Chapter 1069 He Can't Be the Only One to Suffer a Loss
After Chi Feichi sent the email and put away his mobile phone, Gin saw that there was nothing else and looked at the oranges in the bag on the hood of the car. "Oranges from a greenhouse. Although they're still out of season, they should be much better than the ones you bought last time."
Chi Feichi picked up an orange, broke off a slice, and put it in his mouth.
Judging by the orange-yellow skin, it should be ripe...
No, he was wrong.
The next second, Chi Feichi ate the orange slice without a change in his expression and handed the rest to Gin. "It's indeed sweet. You should try it."
Gin considered it for a moment. Thinking about how Chi Feichi had eaten it without a second thought and that Chi Feichi had no reason to poison him, he also broke off a slice to try, then fell into silence.
Understood. Raki wasn't trying to test his trust; this orange was just so sour it was hard to swallow!
Heh... that bastard fruit shop boss.
Seeing Gin had eaten it, Chi Feichi looked away, took another orange from the bag, and studied it to see if Gin had accidentally bought lemons instead of oranges.
Maintaining a calm face, Gin handed the orange in his hand to Yingqu Yan Nan. "It's rare to have such sweet oranges, Wayne Walkerly. You should try some too."
He couldn't be the only one to suffer a loss!
Yingqu Yan Nan took the orange. Although he was puzzled, speculating whether sharing an orange was a new expression of friendship, he still tried it. After chewing the first bite, he suppressed an expression that almost turned ferocious and nodded. "It's really sweet, Vodka. You should try it too!"
He couldn't be the only one to suffer a loss!
Vodka caught the orange.
Vodka put a slice into his mouth.
Vodka's face gradually contorted.
...
After the four of them went through the baptism of sour oranges, they each went home. Before leaving, they didn't forget to throw all the oranges into the trash can.
When Chi Feichi arrived home and washed up, he sent an email for Feimo to dispatch crows to patrol Ryokudai, and then went to bed.
Unsurprisingly, he arrived in that gray, hazy dreamscape again.
This time, another white box had appeared. But inside wasn't Nameless or some other animal as he had imagined, but Joshua and a group of people.
After a preliminary experiment showed this box was no different from the others, Chi Feichi didn't dare to try 'destroying the box'. He suddenly felt that it would be great if Koizumi Akako were here; at least he would have someone to discuss this with.
Just as he thought that, Koizumi Akako's figure truly appeared before him, gradually solidifying.
Koizumi Akako turned her head to look at the gray space, then looked at Chi Feichi with doubt. "What is this..."
"Don't know. I started having this dream five days ago, and I'm in this space every time. The first time, a box with Feichi appeared. The second time, it was Feimo and the Crows, and that time, a group of snakes was added to Feichi's box. The third time, it was Tuanzi, Jubei, and other bears. The fourth time, it was Fei Li and marine creatures," Chi Feichi controlled the five boxes to surround Koizumi Akako. "The fifth time, which is tonight, Joshua and a group of people appeared. Grace is inside, so it should be his sons and daughters. I can't get out until it's time to wake up. It's too boring alone. I thought if you were here, we could at least talk, and so here you are."
Koizumi Akako warily watched the large boxes floating around her, hemming her in. "Then what are you doing surrounding me with boxes? I don't know anything!"
Could it be that the Evil Son of Nature's growth had stalled, and he was trying to sacrifice a witch?
"You hide. I'll see if I can pull others in," Chi Feichi explained, then stood on the spot and began to wish Yingqu Yan Nan was here.
Summoning Yingqu Yan Nan failed.
Summoning his Old Dad failed.
Summoning his Old Mom failed.
Summoning Haibara Ai failed.
Summoning Kuroba Kaito failed.
Chi Feichi tried every acquaintance one by one. When he got to Conan, Conan's figure appeared before him and gradually solidified.
Before Conan could even turn his head to look around, Chi Feichi smashed a full-force punch at him.
In the soundless space, Conan, who was leaning against a white box, had his head explode, splattering blood and brain matter.
Koizumi Akako, hiding behind a box: "!"
|д)
So brutal...
Soon, Conan's body and the blood splattered on the box faded and disappeared.
"I didn't intend for him to discover these things."
Chi Feichi explained to Koizumi Akako.
"I-Is that so..."
Koizumi Akako kept hiding.
|д)
She was so worried this Child of Nature guy would go crazy and punch her too.
Seeing Koizumi Akako like this, Chi Feichi fell silent for a moment. "He won't die, right?"
"No, he won't," Koizumi Akako said weakly, still hiding behind the box. "This place is like a dream. It looks very real, but you don't die, and you don't feel pain."
Chi Feichi looked away and continued trying to summon other people.
Since it's just a dreamscape where you can't die or feel pain, why is Hongzi so scared? What's her problem.
...
Hyogo Prefecture.
In the car heading to Osaka, Conan suddenly sat up, his face pale as a sheet, panting rapidly.
Mouri Ran, who was beside him, asked with worry, "Conan, what's wrong with you?"
Otaki Goro, who was driving the group back to Osaka, said, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Mori Kogoro, sitting in the passenger seat, glanced back. "The little kid with glasses probably had a nightmare!"
"I... Did I fall asleep?" Conan's mind was still a bit fuzzy, but he gradually remembered.
Today, they had followed Hattori and Kazuha to Hyogo Prefecture to watch the Koshien baseball finals. Although a bomb had been planted in the tournament venue, they managed to resolve it. Afterward, they went to the police station to give their statements and, by the way, waited for Officer Otaki to finish his work so he could drive them to Osaka. They were planning to stay at Hattori's home for a night before heading back. In the car, he seemed to have fallen asleep...
