"Are you crazy?" Wang Hong covered his neck and yelled at Xing Bi.
"No," Xing Bi looked at him, "If Qiu Shi doesn't wake up, you two will die in four hours."
Each of them was given one needle. Wang Hong and Zhang Tan were given two needles in the neck by Lin Sheng at a speed that no human could dodge. The name of the medicine on the syringe was also shown to them.
"It's just opened, and the shelf life is three days." Lin Sheng said.
"It's not us who made him unable to wake up," Wang Hong said, "He has been strengthened. He may be more sensitive to information than ordinary humans, and more likely to..."
"You didn't mention this 'maybe' in the notes," Xing Bi said, "You only said that he is more suitable than ordinary humans."
"It's true that he is more suitable than ordinary humans!" Zhang Tan was so anxious that he entered the chief state and spoke without stuttering. "But we didn't know this would happen because we haven't strengthened the human connection. This is an experiment. The seven minutes and fifteen seconds were also the result of our repeated attempts."
"But you are not unable to come back." Xing Bi said.
"Are you being unreasonable?" Zhang Tan looked at him.
"No," Xing Bi said, "Human beings are reasonable, but biological beings are never reasonable."
Zhang Tan opened his mouth but said nothing.
"You still have four hours to live." Lin Sheng reminded.
"Does the biochemical body have the ability to kill the chief technician?" Wang Hong shouted.
"There's nothing I dare not kill," said Xing Bi.
"He is Xing Bi," Lin Sheng said, "When you appointed him, you must have known who he was. Qiu Shiyao couldn't come back, and he killed Mr. Long and Li Feng together. What's the point of being the chief?"
"Warehouse managers," Xing Bi said, "You are warehouse managers now. After Qiu Shi returns safely, opens the laboratory, rescues the people inside, and sorts out the mess in the general's mind, you will become the chief technicians."
Wang Hong stared at him, and after a while he suddenly squatted on the ground, holding his head and crying.
"Human emotions are too unstable." Xu Jie said.
"Don't cry," Xing Bi looked at Wang Hong, then at Zhang Tan, "solve the problem, Chief."
"Let's go get the testing equipment over here. The lab is locked, and we don't have the latest ones," Zhang Tan said as he walked out. "He just asked you to talk to him, so go ahead and stimulate him to see if he responds."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded, looked down, and let go of Qiu Shi's hand that he had been holding.
Qiu Shi's palm had been pinched by him, and blood was slowly seeping out and dripping along the palm lines.
Xing Bi hooked a chair next to him and sat next to Qiu Shi.
Qiu Shi's eyes were open, staring blankly and unfocused ahead, as if in a trance. The lines connecting the back of his neck made him look like an unfinished biochemical body.
"Qiu Shi," Xing Bi didn't dare to let go of Qiu Shi's hand. Compared to the sound, the touch seemed to be more real, but even the pain couldn't make Qiu Shi react. He pressed Qiu Shi's bleeding palm on his shoulder, "Listen to my voice. You have to listen to what you can hear."
"What do you want to hear? How exciting is exciting?" Xing Bi said softly, placing a hand on Qiu Shi's chest. "My teacher once took me to a wedding. When I was still 'Little Xing Bi', I heard a human say 'I love you' for the first time, but I couldn't understand it. My teacher said there are many kinds of love. Love can be thrilling, or it can be long-lasting. If you're unlucky, it can be a reunion. There are many endings to love, but the beginnings are all similar. Once you feel it, you'll know..."
Xing Bi took Qiu Shi's hand from his shoulder and took a look. The bleeding had stopped. He put Qiu Shi's hand against his face and said, "I don't know when it started, but when I felt it, it seemed like a long time had passed. This is the only emotion I don't have a human sample for, but it's very clear and definite..."
The door had closed behind him. Qiu Shi looked at the pieces of paper that kept shaking in front of him. According to the chiefs, this was the room they had seen that contained all the passwords. These were the general's passwords, displayed in front of him one by one on palm-sized pieces of paper.
