Not knowing how many wires would be connected to the back of his neck, Qiu Shi could only feel a slight stinging pain, or even no feeling, until Xing Bi asked, "Is this the last one?"
"Yes," the short man replied.
As the last thin needle was inserted into the back of the neck, Qiu Shi's vision suddenly darkened, then became very bright, and then dim again.
His strongest feeling between light and dark was dizziness.
"Fuck," Qiu Shi cursed, "I fainted."
"Normal." said the tall man.
"What if I vomit..." Qiu Shi frowned, "I can't see anything. Are you sure you want to do it this way?"
"It takes time to establish a connection," the short man said, his voice starting to become a little erratic. "I want to remind you that each connection cannot exceed seven minutes and fifteen seconds."
"Xing Bi." Qiu Shi called Xing Bi.
"Yes," Xing Bi responded, holding his hand. "You are still here, I am watching you. If there is any problem, I will unplug the wires immediately."
"How much is seven points?" Qiu Shi could hear Xing Bi's voice clearly.
"Seven minutes and fifteen seconds," Xing Bi said, "I have a countdown in front of me, so I can see the time."
"Yeah." Qiu Shi slowly adjusted his breathing and felt less dizzy than before. The flickering in front of his eyes also faded, like a layer of fog. Things on the other side of the fog slowly began to appear.
It's an office.
Very bright office with windows.
This feeling was very strange, his body and eyes were out of sync. He knew that he was still sitting on the electric torture chair and Xing Bi was still holding his hand, but the information his eyes saw and received was completely different from his body's actual feelings.
Although it was still a little foggy, he could still see the office clearly. It was quite large, and its layout was very similar to that of Li Feng and Director Wu, with a large desk, a comfortable leather chair for sleeping, several cabinets, and a sofa for meetings.
Director Wu's office has no windows, while outside the window of Li Feng's office is the ordinary mines and various neon lights of billboards in the inner city. However, the view from the window of this office is very different. On one side is a large flat concrete floor, and on the other side are trees and flower beds that are so neatly arranged that they seem to have grown out of lines.
"Fuck," Qiu Shi whispered, "What is this place outside? It's very flat and wide."
"The former military base." The short man's voice floated from far above.
"No one." Qiu Shi still spoke in a low voice, with a sense of peeping like a thief, "I didn't see anyone."
"Qiu Shi," Xing Bi's voice came, "your voice won't be heard over there."
"Really? I feel a little... guilty." Qiu Shi looked around and just when he didn't know how to move forward, he found that he was slowly approaching the desk. "Fuck, I think I can move with my brain."
"Find a way to contact Li Feng and the others, by phone, video or something like that." Xing Bi reminded him, his voice suddenly sounding distant.
"Xing Bi, did you leave?" Qiu Shi asked.
"No," Xing Bi squeezed his palm, "I'm on your right, I can see the three whorls on your head."
Qiu Shi smiled and glanced at the things on the desk: a pen, two photo frames, a very old laptop, and a phone that looked equally old.
"There's a phone call," Qiu Shi tentatively stretched out his hand, "Let me see if I can... Shit, I can pick it up."
"Can you fight?" Xing Bi asked.
"No sound." Qiu Shi listened and heard silence in the receiver. "It's not like we can dial numbers now. I guess it won't go through even if I can."
"Look for something else." Xing Bi said, "Is there anything else in the room?"
Qiu Shi didn't know when he was standing behind the desk. He saw a photo in the photo frame, so he moved forward and saw the person in the photo.
There were quite a lot of people, two rows. There were three people sitting in the front row. In the middle was a man in military uniform. He looked very energetic, and could kill eight Xiao Lei with one punch. He should be a general. On his left was a man in a suit, who was obviously a human. He looked ordinary, but very majestic. The man on the right was also in a suit, and he was obviously a biochemical creature with a smile on his face.
These should be the three founders of Yuncheng back then.
The other frame was placed face down, and he tried turning it over.
There are more people in this photo, with five biochemical bodies standing in a row. Qiu Shi recognized Xing Bi at first sight. Seeing this familiar face in such a situation gave him a trance-like feeling of time and space distortion.
He could also recognize the others: Lin Sheng, Ji Sui, Xu Jie, and the one standing in the middle was Zheng Ting.
These were the members of Xing Bi’s team back then, the strongest undercover team in Yuncheng.
"Qiu Shi?" Xing Bi's voice came from a distance.
"I saw your group photo, the five of you," Qiu Shi said, "and Zheng Ting was standing in the middle."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded, "Before coming to Yuncheng."
"I know what you look like in a suit." Qiu Shi said with a smile.
"Is he handsome?" Xing Bi asked.
"Handsome." said Qiu Shi.
