Chapter 6122 - 5135: A Journey of Wonders (10)

After arriving at a new scene, Greed began to focus on the current situation. Then he was somewhat surprised to find that in this level, they had no physical form, but had become several spheres of light. Greed was golden, Little Superman was blue, Deathstroke was orange, the agent was red.

However, their surroundings were not in some abstract shapes, but instead a modern-style bedroom, the kind that is typical of a 21st-century apartment room, normal to the point of seeming a bit abnormal.

Next to the window was a single bed, with the blanket messily spread across it. To the side was a wardrobe, beside which was a desk with a computer on it, although it looked not very advanced, perhaps a model from around the 2000s.

The players were currently in third-person view, which meant they could see themselves as spheres of light and could control the movement of the spheres. They had to hurry to start exploring the gameplay, fearing that they might inexplicably enter the story with another cutscene.

Greed controlled his sphere of light to circle around the room, confirming that indeed it was just an ordinary bedroom, with no strange setup. Although he was not a detective, he could still glean some clues from the details. For example, the wear on the keyboard indicated that the room owner was not a video game player, but often text chatted with friends and possibly had alcohol addiction and a love for rock music.

From this, it could be roughly inferred that the room owner was about twenty years old, likely keeping up with the times. However, they could not leave the room now, so it was uncertain whether the person lived alone or with family.

Then they discovered they could control the sphere of light to possess some items and move them very slightly. The power to move was quite limited; it couldn’t make items fly, only slightly move within a reasonable range. They could generate a bit of breeze but effectively nothing could be blown.

They could only possess dead objects, such as the half-dead flower on the windowsill, which could not be affected at all. Additionally, they could not produce any sound, even if the possessed object could originally make sound, like a speaker. Once possessed, it could only move, completely unable to produce any sound.

Just as Greed was wondering what they were supposed to do, the door suddenly opened. A tall figure walked in. He wore a hoodie on the upper body, and slightly faded jeans on the lower body. After entering, he lay on the bed, and as the hoodie fell back, it could be seen that it was a girl with brown curly hair and some small freckles on her face.

At this time the players also found that as long as two spheres of light touched, they could communicate. So the four of them gathered together, concentrating in the corner of the room, observing this finally appeared living NPC.

When the person appeared, Greed was really touched. Although the game couldn’t be said to be getting exciting, at least it showed a little progress. At least it wasn’t entirely bluffing. Look at the modeling; it wasn’t from the generic asset library, which showed some effort.

"What’s with the girl?" Deathstroke asked, "Is she going to sleep?"

"First, this is not a girl," the agent said surprisingly, "Based on physical structure alone, he should be sociologically defined as male. Of course, having an androgynous appearance is also quite normal."

Greed stepped closer to observe carefully, and then realized what the agent said was true: this person was indeed male, which could be seen from the Adam’s apple and bone structure. Though not all men have rugged, angular features; many have a softer silhouette.

Then at this time, the phone suddenly rang. After answering, from the voice it was clearly a guy, although he deliberately pinched his voice when speaking, the tone was still relatively low.

"Hello? Andrew? Yes, I know, but... I can’t, I don’t even have money to buy alcohol. No, I have to save some money to buy medication. You know I..."

Several people floated close to listen, but couldn’t make out anything, only detecting a somewhat intense tone, as if he was cursing someone. However, they did hear the name of the boy in the room, seemingly called Nina.

Generally, this name is a girl’s nickname. Of course, there’s no rule that boys can’t have such names, after all, Sherlock is also a girl’s name. But when the boy named Nina retrieved a heap of pills from under the bed, things became somewhat unsettling.

"Wait a minute." Greed immediately recognized the drugs; they were estrogen and anti-androgen medications. He closed his eyes peacefully again.

"What’s this stuff?" It finally entered Little Superman’s blind spot of knowledge. In English, many medicine names are not clear about what kind of medicine it is, although seeing such long words indicates something is off. However, one cannot discern specifics without being a professional.

Greed explained simply, then said: "Estrogen medications supplement insufficient estrogen for females, anti-androgen medications likewise, are used to regulate internal hormones. And progestins are generally used for contraception."

"Then he..." Deathstroke was also somewhat confused about what he was doing.