Although these papers made him dizzy, upon closer inspection, there were not too many of them, and some of them were even repeated.
But what made Qiu Shi despair was that he didn't know what these numbers, letters and various symbols corresponded to. They were all passwords. What were they used for
"Shit." Qiu Shi picked up two of them and held them in his hand. He planned to try to raise his hand in the air and copy all the codes. Maybe his hand could still move and...
When Qiu Shi saw his hand, he was stunned. There was a scar on his palm that had just stopped bleeding.
He was injured, but didn't even notice it.
This is the left hand that Xing Bi has been holding. This injury should have been caused by Xing Bi in order to call him back, but he didn't feel anything.
At that moment, he couldn't tell what he felt. He didn't know if this space made him dull, or if the despair was too intense and he no longer cared about it.
He looked at the wound on the palm of his hand and rubbed it again, but felt nothing. Not only could he not feel Xing Bi's hand, he couldn't even feel himself.
"Fuck your ancestors," he said.
After raising his head and looking at the codes around him, he calmed himself down and decided that since he couldn't go back now and wasn't feeling any pain or anything like that, he might as well just give it a go.
He walked to the door and opened it carefully. Although he had risked his life, he still remembered the chief's words and must not let the general see him.
The door opened. In order not to miss the password room, he did not walk out, but just stood at the door and looked out.
This door was pointed out to him by the old man with white beard, which at least proved that the old man with white beard knew why he came and had no ill intentions. He even boldly guessed that the old man with white beard wanted to help him. After all, he would have avoided the door when the chief came in.
"Hey, old man!" He tried to shout softly outside.
This felt very strange because he couldn't be sure where his voice could be heard, or maybe it could be heard nowhere.
"I am Xing Bi's partner."
This guy with white beard must be Xing Bi’s teacher.
Just as he would react when he heard the name Xing Bi, after he said Xing Bi's name, White Beard appeared at the end of the corridor in front of the left side of the door.
"You can hear me." Qiu Shi whispered, "You can actually hear me, what's wrong with me... Xing Bi, can you hear me?"
Whitebeard walked towards him, looking a little nervous. He walked very slowly and seemed to be listening for any movement.
The general should have entered the office by now. Not to mention the five minutes, even the seven minutes and fifteen seconds limit should have passed long ago.
Qiu Shi, you are trapped here.
… No, what is Whitebeard listening to? What is he hiding from
Hiding from the biochemical body
Who? Which one
Whitebeard took a few steps, and Qiu Shi saw that the end of the corridor behind him began to darken.
What the fuck is this
Qiu Shi stared at that place, looking at the end of the corridor which was getting darker and darker as if the light was being drained away bit by bit.
Can I go back now
Qiu Shi scratched the wound on his palm that had just stopped bleeding. There was no pain, but the blood was flowing out again.
When he looked up again, the corridor had become darker and the middle section also began to darken. Qiu Shi realized something was wrong.
It's not that the light in the corridor is dim.
There was something, something like black mist.
Maybe it was because he had seen too little of the world, but the only similar scene he could think of was the thick black fog surrounding the nest.
Whitebeard seemed to be attracted by him and kept looking at him as he walked over here.
"Behind!" Qiu Shi pointed behind him.
Whitebeard didn't turn around, still looking at him.
"Run!" Qiu Shi yelled.
"I don't just want to kiss you," Xing Bi held Qiu Shi's hand, "I also want to touch you, your back, waist, legs, and take off your clothes..."
"Run..." Qiu Shi said, retracting his fingers slightly.
"Qiu Shi?" Xing Bi suddenly raised his head and looked at Qiu Shi's face.
"His hand." Xu Jie said.
Xing Bi looked at Qiu Shi's hand. The wound that had already scabbed over had broken and blood was seeping out again.
"Does this mean we can unplug those wires?" Xing Bi looked at the two chiefs.
"No," Wang Hong looked at the reading on the instrument, "He didn't respond to you. He didn't hear your voice. Something happened to him over there."
