STG 02
Chapter 2: The Angel on the Moon
The room fell into a brief silence.
A few seconds later, Dr. Li snapped back to reality. “A seraphim?”
“Yes.”
“What was it doing?”
“Nothing. It was like a golden statue, sitting in the center of a massive lunar crater, looking up at Earth… as if it were… watching over it?”
Dr. Li rubbed the corners of his eyes and sighed helplessly. “Qiye, do you know how far the Moon is from Earth?”
“Nearly 400,000 kilometers,” Lin Qiye replied calmly.
“Nearly 400,000 kilometers,” Dr. Li repeated. “Even with the most advanced telescopes, we can barely make out the Moon’s surface. And yet, when you were seven years old, you just lay on your old house’s roof and saw an angel on the Moon with your naked eyes?”
“I didn’t see it,” Lin Qiye murmured. “It saw me. I just happened to look up, and my eyes were dragged through space as if by some force, locking gazes with it.”
“So, it forced you?”
“You could say that. Otherwise, how could I have seen the Moon’s surface? I don’t have superhuman vision.”
“But if there really was an angel on the Moon, why hasn’t it been discovered by humans all these years?”
“I don’t know,” Lin Qiye shook his head. “Maybe the seraphim doesn’t want to be observed. Besides… do humans truly understand the Moon?”
Lin Qiye spoke with such sincerity that Dr. Li almost wanted to call an ambulance to haul him back to the mental hospital on the spot.
Dr. Li was, after all, a psychiatrist who specialized in mental disorders. He had seen all kinds of patients, and over his career, he had noticed a pattern: the more seriously someone spouted nonsense that somehow sounded plausible, the more severe their condition was.
“And your eyes? What happened to them?”
Lin Qiye reached up and lightly touched the black silk wrapped around his eyes, his tone unreadable. “That day, I met its gaze for just an instant… and then I went blind.”
Dr. Li opened his mouth, glanced down at the medical records in his hands, and fell silent.
Under the “Cause of Blindness” section, there were only two words:
—Reason unknown.
So… what had really happened back then?
Could it really be as Lin Qiye said—that he had seen a seraphim on the Moon? How else could his sudden blindness be explained?
The thought flashed through Dr. Li’s mind for only a second before he forcefully suppressed it.
Too close. I almost got swayed by a psychiatric patient!
He could practically imagine the expressions on the doctors’ faces ten years ago when a young, newly blind Lin Qiye had told them the same story.
No wonder the kid had been forcibly hospitalized. No matter how you looked at it, what he was saying was textbook delusional behavior.
Patients like him weren’t rare in the hospital. There were those who claimed to be the reincarnation of Sun Wukong—the Monkey King and spent all day hanging from monkey bars in a daze, those who thought they were coat racks and stood motionless in their rooms all night, and even those who saw everyone as their wife and couldn’t resist groping people’s butts…
(The last one was a greasy middle-aged man in his forties.)
“These are all things from the past,” Dr. Li said, adjusting his tone. “What about now? How do you view this incident?”
“It was all just delusions,” Lin Qiye replied calmly. “That day, I accidentally rolled off the roof and hit my head. As for my eyes… maybe a nerve was damaged, so I went blind.”
He had recited this explanation countless times—smooth, practiced, and emotionless.
Dr. Li raised an eyebrow, jotted something down in the records, then chatted with Lin Qiye about daily life for another twenty minutes. Finally, he checked the time and stood up with a smile.
“Alright, that concludes today’s checkup. Your condition seems stable. I hope you can keep adjusting your mindset and live well.” Dr. Li shook Lin Qiye’s hand encouragingly.
Lin Qiye smiled faintly and nodded.
“Ah, Dr. Li, won’t you stay for dinner?” Lin Qiye’s aunt urged warmly as she saw the doctor off.
“No, no, I have another patient to see. I won’t impose.”
Dr. Li politely bid farewell and stepped out.
The moment the door closed, Lin Qiye’s smile vanished as if it had never existed.
“Delusions… huh…” he murmured to himself.
“Bro, dinner’s ready!” Yang Jin, Lin Qiye’s cousin, called out as he carried dishes from the kitchen.
Yang Jin was the son of Lin Qiye’s aunt, four years younger and just starting middle school. Ever since Lin Qiye’s parents disappeared and he moved in with his aunt, the two had grown up together, closer than blood brothers.
“Coming.”
As soon as Lin Qiye sat down at the cramped dining table, a sudden warmth brushed against his foot. He paused, then a faint smile tugged at his lips.
Yang Jin glanced under the table and laughed.
“You little rascal, Xiao Hei. Lazy all day, but the second food’s ready, you’re faster than anyone.”
A scruffy little black dog poked its head out from under the table, tongue lolling as it panted happily. It nuzzled Lin Qiye’s foot and licked his toes, its expression full of pleading.
Three people and one dog—this was their family.
Simple. Struggling. Yet strangely comforting.
It had been this way for ten years.
Lin Qiye patted the dog’s head, then picked out one of the few pieces of meat from the dish and placed it in Yang Jin’s bowl.
“Give it a bone to gnaw on.”
Yang Jin didn’t refuse. Between them, excessive politeness would only feel unnatural.
But he was more concerned about something else.
“Bro, your eyes… are they really almost better?”
Lin Qiye smiled. “Yeah, I can see now. I’m just still sensitive to light, so I’ll need to keep the silk on for a few more days.”
“A few days? Xiao Qi, listen to your aunt—eyes are too important! Even if you can see now, don’t rush to take off the silk. What if… what if the sunlight damages them again? We should play it safe and keep it on a while longer!” his aunt fretted.
“Got it, Auntie.”
“Oh, Bro! I saved up and bought you a really cool pair of sunglasses! I’ll show you later!” Yang Jin suddenly remembered, excited.
Lin Qiye chuckled and shook his head. “Ah Jin, sunglasses block light, but they’re nowhere near as effective as the silk. I can’t wear them yet.”
“Oh…” Yang Jin deflated a little.
“But once my eyes are fully healed, I’ll wear them every time we go out. I’ll even buy you a matching pair so we can twin.”
At that, Yang Jin’s eyes lit up again, and he nodded vigorously.
“Oh, right, Xiao Qi, I’ve finished the paperwork for your school transfer,” his aunt added. “Once the semester starts, you can move from the special school to a regular high school. But… are you sure about this? Regular schools are different. With your condition, what if—”
“There won’t be any ‘what ifs,’ Auntie,” Lin Qiye cut in gently but firmly. “My eyes are fine now. And if I want to get into a good university, I need to compete on the same level as everyone else.”
“You stubborn kid… Even if you don’t get into a top school, it’s fine! Your aunt can take care of you!”
“Bro, I can take care of you too!”
Lin Qiye’s body stiffened slightly. No one could see his eyes beneath the black silk, but his lips pressed together before curling into a smile.
He shook his head resolutely.
He didn’t speak, but both Yang Jin and his aunt could sense his determination.
Even Xiao Hei nuzzled Lin Qiye’s ankle in support.
“Woof!“
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