"Now handsome guy asks you to find another communication device." Xing Bi said.
"Yeah." Qiu Shi came back to his senses, "I found that this state... is a bit..."
"It's easy to get distracted, so stay focused," Xing Bi said, "Don't let yourself be carried away."
"How did you know?" Qiu Shi put the photo frame back as it was, raised his eyes and looked around. He could see two doors, one was the office door, and the other should be the inner door, a lounge or a meeting room or something like that.
"The technician told me," Xing Bi said, "Can't you hear them talking?"
"I can't hear it," Qiu Shi said, "I can only hear your voice."
"Focus, I will keep talking to you." Xing Bi said.
"Well," Qiu Shi was already standing in front of the door of the inner room while speaking, "There should be a small room inside. I'll go in and take a look."
"Qiu Shi, don't," Xing Bi said, "don't open the door casually."
Qiu Shi stopped his hand as he was about to open the door. He slowly retreated back to the table and said, "Shouldn't we be told about this kind of precautions from the beginning?"
"Four minutes and twenty seconds left." Xing Bi said, "Do you have a computer?"
"Yes," Qiu Shi looked at the computer on the table, "Can this communicate?"
"Yes, open it." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi opened the lid of his laptop and the screen lit up.
"Can you see the icons?" Xing Bi asked, "There's one called Call, click it."
To be honest, the most advanced electronic device Qiu Shi had ever come into contact with was the little pet from the "privileged" inner city, and then some old-fashioned gadgets from the old man. He had never seen anything else. He could recognize the thing in front of him because the old man had a shell of this thing.
He leaned closer to the screen and identified the icons on it. Just like in a dream, he could see something, but it seemed very difficult, and the words were even more unclear. He was not familiar with the words to begin with, and now it was even more difficult for him to recognize them just by looking at the shape.
"The icon is a telephone, an old-fashioned telephone." Xing Bi's voice began to sound distant again.
Qiu Shi tried hard to concentrate, found the old-fashioned telephone, and poked it with his finger.
A box popped up on the screen, with something similar to surveillance footage arranged inside, including streets, places that looked like squares, and many black screens.
He tried hard to see the content in the surveillance video, but it was not very clear. He did catch a glimpse of the blurry surveillance date in the upper right corner: 2044.
This is a very old date.
The year in Yuncheng is three digits, starting from the war. If Qiu Shi remembers correctly, it is 243 or 244, or maybe 245...
The people in the end times have become very vague about dates. Except for those in the inner city, those outside have long been unable to distinguish and have no conditions to remember such meaningless numbers. For most people, dates are yesterday, today, and tomorrow, as well as the past that they don't want to look back at, and the future that may not be visible.
"Qiu Shi," Xing Bi's voice pulled Qiu Shi back again, "Listen to my voice, the first one is the laboratory."
The word "laboratory" startled Qiu Shi. There were people in the laboratory waiting for them to rescue them.
He stared at the screen and clicked on the first monitoring frame.
When the closed screen was opened, Li Feng thought that the general's face would appear.
Qiu Shi's face appeared on the screen, which Li Feng did not expect. He guessed that Qiu Shi and Xing Bi might contact the laboratory in some way through the general, but he did not know what method they could use.
I didn't expect it to be so direct.
However, Qiu Shi on the screen looked a little confused, as if he didn't know that he had been connected to this side.
"What's going on?" Mr. Long, who had been meditating with his eyes closed on the other side of the glass wall, stood up.
Qiu Shi's appearance in the laboratory in this way means that Qiu Shi and his team may not only know the general's true situation, but also may have more information.
"I don't know." Li Feng stood in front of the screen, folding his arms. "I didn't know it was possible."
Director Wu also ran out of the experimental cabin and looked at Qiu Shi on the screen in shock. He was stunned for two seconds before asking, "Where did they know this method?"
"I don't know." Li Feng said.
Judging from Director Wu’s expression, it’s probably not just the method that’s shocking, the key point should be “from where”.
"Don't block it." Gao Shan walked back and forth anxiously on the other side of the glass, but Li Feng was blocking the screen right in front of him, so he could only see some blurry images from the side.
"Just block it," Li Feng said, "This is the secret of Yuncheng. Even if you shoot yourself in the next second, you won't know it. You can die with regrets."
"I'm really going to die! I must let you go first!" Gao Shan punched the glass behind Li Feng.
Li Feng ignored him and Qiu Shi on the screen started talking.
But there was no sound.
"Is this connected in a surveillance-like manner?" Li Feng asked Director Wu.
"Yes." Director Wu stared at the screen.
Li Feng took the microphone: "Is this thing turned on?"
"It's open." said Director Wu.
"Qiu Shi, I can see you," Li Feng knocked on the microphone, "but I can't hear your voice or what you are saying."
