The radio in Broly Bookstore was playing a song "Open Door," and the dreamy jazz music echoed in every deserted corner.
"Lately I dreamed"
"I had tasted"
"All life's treasures"
As the music fell to that line, under the vacant gaze of the owner, a massive cocoon slowly cracked open, and a man dressed in a tailcoat with a red and black mask "emerged," hanging motionlessly upside down from the ceiling.
At some point, he had already taken the sketchbook placed on the counter by the owner, along with a ballpoint pen.
The young owner was taken aback for a moment before squeezing out a smile at him, "Guest, we are closing soon."
"Oh... just a moment, I'll be done drawing soon, just need a short while."
Black Cocoon hung upside down, almost face to face with the owner, speaking without raising his head, focusing on drawing in the sketchbook with the ballpoint pen.
"Alright."
The owner nodded, took a sip of coffee, reacting quite calmly.
Black Cocoon suddenly said, "By the way, Mr. 'Photo Finder,' I borrowed a book 'The Outsider' from here earlier, from the fifth bookshelf counting from left to right when entering the store, but then I put it back... Yes, it was the book I was reading when I appeared on television, indeed Camus's writing has a certain flair, I can even understand the protagonist's feeling of not mourning at his mother's funeral, even after her death... I can't help it, attending the mother's funeral was a forgery, my older brother and little sister cried their hearts out."
The owner did not understand what he was talking about.
Amidst the rustling sound of drawing with the ballpoint pen, Black Cocoon hummed a jazz tune while asking, "Actually, I wanted to say... Sir, you wouldn't be mad at me for taking a book without a word, right? If you're unhappy about it next time I read on camera, I could promote your bookstore as compensation."
"As long as you leave an ID and phone number, borrowing is possible here." The young owner said, "No need to feel guilty... you just didn't follow the procedure, sometimes I'm not that strict with guests."
Black Cocoon nodded, "Okay, I heard from the people around that you have a peculiar superpower that allows you to find the location of 'objects' using 'photos', so when things are lost, everyone brings photos to this bookstore and asks you to help find them."
"That's right."
"That's great, although I don't have a photo, I have a painting technique that's indistinguishable from the real thing, maybe you could use your superpower to find this little cutie in the picture, right?"
"I haven't tried using 'paintings' to activate my superpower... but I can give it a shot."
"No matter. My painting technique's texture is almost like a photo, I'm sure it'll fully activate your superpower."
Black Cocoon spoke with confidence and then turned the sketchbook over, facing the owner.
The owner squinted through his glasses, only to see that the sketchbook contained a drawing of a figure neither human nor humanoid.
This drawing reminded the owner of a composition he wrote in elementary school, where he described his classmate as: "Her eyes are red like little tomatoes; her hair is white like radishes; the sun atop her head is as red as a big tomato."
And Black Cocoon's brilliant technique almost perfectly replicated the character descriptions from his elementary school essay. Calling it an elementary school drawing technique might be insulting to elementary students.
"This is what you mean by... photo-like texture... indistinguishable painting technique?"
The owner hesitated, the sentence stopping three times.
"Yes, can you help me find this person in the picture?"
Black Cocoon tilted his head and squinted, his expression unseen through the mask, but his gestures always gave off a serious vibe.
"I'm sorry, my superpower only works on inanimate objects, limited to small non-complex structures, within a certain range... If it were a person, even with a hundred photos, I could never find their location, let alone such 'indistinguishable' artworks."
The owner explained calmly, "I'm rated as a harmless superpower user for a reason."
Black Cocoon deflated, hanging forlornly from the ceiling, slowly twirling his pen, then sighed.
He asked, "Alright, do I need to pay to borrow your sketchbook and pen?"
"No, you don't."
"Thank you, sir, you are very kind."
Black Cocoon nodded and saluted him, then used the restraint belt to return the sketchbook and pen to the owner.
"You're welcome." The owner paused, "I'll still charge you a dollar, though. My sketchbook is quite old, it'll fall apart when you tear it. Your artwork in my sketchbook has a somewhat overly artistic value... I'm tempted to tear it out for collection, but I can't."
"I understand, genius art can only be appreciated by geniuses... like Picasso."
Black Cocoon spoke to himself, digging around in his tailcoat, pulling out a one-dollar coin, silently handing it over to the owner with the restraint belt, "Feel free to tear the drawing for collection, sir."
"Thank you." The owner took the coin and placed it in the cash register.
"You're welcome, sir, it's what you deserve."
Black Cocoon hung upside down in mid-air, casually picking up a book from the shelf to read, speaking courteously.
"So... I only have two minutes left to close, is there anything else?" The young owner asked.
"By the way... could you collaborate with me?" Black Cocoon suddenly remembered his purpose, raising his hand in a black leather glove, circling it around his head, "Uh... Collaboration meaning, I help promote your hardcover books on TV later, and in return, you occasionally help me find things: like my razor, I'm a very manly man, and every morning I wake up with a full beard, it's troublesome without a razor."
