70
When Ye Xi walked towards them with a smile, Lian Chuan pulled Ning Gu back two steps.
Ye Xi also stopped: "What? Don't be afraid, I just..."
"Who are you?" Lian Chuan asked.
"You just said he was Ye Xi." Ning Gu leaned close to his ear and whispered a reminder.
Ye Xi didn't say anything, just looked at them.
"You are not Ye Xi," Lian Chuan said, "He is in that room and can't get out. Who are you?"
"Room?" Ye Xi seemed a little confused. After a while, he suddenly understood, "You actually met him?"
Lian Chuan did not answer the question, but repeated: "Who are you?"
"I am Ye Xi," Ye Xi thought for a moment, "How should I tell you?"
"Speak frankly," Ning Gu said, "Speak human language."
"Call me Ye Xixi." Ye Xi said.
"What is your relationship with Ye Xi?" Lian Chuan asked.
"Same person," Ye Xixi turned around, "but not the same person. I am a few years younger than him... Come, do you want to take a look?"
"What did he say?" Ning Gu asked.
"I didn't understand." Lian Chuan said.
"You didn't even understand with your IQ?" Ning Gu was a little surprised.
“…My IQ may not be as high as you think,” Lian Chuan said, “Let’s go with him first and see what’s going on here.”
"Okay." Ning Gu nodded.
The two followed.
There are four words written on the top of the park’s gate: Shahu Park.
It seems that what they just saw was a lake called Shahu.
There is a wide road at the entrance of Shahu Park, which is similar to the road leading to Guangci, but in comparison, other roads in the main city are not so wide. After all, apart from public transportation, there are no other large-scale means of transportation that need to be on the road.
But the road ahead is obviously different.
There are complicated white lines on the ground with words printed on them: bicycle lane, motor vehicle lane, give way to pedestrians…
"Colored lanterns." Ning Gu looked ahead.
There was a horizontal light group above the road, with a red light on. After a while, it turned to a green light next to it.
"That's a traffic light," Ye Xixi introduced them. "You don't have one there, right? Some main cities have one, some don't. It depends on each city."
"What are traffic lights used for?" Ning Gu asked.
"Stop at a red light, go at a green light," Ye Xixi looked back at him, "You have to look at the lights when you're driving. If the light is red, you have to stop at that line and let people walking across the road first."
Ning Gu didn't say anything. It was unclear whether he understood or not. Lian Chuan was about to ask something else when Ning Gu spoke up: "It's so complicated. Where's the car? Where's the people? It's an empty city."
"Empty city?" Ye Xixi stopped.
This action made Ning Gu a little nervous. Ye Xixi's reaction was as if he didn't notice that there was no one around, nor did he realize that this was an empty city.
"It's been empty for a long time," Ye Xixi sighed, "I'm used to it. Today is Sunday, so it's normal that there's no one on the street, especially in this area."
"What's wrong?" Ning Gu asked.
"This is the mutation zone," Ye Xixi said, "It is not open now."
"What mutation?" Lian Chuan suddenly remembered the original traveler.
"Some kind of pollution caused the mutation," Ye Xixi said, "but it has been controlled. Except for this area, other areas are normal. I will take you to see it."
"What mutation?" Lian Chuan has always been concerned about this.
"A mutation that will kill you," Ye Xixi turned around and looked at him. "At first, you will become very strong and be able to do a lot of things without eating or drinking. Your brain will work very quickly, and you will become very smart and be able to learn everything..."
"That's great," Ning Gu said, and added in a low voice, "Lost Valley needs it."
"Then very soon," Ye Xixi turned back and continued walking forward, "you will die, like a pile of mud."
Lian Chuan didn't say anything.
"More and more people are being infected," Ye Xixi said, "but because the disease cycle is very short, it can be controlled."
After that, the three of them didn't speak anymore, and Ye Xixi led them forward along the road.
Ning Gu was very curious along the way. There were trees, flowers, tall buildings, glass reflecting the sunlight on the buildings, billboards, and many, many paintings. Lian Chuan told him that judging from the words on them, those paintings were movie posters. He couldn't quite understand the meaning, but these were paintings, and these were the kind of paintings he wanted.
"Can you take these out?" Lian Chuan asked.
Ye Xixi turned around: "Poster?"
"Yes." Lian Chuan said.
"Sure," Ye Xixi walked behind the billboard and opened the light box, "Which one do you want?"
Lian Chuan hesitated for a moment, then reached out and pulled out all the posters.
"I can't take it back." Ye Xixi smiled.
Lian Chuan glanced at him without saying anything, and handed all the posters to Ning Gu.
"Is this considered robbery or stealing?" Ning Gu took the posters and looked at them one by one, feeling very happy.
"Robbery and stealing." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu chuckled a few times and pointed at the person on the poster: "This person's uniform and equipment are a bit similar to your cleanup team."
"Yeah." Lian Chuan thought so too.
“All the main cities are based on this place as a template,” Ye Xixi said, “so you will see a lot of similarities, but there are more differences. After all, you have to try all the roads... to find out that none of them work.”
Following Ye Xixi, they continued walking for a while. According to the estimated time, they had been walking for almost half an hour. Lian Chuan found something was not right.
