Chapter 48 Illusion "High Heel Kingdom?"

After the surprise, Xie Shuqin slowly calmed down.

As far as she knew, only [Decontamination] could allow the user to see the most fearful thing in the life of the person whose ability was absorbed, and this AI allowed her to see other people's fear at will. Isn't this a form of cheating?

Xie Shuqin silently lamented in her heart the development of human technology before the new century.

"Although it's a bit rude to directly peek into someone else's fear," Xie Shuqin said with a slight headache, "but knowing who is human is more important."

"What should I do to see their illusions?" Xie Shuqin asked it.

As the questioning continued, layers of marble walls were peeled back, revealing a semi-lying, cocoon-like experimental cabin inside.

The AI ​​replied, "You can decide whether to enter the experimental chamber. The switch is located to your right after you lie down. Simply flick the switch to start or end the fantasy."

"Also, this mechanical illusion was induced by chance, and the viewer can only make a random choice. We have detected a new living target approaching, and preliminary judgment is that this is an attempt to disable the mechanical illusion. Please make your choice as soon as possible."

Jie Shuqin lay down in it swiftly.

"Then let's get started."

As the keys were peeled off, when Xie Shuqin opened her eyes again, she found herself waking up in an empty and depressing room.

The AI ​​voice whispered, "You will enter the illusion from the perspective of the observer. Once you leave this room, only your right index finger will be free to control it, allowing you to choose whether to exit."

Xie Shuqin nodded and began to look around.

The room had no windows, only a closed door, a bed, and a mirror next to the door.

Xie Shuqin got out of bed and just stood up. She felt her vision suddenly rise up and almost tripped herself when she took the first step.

Seeing the familiar tuft of yellow hair in the mirror, she paused.

"So this is what 181's vision is like." Xie Shuqin couldn't help but sigh.

In order to ensure everyone's survival rate during ground missions, the base will strictly provide everyone with nutritious meals, so that the average height of men in the base is 180 cm and the average height of women is 170 cm.

Unfortunately for her, she was only 163cm tall, the shortest person outside of the slums. However, this also allowed her to operate the mecha more flexibly, which was a blessing in disguise.

Experiencing this perspective for the first time, Xie Shuqin couldn't help but look at it for a while before walking towards the door. She was surprised to find that she only needed to raise her hand slightly to touch the door frame, and immediately shed tears of envy.

As the door slowly opened, she felt her body gradually shrinking until it shrank to the size of a six-year-old child.

The loose hair on both sides of the temples was blown into a mess by the strong wind carrying sand and gravel. In front of me was a yellowish Gobi desert with only a few dead trees in the rustling water, and there were obvious signs of being bitten on the bark.

Before Xie Shuqin could figure it out, her body started moving on its own. She felt as if she was holding something cold and sharp in her hand, which hurt her arm. It must have been a scratch.

But the owner of the body floated quietly towards the dead tree like an unconscious ghost.

Gravel covered the few flowers and plants. She saw rusty blood dripping onto the ground from the dead trees, half-rotten corpses hanging on the branches, and some skeletons with only dry bones left but still scratching the bark.

Xie Shuqin finally understood. This was famine.

There was a large-scale outbreak of alien species, water sources were polluted, the ground was occupied, and the so-called eliminated humans who were thrown on the ground by the base could only wait for death in the old human residences on the ground.

After passing through layers of rotten wood, the owner of the body finally stopped.

Looking down slowly, Xie Shuqin first saw blood all over the floor, followed by a long steel pipe, and then the baby girl whose abdomen was pierced by the steel pipe.

Scales were faintly visible on the baby girl's deathly pale face. Her heart had clearly stopped beating, but she was still holding the index finger of this body with her thin hand.

Xie Shuqin quietly felt her heart beating violently. It hurt like she was punched, making her a little breathless.

She knew that this feeling came from the owner of this body. To be more precise, it was Baili Yunle who was drowning in illusions.

She saw Baili Yunle raise his hand and put the baby girl into the dug pit.

The thin body of the person in his arms slowly moved out of the steel pipe. Jie Shuqin clearly saw that the steel pipe also pierced Baili Yunle's abdomen.

"Why can't I die?" She heard Baili Yunle mutter in surprise, "Why can't I die with you?"

He won't die?!

Xie Shuqin was stunned, but before she could take any action, she saw Baili Yunle pull out the steel pipe without warning, and then forcefully stabbed it into her heart.

Xie Shuqin subconsciously moved her right hand and suddenly sat up in the experimental cabin.

Cold sweat covered her forehead, and the fear of death surged in her heart. She turned to the side and began to vomit, but waves of memories of blood echoed in her mind along with the nausea.

