sensory！

In that fragile mental "soundproof room" he had built with his own hands, he finally experienced the first true peace and quiet since his arrival—a luxury he had never known before. The world had never seemed so clear.

The mental noise that could drive any sane person mad was now being processed efficiently by his "filtering system." Most of the blurry, repetitive, and meaningless background prayers were compressed into a faint rustling sound, like the gentle breeze of a summer night sweeping through a pine forest, no longer causing any disturbance to his core consciousness.

He sat in his mental command center, reviewing the filtered and organized "information reports" presented to him like a monarch.

"The northern front: The Third Legion has once again engaged in a small-scale conflict with the 'Shadow Tribe.' We lost twenty-seven men, including my nephew. May the Holy Light guide his soul..."

This was a cardinal's prayer during morning prayers, delivered in a matter-of-fact tone as if reporting work to a superior. 

The voice was clear, but the emotion was flat, automatically marked by the system as "medium priority—military developments." 

".. My Lord, thank you for your protection. I have successfully obtained the land contract in the southern part of the city, and the profits are substantial. Here are the gold coins I promised. Please accept them with a smile. May your light endure forever." 

This was a proud merchant's expression of gratitude, marked as "low priority - commercial activity." 

".. May the Holy Maiden grant me wisdom and beauty, so that at next month's 'Day of Light' court ball, I may catch the attention of Viscount Fernand.... This was the shy prayer of a young woman in love, marked as "low priority - entertainment gossip." Anran discovered that the filtering system he had hastily put together was surprisingly effective. He felt like a deity, observing the joys and sorrows of the empire's populace with a detached, indifferent gaze. Though still a prisoner, at least his confinement no longer felt so monotonous. 

He even discerned a fleeting illusion of "control"—a sensation he had never experienced in his previous life.

Was this what it felt like to be a leader?

However, just as he was beginning to grow accustomed to this "god's-eye view," an unexpected "disturbance" shattered the fragile order he had painstakingly established.

"Wah!" A sharp, piercing cry filled with sorrow and pain erupted suddenly, like a sword piercing through all his mental barriers and striking directly at the core of his consciousness.

The sound came so suddenly, so forcefully, completely ignoring all the filtering rules he had set. Because it wasn't a prayer; it was the most primal, purest emotional outburst. Anran's consciousness trembled violently, like suddenly hearing a piercing screech in his headphones while quietly listening to music. Immediately afterward, another voice erupted like a volcanic explosion, filled with panic, fear, and unwavering devotion: "Holy Maiden, please forgive his rudeness! My Lord, please calm your anger! He is just a child; he knows nothing!" This was the voice of a young mother,

her prayer was illogical and incoherent, brimming with the humility and fear one feels in the presence of a majestic deity. But the pure, unadulterated maternal love she felt for her child was so intense it felt tangible. This powerful emotional torrent intertwined with the child's earlier cries, forming a peculiar, high-frequency, high-intensity "signal." Under the impact of this "signal," An Ran felt his 'senses' undergo an unprecedented, marvelous transformation. In that instant, he "saw."

No, it wasn't true vision.

He still had no eyes and couldn't see colors or shapes.

It was an extension of his "perception."

He clearly "perceived" that at his feet—the feet of the massive divine statue—a young woman was kneeling, trembling all over.

She clutched a crying boy of about four or five years old tightly in her arms, her face covered in tears of terror. 

The boy had accidentally fallen and scraped his knee, which was why he was wailing loudly in the sacred and solemn cathedral.

Amid her fear, the mother felt an overwhelming surge of love and pity for her child.

He could even "sense" the disapproving and reproachful glances from other worshippers around them. All of this happened in an instant.

The entire world seemed to transform from an audio-only radio drama into an immersive 4D movie.

Although the screen remained black, all the spatial relationships, emotional flows, and causes of events were precisely projected into his consciousness in an informational manner. 

This clear, three-dimensional perception lasted only three seconds before fading away as the mother and child calmed down. 

The world returned to being a flat, audio-only "radio drama."

But those three seconds left An Ran in a state of prolonged shock. 

He stayed in his "soundproof room," repeatedly "replaying" the strange sensation he had just experienced. 

Why? 

Why were it precisely that child and that mother who caused such a drastic "qualitative change" in his perception? 

An Ran began to analyze and compare frantically. 

He recalled the thousands of prayers he had heard before.

Whether it was the bishop's report or the merchant's gratitude, those prayers were clear in diction and logically coherent, but the "information flow" they conveyed was cold and mundane, like a plain glass of water.

But the cries and prayers of that mother and child, though chaotic and even incoherent, contained emotions... That instinctive pain, that unconditional maternal love—compared to the bland plain water, they possessed entirely different "temperature" and "quality." 

Ah, so that's it. 

Anran suddenly understood. 

It turned out that what drove this "receiver" had never been the content of the prayers, not the flowery language or respectful titles. 

It was emotion.

The purest, most primal, most unadulterated biological emotion! 

The intensity of emotion is the strength of the signal! The purity of emotion is the clarity of the signal! 

The filtering system Anran had previously established, based on "keywords" and "priorities," was fundamentally misguided. 

He had been trying to sift through a pile of cold textual data for information, yet had overlooked the core driving force behind that data—emotion.

This discovery excited Anran so much that he trembled all over, if he had a body. 

Anran was no longer content to passively wait for those "high-intensity signals" to appear by chance. 

He decided to take the initiative! 

Anran mobilized all his willpower. 

This time, his goal was no longer "filtering" and "blocking," but 'searching' and "amplifying." He imagined his consciousness as a massive emotional scanner.

"Scan mode activated. Target: all positive emotions with an intensity level above 5 (defined by Anran based on the child's crying earlier) — 'joy' command issued. 

Instantly, countless images flooded into his mind in the form of an information stream. 

Anran "saw" a young couple hiding in the corner of a church; the boy had just mustered the courage to give the girl a white rose he had secretly picked, and the two embraced and kissed.

He also "saw" an old soldier gently touching the military medal on his chest, recalling a battle, his face adorned with a smile mingled with pride and nostalgia. 

"Switch scan mode. Target: all negative emotions with an intensity level above 5—'sadness.'" 

The scene shifted. Anran "saw" an elderly man with white hair kneeling on the other side of the statue, silently shedding tears as he mourned his recently deceased partner. He "saw" a young painter whose work had been dismissed as worthless, hiding in his studio with his face buried in the canvas, his shoulders trembling slightly from suppressed sobs. At this moment, An Ran is like a greedy child, freely swimming and exploring in the ocean of emotions. Every intense emotion opens a unique window to the world for him. Through these windows, he sees vivid, flesh-and-blood human stories. For the first time, the world becomes so vivid, so real, so... Within reach. Though his true form remained that cold stone statue imprisoned deep within the Holy Light Cathedral, at this moment, he felt as though he possessed the entire world.

The cage was still a cage.

But he had already found the method to open the window of the cage.