Crystal Cave (Ming'er)

To say that Ming'er was extremely distraught would be an understatement.

It takes everything in him to hold back the urge to hurl the mysterious box-looking object out of the window.

Ming'er's eyes are blown wide. He's so traumatized by what he'd just seen that he's chest is heaving up and down.

His cheeks are turning hot, even hotter than when he tried to feel for his manhood earlier in the toilet, only to realize that it wasn't there.

"S-Scandalous..." Ming'er splutters indignantly under his breath as he desperately tries to erase the image from his brain to no avail.

"Scandalous... scandalous!!!" he squeaks.

/That's a private area!/

/It should only be for one's own eyes to see!/

/And their spouses' eyes, if they have one, but that's besides the point!/

/What the fuck did I just see...!!!/

Ming'er hesitates for a moment before eventually mustering up the courage to pick the mysterious-looking box, which he had dropped onto the mattress once again, up again.

To his relief, the explicit illustration was no longer on the surface of the box. It was back to the various squares with little words written beneath them, against the backdrop of the collection of illustrations of Yuying, Jiawen, and some other people that Ming'er didn't recognize.

Ming'er glares at the square with the illustration of the flame on it.

/That was revolting.../

/What is this Yuying even doing with something like this in this weird box-looking thing?!/

/Scandalous! Absolutely scandalous!/

Ming'er retches at the thought of the image. He clasps his hand over his lips and resists the urge to throw up in his mouth.

As he does this, Ming'er accidentally hits swipes to the next screen and hits a square with an illustration in it. It's a grey rectangle with a black circle in the centre of it.

Ming'er furrows his brows as he watches the screen transform again. Just as he's wondering what would happen this time, he suddenly sees his new face in the box.

He's so caught off-guard that he almost drops the phone into the mattress for the third time.

/What?/

/Is that my reflection?/

/Does this mysterious box-looking thing function as a mirror too?/

Ming'er decides to put his theory to the test. He widens his eyes. Sure enough, the girl in the mysterious box-looking object widens her eyes as well.

Ming'er smiles so widely that he's grinning from ear to ear. The girl in the mysterious box-looking object follows suit.

Ming'er sticks out his tongue. The girl in the mysterious box-looking object copies his actions.

"I was right," he grins proudly, "This strange-looking box thing does work as a mirror too!"

Just then, Ming'er spots a circle at the bottom right part of the box. There are two curved arrows on the circle. It sort of reminds him of an Yin Yang symbol, but not really at the same time.

"I wonder what this does..." Ming'er mulls as he presses the circle.

As soon as he touches it, the reflection of the girl on the box disappears. Instead, the bed and the wall in front of him appears onto the box.

"Huh?" Ming'er furrows his brows in confusion, "Where did my reflection go..."

He cuts himself off when he shifts the mysterious box-looking object and realizes that the image on the box follows wherever he shifts it towards.

/Hmm, interesting./

Ming'er tries pointing the mysterious-looking box towards the floor. Sure enough, the wooden floor appears on the box.

Ming'er then tries pointing it up towards the ceiling. There's a weird-looking thing with three blades that's been spinning ever since he woke up in the room.

While Ming'er hasn't quite figured out what it's supposed to be, he finds himself liking it as it's keeping him cool. After all, the air here is way more humid and stuffy than it is back in his world.

Sure enough, the weird-looking thing with three blades that has been spinning around and around appears on the mysterious-looking box.

Ming'er then tries pointing the box towards the window. Just like he expected, the image of the trees swaying ever so slightly in the breeze comes onto the box.

It even captures the image of a passing crow, which flies in and stops to rest on a branch for a brief respite before taking off again.

"Wow..." Ming'er breathes. He's genuinely intrigued by this fascinating box-like object.

Ming'er glances at the circle with two arrows again.

"I wonder if my reflection will appear again by touching this circle..."

When Ming'er taps the circle, the image on the box changes before showing his reflection once again.

Ming'er blinks, and so does the image before him. He tilts his head to the side such that his new light brown hair falls over his eyes slightly. The image on the box-like thing reflects his movements.

Ming'er grins.

/This is honestly so cool./

/I wonder why we don't have this back in my world.../

Just then, Ming'er notices another circle in the middle of the box. Unlike the circle with the two arrows in it, this circle is completely white.

/I wonder what this does.../

A 'click' sounds as soon as Ming'er hits the circle. He jumps slightly, not expecting this.

The 'clicked' rectangle goes into a little square at the bottom left part of the mysterious box. Ming'er's new face, which had momentarily been frozen on the box when the click sounded, was now moving again.

Ming'er furrows his brows as he taps on the little square on the bottom left part. To his surprise, the previous frozen still pops up.

It's a painting-like illustration of his new face. His eyes are blown wide, surprised by the sudden sound, and he looks confused and lost.

