2
This room is very large, and the interior is all made of silver metal material. It has a matte finish, which is not irritating to the eyes, but because it is too monotonous, it is a bit irritating to the emotions.
The three chairs behind the table are the only bright spots in the room. They are indeed bright spots. There is a colorful dot on the back of each chair, red, green and blue.
Lian Chuan has always called the three administrators Little Red, Little Green and Little Blue according to their colors.
Little Red, Little Green and Little Blue have never shown their faces, but they have made voices. Unfortunately, Lian Chuan can only distinguish two of them based on their voices, a mechanical man and a mechanical woman.
But this kind of classification is meaningless, it sounds like a greeting every morning.
"How was your day?" A mechanical female voice appeared above his head. Lian Chuan assumed that it was the administrator Xiaohong.
"It's okay," he replied.
"A bit perfunctory." A mechanical male voice sounded from the right rear. It was impossible to confirm it specifically because the voices of Little Green and Little Blue were exactly the same.
"To be precise," Lian Chuan thought for a moment, "I haven't started today yet."
"How do we start?" Xiaohong asked.
"Let's do this now." Lian Chuan suddenly turned sideways and avoided the unknown object that was rushing towards him from behind.
Lian Chuan had no idea when this thing approached. He was startled when he felt the slight air flow stirred up by the attack behind his ear.
A white shadow passed by him, and without hesitation, he struck the shadow on the lower back with his palm.
This was a humanoid creature with no covering clothing on its body, and its whiteness was blinding.
Based on the force fed back from his palm, he was able to determine that this was a body, but the bones were not of normal strength.
Although he didn't know why such a creature appeared here, he did not give it a second chance to attack.
Without even carefully observing the details and shape of the thing, Lian Chuan's hand directly pierced through its body before it turned around, just like he had dealt with the mutant in the school before.
Only after he fell to the ground did he see clearly that this was not some strange creature, but just a male human, at least in appearance.
To be more precise, this human body had just been taken out of the culture medium not long ago and still had a unique paleness.
"Wow." Xiaohong's voice rang out.
Lian Chuan didn't say anything, took a step back, and stopped looking at the "person" on the ground.
"That's amazing." One of Little Green and Little Blue said, "He is indeed the only one who can match with Betelgeuse."
Probably a test.
But Lian Chuan didn't understand why he had to be here, and why the administrator needed to test him. Betelgeuse hadn't been activated for a long time except for daily maintenance...
But he still didn't say a word, didn't express himself, and didn't ask any questions. He could think a lot, but he would never speak easily.
Sometimes you even need to not think about anything.
The perfect tool with no thoughts, no language, no expressions is the safest.
"Why kill him directly?" Although Xiaohong's speaking speed and tone did not change, her tone was clearly questioning.
"Self-protection." Lian Chuan replied, "Any possibility of endangering my life is inevitable."
This is a memory engraved in his mind, accompanied by countless pains and scars, and it will remain no matter how many times it is reset.
After all, he is the only one who can resonate with Betelgeuse.
"Huh." Xiaohong's tone changed again.
"If you encounter any abnormal individuals during the recent cleanup, I mean in your opinion, if you encounter any, make sure to recover them completely." Lei Yu said in the car when leaving the City Affairs Hall with Lei Yu.
"Yes." Lian Chuan nodded, meaning to capture him alive.
It is not easy, but since Lei Yu said it, it is an order.
"It's almost the day of the celebration," Lei Yu said, "nothing can go wrong."
The Festival Day is the biggest festival of this huge city, held every 300 days and lasting for two days.
The main city will open the passage, and all those hiding in the darkness will rush into the safe zone.
Two carnival days with no curfew.
Every time feels like the last time.
One day in advance, each team of the cleanup team entered the standby points distributed in various fortresses in the main city.
"Let me introduce to you our new team member, Xiaolu." Lei Yu said while standing at the door, leaving half the space of the door, and a person squeezed into the room from his side.
Lei Yu patted his shoulder: "Lu Qian."
There were six people in Lian Chuan's group. When they heard the name, they all greeted him calmly. Lian Chuan leaned on a chair in the corner with his legs on the table. He had no expression on his face, but just glanced at Lu Qian's face.
Lei Yu saw everyone's reaction, and in his opinion, it was all normal.
"The leader of your group is Lian Chuan," he raised his chin towards Lian Chuan, "all actions will be subject to his command."
“Understood!” Lu Qian straightened his back and roared.
Lian Chuan was startled and his foot slipped from the table to the ground: "Don't shout."
"I understand!" Lu Qian straightened his back and continued to answer loudly.
