All the scenes in front of Ackley began to shake, the figures became blurred, and the scene became nothingness. Everything around him seemed to be sucked into a vortex and boiled down to one point.
When the surrounding rooms, hospital beds and Chen Hansheng all faded away, only the room with a table and two chairs remained.
There was no one sitting on the chair opposite, and there was a magic circle on the table that was slowly fading away.
Ackley had a feeling that there was a complete world behind this magic circle.
His hand touched the magic circle, and he seemed to want to climb over it and enter the world behind. After all, for him, that world was a place where he had devoted countless efforts, and all his experiences were extremely real.
He never doubted that it was not a real world. He remembered the rough feeling of the hemp rope wrapped around the hilt of the sword, he remembered the smell of soil and grass between the trees and grass, he remembered the determination, freedom, fear, and confusion on their faces when he faced those people. He even remembered a lot of insights and experiences at a high level. He tried to circulate the fighting spirit in his body, and then he found that the quality of his fighting spirit was at a mid-level level, but now it was much more sophisticated than before, and the path to a high level was so clear and definite.
Rather than saying that he is a mid-level warrior who has understood high-level fighting spirit, it would be better to say that he is a high-level warrior who, for some reason, accidentally lowered his fighting spirit level to the mid-level.
He tried hard to recall the past events, and all of them were clearly imprinted in his mind, making him feel that they were all right in front of him. He even had an illusion that he had returned to the room where he had been tested last year.
At this time, a young man pushed open the door and walked in. Ackley vaguely recognized him. It seemed to be the tester Xiao Chen whom he had met in the loyalty test a long time ago.
Xiao Chen walked into the room and sat on the chair opposite him. He smiled friendly and said, "Mr. Ackley, how do you feel about having an extra year of experience in your life?"
Ackley's expression became a little strange. He raised his eyebrows with great effort and looked at Xiao Chen, like a person who didn't want to wake up in the morning. "So, everything I've experienced, is it really a magic test?"
"Yes. This is a new method we developed to test whether new recruits meet our requirements. You are the first person to try it."
“Are they all fake?”
"I don't think it can be simply summarized as true or false. Maybe it is false to others, because all the participants in the incident, whether it is the Duke of Green Forest City or Chen Hansheng, have never experienced these things. But it is difficult for you to say that it is false." Xiao Chen said, he tilted his head slightly to think about it, and then said: "Do you think the emotions you released, the memories and experiences you gained, are they true or false?"
"I don't know. Compared with other memories in my previous life, they are no different. I want to know, is the knowledge I learned real or false in the illusion?"
"You have to know that what you just experienced was not just a simple test magic. It was a powerful magic performed in conjunction with a sacred artifact called the Memory Pearl. This sacred artifact originally had the function of inheritance, so all the skills you learned are real."
"It's... incredible. But it's not a good thing for me. I always feel like a part of my life was taken away by you," Ackley said.
Xiao Chen replied: "You should feel that we have given you a very valuable gift. You should know that it takes a lot of crystals and rare materials to exchange for your progress that does not require time."
"If the guy you pick doesn't pass the test, will you make him learn these things?" Ackley asked.
"Those who fail often make mistakes very early on and are driven out of this illusion. Because they leave early, it is difficult for them to make any decent progress. As for those who have participated in the test but are still unwilling to join us, we still have some ways to make them behave themselves. However, there are not many people participating now, and you are the only one who has passed all the tests completely. I admire your performance in this test, so firm and principled." Xiao Chen extended his hand to Ackley, "The Guard welcomes you, you can join the boot camp and become a new soldier soon."
"Wait a minute," Ackley said. "I have a request."
"What?"
"I... don't want to join the Guards anymore." Ackley hesitated when he spoke, but emphasized it again at the end, "I really don't want to join."
Xiao Chen was surprised. "What's going on? Haven't you passed many tests? Why are you wavering now?"
"Maybe it's because this test feels too real to me. I've been in the Guards for so long, participating in battles of all sizes, and the longer I stay, the more tired I feel." Ackley showed a nostalgic look on his face, "I suddenly feel that I'm tired of that kind of life. In fact, the process of making decisions like that is very painful, and I don't want to go through it again.
To you, it may be just a small test in the eyes of bystanders. But in my opinion, I have already endured the final consequences of these choices. Maybe the first time I experienced these things, I would endure them for the sake of my family. But if there is a second chance like this, I don’t want to go through the old path again. I want to live for myself. "
This scene was not what Xiao Chen expected. He tried to understand what the other party meant, and then asked, "Is it like you are a child who built a complicated house with building blocks, and the house accidentally collapsed, but you are not happy to build it again? Do you feel annoyed and painful?"
Ackley gave a wry smile: "Maybe."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Please send me back to the labor camp. I will be released soon, and I believe I will find a suitable place for myself here."
…
Xiao Chen returned to the next room, where Peng Ziyi and Luo Ling were waiting.
"This script is wrong!" Xiao Chen said with a dark face, "Why would the person with the best test score quit?"
Luo Ling asked, "Remember the story of the Yellow Millet Dream? What was the ending?"
"That person has become a monk. He has experienced everything he should have experienced and finds it boring." Xiao Chen replied with a wry smile, "What should we do then?"
"Let's recruit a few other useful people first." Peng Ziyi patted Xiao Chen on the shoulder and said, "Don't be discouraged. At least for those who are strong, such tests are still necessary. Otherwise, it will be too harmful to incorporate them into our system. We can simplify some procedures and reduce some difficulties, so that it won't be so easy to persuade people to quit, right?"
Luo Ling asked, "Are you giving up on Ackley so soon?"
"Do you think he can still be saved?" Xiao Chen asked back.
“I always feel that when memory brings us pain, it may also be hiding beauty on the other side.”