Ji Minghuan closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and after he made his birthday wish to the neon sign on the cake, the children in hospital gowns gathered around stood agape.
"Why is your wish for everyone to survive?" Sun Changkong glanced at the cake, then at Ji Minghuan, "That's a strange wish, why would we die?"
"Because if it's like the Mentor says, and I really destroy the world in the future, then wouldn't everyone not survive? Isn't that right?"
Ji Minghuan opened his eyes as he spoke, looking irately at the freckles on Sun Changkong's face.
The moment the birthday candles were blown out, the warm firelight bathing them dimmed.
In its place, cool lighting spilled down from the ceiling.
Their faces returned to their usual pallor. The children had never seen other colors of light in the base, and the lighting in the confinement room was as formally white as the clothes worn by the Mentor, always bringing to mind the smell of disinfectant.
