Chapter 103: Dimension 10

“Not human—”

“Not human—”

“Human—”

The young man’s heartfelt doubt rang out with startling clarity, echoing in waves through the cramped elevator car.

The words carried straight into everyone’s ears.

Yu Bai was actually stunned for a moment.

Though their reactions to the elevator mishap weren’t exactly normal…

This stranger’s blunt complaint was just too direct and honest.

And…

Yu Bai subconsciously glanced at the man beside him.

Sure enough, a subtle ripple disturbed Xie Wufang’s previously calm expression.

A faint wave stirred in those heterochromatic eyes, the emotion too nuanced to pin down—not intense, not even enough for flashy animation effects. The inky tips of his black hair hung limp and empty.

…Because he really wasn’t human, after all.

Yu Bai felt like laughing again.

On the other side, the assistant—who was already on the verge of tears—shuddered violently at the words. He almost wished the elevator had just plummeted straight to the bottom!

How had he ended up with such a troublemaking ancestor?!

Having brushed death once already, the assistant threw caution to the wind and roared, “Ancestor, keep it down, for crying out loud!”

The young man, still clinging to him, jumped at the explosion of sound right by his ear. He yanked his hands back and shot back without thinking, “Then why are you yelling so loud? Telling me to be quiet—you scared me half to death!”

Amid flying splatters of tears, the assistant mustered his courage and accused him. “You scared me first!!”

“How did I scare you? It wasn’t me who made the elevator drop!”

“But you—you—”

“Me? What’s wrong with me? Hey, why are you crying? Still scared?”

Sure, crying from fright made him look like a scaredy-cat, but that was a normal human reaction.

Unlike some people…

With that thought, the young man couldn’t help directing a suspicious look toward the pair in the opposite corner of the elevator. Question marks popped up over his head one after another.

And amid his frantic pondering, a lightbulb flickered on and off.

The assistant watched, dumbstruck, as a gray storm cloud of despair engulfed him. He flailed his hands wildly, trying desperately to block those pointedly accusatory animation effects.

“Bro! Bro, stop eyeing them—I beg you. They can see it!!”

Tears streamed down the assistant’s face like wide noodles. His fingers swiped through empty air to no avail. A chill wind howled behind him; his gaze was dazed with fear, and beneath the fear lurked sorrow.

The emotions were so tangled that even the animation effects could barely keep up.

Lost in some wild flight of fancy, the young man didn’t hear a word. He swatted the assistant aside. “Why are you flailing around? Don’t interrupt my thinking.”

Yu Bai, witnessing it all, covered his face and laughed until he was short of breath.

Once he’d had his fill, he cleared his throat and forced a calm tone. “It’s fine, but you two shouldn’t move around recklessly. Try to hold your positions—the elevator could drop again.”

At his words, their movements froze instantly.

They exchanged a glance laced with alarm, then instinctively clutched each other tight once more.

…Not that they had to stick to the exact same pose.

But Yu Bai didn’t elaborate.

He was mostly afraid that if he opened his mouth, his uncontrollable laughter would echo endlessly around the car.

No one noticed the smooth, mirror-like walls of the elevator reflecting their figures. Among them, the reflection of the young man’s face was utterly different from his real expression.

No extra emotional effects adorned the reflected face.

But the look of utter exasperation was plain as day.

It even let out a faint, wistful sigh.

A perfect picture of disappointment in what it saw.

Oblivious, the young man strained his neck to peer past the assistant’s head, staring curiously at the pair. “You seem pretty experienced.”

He was addressing Yu Bai.

Who had just smoothly finished calling for elevator rescue, and now leaned calmly against the handrail on the car wall, just like Xie Wufang—waiting patiently for someone to pry the doors open.

They probably didn’t even need the call. This was a bustling commercial office building; such an obvious elevator failure would have been spotted outside by now.

“Something like that,” Yu Bai replied. “I run into elevator problems like this a lot, so I don’t get too worked up.”

It also served as an excuse for their bizarre reactions earlier.

Best not to freak out the regular humans.

“For real? Are you an elevator repair guy?” The young man latched right on. “Both of you? You don’t look it… Hey, stop headbutting me!”

The assistant, still glued to the young man, had given up trying to rein in his loose tongue. His expression was serene yet world-weary. He merely nudged back occasionally with his head—a token protest, doing his duty.

“No,” Yu Bai said, fighting a grin as he watched the two fuzzy heads butt gently against each other. “Maybe I’m just unlucky. That’s why this keeps happening to me.”

In truth, aside from that first unexpected plunge, every other elevator incident had been one he’d deliberately sought out in the time loop.

The young man grew even more curious. “Every time it happens, does it stop midair like this without crashing?”

“…”

That was a good question.