"Even though I'm only 12 years old, and haven't started growing a beard yet." He continued in his heart.
Seeing the other person silent, Black Cocoon continued, "Come on, how cool is this? You'll see a person holding a hardcover book from your store at every murder scene in Li Jing, reading it upside down from under the ceiling. It's more effective than any advertisement, your store is bound to become a hit."
"But I don't want the police coming to me asking about your whereabouts." The owner shook his head, "I also don't want to be labeled as some 'Bizarre Psychology Bookstore', please don't promote me in reverse."
"Alright..." Black Cocoon crossed his arms, thought for a moment, and said, "Considering your concerns, we can collaborate in secret. You help me find things occasionally, and I will act as your private detective. In the future, if you suspect your girlfriend is cheating on you or something, feel free to come to me. I guarantee I'll package her and that son of a bitch lover of hers and present them to you."
The owner chuckled, "That actually sounds pretty good."
"You have a good psychological quality. At first, I thought you'd be too scared to speak."
"Maybe I've seen a lot of strange things since I was a child, so my emotions have always been more indifferent than others, perhaps it's the side effect of the superpower."
"I see, that makes us even more suitable to stay together." Black Cocoon said, "'Black Cocoon', that's my name."
"Just call me the owner."
"So, have we established a cooperative relationship?" Black Cocoon asked tentatively.
"Who says not?" The owner smiled faintly.
Black Cocoon raised an eyebrow, pulled up the Character Cultivation System panel, and looked at the progress task. It still showed that his only superhuman collaborator was the Mutant "Blue Arc".
"Just now, I encountered a very sad thing." He closed the panel, muttering listlessly.
The owner looked at the strange person hanging upside down in the air, "What's wrong?"
Black Cocoon said earnestly, "I just had an argument with my restraint belt because it said that you are an unworthy collaborator. Honestly... I feel deeply saddened by its superficiality, because I genuinely believe you're a very useful collaborator, but it didn't include you in our group."
He flipped through the book pages while saying in a low voice, "I think this is a case of... overlooking the obvious."
"That is indeed quite sad."
The owner took a sip of hot coffee, indifferent.
"We have a curfew at home. If we don't sleep on time, mommy will jump out of the grave and kick our butts, so I have to leave soon. I hope we can meet often in the future."
"Feel free."
The owner waved to him.
"Lastly, I'd like to borrow this 'The Tatami Galaxy', but I don't have an ID card or a phone number... that's pretty sad. Not everyone has a place in society, like that saying... what was it again, children without umbrellas must run in the rain. Sometimes I really think, even for borrowing a book, I have to be so cautious, this world is just unfair."
Black Cocoon muttered while reading the book with downcast eyes.
The owner didn't catch half of what was said, just responded, "Feel free, no ID card or phone number needed, just return it within a week."
"Alright, see you, boss."
Black Cocoon closed the novel in his hand, pocketed it, and waved the restraint belt as if bidding farewell.
"Goodbye," the owner said.
The figure hanging upside down from the ceiling disappeared, the store's lights suddenly went out, and immediately came back on the next second.
The owner took a sip of coffee. It was a quiet night.
.......
.......
Five minutes later, at Gu Yima District, Gu Wenyu's home.
Ji Minghuan sprawled out on the bed in the room, placing the recently borrowed novel by the pillow, and closed his eyelids.
The restraint belt, like a personal maid, removed Black Cocoon's mask and coat for him, changed him into pajamas, and stored the mask at the bottom of the wardrobe.
"Tricked... Collaborating with a harmless-level superpower user doesn't count towards the system's progress. So how strong does someone have to be to count towards the system's progress, a level above harmless? Or even higher at the powerhouse level?"
Thinking about this, Ji Minghuan suddenly opened his eyes, pulled up the system panel, scrolled it twice, and found the "Complete Split Mode" option.
He opened the button inside without hesitation.
[Complete Split mode activated. After a one-hour loading period, your consciousness will take over the game character's body 24/7 without needing to dream.]
[Currently loaded "Game Character Perspective" quantity is "one."]
"This way, I can control both the physical body and the game character simultaneously, just have to wait an hour to see the effect."
Before sleeping, Ji Minghuan checked the "Role Anchor Deviation" once more. The overly indulgent and violent actions at Li Jing Square yesterday had raised his "Role Deviation" to a dangerous 42%, but today it slowly came down.
If this deviation exceeds 70%, it'll be dangerous. The game character may lose Ji Minghuan's control and go berserk, so caution is necessary.
Hope Mentor doesn't disappoint me and provides more useful information. With this thought, Ji Minghuan closed his eyes again, resting his arms behind his head, and fell into a deep sleep.