"He can't hear," Qiu Shi said anxiously, "I saw Li Feng and Director Wu. I could hear Li Feng talking, but he said he couldn't hear what I said..."
"Write to him, Qiu Shi," Xing Bi's voice seemed to come from outside the window, a little far away, "Find a pen and some paper."
There is a pen on the table. Qiu Shi took the pen and lowered his head to find a piece of paper. It should be in the drawer.
The drawer opened and there was a notepad inside, which he took out.
"What to write?" Qiu Shi was a little nervous, holding the pen.
"Tell them that oxygen is limited," Xing Bi said, "Is there a general direction for opening the laboratory so that we can find it easily."
"Everyone in the lab is alive and uninjured," Li Feng on the screen was also talking to him, "The way to open the lab could be a set of passwords, it could be a physical key, or it could be any bullshit..." Qiu Shi lowered his head and wrote quickly on the paper, then raised a notepad in his hand and faced the camera.
There are words on it, but they are a little small.
Li Feng and Director Wu rushed to the screen at the same time, and their heads almost hit each other.
-You're running out of air.
"What does this say?" Director Wu shouted.
"Your handwriting... The teaching quality of our refugee school is really bad," Li Feng stared at the note for a few more seconds, "Are we running out of energy?"
"What do you mean we are running out of breath?" Director Wu's eyebrows were almost twisted into a knot.
"Don't curse me like that, Qiu Shi," Li Feng said, "You're running out of oxygen, aren't you? I know, Chen Dang said he can probably hold out for about ten days."
"Let him find the password." said Director Wu.
"Where are you?" Li Feng asked, "Qiu Shi, where are you? Are you with Xing Bi?"
Qiu Shi was very anxious. He didn’t really care if his handwriting was ugly. The key point was that he couldn’t write anymore.
"He asked me where I was and whether Xing Bi was with me or not," Qiu Shi said. "How the hell do you write that?"
"I'll do it." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi felt Xing Bi holding his right hand.
When I looked down, I saw that my hand holding a pen had already started writing on the paper.
Although Qiu Shi felt very dizzy and his mind was a little confused, his body's perception was becoming unclear little by little, he could no longer hear or see clearly, and Xing Bi's voice was gradually fading away.
He could feel time passing.
But he could still see that Xing Bi's handwriting was very beautiful.
He picked up the note and held it up to the screen.
-
In the general's office, there were two minutes left before the connection was lost.
-Does the chief technician know the password or method to open the lab
"General's office?" Li Feng was stunned, then turned to look at Director Wu, "Chief Technician?"
Director Wu stared at the words on the screen, his face filled with shock and indescribable confusion.
"Speak, Old Wu," Li Feng raised the gun in his hand and pointed it at Director Wu's forehead, "If you don't want to go out, just die now and save some oxygen."
"I'm not sure if they know it or not," Director Wu seemed not to notice that the gun was pointed at him, and was still immersed in the words "chief technician". "But it is possible that Director Lu instructed me to demote them because of the over-authority research."
"Qiu Shi," Li Feng looked at the screen, "did you hear that? They might know. Ask them. If they don't tell me, throw them into the general's office and never let them out again."
"Where is the general's office?" Director Wu seemed to be quite shocked. He turned to look at Mr. Long on the other side of the glass and said, "Where is the general? How come I don't know?"
"Cheng Gu took him away to interfere with Qiu Shi's ability to receive information." Li Feng said.
Cheng Gu came over and pulled Director Wu into the experimental cabin.
"Qiu Shi," Li Feng continued to look at the screen, "Can we make another connection after this one is interrupted?"
Qiu Shi, who was originally lowering his head to write something, suddenly raised his head, looked past the camera, looked forward, and said something in surprise.
Li Feng saw his lip shape, General.
Then the transmission was interrupted.
The screen returned to the black screen state it was in before it was turned off.
"Who are you!" The general pushed the door open and pulled out a gun as he saw Qiu Shi.
Before Qiu Shi could say anything, the general rushed to the table.
Qiu Shi tried to step back suddenly, but the general grabbed him.
The door was still open. Qiu Shi struggled to escape to the door, but he couldn't move.
While struggling, he saw a figure flash by outside the door.
"Qiu Shi!" Xing Bi's voice was far away and a little unclear.
"Qiu Shi!" The voice came again, "Listen to my voice, concentrate, one, three, five, seven..."
"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded.
"Pull the wire." said the short man.
Xing Bi pulled out the connecting wire from behind Qiu Shi's neck.
Qiu Shi's originally tense body suddenly softened and he leaned on Xing Bi.
"Let him lie down," said the tall man.
Before Xing Bi could lay him flat on the ground, Qiu Shi suddenly began to twitch.
