umbrellas indoors. It brings bad luck.”

The girl looked down at Lu Xin slowly closed her umbrella then gently landed standing in a corner of the elevator.

“This…”

Chen Jing watching the scene in the elevator via surveillance had another complex expression cross her face.

Meanwhile the image of Lu Xin and the Doll together had already been transmitted to the screens in front of many people.

Seeing the Doll’s actions their expressions universally turned to surprise. “Not only can the Doll understand his words but she also does as he says… Has… has this situation ever occurred in previous observations of the Doll?”

On one screen Professor Bai watched with interest. “The Doll rarely refuses requests made to her. Even if she encounters a request she dislikes she’ll just pretend not to hear. But previous requests were more like commands, like teaching your dog to sit or shake hands. It can follow your command to react but doesn’t understand your words.”

“But now Mr. Lone Soldier’s communication with her feels more like an interaction not a command… The most obvious thing is that few people could ever make the Doll put down her umbrella or land on the ground because that would make her feel insecure…”

“If that’s the case why can Mr. Lone Soldier do it?”

On another screen Minister Shen frowned deeply asking in a low voice.

On several other screens were Special Cleaning Department researchers who had just connected to the feed. Professor Chen who specialized in researching and guiding the “Doll” was also there. He frowned tightly. “It doesn’t look like Mr. Lone Soldier’s command made her unable to refuse.”

“Then does this mean… Mr. Lone Soldier can replace the sense of security her umbrella gives her?”

…

Everyone was deep in thought. Professor Chen however was visibly excited. “Get them back to the safe house first.”

“I need to start the observation and research on her contact with Mr. Lone Soldier ahead of schedule…”

“My grandson?”

“Make him go do his homework right now!”

…

Lu Xin couldn’t hear the discussions of so many people in his headset.

He just followed Chen Jing’s instructions bringing the Doll up to the thirty-third floor. After waiting in the stairwell for a moment and hearing heavy footsteps move away outside he led her out. Then he saw a transparent room made of thick glass like something out of a fairy tale. The room occupied nearly half the space of the entire floor near the windows.

Inside the room were piles upon piles of toys and cartoon figures. The walls were also decorated with various cute cartoon ornaments.

In the center was a fluffy sofa and across from it a 262-inch television mounted on the wall taking up almost half of it. It was playing some uninteresting-looking muted commercials.

There was a huge hole in the floor-to-ceiling window near the edge of the building but it had been patched up with a new piece of glass.

This must have been why Chen Jing made Lu Xin wait with the Doll in the stairwell for a while.

Earlier the Doll must have seen Lu Xin approaching broken the window directly and jumped down.

So she needed to arrange for personnel to come and reinstall the glass first.

A room constructed like this with tempered glass could partially block the Doll’s abilities to avoid affecting others. But for an Ability User like her with an extremely high psychic power level it couldn’t serve as a prison. She could easily break it with telekinesis.

…

…

“Enter the room.”

Following Chen Jing’s command Lu Xin walked into this unbelievably beautiful cartoon kingdom looking around unsure where to sit.

Just as he was about to ask Chen Jing what to do Chen Jing suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “Did you forget to take off your shoes?”

“Oh right…”

Lu Xin turned his head curiously and saw several dusty footprints on the room’s spotless floor.

…

Chen Jing was stunned for a moment then asked, “What’s the Doll’s reaction?”

Lu Xin quickly turned his head to look then immediately blushed. “Can’t you guys see?”

Chen Jing’s voice instantly grew tense. “Normally the Doll’s safe house isn’t equipped with conventional cameras…”

“Quick tell us! What is she doing?”

…

Lu Xin sounded embarrassed. “She’s… taking off her clothes…”

Chen Jing was shocked. “What?”

Lu Xin suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and told Chen Jing, “It’s okay. She just took off her outer skirt…”

…

Chen Jing paused then asked in a tone that tried to be calm and natural but was clearly tense, “Right now… ”

“Up until now have you… felt any urge to do anything?”

…

“Yes.”

Lu Xin answered honestly, “I want to put her clothes back on her. Otherwise this is too awkward…”

“This…”

Many people heard Lu Xin’s words at that moment and exchanged uncertain glances.

“Put her clothes back on her…”

In front of a car-mounted screen Professor Chen who was rushing to the Special Cleaning Department for an emergency meeting pondered slightly.

“Tell him not to move. Wait for our notification.”

After saying that he frowned and muttered to himself, “Am I getting old or something…”

“Clearly that’s the thought a normal person should have…”

“But why do I feel like he’s not normal?”