"It seems that your human partner doesn't trust you." Chen Dang said.
Xing Bi leaned on the chair, unable to move.
"Your brain still doesn't work well." Xing Bi looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Chen Dang tilted his head.
"He doesn't trust you." Xing Bi said.
"Are you afraid that we will control you?" Chen Dang said, "That means he still doesn't trust you. He doesn't believe that you can avoid being controlled."
"At least you know now," Xing Bi said, "even if you control me, it will be useless."
Chen Dang looked at Xing Bi, seemingly puzzled.
After a long time, he asked, "Why? Humans are not strong. Cloud City will soon be destroyed, and the people sheltered there will die. They cannot survive in such a world, but we can. You know that the things you want to protect are vulnerable."
Xing Bi looked down at the ground and stopped talking.
"We may have a way to unlock your memories." Chen Dang said.
Xing Bi said nothing.
"Humans don't consider us friends," Chen Dang said. "Your memories will tell you. If you need it, maybe we can give you the truth."
Xing Bi remained silent.
"We are not able to coexist with the infection now. We knew from the beginning that we could coexist with it," Chen Dang said. "But humans regard us as a hidden danger. The biochemical organisms want to replace humans, and this world can only be dominated by them."
"Isn't it now?" Xing Bi said.
"It's different here," Chen Dang said. "We hope to coexist with humans. We have no intention of replacing humans. All we want is friends."
"With those immune humans?" Xing Bi asked.
"Ordinary humans are also friends," Chen Dang said, "but the disappearance of humans who are not immune is inevitable."
"Including killing?" Xing Bi said.
"Don't humans kill people?" Chen Dang approached him, "Humans kill people, and they also kill biological bodies."
"So," Xing Bi looked at him, "what you want is to become human and replace humans."
Chen Dang didn't say anything.
Qiu Shi rushed around the stairs twice and directly flipped over the railing. He grabbed the handrail with one hand and used the force to swing to the stairs two floors below. Then he flipped over again. He used the same method only three times and jumped directly from the tree house to the ground.
Hu Xiaoling didn't have such ability, but he had Qiu Shi's gun.
He pointed his gun at Mayor Luo, holding him to the outside of his body and slowly walked down the stairs: "Don't move. If I see anyone moving while I'm walking down, I'll shoot. It's so dark, and I'm not as mentally strong as Qiu Shi. If I get nervous, I'll shoot you. It's your fate."
Qiu Shi had already rushed to the tree house where Xing Bi lived.
There was a man standing at the door of the tree house. Based on his experience, Qiu Shi could tell that this was a biological being. He raised his hand and fired two shots at his feet.
The biological being quickly took two steps aside and was forced away from the door of the tree house.
The gunshots alarmed the nearby townspeople, and some of them ran out with torches.
Qiu Shi fired a third shot at the biochemical body near the door, aiming at his neck.
The bio-being reacted quickly, probably because it had predicted his target and dodged the shot by turning sideways in advance.
"Qiu Shi!" The man also took out a gun, but the muzzle of the gun was pointed at the house.
"Idiot." Qiu Shi raised his hand and released Xing Bi's control.
The next second, Xing Bi rushed out of the house and knocked the gun out of the man's hand.
There was still someone aiming at him in the dark, so Qiu Shi turned the gun and pointed it at his own head.
"Qiu Shi! Don't be so naive!" Mayor Luo's voice came from behind him. It changed from gentle to stern and low. "Who do you think you can threaten like this!"
"You." Qiu Shi said.
If I really can't pose any threat, how can I justify having them trick me into coming all the way here
"Xing Bi!" Qiu Shi shouted downstairs, "Come down!"
"That's why." Xing Bi said something in Chen Dang's ear and went down the stairs.
Chen Dang glanced at him without saying anything. After a moment of silence, he raised his hand and made a gesture.
The people in the darkness stepped back.
"Why don't you climb down." Qiu Shi looked at Xing Bi who walked in front of him.
Xing Bi smiled and said nothing.
"Go to my room," Qiu Shi put away his gun, turned around and walked back. He stopped when he passed by Mayor Luo. "Just tell me what you want to do. Don't talk to me about your background. I'm not interested. If I don't hear what I want to hear tomorrow, I'll leave. If anyone tries to stop me, I'll just die. If anyone makes me unhappy, I'll make them empty-handed."
"Have a good rest." Mayor Luo said, "If you need anything, tell the people below."
"I sleep very well. No one will disturb me. I can sleep until tomorrow noon," Qiu Shi said, patting Hu Xiaoling on the shoulder. "Let's go."
When Hu Xiaoling returned to the tree house, he looked down and said, "There's no one there."
"No one is watching," Qiu Shi said. "There are eyes on us from all directions."
"Did you really intend to shoot yourself just now?" Hu Xiaoling asked.