"I've detected that you're experiencing extreme mood swings. Do you need a bottle of energy water?"

As it spoke, a mechanical arm brought a glass of water filled with dust and insects and placed it in front of her.

"No, thank you." Xie Shuqin relaxed and lay down again. "I need to enter his illusion again. He can't hurt himself in the illusion."

"You cannot change any of the Illusionist's actions, and the Illusionist cannot sense your presence either."

"You can only enter the illusion of a conscious creature at random, and you cannot enter it a second time."

Xie Shuqin lay in the experimental chamber, slowly calming down, and asked it: "How can they get out of this illusion?"

"Restart the machinery, or they'll break free."

Xie Shuqin rubbed his solar plexus, at least the first step was not far from completion.

"Let's move on to the next one."

The sound of keystrokes rang out, and when Xie Shuqin opened her eyes again, she saw the familiar enclosed room still in front of her.

She just stood up when she suddenly twisted her ankle. Looking down, she found that the owner of this body was wearing a pair of black high heels.

"Oh my God, why is Dr. Yin Xiangrong wearing high heels in the illusion?" Xie Shuqin moved her feet with difficulty like a crab. Just as she walked to the mirror, she unexpectedly found an extra cabinet next to it.

She moved over with crab steps and opened the closet, which was full of high heels.

Xie Shuqin widened her eyes.

"They say that visions reveal what the visionary fears most." She looked at the densely packed black high heels and felt dizzy. "If I push open the door, won't I see a kingdom of high heels?"

As it turned out, she was overthinking it.

As soon as she opened the door, she woke up from her bed again. The white ceiling and the suffocating, enclosed space made her feel like she had entered another illusion.

But soon, the sound of weapons hitting the ground was heard outside the door, followed by a cold voice: "Dr. Yin Shu, please immediately send 301 back to the nursery base for training."

301? Does it refer to Yin Xiangrong?

"She developed consciousness too early and must be destroyed!" The voices coming out of her mouth were extremely cold at this moment, like a machine without emotions.

In contrast, Yin Shu almost collapsed and screamed: "Destroy? She is a human! Not a machine."

Those "machines" stepped on their heavy military boots and directly knocked away Yin Shu's body, which was a little thin due to staying in the laboratory for many years.

"Are you planning to defy the laws of survival? Everyone is directly under the jurisdiction of Area Zero. You should obey orders, not confront the military for the sake of so-called family ties."

Sector Zero? Is that the name of the place where humans gather on the surface before the base takes off?

Before Xie Shuqin could think about it, she quickly ran to the wall opposite the bed, pushed open the embedded hidden door, skillfully put on a medical mask, coat, and gloves, and then tremblingly put on the pair of nine-centimeter high heels.

Passing by the mirror, Xie Shuqin took a quick glance. It was the body of a child, about ten years old. Only when she stepped on high heels and wrapped herself tightly in layers of clothes did she look a bit like an adult.

But just as she was about to run to the computer, the noise outside finally reached its peak.

The door was kicked open, and the sound of gunshots seemed to echo in her ears. She could clearly feel the body trembling, and the heat of the heartbeat driving the blood throughout her body.

The child disguised as an adult lowered her head tightly. She could only watch the tender hands hidden under the gloves skillfully tapping the keyboard, and could only see the pair of black high heels hidden under the wide-leg pants under the computer.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and every step was the approach of the abyss.

In a flash, Xie Shuqin suddenly recalled fragments of her past at the preschool training center. She saw the girl, eyes numb, being pushed into one lab chamber after another, saw the screens filled with the words "provoke war" in every row and column, saw the girl's fear at discovering she had been subtly influenced, saw her powerless struggles and silent cries.

But it was of no avail.

Because every room, door, and electronic chip clearly states "Zone Zero Above All," "Law of Survival Above All," and "War Above All."

Finally, the footsteps faded away, and the pair of hands shaking in front of the computer slowly stopped.

Yin Shu rushed over and hugged her. In the silent laboratory where even the machines were turned off, the only sounds were their sobs.

"Does it hurt?" Yin Shu trembled as she tried to squat down and take off the high heels that didn't fit her feet well, but Yin Xiangrong dodged her as if he had been electrocuted.

Xie Shuqin didn't know what she was thinking at the moment, but she could feel the deep fear coming from her body.

She was afraid of these high heels because they left her feet covered in scars, but she was also afraid of taking them off because taking them off meant being taken back to the early childhood training center, being trained to be a radical who only knew how to start wars, losing herself and becoming a machine without humanity.

Xie Shuqin suddenly understood something.

No wonder Yin Xiangrong always wore high heels, even when conducting missions on the ground. This was a habit she developed in her childhood, or more accurately, a fear, a demon within her heart.