"Some individuals with gender identity disorder, due to either fear or lack of conditions for actual sex reassignment surgery, use these medications to alter their physiological gender characteristics and promote the development of other sexual characteristics to achieve the purpose of transitioning."

When Greed said this, there was a hint of helplessness, clearly disapproving of doing so. The others obviously caught on, so Little Superman pursued further, "Can’t they do that? What’s the harm?"

"Of course not," Greed replied bluntly, "Apart from patients with natural or disease-induced hormonal imbalance, the hormones in most humans can be naturally balanced, fluctuating with age like the tides of the Moon. The consequences of excessive human intervention are severe, not only leading to various diseases but also affecting lifespan."

"Isn’t there any other way?" Little Superman asked again, "Can’t they have surgery?"

"The surgery is even more dangerous," Greed said, "Not to mention that the operation itself affects the body’s condition; post-operation requires long-term medication, which similarly harms health."

"What’s the deal with gender identity disorder?" Deathstroke asked, as this was a subject far removed from his world.

"Simply put, it’s when someone feels their gender is wrong and believes they are living in a body that doesn’t match their psychological gender, hence striving desperately to correct it. The causes of this cognitive disorder are complex and cannot be easily explained, but I have encountered patients with such problems."

"Did you cure them then?"

Greed shook his head and said, "No matter what type of cognitive disorder, it’s hard to classify them as a psychological illness, because many people besides having this gender cognition issue wouldn’t be deemed mentally unstable, leaving no clear way to treat them."

"In fact, not being able to distinguish left from right or being directionally challenged is considered a mild form of cognitive disorder, but since it doesn’t severely affect life, few people intentionally correct it; having a weak sense of direction doesn’t equate to being mentally ill."

"Even those who are overly obstinate and perform anti-common sense or antisocial acts can be considered as having cognitive disorders, but many people simply perceive them as personality issues and don’t associate them with mental illness."

"Gender identity disorder is currently the most challenging among all cognitive disorder categories to address; if you cannot comprehend this, just ponder the fact that if people could rewrite software, no one would be willing to sacrifice their lifespan to alter hardware, nor would a series of surgeries and medication treatments arise, simply because psychological issues can’t be resolved and hence transitioning becomes the choice."

"This is truly troublesome," Little Superman lamented, "Remaining unchanged affects mental health, while changing affects physical health—aren’t these people really unlucky?"

"Though there’s no ultimate cure, there are ways to ease the situation," Greed continued, "In reality, most patients with gender identity disorders are shackled by societal gender theories, and it’s where most of their stress originates. If one can relieve this part of the pressure, one can barely manage to maintain a stable mental state."

"For example, if someone feels they’ve been born into the wrong gender and originally should be another gender, then they will intentionally mimic that gender, not just in appearance but also in behavior. However, they often experience stress due to such actions."

"The root of the pressure actually stems from societal demands that males and females are distinctly different, where male behavior follows one template and female behavior another, with no overlapping or merging allowed. The act of mimicking the behavior of the opposite gender isn’t socially accepted, thereby naturally subjected to immense pressure."

"I usually address this angle by educating those with cognitive disorders on societal gender theories, emphasizing that they are part of a broader societal identity theory. For instance, people think a student should look like a student, a white-collar worker should look like a white-collar worker, and an athlete should look like an athlete, which is basically identity theory."

"If a student, for example, doesn’t embody youthful simplicity, they’ll be perceived as not focusing on their studies; if a white-collar worker doesn’t come across as a workplace expert, they’ll be seen as immature; and if an athlete isn’t muscular and exuding hormones but rather refined, their ability might be questioned."

"Identifying and training groups based on identity stems from the human race’s social evolution, the so-called ’division of labor and cooperation,’ where the foundation is ’who does what.’ In more primitive societies, this was crucial; if everyone acts on a whim, if the Hunter doesn’t hunt or the craftsman doesn’t make weapons, the tribe will soon perish. Everyone must perform their role, doing what the group requires to ensure survival."

"Throughout a lengthy evolution, this became a human instinct, dividing humans into different groups, then demanding them to meet certain standards, giving rise to identity and gender recognition."

"However, humans’ technological development pace far exceeds their evolutionary speed, with certain ancient codes piling up in the human genes without timely iteration and optimization. Consequently, social models struggle to meet everyone’s needs, leading to various problems, which is also the source of many mental illnesses."