"What do you think?" Qiu Shi looked at him.
Hu Xiaoling stared at him and nodded: "I think you will, but you'd better not."
"Go to bed." Qiu Shi walked into the room, took off his coat a little unhappily and threw it on the chair.
"It will be cold." Xing Bi said.
Indeed.
This damn place is much colder than Yuncheng. There is no heating facility in the tree house. Qiu Shi felt cold as soon as he took off his coat.
He picked up his coat again and put it on.
"You guys use sleeping bags." Xing Bi said.
"Who is this?" Hu Xiaoling finally found an opportunity to ask.
"Xing Bi," Qiu Shi said, "didn't you just call him so happily? He's the partner Li Feng arranged for me."
Hu Xiaoling didn't say anything, but looked Xing Bi up and down. "This biochemical body looks much better than those of Chen Dang and the others... I said Yuncheng has biochemical bodies! Sure enough, there are! Damn!"
"Chen Dang?" Qiu Shi turned his head.
"The one you just missed with three shots." Hu Xiaoling said.
Xing Bi sat down on the chair and laughed.
"With your brain," Qiu Shi said, "I really shouldn't have come to rescue you."
"How to sleep?" Hu Xiaoling looked at the only small bed in the tree house.
"Let's squeeze in." Qiu Shi said, "Where do you usually sleep?"
"Do you want me to leave?" Hu Xiaoling asked, "I live in a human's home."
"Stay here," Qiu Shi thought about it and looked at him again, "In a human's home?"
"Yes," Hu Xiaoling nodded, "They look like ordinary people. They were the townspeople here before. They are willing to live with the biochemical bodies and the newcomers. They don't have..."
Hu Xiaoling lowered his voice: "Killed."
"Did you get anything out of it?" Qiu Shi asked.
"No," Hu Xiaoling said, "He didn't talk to me at all. He was afraid that if he said something he shouldn't, I would fail to keep the secret."
"Have they told you about my background?" Qiu Shi sat down on the bed and asked Xing Bi.
"I told you," Xing Bi said, "you have a younger brother here too."
"Do you think it's possible?" Qiu Shi frowned.
"They really want to keep you here," Xing Bi took the map that was still on the table, "They must be telling the truth."
"Is there really a grandma?" Hu Xiaoling was a little surprised. "Is there really a grandma?"
"Why does it have to be me?" Qiu Shi said, "If there really is a brother of mine, how different would he be from me? And according to what they say, I'm not gifted, and I'm not the only one who is immune."
"Have you seen the general?" Xing Bi asked.
"Which general?" Qiu Shi didn't react immediately.
"The general of Yuncheng, a general who commands an army." Xing Bi said.
"Is that someone I can see?" Qiu Shi said, "To me, he is just like Mr. Long, a person who appears once a year in the city anniversary video."
"Where is Xiaoling?" Xing Bi looked at Hu Xiaoling again.
"Same," Hu Xiaoling said, "How could I have met someone that Brother Shi hadn't met? I just know they are awesome. He and Mr. Long are the representatives of Yuncheng, the backbone? Or something else? Anyway, as long as they are here, Yuncheng can still be maintained."
"Do you understand?" Xing Bi asked Qiu Shi.
"You know what the quality of refugee schools in the outer city is like," Qiu Shi lay down on the bed, "Do you think I can understand?"
Xing Bi said nothing.
Qiu Shi lay down for a while, sat up and sighed: "You mean that the people in Donglin Town want someone like a general, a symbol."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
"Isn't my younger brother good enough?" Qiu Shi said.
"There must be some inconsistencies." Xing Bi said.
"Can I go to sleep first?" Hu Xiaoling asked, "You two can continue talking without disturbing me."
"Everyone go to sleep." said Qiu Shi.
Hu Xiaoling took the sleeping bag that Xing Bi gave him, lay down on the ground, crawled into it, then straightened up and closed his eyes.
"You sleep on the bed," Xing Bi said, "I don't need to lie down."
"You'd better lie on the bed, it will be easier to talk," Hu Xiaoling said, "Besides, Shi Ge is a light sleeper, he will definitely wake up if I move."
The tree house was so small that when Hu Xiaoling lay down, his head rested directly at Xing Bi's feet.
Xing Bi had no choice but to get up and sit beside the bed.
Qiu Shi got into the sleeping bag, rubbed himself inside, and made room for him on half of the bed: "I tried my best, and that's all I could do."
"Yeah." Xing Bi lay down, resting his head on his arms.
"Chat or sleep?" Qiu Shi asked.
"You go to sleep first," Xing Bi said, "Your eyes are red."
When Zhang Sihai was brought into the supervisor's office, his face was covered in mud and he looked very tired.
And you don't even need to smell it, you can tell that you stink just by looking at it.
Li Feng sighed: "Director Zhang is really cruel."
