Chapter 28: Vertical Eye, Wrought by Nature

　　Part 1: Resistance　　No signal. No internet. When night fell, the only thing here was sheer, unadulterated boredom. The wind howled, making the tent flap and crack. The meticulously planned route had been thrown into chaos by the inexplicably shattered glacier, doing a number on our morale. I’d been lying in my sleeping bag for two hours, yet I felt not a trace of drowsiness.　　Mr. Egg’s snoring pierced the several-meter-thick wall of wind, rhythmically thumping against my eardrums. Annoyed by the noise, I sat up in the pitch darkness, covering my ears, lost in a daze.　　As my mind wandered, a desk lamp by my hand suddenly illuminated a small study desk. A pencil sharpener, stained with a trace of blood, lay quietly on the wooden surface.　　"Hinson! You're hurt?" This child, always so clumsy. He'd managed to carve a bloody line on the back of his hand just sharpening a pencil. The sight made my heart ache.　　"Sis Lili, my hand hurts!" Little Hinson's eyes welled with tears as he sniffled quietly, facing the small mirror on the desk.　　"There, there, Hinson, it's okay. Don't be scared. Sis Lili will help you!" I was afraid the wound would get infected. Soothing him with a soft voice, I hurriedly fetched antiseptic and a bandage, carefully cleaning and disinfecting the cut. But the child's hand was so small; holding the large bottle with one hand was unsteady, and I nearly spilled it on his clothes.　　Blood still seeped from the wound, drop by drop falling onto the desk, spreading, blooming, slowly pulling my consciousness back to the surface.　　This isn't me!I shook my head violently, shouting the reminder to myself.　　I struggled to focus, searching my mind for childhood memories. I vaguely recalled that Iwas the one who had sharpened the pencil and cut my hand. But fetching the medicine, cleaning the wound—that was someone else, acting throughmy hands. Sis Lili… Professor Lin… Lin Molly! Could it be… were two people living inside my body?　　My concentration shattered again. The foreign memories that had been forcibly implanted earlier came roaring back like a mountain gale, poised to breach my will, to merge and tangle with my original memories. A terrible premonition struck me—if I let these alien memories confuse my consciousness, I would be utterly consumed by this other person. I would cease to exist!　　In an instant, spectral flashes of lightning filled my mind. Lin Molly’s figure reappeared,