Mysterious-Looking Box (Ming'er)

An awfully obnoxious sound interrupts Ming'er's thoughts.

It doesn't stop on one tone. It's a wholeass song, but it sounds nothing like Mingyi's qin.

Ming'er can somewhat make out the lyrics of the song since it's in Chinese.

That doesn't mean he understands it, though.

Ming'er catches "superidol de xiao rong dou mei ni de tian (means superidol's smile isn't as sweet as yours)" and "xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao (means snowflakes are fluttering and the north wind is blowing)".

/Superidol's smile?/

/Snowflakes fluttering?/

/The north wind blowing?/

Ming'er furrows his brows in confusion.

/What the fuck is that?/

It sounds like some sort of mix between two completely different songs. There's also this constant beat playing throughout the song that doesn't sound like it's originally part of it.

The beat kind of reminds Ming'er of the palace staff at work in the kitchen. Specifically, when they're chopping meat or vegetables.

The beat he's hearing right now is definitely more intense than that, though. It's dropping so hard that Ming'er's heart is pounding just as furiously as it is.

Ming'er frowns.

He has never felt such an adrenaline rush in his life.

Not even when he emerged victorious from his academy's Annual Martial Arts and Cultivation Competition as the youngest ever champion.

Ming'er realizes that the sound is coming from some sort of rectangular box.

It doesn't look like a typical box, though. It's much thinner and flatter than a box would usually be. Much to small to hold anything inside, such as jewellery or clothes.

Ming'er frowns again.

/What's the point of this box if it can't even store anything?/

/It seems like all it can do is blast obnoxiously loud and horrible music./

/I feel like I'm about to go deaf./

/Hmph, the carpenter who made this should be fired.../

Ming'er examines the mysterious box-looking object, completely ignoring the song that was blasting from it.

As if the box wasn't strange enough, it was covered with the same weird-looking animal pattern that was on the blanket that he woke up under.

Each and every one of the weird-looking animal is of a different colour and holding different kinds of fruits. There's a red one holding a banana, a yellow one holding an orange, an orange one holding an apple...

Ming'er furrows his brows even more.

/What are strange-looking box./

/What even are there weird-looking creatures, anyway?/

/Why aren't they holding fruits that are the same colour as they are?/

/What a mess.../

Ming'er flips the box over, expecting to see more of the weird-looking pattern. Instead, he comes face to face with a screen.

There's a painting-like illustration of a middle-aged lady on the screen. She has blonde hair and blue eyes that are hidden behind some sort of circular frame over each eye.

Ming'er has never seen anyone who looks like that in his life.

/Who is she?/

/Why isn't her hair black and her eyes dark?/

/Is she Chinese?/

There are a few words under the painting-like illustration of the blonde lady. It says 'Prof Amelia Williams'.

Unfortunately, Ming'er doesn't know this since he can't read English. He decides to ignore the words altogether in favour of the shapes at the bottom of the mysterious-looking box.

Ming'er notices that there are two circles underneath the picture of the lady. The one on the left is red, while the other is green.

There's also some sort of white, curved picture on the circles. Ming'er doesn't know what it's supposed to be, but the shape kind of reminds him of a crescent moon.

The obnoxious song continues to blast throughout the room.

/Oh God, make it stop./

/It's so annoying./

Ming'er then looks at the circles.

/I wonder if these circles can make the song stop...?/

He decides to test out his hypothesis.

Ming'er opts to touch the green circle rather than the red circle because green is his favourite colour. After all, he has always liked being out in nature ever since he was just a young boy.

It reminds him of peace, of serenity, of being wild and free.

On the other hand, the colour red is loud, restrictive, and screams authority.

One that he has never admitted that he isn't really willing to accept and take up.

And so, Ming'er gently taps on the green circle.

The song instantly stops.

Ming'er sighs in relief.

/Ugh, finally!/

However, he's celebration is cut short when a voice sounds from the mysterious weird-looking creature patterned box.

"Hello? Yvonne, are you there?"

Ming'er yelps in surprise and drops the mysterious box. Thankfully, since he's standing near the bed, it drops onto the mattress rather than clatters onto the hard wooden floor.

/What the heck?!/

/Is that a person's voice?!/

/Why are they speaking English again?!/

/Is this mysterious box holding a person...?!/

Ming'er eyes the mysterious-looking box skeptically for a moment before he slowly picks it up again.

He decides to say the only English word that he's confident of saying aloud.

"Yes..." he replies.

/The person speaking to me sounds like a middle-aged lady.../

Ming'er puts two and two together and widens his eyes in realization.

/Oh! She must be the painting of the lady I saw on the screen! The one with yellow hair and blue eyes!/

"Are you alright? You're trapped in this weird-looking box, aren't you? Do you need any help?"

Ming'er immediately starts rambling in Chinese.

/I need to get her out of there!/

/She needs to be saved!/

/I wonder how long she's been trapped inside this weird-looking box.../

/She must've been having a pretty miserable time in there!/

Professor Williams pauses for a moment before she clears her throat.

"I'm sorry, Yvonne," she says in English, "I didn't quite catch that. Were you speaking to a family member?"

Ming'er has absolutely no idea what the lady had just said.

/Yvonne?/

/What the heck is that?/

/Is that some sort of name?/

/Is that her name?/

Despite this, he decides to play safe and give her a reply anyway.

"Yes..." Ming'er replies slowly.

Professor Williams chuckles. "Ah, I see. That makes sense. After all, you should know that I don't speak a lick of Chinese, naturally, since I was born and raised in the United Kingdom."