"What happened?" Xing Bi asked.
"I think..." Zhang Tan turned his head and looked at Xing Bi, "Maybe he ran into that old man. The old man has been hiding."
"Why didn't the old man hide from Qiu Shi?" Xing Bi asked.
"I don't know," Zhang Tan said, "or maybe he was chasing after the boss. I think he's capable of doing something like this."
Xing Bi didn't say anything and his eyes fell back on Qiu Shi's face.
It is possible that Qiu Shi could really do such a thing. He could already feel it when he first met Qiu Shi. Qiu Shi was the kind of person who was both knowledgeable and unsure. After all, he was a man who grew up safely outside the city with a group of corpse collectors relying on his intuition, loyalty and violence.
Since he can see the old man, and he is almost certain that the old man is Xing Bi’s teacher, Xing Bi’s teacher must be a good person. Even if he only has a partial consciousness, he will choose to believe that this part is good.
Since it is good, then go and get in touch with it.
Xing Bi raised his hand and gently stroked his face.
This is Qiu Shi, simple and crude.
"Where were we talking about just now?" Xing Bi said softly.
"Speaking of taking off clothes." Xu Jie said.
"Let's turn off the team call." Xing Bi turned his head and looked at him.
“We can still hear it even if it’s turned off,” Lin Sheng said, “It’s all in this room.”
"Qiu Shi," Xing Bi didn't care whether they could hear him or not. He just hoped that Qiu Shi could hear him. "I told you before... the biochemical body of sexual service..."
Whitebeard finally started running, but gestured to him as he ran.
The gesture was simple and Qiu Shi could understand it.
Whitebeard asked him to close the door.
"Close the door?" Qiu Shi frowned. "Don't run away when I asked you to close the door! You are running like this just to get in! Why should I close the door? Run!"
But he also understood that Whitebeard really wanted him to close the door. The black mist behind him was not simply spreading towards the corridor. The black mist was chasing Whitebeard.
The front end of the black fog seemed to have something alive, constantly rolling like the fuse of a poisonous snake, trying to touch the old man with white beard who was running in front with his beard untied.
This is what he's hiding from.
But the chiefs said that the old man was hiding from a biological body.
What does this black fog have to do with the biochemical body
Whitebeard was getting closer and closer to him, and Qiu Shi felt very nervous.
"I will tell you the details of the sexual services when you come back..."
What
It was Xing Bi's voice.
What the fuck is sexual service? Who serves whom
Whitebeard had already run to the door. He didn't have time to think and quickly stepped aside. When Whitebeard jumped into the room, the door closed.
The black fog was locked outside the door.
Qiu Shi turned his head and saw White Beard lying on the ground, not moving for a long time.
"Hey, dead?" he asked.
"Almost there." said Whitebeard.
It was an old voice, but the tone was not old, and it sounded quite energetic.
For Qiu Shi, being able to hear sounds in this place that did not come from his own dimension was a bit strange, with a sense of unreality like that after tinnitus.
"What's your name, young man?" Whitebeard got up from the ground.
Qiu Shi did not answer the question, but just looked at him: "You let me into this room, you know what I'm looking for, right?"
"Are you Xing Bi's partner?" asked White Beard.
"Are you Xing Bi's teacher?" Qiu Shi asked.
Whitebeard laughed: "I haven't heard this name for a long time."
"That's it," Qiu Shi had an indescribable feeling. Looking at the friendly smile of the old man in front of him, he suddenly realized some of Xing Bi's emotions, wrapped in desperate longing, "Xing Bi misses you very much."
"It's been a long time," Whitebeard said, "The memory of a biochemical body will not blur or fade. This is really... a very painful weakness."
"Teacher, have you been here all the time?" Qiu Shi asked, "How did you get in?"
"I don't remember, but I can only stay here," Whitebeard looked at him, "In this room, it's safe here. 249 can't enter this room. This room is not a memory fragment in the conventional sense."
"What is 249?" Qiu Shi asked.
