His hand bumped into one of the high, unstable stacks of documents.
"Ah!"
Both Dominic and Louis cried out as the pile of paperwork collapsed in an avalanche, spilling over the edge of the desk.
Before the papers could fall, Shiao Yi instinctively used telekinesis to stop them in midair. Then, while he was at it, he tidied the stacks, organizing them by category and arranging them into neat piles on the desk.
The once chaotic mess was now reasonably sorted.
Shiao Yi pulled out the exact document Dominic had been reaching for, selecting it from the newly organized piles and spreading it out in front of him. The document responded to the image Dominic had in mind—Shiao Yi somehow knew which one it was.
"A-Amazing!" Louis gasped, his eyes wide in surprise and excitement. "This is the same power you used earlier when you took down those magical beasts, right?"
Dominic also looked stunned. "You said this wasn't magic. Then what kind of power is it?"
"Before I explain anything," Shiao Yi replied, "can you please put me down? I told you already—I'm not a child. I'm eighteen. Just because I'm smaller than you two doesn't make me a kid."
"What? Eighteen? You really don't look it!"
Finally, with a reluctant sigh, Dominic let him down from his lap.
Now sitting in a chair across the desk from Dominic, Shiao Yi faced him directly. Louis dragged a chair over and sat beside the desk, watching both of them with eager curiosity.
The magical beast attack had happened around nightfall, and now it was well past midnight. Fatigue was starting to settle in, but there were still too many unanswered questions for Shiao Yi to rest just yet.
Two moons. Stars arranged in patterns he had never seen before. People who looked just like humans from Earth, yet they lived in a culture that felt like stepping into the distant past. A language he hadn't known but had now mostly picked up. And then—there were magical beasts. Magic itself.
It was all unreal, completely impossible by normal standards. But Shiao Yi had decided to accept it. He believed something had gone wrong when he tried to teleport in the middle of a gravitational wave attack. That had to be what caused this strange shift in reality.
"I've come to a conclusion," he said calmly.
By now, he had learned enough of their language to speak it well enough for conversation. Any words he didn't know, he could pull directly from the person's mind using telepathy.
"I'm not from this world," Shiao Yi said clearly. "That's why my language, culture, and even the way I use power are different from yours."
"How did you get here?" Dominic asked.
He had probably been shocked and skeptical at Shiao Yi's claim, but none of it showed on his face. His expression was completely composed—he had the cold, steady gaze of a leader in total control of his emotions.
It wasn't the soulless stare of a predator, nor the cruel gaze of someone driven by sadistic desires.