Monday.
Morning.
Dong Xuebing’s mother had returned to the City to teach, and Sister Xie went to work at the County Government. Aunt Xuan had returned to Beijing, and Sister Yu had gone to Qianqian’s school to attend a teacher-parents meeting. Dong Xuebing sat in front of the TV and felt bored.
But he is in a good mood as he is going to be promoted.
Dong Xuebing wonders where he will be transferred to.
Since I am free, I should look into my special ability. Maybe I can discover new powers.
Let’s try it!
Dong Xuebing took out his English-Chinese dictionary and sat on the sofa.
Dong Xuebing thought he could only use BACK in the past until he found out about MENU and STOP by accident. MENU is to check the remaining time, and STOP is to stop time. There are three commands now, and could there be more? He already has 1 minute more than everyone else every day, and maybe he can discover new ways to use this minute other than BACK and STOP.
This ability is Dong Xuebing’s greatest asset, and he needs to master it thoroughly.
Dong Xuebing was overjoyed after he discovered STOP previously and stopped reading English words. It was also time-consuming and boring. But he doesn’t have any duties now and finally has the time to rest. He plans to accumulate more time as reserves for the future. Division Chief and Section Chief are not his final goals. He is ambitious, and his power is all he can rely on.
Let’s start.
Dong Xuebing decides to read all the words properly.
With time to spare, Dong Xuebing did not skip words like the last time. He is going to read all the words in the dictionary.
Dong Xuebing had previously read many words from the first page and will start from the last page today.
Let’s start from Z!
Zyrian…. Zymurgy… Zymosis…
One hour…
Three hours….
Five hours….
Dong Xuebing read every single word patiently.
Actually, Mandarin also works, and Dong Xuebing knows about this. He discovers that he only needs to have the intention of “BACK” in his mind, and it will happen. The language or words doesn’t matter.
Dong Xuebing can stop or reverse time when he wants to without saying anything.
Using Mandarin also has its flaws.
Dong Xuebing had been speaking Mandarin for more than twenty years, and he might use his powers accidentally. He will be very conscious when he says words like “back” or “return.” Using English words as commands will prevent accidents.
So, Dong Xuebing decides to use English words as commands. Another reason why Mandarin is not suitable is that there are multiple meanings to one character.
Ten hours….
Twelve hours….
One day passed.
Two days passed.
Dong Xuebing reads the dictionary the moment he wakes up, these two days without leaving his apartment.
…….
Dong Xuebing finally discovered a new command on the third day.
Dong Xuebing started reading the dictionary this morning, and he notices something weird when he read REVERSE. He frowned and knew this word had triggered something. He had the same feeling when he used BACK and STOP. It felt like something “moved” in his mind.
What happened?
Is this a command?
Dong Xuebing looked around him and did not notice anything different.
MENU!
Dong Xuebing looked at his remaining time and frowned. His time got lesser.
Dong Xuebing had not used BACK or STOP since he used up all his time at the airport. That means his remaining time should be in multiples of 60 seconds. But his remaining time is 5 minutes and 38 seconds. What was more shocking is his time is still reducing.
5 minutes and 37 seconds… 5 minutes and 36 seconds…
This…
Dong Xuebing took a deep breath and quickly said REVERSE.
His time stopped at 5 minutes and 35 seconds!
This is a command!
I found a new command.
Dong Xuebing is very excited and quickly looks at this word’s meaning. Move backward or undo?
Dong Xuebing walks over to the window and looks downstairs. A kid is running out of the building, and he mumbled REVERSE.
He said the command!
One second… two seconds… three seconds… Dong Xuebing’s remaining time is reducing.
But that kid is still running about, and nothing had changed!
Dong Xuebing quickly stop REVERSE and activate it again. But he did not notice what is the function of REVERSE after trying it for a few hours.
Is this command useless?
No. It must have some use to it!
Dong Xuebing knows there must be some uses, but it’s not as obvious as BACK and STOP. He just did not know its uses yet!
What is different after using this command?
What does REVERSE do?