"The data of a biochemical body," Whitebeard said, "With your level of knowledge, you may not have enough time to understand it. After you go out, Wang Hong and Zhang Tan can explain it to you."
"You still know them?" Qiu Shi was a little surprised.
"I know a lot of meaningless things," Whitebeard said, "This is memory after all. What the general can remember, I may know."
"Then why don't you recognize me?" Qiu Shi looked at him. "We had a video conference with the general. There is always a room with these memories."
"When you came in, the general didn't recognize you either... Do you know how many memories a person has? The ones you remember and the ones you don't remember are all here," Whitebeard said, looking up at the rooftops. "They are as numerous as the stars in the universe. Even if I open the door every moment, I may not be able to see the part where you are."
"It might be easier if you were in my mind," said Qiu Shi.
Whitebeard was stunned for a moment, then he laughed: "You will be more complicated. You seem to be a sensitive child. Sensitive people will remember more things, such as a stone, a tree, a snow, and a gust of wind."
A body, a face.
Maybe behind every door in his mind, there is a face he has seen before.
"What password are you looking for?" asked White Beard.
"The lab is locked," Qiu said. "We need to open it and rescue the people inside."
"Locked?" Whitebeard frowned. "Locked the bio-body?"
"There are biochemical beings and humans," Qiu Shi said. "It's a last resort for self-protection."
"I can also give you a massage, can you feel it? From the neck down, chest, lower abdomen, and then..."
"Fuck!" Qiu Shi was stunned and looked at Whitebeard, "Can you hear it? It's Xing Bi's voice."
"I can't hear him," White Beard said, "He's calling you to go back." "Xing Bi!" Qiu Shi shouted, "Can you hear him?"
"I can hear you," Whitebeard said.
“… I see.” Qiu Shi said, “You don’t have to say anything.”
"How can I let you know that I'm the only one who heard it if I don't say anything?" Whitebeard said, "Where did you go to school? The teaching quality is not good."
Qiu Shi was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help laughing: "You are really his teacher, that's right."
"Respond to him," Whitebeard said, "If you miss it, you can't go back."
"I... have to find the password first," Qiu Shi began to search through the floating papers one by one, "I don't know what my physical condition is like. Maybe I can't do it again. I have to find the password."
Whitebeard was also searching through the air one by one: "Do you know that if you miss this opportunity, you may never be able to go back?"
"I know." Qiu Shi said.
"Then you still..." White Beard looked at him.
"I never thought about going that far," Qiu said. "I just knew I couldn't come here for nothing."
"Is this too far-fetched?" asked White Beard.
"It's too far for me, I only want to see what's in front of me." Qiu Shi said, "To get to this day, too many people have paid too much, including me and Xing Bi. I can't let Li Feng die in here, otherwise it will all be in vain."
"Are you not afraid of death?" White Beard grabbed a few pieces of paper from the air.
"It depends on how you live your life." Qiu Shi said, "Teacher, do you have any message for Xing Bi? I'll tell him when I get out."
"No." Whitebeard handed him a piece of paper.
Fuck! Is the teacher so heartless
"Qiu Shi, I'm going to put my hand into your pants..."
Xing Bi's voice sounded again.
Fuck! Is Xing Bi such a rogue
After taking the paper handed over by White Beard, Qiu Shi looked down and was stunned.
There was a slanted building drawn on the paper. At the exposed bottom, there was a turntable-like thing with a circle of numbers next to it and four groups of numbers of different lengths below.
"This is how to open the laboratory," Whitebeard said, "Remember the location of this device and the number on the scale."
Oh my god! Qiu Shi was shocked. How the hell was he going to remember this
"Can you hear me? Qiu Shi, you always say you want to fuck your ancestors, am I your ancestor?"
… His ancestors!
Qiu Shi quickly pinched the cut on his palm. When the blood gushed out, he dipped his finger in it and began to write down the four groups of numbers in blood on his trouser leg.