/Why is she laughing?/

/She's stuck in this mysterious-looking box, for crying out loud!/

/What's so funny about that?/

/Why doesn't she sound the slightest bit panicked or afraid?/

"Anyway, I'm calling to remind you about our meeting later today at the School of Humanities building. I need to enlist the help of you, my beloved and trusty research assistant, for the English Literature research project that I've been busy working on." Professor Williams explains.

Ming'er has no idea what she was talking about. Heck, he doesn't even understand anything that she's saying.

Nevertheless, he pretends to understand and nods along even though the lady can't even see him.

"You still remember that we have meeting today at 4pm, right?" Professor Williams clarifies.

Ming'er realizes that he should say something when Professor Williams pauses. He infers that she must be expecting some sort of answer from him.

And so, once again, he repeats the only English word that he's confident of saying.

"Yes..." Ming'er says.

"Brilliant!" Professor Williams beams, "Alright, I'll see you at the School of Humanities building at 4pm sharp then. Bye!"

Ming'er decides to repeat the last word that Professor Williams had said. He doesn't know why, but it felt right.

"Bye..." he repeats.

With that, the voice stops talking. The song doesn't play anymore either.

The room suddenly feels way quieter than it was before.

Ming'er blinks in confusion.

/What was that all about?/

/Does that mean that lady isn't trapped in the mysterious-looking box after all?/

/What even is it, anyway?/

Ming'er cautiously taps the side of the box that doesn't have the weird-looking animal patterns on it. It immediately lights up.

/Oh!/

/It reacts when I touch it!/

/That's pretty cool!/

/Is it alive?/

Instead of the painting-like illustration of the middle-aged lady and the red and green circle, there was now four big numbers on the very top of the surface.

It was 10.00 am.

/Oh! Is that the time?/

Ming'er looks out of the window.

The sky is bright and the birds are chirping. The trees are green, swaying ever so slightly by a soft gust of wind.

/It does look like it's around ten in the morning./

/I guess this mysterious-looking box can tell you the time./

/That's actually pretty cool too./

There's another painting-like illustration on the screen. It's the same one that he saw earlier on the wall.

/Oh! That's Yuying./

Ming'er recognizes his new appearance.

/And the girl who was sleeping in the bed across mine./

/Jiawen./

Ming'er studies Yuying's face- or rather, his new face. He narrows his eyes slightly at the illustration of her.

Ming'er reaches out to touch her face.

/She really looks like.../

Just then, the surface of the box changes.

Four squares in a row appear on the surface, along with a three by three grid-like square. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are on the squares within the grid.

/Oh!/

/Is this some sort of code?/

Ming'er furrows his brows in fascination. The little mysterious-box that he's holding seems to be getting more and more interesting.

Ming'er thinks about it forever when he decides to tap the numbers corresponding to his brithday just to try it out.

/0202.../

To Ming'er's surprise, it works.

The surface of the screen transforms once again. The painting-like illustration of Yuying and Jiawen changes to collection of the other painting-like illustrations that he'd seen on the wall earlier.

There are also a few colourful squares on the screen with little words written underneath them.

Ming'er is only able to read the ones in Chinese.

"Dou Yin (TikTok)," he murmurs, "Wei Bo (Weibo), Wei Xin (WeChat)..."

/What the heck are all these?/

Ming'er decides to click on the green square with the two white illustrations on it. Even though he doesn't know what they are, he decides to tap on that square just because his favourite colour is green.

However, Ming'er accidentally opens the app next to WeChat instead.

That square has what looks like an illustration of a burning flame on it.

Just then, a painting-like illustration of a man appears on the surface. There are a few words written below the illustration, but Ming'er ignores them since he can't read English.

The man is rather scary-looking. He's wearing a tight, black sleeveless top that shows off his arm muscles. His hair is a shock of blue, and there are black patterns that run from his shoulders to his hands.

Ming'er recognizes them as tattoos.

Even though they've never gotten along and have even somewhat of a feud going on between them ever since they were young, Ming'er knows that one of his brothers, Mingsi, has some of them.

As such, Ming'er isn't too alarmed by the tattoos. What he is alarmed by, though, is the man's obviously unnatural blue hair.

It's even worse than this Yuying's light, mousy brown hair.

"What's up with the people in this world," Ming'er murmurs under his breath. "Always turning their hair into some weird colour..."

/I wonder how they do it, though?/

/Perhaps they do it via cultivation?/

/Do they even have cultivation in this world?/

As Ming'er ponders about this, he idly swipes his finger across the screen to the left.

Just then, another painting-like illustration of another man pops up. This man isn't as scary-looking as the previous man, but he's no better. His hair is purple.

Ming'er grimaces and swipes the screen again. Another illustration comes up.

As Ming'er continues to swipe, he realizes that every time he does so, a new illustration of a new man comes up.

He's oddly amused and entertained.

After swiping left for a while, Ming'er decides to change it up.

/What happens if I swipe right...?/

And so, Ming'er decides to try it out. He swipes right on the next illustration that comes onto the screen.

The words 'It's a Match!' pops up onto the screen immediately after.

Before Ming'er could even figure out what the words meant, he receives a message from the guy that he'd swiped right on.

Ming'er clicks on the text and is instantly redirected to the chat conversation with the man.

Ming'er grins. He still doesn't quite know what's going on, but he feels like he's getting better and better at figuring out how this mysterious box-like thing works.

The man sends three texts.

-

Conversation with Chad

Chad: Hey girlllll ;)))

Chad: U r so hawttt

Chad: Do u wna see sth nice and big?

The man then sends a file attachment.

Ming'er doesn't know why, but he feels inclined to touch the file attachment.

It opens as soon as he touches it.

Ming'er immediately regrets his decision.

His face turns red as he starts to splutter.

It's a dick pic.