"Get it out." Lian Chuan said.
A team member stood up with a smile and patted Lu Qian's arm: "Come on, I'll take you out to familiarize yourself with the area."
"How is it?" Lei Yu asked.
"Don't give us the team if you're too stupid," Lian Chuan said. "We work hard too. If one person holds us back, the whole team will be in trouble."
Lei Yu smiled and turned to walk out.
Lian Chuan put his feet back on the table and stared out the door.
Lu Qian, newcomer.
On the first day, I joined the sixth group of the cleanup team.
But he had died on the school playground the day before.
That day was his third day joining the first team of the cleanup team.
"Boss," Luo Pan came over, looking unhappy, "Does this guy have any backers?"
"What kind of backstage person would send their connections to the cleaning team to die?" Lian Chuan said.
"That's right." Luo Pan nodded.
I can no longer remember the details of what happened in the school. The only things I can remember are the names of the dead team members and Lei Yu's words afterwards that the abnormal individuals were completely recovered. The whole cause and effect has become a blur.
Lian Chuan knew that the memories of all the people who participated in that mission had been reset for who knows how many times.
It doesn’t matter, since nothing they have belongs to them anyway.
And he will always be the alien who has not been completely reset. His brain is like a faulty hard drive, with countless bad blocks, countless read and write errors, and countless fragmented information.
He didn't know if there was another person like him, he only knew that he must not be the first.
A brain that can't fully reset.
This is a secret that he needs to hide at all costs.
"D zone, H3 intersection, redundant pedestrians." A voice came from the intercom.
"Let's go," Lian Chuan stood up, "Let's go."
Lu Qian was about to enter the house, but he was suddenly at a loss when he heard this. He stood by the door and watched the fully armed team members coming out of the house one by one quickly.
"Follow my car." Lian Chuan said as he passed by him.
“Yes!” Lu Qian straightened his back.
Lian Chuan paused, turned his head and said, "If you call me again, just run over there by yourself."
Lu Qian straightened his back, pursed his lips tightly and said nothing more.
"Do you know how to use the equipment?" Lian Chuan got on a black A01 parked nearby.
“Yes,” Lu Qian followed, listening excitedly to the subtle sounds made by the exoskeleton moving around, staring at the car in front of him, “All my training is to join the cleanup team.”
A01 is a special vehicle for the cleaning team. It can be ridden by one or two people, and is not restricted by the terrain because it does not touch the ground. It moves smoothly, has an amazing speed, and is highly maneuverable. It can jump five meters high and even climb vertical walls...
These were all contents in the training materials. Lu Qian had only driven an A01 simulator during training classes, and this was the first time he had come into such close contact with a real car.
"The third asterisk on the third page of the textbook," Lian Chuan started the car, "what does the departure time say?"
"What did you say?" Lu Qian was stunned.
"If the accompanying person does not get on the car within three seconds after the main driver gets on, it will be considered as abandoning the mission," Lian Chuan said. "If they abandon the mission twice, it will be considered as voluntarily leaving the cleanup team."
Lu Qian didn't have time to be shocked. He jumped up and sat behind Lian Chuan. The recoverable device hit Lian Chuan's helmet.
Bang!
He quickly moved the retriever behind him before the automatic safety buckle locked.
The car rushed out suddenly, bringing up a gust of wind silently, and the safety buckle around the waist was suddenly tightened.
"I... don't remember this one," Lu Qian listened to the whistling wind in his ears, feeling a little depressed, "I can clearly recite it, really, my theoretical test is Class A, is it because the textbook version is not..."
"There wasn't this one originally." Lian Chuan said.
Lu Qian opened his mouth but no words came out.
"But remember this when you follow my car," said Lian Chuan.
The wind was blowing very hard. Ning Gu stood on a broken steel frame, looking at the debris flying in the air through his cracked goggles.
"Do you feel that the wind has been particularly strong these two days?" Nail was behind him, holding an iron rod and constantly searching under his feet.
More debris was blown into the wind as the iron rod rose and fell, some black, some gray, some white, it was impossible to tell what it was.
This is a huge metal cemetery composed of steel remains and abandoned machinery, with hills of high and low stretching out without end, cold and hard.
The thick black fog in the sky was getting lower and lower in the strong wind but it never faded away. Outside the black fog was still black fog, and outside the black fog was still black fog. Light could not penetrate it, and the wind could not blow it away.
It has been like this since the creation of the world, said Uncle Crazy.
But Ning Gu didn’t understand why there were always so many debris in the air that could not be traced.
These flying debris made Dingzi firmly believe that there was another world outside the black fog.