"Xing Bi!" he shouted, glancing at Whitebeard as he wrote, "Teacher, please leave a message for Xing Bi. You are like a father to him."
"I'm not his teacher," Whitebeard said, "The teacher died a long time ago. I am just a small part of his consciousness. He and his teacher had complete memories from childhood to adulthood. He no longer needs a teacher. Just remembering him is enough."
Qiu Shi looked at White Beard and suddenly felt a strong sense of sadness.
"Qiu Shi?" Xing Bi's voice became clear.
"I heard it." Qiu Shi said, speaking to Xing Bi and also to White Beard.
Whitebeard smiled and pointed to his ears, indicating that he could no longer hear his voice.
"Pull it out." Wang Hong said.
The medical assistant quickly and decisively pulled out the needle from behind Qiu Shi's neck, then picked up another injection and injected it into Qiu Shi's arm.
When Qiu Shi woke up, he felt dizzy and was about to vomit the next second.
He found himself lying down, struggling to sit up.
"Slow down, slow down." Xing Bi's voice came from his ear, very close, very clear, with the familiar slightly low and granular feeling.
"Xing Bi." Qiu Shi grabbed a handful to the side. His eyes were still confused and he couldn't see clearly.
"Yes." Xing Bi grabbed his hand, "You're fine. You're back."
Qiu Shi suddenly felt at ease.
After being stunned for two seconds, as the chaos in front of him dissipated, he suddenly lowered his head and pulled at his trouser legs: "Fuck, did I write down those numbers? Did I..."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes," Xing Bi hugged him, "I wrote them all down. All four sets of numbers were written down."
Lin Sheng handed over a piece of white paper with a bunch of red numbers on it. They were all crooked and the order was impossible to tell. It was even difficult to tell that they were numbers.
"What the hell..." Qiu Shi was stunned. For a moment he felt desperate. What the hell was going on
Lin Sheng turned the paper over again. On the back were four groups of numbers of varying lengths: "I sorted them out in the order you wrote them."
"This is a turntable, it looks like a steering wheel," Qiu Shi said anxiously, fearing that he would forget. "It looks very large in scale. It's under the laboratory. The picture shows the laboratory. The turntable is under the floor, and there are numbers around it. I guess it's going to turn."
"Got it," Xing Bi pinched his face and turned his head to face him, "Lie down. I'll take you to the medical room now."
"Hospital?" Qiu Shi asked.
"No," Xing Bi said, "I know you definitely won't go to the hospital, so I made a temporary one in the lounge over there. You need to do some simple tests."
Only then did Qiu Shi realize that he was still next to the electric shock chair, and everyone in the room was looking at him.
He lay back on the bed.
As the medical assistant pushed the bed out, Qiu Shi suddenly thought of a very serious problem: "Xing Bi."
"Hmm?" Xing Bi, who was following beside him, responded.
"When you said those damn words..." Qiu Shi whispered, "was it in front of so many people?"
"Well," Xing Bi said, "Not only did he talk about it, he also took some actions."
"Fuck..." Qiu Shi closed his eyes, "You really are a biological being."
"Let me try something exciting." Xing Bi said.
"I didn't make you so excited!" Qiu Shi said, "I mean..."
"It's no use for me to confess my feelings to you," Xing Bi said, "I think this is the kind of excitement you want deep down."
"Bullshit." Qiu Shi said and opened his eyes again, "Did you confess?"
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
"Fuck, I didn't hear it." said Qiu Shi.
"The group call is recorded," Xing Bi said, "and can be played back."
"You are still on a group call?" Qiu Shi said.
"Yes," Xing Bi responded, "Let's have some fun together."
Qiu Shi laughed, and as he laughed he noticed that Xing Bi, who was looking down at him, had tears in his eyes.
"A first-level submersible guard," he raised his hand and tapped the corner of Xing Bi's eye, "Why do you cry so much?"
"I'm afraid you won't be able to come back." Xing Bi said.
"How is that possible?" Qiu Shi said, "I know you are here, so I must come back."
The author has something to say:
To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.