Hattori Heiji leaned over with a grin and reached out to ruffle Conan's hair. "Yeah, children will be children, falling asleep even in a car!"
"Conan, did you have a nightmare?" Mouri Ran looked worried and reached out to touch Conan's forehead. "You sat up so suddenly just now, and you looked terrified. Plus, your head is covered in cold sweat."
"I'm fine~"
Conan replied with an acting cute smile, sighing in relief inwardly.
He had indeed had a nightmare. He dreamed of Chi Feichi, and before he could even react, that guy had smashed a fist towards him with a cold face.
Although it didn't hurt in the dream, in the moment his vision rapidly turned from red to black, he could seemingly feel the bones in his face rapidly shattering.
Perhaps because this feeling was too clear, or perhaps because Chi Feichi's face and fist in the dream were too realistic, he was genuinely startled.
Really, why would he have such a weird dream? When you're out having fun, you should just stop thinking about that guy...
...
The following night.
Chi Feichi entered the dreamscape again. This time, the new box contained Nameless and the Cat Group.
Koizumi Akako was pulled in once more. She came in, circled the box once, and then sat down on the gloomy ground, sorting out her thoughts. "Looking at it this way, you can pull me and the Magic Person of Light into this dreamscape. But after you killed him in the dream last night, you haven't been able to pull him in again."
Chi Feichi tried to pull Conan in, but Conan's figure did not appear. "Can't pull him in tonight either."
"Then let's not bother with him. He can't be of any help anyway. Although I might not be of much help either, I can give you some ideas..." Koizumi Akako pondered, resting her chin on one hand. "Actually, it's not strange that Joshua appeared. He caused a transformation in your eyes before. And the order of their appearances in these dreams is the order in which you met them, right?"
"Correct. Although the transformation from Joshua happened before Fei Li, I did indeed meet Fei Li earlier than I met Joshua. Feichi, Feimo, Tuanzi and Jubei, Fei Li, Joshua, Nameless..." Chi Feichi paused, his expression earnest. "After the change brought by Nameless ended, it was this time, when all the creatures appeared one after another."
Koizumi Akako vaguely understood. "In other words..."
Chi Feichi looked at the floating boxes around them. "A reincarnation cycle has ended."
Koizumi Akako felt inexplicably nervous and looked up at the surroundings. "Will there be a change tonight?"
"Not sure. But the first time my body changed was when Feichi was in hibernation. This time, it's when Feichi is shedding its skin. Feichi might be the key to initiating the transformation," Chi Feichi sat down beside her. "A snake's hibernation has always represented dormancy, while shedding its skin represents rebirth. To put it another way, death and life. That's why I said 'reincarnation'. Of course, it's also possible that this time was initiated by Feichi, and the next cycle will be initiated by the next in line, which is Feimo. Moreover, Feimo can bring 'groups.' It was only from the night Feimo appeared that the snake group appeared on Feichi's side."
These were the only patterns he could find for now. As for what came after 'reincarnation,' nobody knew.
Silence.
A moment later, Koizumi Akako poked the floor with her hand. "Xiao Mei is a magical creation, so she wasn't counted, right?"
Chi Feichi: "That should be it."
Silence.
After a while, Koizumi Akako couldn't hold it in anymore. "What have you been up to recently?"
Chi Feichi answered truthfully, "I've been in disguise and went to Ryokudai Town/District to investigate some matters."
Silence.
Koizumi Akako started a conversation again. "Has Kaito contacted you?"
"Not in the last two days..." Chi Feichi turned his head to look at Koizumi Akako. "If you think it's boring, how about we find something to do?"
Koizumi Akako's eyes lit up, and she nodded repeatedly. "Okay, okay."
Chi Feichi thought for a moment. "Then let's try to prove the Poincaré Conjecture. The Poincaré Conjecture was first proposed by the French mathematician Poincaré, and it seems it hasn't been proven yet..."
Koizumi Akako: "..."
She had an ominous premonition.
"In 1900, Poincaré claimed that he could use the homology theory he developed, based on the work of Enrico Betti, to determine whether a 3D manifold is a 3D sphere. However, in a paper published in 1904, he presented a counterexample..."
Chi Feichi patiently explained to Koizumi Akako.
In his previous life, in 2006, the mathematics community recognized that the Poincaré Conjecture had been proven by the Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman. In this life, it hadn't been proven yet.
He wasn't a professional mathematics researcher, so he didn't think he could compare to those big shots, but it could be used to pass the time.
"Wait," Koizumi Akako stopped him. "Don't talk about this. I don't understand."
"It's okay if you don't understand," Chi Feichi said. "I'll explain, and you see if you can fall asleep. I've tried it here; I can't sleep, and I can't leave. If you fall asleep, maybe you can leave."
Koizumi Akako nodded. "Alright, let's give it a try."
"Then I'll continue," Chi Feichi went on. "In his 1904 paper, Poincaré presented a counterexample, now known as the Poincaré homology sphere, which has the same homology group as the 3D sphere..."
After an unknown amount of time had passed, Koizumi Akako sat there hugging her knees, her eyes wide and dazed.
Anything can fade with time, but mathematics won't... If you don't know math, you just don't know it!
If she had sinned, fate could punish her with thunder or burn her at the stake, not send the Evil Son of Nature to torture her...
Chi Feichi paused. "Can't sleep?"
Koizumi Akako nodded weakly. "I want to, but I can't."
Chi Feichi thought for a moment. "Then let's stop proving it for now. We'll switch to a high school math problem you can understand..."
Joy is better when shared. He had to give Hongzi a sense of participation so it wouldn't be so boring.
(End of Chapter)