Zhang Sihai raised his head abruptly when he heard his voice: "Brother Feng?"
"Don't come over here." Li Feng pointed at him, "Just stand there."
"You..." Zhang Sihai's expression changed in these few seconds, from surprise to control and then to stubbornness again. It can be seen that he was struggling. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I didn't cause any trouble..."
"Shut up and stop talking. I'm so sleepy," Li Feng interrupted him and motioned for the supervisor to go out. "I'm not here on behalf of your father. I won't take you with me when I leave here. I won't know where you are when I leave this door."
"What do you want from me?" Zhang Sihai glared at him.
"How many places have you changed?" Li Feng asked.
"Three," Zhang Sihai said, "the farm, the power well, and the sewage disposal."
"Did you find anything wrong?" Li Feng couldn't stand the mud on his face, so he took the clothes that the supervisor had left on the chair and threw them on Zhang Sihai's head, "Wipe it off."
"What's wrong?" Zhang Sihai wiped his face.
"Don't tell me about your sin city," Li Feng said, "There's nothing wrong except the evil rulers of Yuncheng persecuting refugees."
Zhang Sihai looked at him holding the clothes and fell into deep thought.
After a while, he said hesitantly, "I don't know if this counts."
"Speak." Li Feng said.
"I just thought it was a little strange at first," Zhang Sihai said, "but then I thought about it and found that it was not just this time..."
"Pick out the key points!" Li Feng said, "You actually have people watching your videos with this expression."
"When I was shoveling the sludge today, I found three strange people," Zhang Sihai looked at him, "Their movements were exactly the same, just like... puppets, the kind that are put on a frame, and they will be performed during the city celebration. Also, please be polite when talking to me, I'm not your subordinate, and you need my help now!"
Li Feng didn't say anything. The information provided by Zhang Sihai really shocked him.
And my back feels cold.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"I've also seen this happen at a farm. One person was loading feed onto a truck," Zhang Sihai said. "Another person also took some feed, but put it down more than a meter away from the truck. I thought he was tired, but after seeing the three people, I felt that the two men's actions were similar."
Li Feng was silent for a while, then walked towards the office door: "Don't go back to work, I'll have someone take you home."
"I'm not going home!" Zhang Sihai declared solemnly.
"Find a few people," Li Feng said to the supervisor standing outside the door, "send him home. If he resists, tie him up or knock him unconscious." "Is this true?" Colonel Xu was obviously shocked.
"I have asked my supervisor to control the number of people in the workplace. People are now allowed to enter but not leave," Li Feng said. "But because I don't know the purpose and aggressiveness of these things, I haven't taken any action yet."
"Purpose?" Minister Liu looked at him. "Normally, the infected are unconscious, right?"
"They are unconscious," Li Feng said, "but Qiu Shi mentioned to me that the infected are more like puppets, wandering, gathering, and attacking. It's not certain. They look more like they are being controlled."
"If that's the case, then someone is controlling these infected people, just like the symbiote?" Zhang Qifeng was very calm at the moment, not sure if it was because he had a good sleep or because Li Feng sent Zhang Sihai home.
"We need the assistance of the City Defense Bureau and the army now," Li Feng looked at Zhang Qifeng, "We block the area. If it is controlled, then the other party will find out if we take any action. If they want to do something, they may act in advance. The refugees' activity area in the inner city is limited, but it is not ruled out..."
"The City Defense Bureau will deploy personnel to various important locations in the inner city to find out their purpose and methods of action as soon as possible," Zhang Qifeng looked at Colonel Xu, "and the army will also need to send some personnel to ensure the safety of the periphery."
"Have the refugees in these places been infected?" Minister Liu asked, and then turned to Director Wu, "Is there a risk of infection?"
This question made Zhang Qifeng nervous and he glanced at Li Feng.
If there is such a risk, Zhang Sihai has been hanging out with these people for so many days and there is a high possibility that he will also be infected. In that case, no matter what measures are taken later, he will have to take part in it.
"It shouldn't be a big problem," Li Feng said. "The refugees outside the city have been gathering for quite some time, and there has been no large-scale infection. When Brigade Zhao went to see them, he estimated based on his experience that there were about twelve of them."
"My people are testing the samples sent to the museum," said Director Wu. "It seems that as long as there is no large-scale rupture and splashing, the route of infection is still the same as the previous infection transmission method."
"If cleanup measures are necessary, how will the refugees be transferred and where will they be transferred to?" asked Colonel Xu.
"We can't transfer them," Li Feng said. "Whether we take these infected people away alone or take away normal refugees, it will alert the other side."
Everyone around the conference table was silent.
"Director Li, do you have any ideas?" Minister Liu suddenly asked.
Li Feng glanced at him and said, "If it needs to be dealt with, let's deal with it together."