"Normal reaction," the short man said, pulling out a black box from under the chair, "Normal reaction to nerve stimulation. Hold him down."
Qiu Shi's convulsions were so strong that Xing Bi couldn't hold him down by himself.
Lin Sheng and Xu Jie came over and grabbed his legs and arms together to control him.
"What is this?" Xing Bi looked at an injection that the short man took out from the black box.
Xing Bi's voice was hoarse and low, and the chill in it made the short man's hands tremble. He opened his mouth for a long time but couldn't utter a word.
"Special sedative." The tall man managed to hold on.
The short man came to his senses now and said quickly: "There are no side effects, and the shelf life is 100 years."
Xing Bi said nothing and stretched out his arm.
The short man reacted quickly, opened the syringe, stuck it into his arm, and pushed a little medicine in.
Xing Bi waited for a few seconds and said, "No need to change the medicine, just give him this."
The short man quickly lifted Qiu Shi's sleeve and pushed the remaining medicine into his arm.
"Is the dosage enough?" Lin Sheng asked.
"It's enough," the tall man said. "He's been enhanced. The dosage is less than that required by a normal human being."
The sedative took effect quickly. In less than ten seconds, Qiu Shi's convulsions slowly stopped. Xing Bi pinched his wrist.
The pulse is steady.
Breathing slowly returned to normal.
"Qiu Shi?" Xing Bi called him.
"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded, then frowned.
"It's okay, it's over." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi opened his eyes and stared upwards, seemingly still not coming to his senses.
After a while, he said, "The general came in suddenly. He didn't recognize me. We had a video conference together. He should have seen me before."
"This is the corresponding time when he enters the office," the short man explained. "It's normal for him not to recognize you before he sees you."
"Why didn't you tell me the general would suddenly come in at the end!" Qiu Shi sat up after recovering, "Fuck, he pointed a gun at me!"
"Can you control this time point?" Xing Bi asked.
"There is only one range. There is only one window of time to enter the office," the short man said, "but the specific time cannot be controlled."
"It was less than seven minutes and fifteen seconds just now," Xing Bi said, "How was this time determined?"
"We have them on us," the tall man said, "and Mr. Long, an ordinary human. In theory, Qiu Shiying should be able to hold on longer if the general hadn't come in."
"How do you feel?" Xing Bi looked at Qiu Shi.
"I felt like vomiting just now," Qiu Shi stood up slowly. His body was back under his control and he felt more at ease. He grabbed Xing Bi's hand and pinched it. "It was like a dream."
"It's almost like hypnosis." said the short man.
"Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere else?" Xing Bi asked.
"No more," Qiu Shi touched the back of his neck, "I'm a little thirsty."
"There is water in the monitoring room." said the short man.
"Please help me get some." said Qiu Shi.
"Let's go back and rest for a while," Xing Bi understood what he meant. "This thing can't be connected at such a high frequency. It uses the general's memory, which will also affect him."
Qiu Shi did not insist and followed Xing Bi out the door.
"Where is the general?" he asked. "What effect will it have on the general?"
"It has an effect on the general's brain," said the tall man. "The general's brain is somewhere else."
The General's Brain.
This strange word made Qiu Shi feel sick. He turned his head and looked at him: "What do you mean? The general's brain is separate from his body."
"There's no one left." The tall man said with a smile somewhat excitedly.
Qiu Shi stared at the two monitors and was silent for a while before turning around and walking away.
Back in the monitoring room, the two chief technicians stood in front of the surveillance screen and returned to their daily work.
The familiar and unchanging environment and work content turned them back into the frightened monitors who had been locked up here for twenty years without seeing the sun.
Lin Sheng and Xu Jie were in the monitoring room, and Qiu Shi called Xing Bi into the lounge next door.
"It's a bit too obvious." Xing Bi closed the door when he came in and said in a low voice.
"What..." Qiu Shi was stunned for a moment, then he laughed after realizing what he was doing, "You can actually think of these things at this time."
"What's wrong?" Xing Bi asked in a low voice, "Did you find anything just now?"
"Director Wu said that the reason they were locked up here was because of their over-authority research," Qiu Shi whispered, "I think they should know a lot. I can ask them about the password."
"Yeah." Xing Bi nodded.
"Also, if they don't cooperate," Qiu Shi frowned, "I want to go in again quickly, maybe there will be other clues."
"Why? Any clues?" Xing Bi asked.
"There was another person outside the general's office door," Qiu Shi said, "but I couldn't see his face clearly. He just walked past the door."
"Can you see anything else except the face?" Xing Bi asked.
"His hair and beard are all white," said Qiu Shi.
Xing Bi was stunned.
The author has something to say:
To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.