He glanced at the road sign in front of him. The sign at the entrance of the park read Shahu East Road.
And now, the road sign ahead is still Shahu East Road.
He turned around and looked behind him, confirming that this was the second time they passed each other on this road, although he had not noticed it until now because of the novelty in his eyes.
Lian Chuan pulled Ning Gu and stopped.
Ye Xixi also stopped and turned around: "What did you see?"
"I saw the hospital again." Lian Chuan said.
"Which hospital?" Ye Xixi asked.
"At the intersection we just passed, turn left and you'll see a hospital sign," Lian Chuan said. "I passed it the second time and it was Ankang Hospital."
Ning Gu was stunned when he heard it, turned around and ran back to the intersection, turned left and took a look at the path, then turned his head sharply: "Ankang Hospital."
"I live here," Ye Xixi said, but did not answer their questions.
"Live here?" Ning Gu looked at him. Ye Xixi didn't look like he had any illness that required him to stay in the hospital. "What kind of hospital is this?"
"It's now a shelter for late-stage mutants," Ye Xixi said, "it used to be a mental hospital."
Mental hospital
Lian Chuan walked a few steps towards the hospital intersection, and when he looked back, he found that Ye Xixi was gone.
"Where are the people?" Ning Gu was stunned.
Lian Chuan looked at the path in front of him and estimated that even when it was crowded with people, it would still be quiet here.
The hospital is at the end of the path, with an inconspicuous white sign. There are walls on both sides and green plants on the top. Long branches hang down from the top of the wall, like a thick blanket. There are no other doors except the hospital. This road leads only to the hospital.
"Is this man a lunatic?" Ning Gu said, "Is he really a lunatic? Or is he a fake lunatic like Uncle Crazy?"
"Let's go and take a look." Lian Chuan walked into the path.
"Be careful. We are no different from ordinary people in the main city now," Ning Gu said. "I always fought like this when I was in the ghost town. I was afraid that you would lose the fight without your special physique. But everyone here should be ordinary people. I can protect you..."
When Lian Chuan grabbed Ning Gu's hand, he hadn't even finished his words when his hand was twisted behind his back. Lian Chuan didn't know how he had gotten behind him and pressed his fingers against his throat: "Okay."
"… What's good?" Ning Gu was annoyed after he came to his senses.
"You protect me." Lian Chuan said.
"I take it back," Ning Gu said, "I won't protect you anymore, let go!"
Lian Chuan let go.
Ning Gu rubbed his wrist and said, "Have you learned to lie?"
"No," Lianchuan said, "You were not prepared."
Ning Gu clicked his tongue and said nothing. He rubbed his wrist and suddenly grabbed Lian Chuan's hand.
Unprepared.
Before his fingertips touched Lian Chuan, Lian Chuan had already grabbed his wrist again.
This time she didn't twist his arm, she just looked at him.
"Okay," Ning Gu nodded, "It's me who can't do it."
"I'm an experimental subject," Lian Chuan said. "To put it in simple terms, I'm not a human, just a weapon. Even if I don't have a special physique, I'm much stronger than an ordinary person."
Ning Gu didn't say anything. When Lian Chuan let go of him and continued to walk towards the hospital, he said, "You are a human being."
Lian Chuan turned his head and looked at him.
"A living person." Ning Gu said.
Lian Chuan smiled.
"What are you laughing at?" Ning Gu said, "Is it funny?"
"No," Lian Chuan said, "I'm happy."
"It's not very obvious." Ning Gu glanced at him, "It's not obvious."
"Laugh harder next time," Lian Chuan said.
There was no one in the hospital.
There was a small room at the gate with a sign saying visitor registration, but it looked like no one had registered there for a long time and there was dust on the table.
Lian Chuan opened the registration book on the table.
"You actually wrote it with a pen?" Ning Gu said, "Registration in the main city requires scanning the ID card, right?"
"Ye Xi is hospitalized here," Lian Chuan said, "and here is his visitor registration."
"Who's here to see him?" Ning Gu immediately came over.
“Sun Yi,” Lian Chuan said, “The unit only wrote the research institute, not what research institute… October 7, 2030… This date…”
"Two thousand years?" Ning Gu was a little shocked. "What kind of world is this? How can it exist for more than two thousand years?"
Lian Chuan flipped through the pages again. According to Ye Xi, this hospital was once used to receive late-stage mutants. So was Ye Xi a late-stage mutant or a mental patient
After flipping through the registration book, Lian Chuan discovered that not many visitors came to visit this hospital. The first page of the visitor registration book, which contained half a dozen records, was already the year 2034, and half of the records were of people who came to visit Ye Xi. There were several names, but the handwriting was the same.
"Ye Xi is a lunatic," Lian Chuan concluded, looking at Ning Gu, "but he must be related to a research institute. All the people who came to see him are from the institute. He has no relatives or friends."
"What kind of lunatic?" Ning Gu felt a little unbelievable.
"Ye Xi and the others, after we jumped into the water, there was one in the room I entered, and there was another one just now," Lian Chuan turned around and slowly walked towards the hospital building, "Could there be a third one here?"
