The room fell into a brief silence.
Seconds later, Dr. Li snapped back to reality. "A Seraphim?"
"Right."
"What was it doing?"
"Nothing. It was like a golden statue, sitting in the center of a massive lunar crater, staring up at Earth as if… keeping watch?"
Dr. Li rubbed the corner of his eye, sighing wearily. "Qiye, do you know how far the Moon is from Earth?"
"Almost four hundred thousand kilometers," Lin Qiye replied calmly.
"Almost four hundred thousand kilometers." Dr. Li repeated. "Even with the most advanced telescopes, we can barely make out details on the lunar surface. Yet at seven years old, you claim you lay on your hometown roof and saw an angel on the Moon with your naked eye?"
I didn't see it actively.," Lin Qiye said quietly. "It saw me. I just looked up, and my eyes were dragged through space as if by its pull, meeting its gaze."
"So it forced you?"
"More or less. How else could I have seen the lunar surface? I don't have superhuman vision."
"But if there really is an angel on the Moon, why hasn't humanity discovered it in all these years?"
"No idea." Lin Qiye shook his head. "Maybe that Seraphim doesn't want to be observed. Besides… does humanity truly understand the Moon?"
His sincerity was so profound that Dr. Li nearly reached for his phone to call an ambulance to take him back to the psychiatric hospital. As a psychiatrist specializing in mental disorders, he'd seen countless cases and learned a rule: the more earnestly someone rambles nonsense that sounds almost plausible, the more severe their illness.
"What about your eyes? What happened there?"
Lin Qiye reached up, gently rubbing the black cloth wrapped around his eyes, his voice emotionless. "The moment our gazes met, I… went blind."
Dr. Li opened his mouth, glanced at the medical records in his hand, and fell silent. Under "Cause of Blindness," only four characters were written: Reason Unknown.
So… what had really happened that year?
Could it be true that Lin Qiye had seen a Seraphim on the Moon? How else to explain the sudden blindness?
The thought flashed through Dr. Li's mind, only to be instantly dismissed. Careful, almost got drawn into a patient's delusion! He could easily imagine the expressions of doctors a decade ago when the newly blinded child recounted this story—no wonder the boy had been compulsorily hospitalized. By any standard, his claims were textbook symptoms of psychosis.
He'd treated countless similar cases: a man who believed he was the reincarnation of the Monkey King, spending all day dangling from a horizontal bar; a patient who thought he was a coat rack, standing motionless in his room all night; and a middle-aged man who mistook everyone for his husband, constantly groping people's behinds…
Yes, that last one was a forty-year-old oily middle-aged man.—best translated as "overweight middle-aged man" for cultural neutrality.
"You're describing events from the past," Dr. Li said, resetting the tone for the follow-up. "How do you view them now?"
"Just delusions," Lin Qiye said calmly. "That day, I simply fell off the roof, hit my head on the ground. The blindness was probably a nerve injury from the impact."
He'd recited this script countless times, smooth and detached.
Dr. Li raised an eyebrow, jotting notes in the file, then chatted about daily life. Twenty minutes later, he checked his watch, stood with a smile.
"Alright, the follow-up ends here. Your condition has stabilized. I hope you can adjust your mindset and live well." He shook Lin Qiye's hand encouragingly.
Lin Qiye smiled and nodded slightly.
"Oh, Dr. Li, stay for dinner!" His aunt called out warmly as he left.
"Thank you, but I have another patient to see. Don't want to impose."
Dr. Li politely declined and stepped out. The moment the door closed, Lin Qiye's smile vanished, as if it had never existed.
"Delusions… huh…" he murmured.
"Ge, dinner's ready!" His cousin Yang Jin emerged from the kitchen, carrying a dish. Yang Jin, four years younger and in middle school, had grown up with Lin Qiye since the latter's parents disappeared and he moved in with his aunt—their bond tighter than blood brothers.
"Coming," Lin Qiye replied.
As he sat at the narrow dining table, a warm sensation suddenly spread from his foot. He paused, then the corner of his mouth twitched upward.
Yang Jin peeked under the table, chuckling scoldingly: "You little scamp, lazy all day but show up faster than anyone when it's time to eat."
A small black mangy dog poked its head out from under the table, tongue lolling, panting warmly as it nuzzled Lin Qiye's foot and licked it, all but begging for attention.
Three people and one dog—this was their family. Simple, struggling, yet inexplicably reassuring.
It had been this way for a decade.
Lin Qiye stroked the dog's head, picking a piece of meat from the meager portions on his plate and placing it in Yang Jin's bowl. "Give it a bone to gnaw."
Yang Jin didn't refuse; with their brotherly bond, unnecessary politeness would have felt alien. His concern lay elsewhere.
"Ge, are your eyes really getting better?"
Lin Qiye smiled faintly. "Yes, I can see now, just sensitive to light. Need to keep the cloth on a few more days."
"Few days my foot," his aunt interjected. "Qiye, listen to me—eyes are too important. Even if you can see now, don't rush to take that cloth off. What if the sunlight damages them again? Better safe than sorry—keep it on longer!"
"Got it, Aunt."
"Oh right, Ge! I saved up money to buy you a cool pair of sunglasses! Let me get them later!" Yang Jin exclaimed, suddenly remembering.
Lin Qiye shook his head with a smile. "Sunglasses block light, but not as effectively as this cloth. I can't wear them yet."
"Okay…" Yang Jin deflated.
"But once my eyes fully heal, I'll wear them every day when we go shopping. I'll buy you a pair too—we'll match."
Yang Jin's eyes lit up again, nodding vigorously.
"Qiye, I've sorted out your transfer," his aunt said, changing the topic. "You can move from the special school to a regular high school at the start of the next term. But are you sure? Regular schools are different. With your condition, what if—"
"No 'what ifs,' Aunt," Lin Qiye interrupted firmly. "My eyes are healed. To get into a good university, I need to stand on the same starting line as everyone else."
"You stubborn child… Even if you don't get into a good university, it's fine. Your aunt can support you forever!"
"Me too, Ge! I'll support you!"
Lin Qiye's body tensed slightly. Behind the black cloth, his eyes were unreadable, but his lips pressed into a smile before curving upward determinedly.
He shook his head wordlessly, yet both Yang Jin and their aunt felt the steel in his resolve. Even the little scamp at his feet nuzzled his ankle.
"—Woof!"