Yu Bai paused, then answered tactfully, “If it had already crashed before, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

“Not necessarily,” the young man blurted. “What if you’re a ghost now?”

“…” The assistant, head buried in his shoulder, unleashed a torrent of noodle-wide tears as his inner critic roared to life. “Haha, why don’t I be the ghost instead.”

“You already are,” the young man fired back without hesitation. “Scaredy-cat.”

The assistant promptly headbutted him.

He headbutted right back.

Their skulls clacked together crisply.

As if they’d drained a glass of the water sloshing in their heads.

Yu Bai didn’t mind the question—it had a childish innocence to it.

He just laughed until his cheeks ached.

“I’m not a ghost.” Sparkles of sincerity danced in Yu Bai’s eyes. “I’m human.”

For some reason, the young man eagerly piled on. “Me too!”

And he turned an earnest, expectant gaze toward the other unfamiliar passenger in the elevator.

“…” The man beside Yu Bai seemed on the verge of speaking, but he hesitated and ultimately stayed silent.

He probably thought saying it aloud would sound ridiculous.

Couldn’t bring himself to do it.

The assistant shot a world-weary look of understanding at the nameless black-haired man. “Yeah, yeah, we’re all human… Sigh, when’s someone gonna come rescue us?”

Xie Wufang, failing to read the glance, sprouted a question mark over his head. He stiffly averted his eyes from the inadvertent lie he’d just echoed.

The experienced Yu Bai chimed in, “Shouldn’t be long. I can already hear noises outside.”

The young man, brimming with curiosity about these two fearless humans, added, “What’s the rush? We’ll get out eventually. Being stuck in a broken elevator is kinda fun.”

He asked Yu Bai and Xie Wufang, “By the way, which floor and company are you headed to? Job hunting? New talent? I’ve never seen you around.”

Several broker companies clustered in this office building.

With the sudden fault, all the floor buttons were dark now—no telling which ones had been selected.

Yu Bai had a similar question himself.

This chatty young stranger didn’t look old, and he was quite handsome—like the classic pretty little prince from a fairy tale, though his personality clashed wildly with his looks.

From their talk, the young man seemed to be an actor in the middle of shooting. Yu Bai didn’t follow entertainment news much, but this guy’s personality and face were memorable enough. Daring to ditch a shoot halfway meant he had some fame, yet Yu Bai had never seen him before.

A cocky newbie, fresh out of the gate?

Also…

Yu Bai recalled the “Ming Ge” from the assistant’s mouth, and remembered who he and Xie Wufang had come here to find…

Given his knack for dramatic encounters, was this Ming Ge the Xiao Ming they were after?

So, were they all headed to the same place?

Yu Bai mulled it over, then answered honestly. “We’re going to the eighteenth floor to find a manager named Xiao Ming.”

The conjoined statue of the two hugging froze, their pupils dilating in shock.

The assistant blurted, “Huh? You’re here for Ming Ge? He came back to the company?!”

The young man yelped, “Ah? Didn’t he have something to handle? Wait—don’t tell me the thing he’s handling is meeting you guys?!”

And then the elevator doors burst open. “Bang bang bang—”

The rescue team stared at the bizarre scene before them, utterly baffled.

“Alright, now that the door is open, the trapped people can come out. Walk slowly—no need to be nervous—uh.”

The scenes on either side of the elevator were a study in contrasts. One side showed a sculpture of conjoined infants, trembling and slumped on the floor. The other side featured two adult men who were entirely too laid-back and unflappable.

A dense crowd had gathered outside the elevator: the rescue team, the building’s front desk and property management staff, employees who had rushed over upon hearing the news, and Xiao Ming the agent, who had just arrived downstairs at the company building…

This time, though, there were no reporters or photographers conveniently tagging along with the rescue team to cover the story.

And so, after the gray-blue gaze from inside the elevator car swept over the crowd, it betrayed a flicker of genuine regret.

There should have been a group photo.

But there was also that tall, lanky agent who ought to have been busy outside.

The moment it met Ming Ge’s shocked stare, the fluffy head inside the elevator instantly shrank back behind the assistant’s head.

The assistant, wracked with guilt, was doing exactly the same thing.

Round two of the great head-jostling showdown!

As for the very last occupant—the one hundred percent genuine, original-model human, utterly free of both regret and guilt…

He took in the entire scene with a sweep of his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched upward uncontrollably. He quickly turned his face away, silently massaging his cheeks, which ached from the effort of holding back his laughter.

In this world, there were three things that simply could not be concealed.

Namely—

The regretful little ghost, the sweat-drenched picture of guilt, and the beaming golden little flower.

…Not the cough, poverty, and love from those inspirational quotes.

Because this was an animation world, after all!