The building was already very dilapidated. At a glance, it gave him a feeling of being back in District D of the main city, which made Lian Chuan subconsciously want to start recycling weapons.
The first floor seemed abandoned, with debris all over the floor, but all the doors in the corridor were closed.
"It's already so broken, why are the doors closed?" Ning Gu whispered, raising his foot to kick one of the doors.
Lian Chuan stopped him and pointed to the window next to him.
“…Oh.” Ning Gu responded.
The windows were also closed, and the glass was still intact.
But when you see the scene inside clearly, you feel extremely uncomfortable.
Ye Xixi said that the mutant will eventually turn into a pile of mud.
There were several piles of this kind of... mud in the house.
The mud is so thick that you can see the hands and the head.
"Let's go upstairs and take a look." Ning Gu turned and walked towards the stairs.
"Yeah." Lian Chuan glanced at the sign on the door: Observation Room.
When I was halfway up the stairs, I heard footsteps and voices on the second floor.
The two paused, then quickened their pace and ran up to the second floor.
The second floor was relatively much tidier, with no clutter on the ground, and there were even plants in the corridor with purple-red flowers in bloom.
The sound came from an open door.
When they reached the door, they saw Ye Xi.
But this Ye Xi was obviously different from the previous Ye Xixi. His hair was a little messy, and his clothes were a hospital gown of the same color as the bed sheets.
Ye Xi sat in front of a table with several monitors on it, as well as several flashing instruments of unknown origin, and several keyboards in front of him.
A man stood behind him, watching with him the lines of characters jumping on the screen in front of him, and the changing images on two other screens.
Lian Chuan could clearly see that both screens were filled with fire, a raging fire.
"It's impossible to succeed." Ye Xi said.
"There's still time," the man said.
"There is no time." Ye Xi replied, "It's too late."
"Is there any other way..." the man asked.
"Yes." Ye Xi said and stood up.
As he turned around, a small silver stick in his hand had already poked the man's chest.
The man looked at him in shock and slowly fell to the ground.
Ye Xi let out a sigh of relief and turned towards the door: "You are here."
Lian Chuan didn't say anything. The crazy look in Ye Xi's eyes seemed to be able to pierce into people's hearts, bringing a chill.
"It's been a long time since anyone came to see me," Ye Xi grabbed the collar of the man on the ground and dragged him slowly out of the room and towards the end of the corridor. "I don't know how long it has been. Who was the last one, when, where they came from... I can't remember..."
"Follow?" Ning Gu asked in a low voice.
"Yeah." Lian Chuan responded.
The two followed Ye Xi and slowly walked to the door at the end of the corridor.
Ye Xi pushed open the door and dragged the man in.
There was a large room behind the door. There were no tables or chairs, only many instruments flashing with light.
In a huge glass box in the middle, electric lights kept flashing.
Hanging between the lightning are three brains.
But when Lian Chuan looked down at his feet, he found that the man dragged over by Ye Xi had disappeared.
Ye Xi stood in front of the glass box: "He is the last one."
Lian Chuan understood at this moment that this was a memory. Ye Xi showed them the origins of the three brains.
"They are your..." Lian Chuan said, "colleagues."
"They are my nightmares," Ye Xi tilted his head, "They gave me tasks that could never be completed, and fantasies that could never be realized."
"What is the mission?" Lian Chuan asked.
"A space to survive, a refuge," Ye Xi said, "a world... that can save us from the fate of destruction."
"Why do we need such a world?" Ning Gu asked, "Isn't your world good? There is sunshine, flowers and grass, and many colors..."
Ye Xi didn't say anything, just looked out the door.
The two of them turned their heads.
There is a corridor outside the door and you can see the windows on the corridor.
The sunny and breezy scene outside the window just now has disappeared, replaced by darkness and a blazing fire in the darkness.
Ning Gu ran to the corridor in shock and stood at the window looking outside.
All visible places have turned into a sea of fire, and the constant flashes of lightning have woven a net in the sky.
"See? Endless disasters," Ye Xi walked behind them, "but everything is caused by ourselves. How did the mutants come from? We created them. Why do we need mutants? Because we don't have enough space to survive. We need to find a way to survive..."
Lian Chuan was very familiar with these words. He turned his head and looked at Ye Xi: "So, you failed to do it, you didn't find a way out, so you created countless main cities. The ending of each main city is destruction, and the task of each main city is to find a way out."
"It's not a mission, it's a destiny." Ye Xi said.
"Then... after trying all the paths, you will find that none of them work," Lian Chuan said.
"We are doomed to be destroyed and to disappear," Ye Xi said. "The greater the hope we hold, the greater the despair we will experience in return."
"How did the other two Ye Xi appear?" Lian Chuan asked.
"Another?" Ye Xi said, "I am the other one. I am not Ye Xi. We all have our own names, but we are all called Ye Xi to the outside world. There is only one Ye Xi, and we have our own missions."
Lian Chuan looked at him.
"Remember the world that no longer exists, endure everything that is destroyed, and try to find a way to survive in an endless cycle." Ye Xi said.
"You are," Ning Gu said in a hoarse voice, "the hand holding the revolving lantern."