/Oh, I see what this does now!!!/

/I can create an instant life-like painting of whatever is within the frame with the press of this white circle!/

/This is honestly so cool!/

Ming'er is so amused and fascinated that he continues to take more selfies. He pulls many different faces and captures many different shots.

He puffs out his cheeks like a chipmunk, presses his nose up such that he looks like a pig, and places a finger to his cheek while winking cheekily at the front camera.

Ming'er can't help but chuckle to himself when he reviews the results. He's satisfied by the pictures that he has taken.

Ming'er's fingers are moving across the screen so rapidly that he doesn't stop even when he scrolls the past the twenty or thirty-something selfies that he'd taken.

Ming'er slows down and studies the pictures carefully when he realizes that these aren't just any randomly generated images.

/In order to create these painting-like illustrations.../

/The person has to use this mysterious box-looking object with intention./

/They have to center whatever it is that they want to capture within the frame.../

/And press the white circle to freeze it./

Just then, Ming'er has an epiphany.

/There's a reason behind each and every one of these painting-like illustrations./

/These painting-like illustrations must've all been created and kept by this Yuying with intention and deliberation./

/There's a reason why they're here./

Ming'er furrows his brows as he gets lost in his own thoughts.

/Maybe these painting-like illustrations can tell me more about this Yuying./

/Maybe they can tell me what kind of person she is, where she stays, what kind of life she lives.../

/Maybe they can even tell me how I ended up here in the first place./

And so, with this in mind, Ming'er decides to take a deep dive into Yuying's phone gallery.

The first picture that Ming'er encounters is one of Yuying and Jiawen. They look like they're by some sort of street and are eating the yellow flesh of a spiky green food-thing that he's never seen before.

Ming'er is oddly intrigued by the spiky green-food thing and how it has yellow flesh.

/What is that? I've never seen it in my entire life./

/Is it some sort of fruit or vegetable?/

/I wonder if it's delicious?/

Ming'er scrolls to the next picture with this thought still lingering in his head. The second picture is one of Yuying and three other people that Ming'er doesn't recognize.

One of them is a girl that looks quite similar to Yuying, save for the fact that she looks a little older and is a little taller. Her hair is a darker shade of brown, and is curlier and longer than Yuying's.

The other two people are a middle-aged man and woman who seem like a couple. Both Yuying and the other girl appear to share the couple's physical traits.

/This must be Yuying's family./

/That other girl must be her older sister./

/The middle-aged man and woman must be her parents./

The four of them are standing in front of a silver sculpture-like architecture that bears a striking resemblance to the spiky green fruit that Ming'er had seen earlier.

However, that isn't what catches Ming'er's attention. He can't quite put his finger on what it is, but he senses that something is off about the picture.

There's a subtle, yet at the same time apparent gap between Yuying and the other three people. It's almost like she's consciously trying to be as far away as she can from them as possible. Or was it the other way round?

Ming'er knows that gap.

He knows it all too well.

After all, he sees his fourth brother, Mingsi, doing it all the time.

Even though they'd never gotten along, and even though Ming'er would never admit it, his heart secretly ached for Mingsi and the difficulties and trials that he has had to face from a young age.

Not only was Mingsi the only bastard son of the Emperor, rumors about him being an evil and scheming person who's most probably been plotting to backstab and betray the entire kingdom started to surface ever since he was just five.

Ming'er doesn't even know how it all started up till now. It evolved from rumors that Mingsi had mercilessly killed an innocent rabbit and burned an ants' nest to him slicing and hurting other children with a knife that he'd stolen from the palace kitchen, somewhere along the line.

And so, everyone avoided Mingsi like the plague. The Emperor and the Empress, the palace staff, Mingyi, Mingsan, and even Mingwu, who'd been warned not to get close to his fourth older brother.

Ming'er hadn't been like them. He'd wanted to get closer to the Mingsi, to find out who he really is behind the rumors. However, he'd been pushed away and completely shut out.

Ming'er still remembers the sinister look on Mingsi's face when he'd chased him out.

He shudders, still unwilling and afraid to think about it even after all these years.

/I wonder if this Yuying is like Mingsi in a way...?/

Ming'er unconsciously swipes to the next picture as he's still deep in thought.

His eyes widen at the third picture.

It's a cave.

But not just any cave.

It's the Crystal Cave.

It exists in his world too.

/No way./

/It can't be./

/How is this possible...?/

Ming'er shakes his head.

/A cave that exists in both this world and my world?/

/What if it has something to do with how I ended up here?/

/Alright, that's it./

/I've got to go./

Ming'er doesn't think twice before standing up to leave. He doesn't know why, but he places the mysterious box-looking object in one of his deep pockets as he gets up. He has a feeling that it might just come in handy.

After putting on what he infers to be shoes, Ming'er takes off, though limply slightly initially as he's trying to get used to the strange shape of the shoes in this world.

He doesn't know where he's going, but he has a feeling that he can trust his instincts.

/I need to find the Crystal Cave...!/