"Does a biochemical body snore?" Qiu Shi rested his head on his arm and sighed.
Hu Xiaoling on the ground was snoring very loudly. I don’t know if it was because he was too nervous and tired just now, but now it was like he was blowing a charge.
"No fighting." Xing Bi said.
"That's great." said Qiu Shi.
"I can make him stop." Xing Bi said.
"Knocked you out?" Qiu Shi said, "Let's go. It's not easy for the child. He has been alone in this damn place for so many days."
"I can knock you out." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi paused and laughed: "Fuck you."
"Qiu Shi." Xing Bi called him.
"Hmm?" Qiu Shi turned and looked at him.
"Why did you suddenly control me?" Xing Bi asked.
"Mayor Luo said that you were chatting with your... own kind," Qiu Shi said, "There are symbiotes here, so they definitely want to control you."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
"You can't move, it's useless for them to control you," said Qiu Shi.
"Then what?" Xing Bi asked, "What if this really happens?"
"You can't move but you are controlled?" Qiu Shi said, "I don't know, I haven't thought about it. I just don't want them to control you casually."
Xing Bi smiled.
"I will definitely find a way to leave," Qiu Shi said, "I will drag you away even if I have to."
"You can carry it on your back or on the shoulder." Xing Bi reminded him.
"You'll be so happy," Qiu Shi said, "I'll find a box for you to put in and put it on the back of the car and tow it back."
Xing Bi laughed.
Qiu Shi smiled for a while and then stopped smiling. He looked at him and said, "These biochemical bodies here don't have as many memories locked up as you do."
"Yeah." Xing Bi also turned his head and looked at him, "They were the group that stayed in the base at the beginning. In the later period, that place was beyond human control."
"If... there's something you want to know," Qiu Shi said with some difficulty, "maybe they... they will definitely tell you."
"Yeah." Xing Bi turned his head and looked at the roof. "But sometimes, I don't want to know everything."
"Really?" Qiu Shi thought for a moment. "Maybe. Just like I never knew my origins, who I am, where I came from, I didn't know. Now that I know, I don't feel very happy."
"How is grandma?" Xing Bi smiled.
"He looks very friendly, but his eyes are not. The old man is the truly friendly one," Qiu Shi said with a sigh, "Isn't the old man a relative of mine? But I used to want to know what happened to the old man and what his relationship was to me, but now I don't want to know anymore."
Hu Xiaoling's snoring finally stopped after he turned over.
"His ancestors are finally quiet." Qiu Shi let out a breath and closed his eyes. "Good night."
Xing Bi paused for a moment before saying, "Good night."
But there was no peace tonight.
Less than five minutes later, a loud noise accompanied by a bright light was heard in the distance, shaking the tree house slightly.
Xing Bi jumped up when the strong light came on, and when the loud noise came, he tore off the sleeping bag on Qiu Shi.
Qiu Shi turned over and got out of bed, pulled out the gun from his leg, stepped on Hu Xiaoling and Xing Bi and rushed out of the tree house together.
The sound came from the direction they were entering the town. Just as they rushed out of the house, there was another flash of bright light, followed by another loud bang. This time, it could be clearly heard that it was an explosion.
The strong light illuminated the night sky over there, and the dense treetops were cast with an eerie yellow color.
"What's going on?" Hu Xiaoling ran out holding his stomach.
There were small noises behind him. Qiu Shi turned around and raised the gun in his hand, but Xing Bi held it down: "Chen Dang."
A figure came flying from the tree canopy on a zipline, letting go mid-air and landing on the platform outside their cabin.
It’s Chen Dang.
"We were attacked," said Chen Dang.
"By whom?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Symbiote." Chen Dang said and threw a spear to Xing Bi.
Hu Xiaoling didn't care about anything else and stared at the gun with his eyes wide open.
"Symbiote?" Qiu Shi was a little confused. "Don't you have it too? Fighting yourself?"
"They are all symbiotes," Chen Dang said, "we only have a small number."
"Isn't he in the same group with you guys?" Qiu Shi remembered the symbiote that controlled Xing Bi that he met on the road.
"No," Chen Dang looked at Xing Bi, "Help us."
"Why?" Qiu Shi said.
"Their targets also include Yuncheng," said Chen Dang.
The muffled sound coming from underground could be heard throughout half of the inner city.
Li Feng had just changed into his pajamas and lay down when he jumped up from the bed again.
When I came out of the lounge and into the office, the secretary was standing in the middle of the room with a glass of water and a pale face: "Director, what happened?"
"Stay here and don't go out." Li Feng grabbed his coat and rushed out of the office.
There is no way I can sleep like this.
The author has something to say:
To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.
Director Li, you changed your pajamas twice, but you didn’t sleep for a single second﹁_﹁, learn from Brother Xueshi, you don’t even change your clothes when you sleep.