It’s not wrong to think so, but the world outside the black fog only has the main city, and reality is always cruel, Uncle Crazy said again.
"Did you feel that?" Dingzi picked up a small piece of flat metal, a palm-sized square that could reflect a person's face. He turned it over and over to look at it, then stuffed it into the leather bag hanging on his shoulder.
"Yes." Ning Gu tightened his collar. Although there are strong winds here all year round, there is always a difference between strong winds and weak winds.
He jumped off the steel frame and walked forward.
"Where are you going?" Nail asked while continuing to search.
"Don't follow me," Ning Gu said, "I'll come back to find you."
"Are you going to see Uncle Crazy again?" Dingzi said, "It's contagious, so don't talk to him too much."
Ning Gu turned around and smiled.
Crazy Uncle is a middle-aged man whose face is buried by beard and hair. He is called a madman because he looks so abnormal. In fact, after getting to know him, you will find that he is not just abnormal in appearance.
He's just not normal.
"Come, I'll give you a prediction." Crazy Uncle stood at the door of his hut and waved at Ning Gu.
"No." Ning Gu bent down and entered his cabin.
Crazy Uncle’s hut is far away from the shelter where everyone lives, deep in the metal cemetery. It is built with parts of some unknown machine. From a distance, it looks like an upside-down bowl, and from a close distance, it looks like an upside-down broken bowl.
But Uncle Feng said this looked like a turtle shell and he even drew one for him.
He knew that a long time ago, probably long before the creation of the world, there were many plants and animals everywhere, and the turtle was one of the animals.
But later everything disappeared, people's memories of animals became less and less, and the few animals that could still be named gradually became legendary ancient beasts.
Now only the nobles in the main city can own a small number of artificial pets, or a few small flowers that can only grow in special containers.
No, there is also a caracal.
That was a beast, a real beast, unprecedented and unrivaled, the only one in the entire domain and the world outside it, ferocious and agile, coming and going without a trace...
As Uncle Crazy said, of course I have also drawn it for him.
Uncle Crazy’s drawings were ugly, and a few lines really couldn’t help Ning Gu understand what a caracal was.
I only remember that its owner was called Lianchuan.
A cold-blooded hyena in the main city who kills people without mercy.
He has no heart! said Crazy Uncle.
But he has a caracal. Ning Gu is a little envious.
"I've calculated it for you," said the crazy uncle, who came into the house, took down a kettle from the stove, and poured him a glass of water. "Do you want to listen?"
"No," Ning Gu said, "When I was 22, you told me that I wouldn't live to be 20."
"How do you know you are really 22?" said the crazy uncle, "What if you are actually only 19?"
"Then I will die next year?" Ning Gu fell back on the chair and looked at him.
"Who knows," Crazy Uncle poured himself a glass of water, fished out a small cloth bag from his pocket, and shook something into the water, "Alive or dead... We might have died a long time ago."
"What is it?" Ning Gu came over with great interest.
"Children can't drink it." Crazy uncle dodged while holding the cup.
"I'm going to die next year anyway," Ning Gu said, "I'll give it a try."
"Then you might die now." said the crazy uncle.
"It doesn't matter. He might have died a long time ago," Ning Gu followed him around, "You just said that."
"No, no, this is all I have. It's hard to find!" Crazy Uncle ran around the house holding the cup, "Maybe this is all I can find in this lifetime!"
"You're crazy," Ning Gu fell back into his chair, "You count as one."
"I'm not a fortune teller," said Crazy Uncle, "I told you, I'm a prophet."
"Then you make a prediction." Ning Gu said.
"What kind of thing?" Crazy Uncle looked at him immediately, "When will you die?"
"The wind is so strong," Ning Gu looked at the door. Wind wrapped in debris kept pouring in from the door, and a layer of incomprehensible dust fell on the cup. "Is the car coming?"
Crazy uncle stared at him.
"How long will it take?" Ning Gu said again.
Uncle Crazy stared at him for a while and said, "You don't need to calculate this. Based on my experience, tomorrow."
"Okay," Ning Gu clapped his hands, jumped up from the chair, and walked out the door, "I'll trust you this time."
"Do you want to go?" asked the crazy uncle.
"It's not like I haven't been there before." Ning Gu said.
"It's different. You went there secretly before, and you probably didn't even dare to move after getting off the car," Crazy Uncle took a sip of tea, "This time you want to enter the main city."
"So what?" Ning Gu turned his head away.
"Don't go," said Crazy Uncle, "You will die."
Ning Gu laughed, strode out, raised his arms and shook them, raised his voice against the wind: "I was dead when I was 20."