Chapter 57: Lingering Questions

Having already eaten dinner at the Security Hall, Lu Xin quietly returned to his bedroom.

They lived in a two-bedroom one-living-room house. It wasn’t large but it felt cozy. Normally Lu Xin occupied the smaller bedroom, Mom stayed in the master bedroom, Father spent most of his time in the kitchen, and Sister slept in the ceiling interlayer near the door. Most of the time though she’d be found squatting on the sofa hugging her teddy bear and watching cartoons all night long.

Inside his small bedroom, furnished simply with just a bed, a chair and a desk, Lu Xin sat down softly. He switched on the desk lamp and quietly began reviewing the files and materials about Special Pollution, doing a simple review.

At the same time he waited for Mom to return. He needed to find a chance to talk to her.

Ever since the factory incident he’d wanted to have a serious talk with Mom, but he hadn’t found the opportunity.

Mom’s movements had been a bit strange lately. She often went out claiming she’d made new friends.

“Methods for dealing with Secondary Pollution Sources…”

Under the desk lamp that only illuminated a small area Lu Xin silently reviewed what he’d learned today: “Impact of Secondary Pollution Sources… executing the will of the primary Pollution Source affecting the surroundings… mostly a compensation for the primary Pollution Source’s emotional deficiencies… a few cases confirm some primary Pollution Sources have the ability to split into two or more secondary ones…”

“The abilities of Secondary Pollution Sources are mostly extensions of the primary; no cases observed where their abilities differ…”

“Handling method: eliminate the primary Pollution Source, find the Logic Chain between the primary and secondary…”

“Cases of independent Secondary Pollution Sources: unconfirmed…”

…

Lu Xin paid close attention to this part of the theory.

When he encountered the Secondary Pollution Source of Special Pollution Source 039 at the factory last time he became quite interested. He desperately wanted to know if this situation could to some extent explain the problems he was currently facing.

Although on the surface that Secondary Pollution Source seemed quite different from himself.

For example Secondary Pollution Sources could be sensed, even directly ‘seen’.

But his family couldn’t be detected.

Another example, that Secondary Pollution Source seemed rather foolish and incapable of communication…

Whereas his family could not only communicate but also had quite distinct personalities…

But despite the significant differences this was still the closest form of Mental Alteration to his own condition that he had encountered so far.

Therefore he studied this section with particular diligence.

…

…

*Tap* *tap* *tap*

Who knows how much time had passed? Lu Xin engrossed in his studies heard the sound of high heels clicking on the tiled floor in the hallway.

He knew Mom was back.

So he carefully got up and gently pushed open his bedroom door.

*Tap* *tap* *tap*

The tapping sound reached the front door and then the door opened softly.

The room began to brighten as Mom turned on the lights.

Dressed in a white skirt suit carrying a satchel wearing a small red hat and with light makeup Mom looked elegant and charming under the dim light. She gently closed the door, slipped off her low-heeled shoes, placed her satchel on the side table and smiled at Lu Xin while changing into slippers. “It’s so late, why aren’t you asleep yet?”

Lu Xin nodded. “Yes I was waiting for you.”

“Oh dear sorry. I was having too much fun…”

Mom smiled placing a hand on Lu Xin’s shoulder as they walked into the room together. “Miss Chen is quite nice!”

“Miss Chen…”

Lu Xin felt quite helpless about this.

Mom often made new friends but Lu Xin had never met them.

When he first became aware of his family’s existence there was a period when he desperately wanted to understand his situation. Back then he had asked who these friends were and what they looked like. But Mom just smiled and replied “I’ll introduce you when there’s a chance.” Later when Lu Xin remembered to ask again Mom would just sigh softly.

Anyway they had either gone back to their hometown or she hadn’t seen them in a long time herself…

…

…

Sitting at the dining table Mom poured a glass of water and placed it beside Lu Xin.

She sat gracefully to one side rubbing her legs as if tired from shopping and asked with a smile “How’s work been lately?”

“It’s fine…”

Lu Xin nodded paused slightly and said “About the incident at the North City factory last time…”

“Oh my you still remember!”

Seeing Lu Xin’s somewhat serious expression and attitude Mom covered her mouth and laughed. “I thought you had something important to say. Silly child I was just passing by. I happened to see you and Sister standing there foolishly completely stumped by that little girl. It was cutely clumsy. How could I not ask about it?”

“Passing by…”

This answer clearly didn’t satisfy Lu Xin.

He remained silent for a moment before asking softly “You’ve been going out often recently. What have you been doing?”

“Shopping of course…”

Mom answered with a smile “Even though I have to take care of my family I need to have my own life too right?”

Lu Xin was rendered somewhat speechless by this response.

Sometimes he felt that his family acted excessively normal at times.

If this were the past he wouldn’t have been able to press further at this point.

But now having learned much about the knowledge and theories of Special Pollution he slowly considered his words weighing each one carefully and asked softly “That little girl we saw at the factory last time… was she a real person?”

Hearing this Mom smiled. “Silly child that was fake of course. Just a split-off Mental Entity…”

Lu Xin nodded slightly then slowly asked “Then… what about you guys?”

As Lu Xin asked this question Father’s snoring in the kitchen suddenly stopped.

Through the gap in the ceiling interlayer Sister’s bright eyes were secretly watching.

“You have to ask something like that…”

Hearing Lu Xin’s earnest question Mom chuckled softly. “Silly child whether we’re real or not… shouldn’t that depend on you?”

Listening to this answer Lu Xin sat blankly at the table unsure how to react for a moment.

Mom continued softly laughing “Our family lives together keeps each other company helps each other out. Isn’t that feeling real? If the companionship of family isn’t real then what do you think is?”

Hearing these words a strange emotion stirred within Lu Xin.

He thought about his own life. It felt very real.

“Ah right…”

Mom suddenly seemed to remember something. She took a letter out of her satchel and handed it to Lu Xin with a smile. “I saw you had a letter in the mailbox downstairs just now so I brought it up for you. It’s from the orphanage…”

“I didn’t peek promise…”

…

“Why would she send a letter?”

Lu Xin’s expression relaxed slightly as he took the letter.

Mom stood up and walked gracefully towards her room casually replying “She wants to invite you over for dumplings…”