Twing
This time, Tian Zhu did not wake naturally. He was woken up by a terribly annoying sound with unknown origin. He didn’t know whether he had heard anything like it before.
Twing
Twing
Twing
Groaning, he pulled his eyes open and stared at his ceiling. The sound came back. It wasn’t at regular intervals, although the sound itself was the same each time.
Twing
So he had come out alive again? This time, it was due to an immunity?
Twing
Those Gamblers, who or what were they?
Twing
Tian Zhu sat up. It was impossible to think with this obnoxious sound in his ear.
Something, the source of the sound, moved from somewhere near his body as the bed shifted with his movements. He pulled the blanket aside, finding a rectangular something having slipped under it.
Twing
Carefully, he picked the item up. It looked like… a cellphone? A very old cellphone. Those models were long in the past.
There were buttons at the side. He tried pushing them and what should be the screen lit up. He pressed on it, wondering if it was touch-screen or if the usage was different.
The phone unlocked obediently.
The usage of apps hadn’t changed that much in its basics, so he recognized that it was one when he saw the black square on the home menu. A small number, displaying 14, was at its upper corner.
He pressed the icon and a window opened.
“Aspen...?”, River mumbled, reading the name on top of the window and then letting his eyes slide lower.
They were messages. The phone made another sound as a new one popped up. The first one was from a few minutes ago.
【Aspen】
--River? Is that you from the dream?
--Found this thing next to bed, think its some kinda phone?
--Is this the reward those guys talked about? Looks pretty useless to me
--Theres only this app on it
--Are you still sleeping
--Youre not dead are you
--Come on dont be boring
--Heyyyyyy
--Come on im bored
--Is this for communication? Is there any benefit to talking to you out of the dreams?
--How does this thing even work i cant use anything thats not connected to the network
--Seriously tho are you dead
--If youre dead its gonna be troublesome
--Wait i can see that youre online
Tian Zhu felt his face twitch a bit. Evidently, Aspen had a lot of time in prison, to spam him with messages like this.
He did not feel that troubled by it, to his own surprise. He narrowed his eyes at the message, feeling a sense of comfort at reading them. He could almost hear the voice reading them out loud. It meant he wasn’t alone right now. He didn’t have to hide.
【River】
--I’m here.
【Aspen】
--Finally
--Is it really you tho
【River】
--How would I know that you’re who this phone says you are? This is a mutual problem.
Tian Zhu typed slowly, needing a moment to get used to the tiny keyboard. He slumped back into his pillows, staring at the phone.
Aspen did not reply for a few seconds. Suddenly, the phone vibrated - incoming call.
He accepted it, moving the phone slowly to his ear. He had some inhibitions about taking calls from people, especially from very suspicious phones suddenly appearing in his room.
“...Yes?”
“Oh, it is actually you. Good then.”
The phone was hung up again and Tian Zhu felt with an amusing certainty that the person on the other side was Aspen. Not only the voice, but also this whimsical behavior.
Again, a message.
【Aspen】
--Cant call without it being suspicious outside of the bathroom
Ah. As a prisoner, wouldn’t it be suspicious for Aspen to have a phone at all? How could a prison allow him contact with the world outside? But it wasn’t possible for him to vanish into the bathroom for longer periods, either.
【River】
--You have been in prison for a while already?
【Aspen】
--Yeah, since I killed my family
--Long story
Tian Zhu paused, but then continued typing.
【River】
--How old are you now?
【Aspen】
--18! I think youre my age?
【River】
--19, yes.
【Aspen】
--Are you a student? Gotta be very boring for you
--Or do you work?
【River】
--My family would not like me working. I’m a student, although it’s more for show
【Aspen】
--What do you even do all day
【River】
--I have a little AI I’m raising
--Let me see if I can connect her
Tian Zhu had sent the message before he even noticed that sharing ShuShu might not be the best thing. He frowned at his own behavior, but started up ShuShu anyway.
[Master! Good morning! You look good today!] ShuShu jumped in front of the screen, scratching the glass with her tiny claws and her ears excitedly twitching. Small squeaks came from out of the phone when Tian Zhu scratched over it.
A bit surprising. He had killed someone, not too long ago. Whether it was a dream or not didn’t matter, as it was real in that moment, but he hadn’t hesitated to smash her head in.
He still didn’t feel guilty about it. She had tried to destroy his solution, which wasn’t something he would allow. If only she had stopped and waited, he wouldn’t have cared about her. But she had continued without listening.
Tian Zhu glanced at his fingers and rubbed them against each other. He still felt some of the blood on them, but the feeling was fading quickly.
He wiped his hand against his blanket and returned his attention to the little mouse.
“I found… a friend in the dreams”, Tian Zhu whispered, explaining in the simplest way possible. Their exact relationship was too hard to pinpoint - they were just using each other for convenience. “Do you want to meet him?”
[A friend? Want to! Hurry, Master, hurry!] ShuShu went up on her hindlegs. [I want to talk to him, too!]
Tian Zhu used his other hand to check through the old Gambler’s phone. The basic connection system that the old phone had would not work with a new one, but the newer model might be able to connect thanks to ShuShu’s help.
When he started the connection system up, ShuShu froze.
All of a sudden, she curled up with a loud shriek. Her paws hid her face. [Turn it off! No! That phone is bad!]
“ShuShu?!” Tian Zhu sat up abruptly and closed the connection. ShuShu relaxed again but quivered softly.
[Master, where is that phone from…? It’s… I don’t want it!]
“Is it scary?”, Tian Zhu asked in a soothing voice, his eyebrows knitting up worriedly. ShuShu’s ears twitched and she revealed her small face again.
[Scary?]
“It’s a feeling. Things that make you want to run away, something you don’t want to see, not necessarily because you hate it but because it is dangerous. Or, well, feels dangerous at least.”
[...It’s scary. Master, Can you read the messages out to me instead?]
“I will”, Tian Zhu gave in immediately and softly read the messages while he propped up ShuShu with his leg. He tried to roughly imitate Aspen’s tone of talking and ShuShu made delighted noises. Because she had no concept of crimes or morally bad behaviour, she could not judge what it meant for someone to be in prison and Tian Zhu did not elaborate for now.
ShuShu solely judged Aspen from their conversation and the way Tian Zhu imitated him. It sounded nice to her.
Tian Zhu typed in a message again.
【River】
--I can’t connect her but she says “Hi” and wants you to know that she’s very happy you exist
The answer came promptly.
【Aspen】
--Cute. What is she like?
Tian Zhu considered how to explain best, then raised the old phone and activated the camera after fiddling for a while to find it. “ShuShu, say hello.”
[Oh, did you start a video? Hello! I’m ShuShu! You’re Aspen, right? Thank you for being nice to Master! Today, he looks much better than usual! I like it best when Master is happy!]
ShuShu ran around the screen and rambled on. The video was getting longer and longer, but Tian Zhu struggled to find a place to cut it off, so he ended up sending the whole thing over to Aspen.
It took several minutes before an answer came.
【Aspen】
--I like AIs. You can just turn them on when you want someone talking and off when its too annoying. Maybe I should raise one too
--How long did you need to raise her
【River】
--Thirteen years.
【Aspen】
--Yeah no
--Scratch that
--I should get the prof to buy me one
ShuShu tapped against the screen to catch Tian Zhu’s attention after hearing him read the messages out loud again. [Who is that “prof”?]
“I don’t know.” Tian Zhu shook his head. He had agreed that they’d become friends, but he hadn’t had an actual friend yet. Rather than risking to ask too much, he preferred waiting to see if Aspen would tell it himself. Whether he did or not, he’d see.
