"Dan Heng, I'm here."
Aidan walked into the Data Bank holding a quilt.
"Mm."
Dan Heng made space for Aidan on the bed.
His bed was actually laid out on the floor; though it was just a single layer, it looked like it would be quite comfortable to sleep on.
Aidan shook out the quilt in his arms and smoothed it out next to Dan Heng's floor bed.
The temperature in the Data Bank was slightly lower than outside, making it feel very comfortable.
The small tuft of grass on top of his head swayed with his movements.
"Sorry to trouble you, Dan Heng."
"It's no trouble," Dan Heng said, leaning against the bookshelf. "Everyone was worried about you sleeping alone."
"Tonight, no matter what noise you hear, or if you hear someone talking outside, ignore it. This is my... suggestion."
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Aidan nodded obediently, then quickly burrowed into the covers, wrapping himself tightly until only his head and the tuft of grass on top were visible.
Dan Heng turned off the main lights of the Data Bank, leaving only a dim night light. He also lay down on his own bed, hands folded over his abdomen.
After quite a while passed.
"Dan Heng, are you asleep?" Aidan's voice came from the side, kept very low and slightly breathy.
"I'm not. What's wrong?"
"The floor is a bit hard. Can I turn over?"
Dan Heng opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Aidan. By the faint light of the night lamp, he could see Aidan lying flat on his back, hands placed properly at his sides like a stiff wooden doll.
"Turn over if you want to." Dan Heng sighed helplessly. "You don't need to ask my permission to sleep. This is also my suggestion."
"Oh, okay." Aidan immediately relaxed and rolled over to face Dan Heng. "I was afraid moving around would disturb you. You have to organize so much data usually, you must be tired and need good rest."
This heartfelt consideration made Dan Heng feel a bit unaccustomed. Usually, while Aidan was enthusiastic, he was always a bit eccentric and mischievous; this version of him, completely thinking for others, was like a different person.
"I'm not tired," Dan Heng said. "Go to sleep. Your Path will switch tomorrow morning, and then you won't have to struggle so hard to restrain yourself."
"Actually, it's not a struggle." Aidan closed his eyes, his voice growing softer. "I think it's quite nice like this, my heart feels very peaceful. No worries, no anger, I just want everyone to be well..."
Aidan kept his eyes closed.
"Dan Heng, I think I hear something..."
"No, you must have misheard."
"I hear the voices of the Stars."
"Mm."
Dan Heng kept his eyes closed.
Three seconds later, Dan Heng's eyes snapped open.
Wait, that's not right!
Dan Heng: Wait, that's not right!
"What did you hear?!"
"I hear the suns speaking to me, the Planets whispering to me."
Aidan said, lying on his bed.
"Oh, sorry, Dan Heng, I must have misheard."
Only then did Dan Heng relax.
"There are so many people in my head making requests of me right now."
Dan Heng:!
"Who is making requests of you?!"
"An old man says his legs hurt and wants me to heal him. A little girl says she wants to buy medicine for her mother but can't find any. Someone says they want to strike it rich. Oh right, and someone says they want immortality, never wanting to experience birth, old age, sickness, and death again."
Aidan paused, his tone carrying a hint of distress.
"There are too many, Dan Heng. Thousands... even more voices are all mixed together, making my head spin, and they all sound so pitiful."
No, this absolutely won't do!
Dan Heng's back was instantly drenched in cold sweat. His hand subconsciously tightened on Aidan's shoulder: "Aidan, listen to me, you must not respond to those voices right now. Not a single one!"
"But Dan Heng, they really need help. With just a flick of my finger, I could end their suffering."
"Because some wishes simply shouldn't be granted!" Dan Heng took a deep breath. "Remember, you can't—you mustn't do that, or you'll become Yaoshi."
If Aidan could even turn into Nanook, turning into Yaoshi wasn't impossible either.
"But..."
"Listen carefully, Aidan." Dan Heng lowered his voice, his tone more severe than ever before. "You cannot use the power of Abundance to heal them. I don't know the extent of your Abundance powers; you might turn them into a mass of ever-expanding flesh, or something else. There are countless people suffering in this universe every moment—at the very least, you cannot save them this way."
"...Dan Heng."
Aidan suddenly stopped.
"What?"
"...Many of the voices have disappeared."
Aidan said.
"Disappeared? You mean, the voices praying to you are suddenly all gone?"
The little grass on Aidan's head looked a bit wilted. The instinct of Abundance was telling him: the voices of suffering have vanished, this is a good thing, this is as it should be, this is right. But Erudition made him very uneasy.
"This isn't a good sign, is it, Dan Heng?"
"That is... the worst possible outcome." Dan Heng rubbed his eyes. "Someone else responded to them for you."
"You mean the Aeon of Abundance?"
"They are now..."
"I don't know," Dan Heng interrupted him. "And don't think about it."
Aidan fell silent.
He lay back in his covers, eyes staring at the ceiling. His Erudition brain was still functioning, deducing the current state of those supplicants who had been answered—cells proliferating infinitely, forms distorting, consciousness diluted into fragments, becoming a mass of flesh that expands forever.
He shuddered.
Not out of fear, but because the instinct of Abundance was still telling him: this is also good, at least they are no longer suffering.
"Dan Heng."
"Mm."
"Thank you for stopping me."
"You don't need to thank me," Dan Heng's voice came from the side. "You are a companion; naturally, I will stop you from taking the wrong Path."
"But those voices... they were really pitiful."
"There are too many pitiful people in this universe." Dan Heng closed his eyes. "Yaoshi responds to all prayers equally. What you heard today is but a billionth of what the Aeon of Abundance deals with every day."
Another period of silence followed.
Aidan rolled over to face Dan Heng. In the dim light, he could see the silhouette of Dan Heng's profile; those eyes were closed as if he were already asleep. But he knew Dan Heng wasn't.
"Dan Heng."
"...What."
"Tell me, how can we eliminate all the suffering in the galaxy?"
"I don't know."
Dan Heng's eyes remained closed, his expression hard to see in the gloom.
...
Welt, having gotten up in the middle of the night, passed by the Data Bank.
"Exactly, if we don't do this, the galaxy will never achieve true peace!"
Welt:?
Mr. Welt probably didn't know that when boys sleep together, if they don't have phones, their conversations eventually start expanding to the big picture of the world...
Oh, they might also turn into Hero, or the Great Demon King, anything they can think of.
Especially since the statement just now was made by Dan Heng, who was even calmer than Aidan.
Welt stood outside the door with a complex expression.
These two, one rational and one gentle, gathered together to discuss how to eliminate the suffering of the galaxy—it sounded like some noble topic, but Welt felt something was off.
He had a feeling... that something big was about to happen.
He raised his hand, wanting to knock on the door to stop this dangerous pillow talk. But his hand stopped in mid-air.
Forget it, they're young; it's common to have wild ideas when you can't sleep at night.
Welt shook his head and left with his water cup.