Origami

Chen Miemie watched Dawn leave the village.

After tossing and turning for most of the night, he had finally resolved her matter.

Since he was right out in the wilderness, he planned to spend the rest of his time collecting another anomaly.

Continuously strengthening one's own power was never a bad idea.

What he didn't expect was that Dawn, who appeared incredibly aloof, was secretly quite the inquisitive one.

Having newly acquired the yellow subtitles, she didn't know that Chen Miemie could also see the full conversation. Like a child who had just received a new toy, she constantly talked to the subtitles.

"Eternal Moon above, could I get a brief introduction to these new abilities of mine?"

[Climate Perception: Can vaguely perceive the interaction between atmospheric circulation and ocean currents within a certain range, predicting long-term (months or even years) climate trends.]

[(Local) Weather Adjustment: Consumes immense energy to intervene in weather within a limited area (such as a single city)—summoning rain to alleviate drought, dispersing dark clouds, or guiding monsoons to change direction.]

[Atmosphere Manipulation: Can extract high-altitude atmosphere to form a localized, reinforced atmospheric layer, temporarily weakening solar radiation and resisting small meteorites or energy impacts.]

"Holy crap!"

This exclamation of surprise came from Chen Miemie. He hadn't expected his teacher to want to take a shortcut, directly asking her cheat system instead of testing her new abilities herself.

Dawn felt that the great Eternal Moon was behind these subtitles, so she took it for granted. It wasn't strange at all for the Eternal Moon to be omnipotent.

She continued to ask.

"Eternal Moon above, what are the advantages and disadvantages of this [Mystery] path?"

[[Sky Canopy - Realm Weaver] is a faint sensor and local interferer of atmospheric circulation. Its vision is extremely grand, and its power improvement has almost no upper limit. However, if the ability is overused, the "self" will be diluted into the endless atmosphere, risking the loss of personality and becoming a part of natural phenomena.]

Chen Miemie watched for a little while and then lost interest.

He had already mapped out the ability direction he needed for his new anomaly last time.

Therefore, even though he found quite a few anomalies in the wild tonight, some of which were quite interesting, they were not what he had planned for. He remained resolute and did not make a move.

As a result, he flew further and further away from Sixiang City.

Finally, at 3:30 in the morning, he found a target that might meet his requirements.

This was a paper man.

A person made of paper, wearing a hat, with square limbs and drawn-on facial features.

Chen Miemie wasn't even entirely sure if it was a person or a folded piece of art.

The paper man was white. It sat in front of a workbench, concentrating intently on folding small animals.

On the table were many paper cranes, small frogs, paper airplanes, paper boats, and so on, varying in size and remarkably lifelike.

The paper man knew a person in yellow had approached, but it didn't look up, remaining focused on the movements of its hands.

Chen Miemie did not rush it, waiting for it to finish folding the paper moon in its hands.

"Please take a seat." The paper man didn't seem to have a bad temper, even using the word "please."

Chen Miemie sat on the chair beside the workbench.

If he wasn't currently in a speck of light state, this sit would have made a fool out of him.

The chair was made of paper; a normal person sitting on it would crush it.

Chen Miemie was short on time and asked directly, "I just saw you and your workbench appear out of nowhere. Can you teleport?"

"Teleport? Perhaps. It's my turn to ask a question: How do you stop someone who constantly gets lost from getting lost?"

Chen Miemie: "Break his legs."

The paper man paused for a second. "I suppose you mean keeping him off the road. But that's not the answer I want. Continuing to move forward is a necessary underlying condition."

"My answer remains the same, but with the addition of having someone who knows the way push his wheelchair."

"You are truly too clever. So, from now on, I will take you around."

The drawn-on facial features of the paper man suddenly changed from a poker face to a bizarre, eerie smile.

The paper chair beneath Chen Miemie automatically transformed into a paper wheelchair. Paper mechanisms rose from the chair, securing Chen Miemie's hands and feet.

Chen Miemie was very dissatisfied. "Hey, we agreed the one who knows the way pushes the wheelchair. I know the way, I shouldn't be the one sitting in it."

"You know the way, but do you know which direction the way home is?"

Chen Miemie's sense of direction was mediocre, and the wheelchair had spun him around a few times. He didn't know a damn thing about directions right now.

"You're cheating, spinning me around to make me dizzy on purpose. That's not fair."

"No, only those who are lost and do not know the direction of their home will encounter me. Whether I spin you or not makes no difference," the paper man said calmly.

"I know where home..." Chen Miemie stopped halfway through his sentence.

Home. His real home wasn't in this world; he truly didn't know the direction.

Seeing him calm down, the paper man clapped its hands. "You are the fastest person I've ever seen to regain composure."

"So, what are you planning to do next?"

"I will fold you into paper and take you traveling everywhere until we find your hometown."

"You're quite gentle, paper man, but I have a better proposal."

"Let's hear it?"

"I see you're also an anomaly that can't find a place to belong."

"I won't deny that."

"That's great. From now on, you'll follow me. Wherever I am will be your home."

Chen Miemie wasn't negotiating with the paper man; he seemed to just be stating a fact.

Following his words, the brilliance of moonlight flashed.

The positions of Chen Miemie and the paper man swapped.

The paper man was now the one bound by its own paper wheelchair, while Chen Miemie stood behind it, his hands resting on the armrests.

The eerie smile drawn on the paper man's face turned into an expression of terror.

"I knew you were going to be trouble the moment I saw you. You waited on the side for ages without leaving, and sure enough, I ended up trapping myself in the end." The paper man was very helpless.

Chen Miemie looked smug. "I searched for a long time before I found you. So, what is your answer?"

"I know it's unlikely to persuade you in this situation, but I should still remind you that bringing me along will easily invite trouble."

"Uh-huh, what a coincidence. I am trouble. Usually, it's best for others not to mess with me."

"Alright, then I'll follow you. Anyway, I told you, don't blame me if things go wrong later."

"Paper man, what is your name?"

"I am just called 'Origami'."

"Good, Origami, the contract is formed."

The moonlight connected to Origami's body, outlining the white paper man's edges with a yellow stroke.

[Moon's Invitation] complete.

Chen Miemie couldn't wait and asked Origami to open its status panel.

[Origami / Dimensional Folder, [Mystery] 5.1 [Immortality] 5.2 Abilities: Space Folding, Origami, Lost Track, Eternal Moon's Kin]

[In the eyes of a Dimensional Folder, the world is a folded four-dimensional projection. Therefore, they often stop in places where there are clearly no obstacles ahead, resulting in getting lost.]

[It can fold three-dimensional space like paper, making two points separated by ten thousand meters adjacent to each other. It can also fold an entire building into a walnut.]

The more Chen Miemie looked at Origami, the more he liked it.

"Origami, you should have noticed by now, right? Your passives of making people lose their way and wanting to fold people into paper are now controllable."

"Yes, I am happy." The pattern on the paper figure's face shifted into a smile.

"Can you fold yourself a little smaller?"

"How small?"

"About the size of a finger. Small enough to fit into a pocket."

"No problem."

At five in the morning, when Chen Miemie returned home, an origami crane was perched on his shoulder.