Chapter 111 Expectations
In the pure white space, on the familiar sofa, a ball of light bounced around and floated in the air.
It was unknown when this habit emerged, which gave it a way to vent its emotions. Shi Xu, who was harassed as a landing point, cursed and pinched the light ball into his palm.
"When do you plan to wake the vest up?" The light ball stayed obediently in the palm of his hand, and shook its fur and asked curiously, "The protagonist group has already set off to the dungeon. Although the next plot is not our home field, we still have to prepare in advance, right?"
As a creator of vests, the light ball would always visit the ward in its spare time and have some contact with the other person's consciousness which was split into two from Shi Xu's. Sometimes when I met a trio, I would just stay quietly by the bed with them.
Should we say that it was thanks to the black fog and external forces? The problem that was originally worrying was inexplicably solved, the complete consciousness was forcibly separated, and finally they had their own space and no longer had the persistent desire for integration. This also means that in the comics, Qi Heng and Bai Zhou, two characters who have never met each other while awake, finally have the possibility to talk face to face.
"Don't worry, I've thought about it several times in my mind, so I'm sure there won't be any problems in reality." The young man waved his hand perfunctorily and slumped on the sofa, bored. "I want to ask, can my split consciousness be reunited?"
That weird feeling of facing yourself as if looking in a mirror, can't last a lifetime, right?
The ball of light nudged him and said, "Of course! We are one from the beginning, so fusion is a natural thing. It's just that it's easier to come back than to go out."
"How is it? How does it feel to be half conscious sleeping and half working?" It became curious again.
Shi Xu smiled: "It's good, it feels like a split personality."
Coupled with Lu Qingyuan's constant surveillance, his condition was aggravated. Shi Xu even felt that he could be admitted to a psychiatric ward without pain, adding a highlight to his life resume.
...Speaking of Lu Qingyuan. The young man lowered his eyes in thought, rubbing his fingertips across his lips.
Ever since he forcibly brainwashed this cultist in that space, as a carrier of huge energy conversion, he has suffered side effects similar to those of a psychic. That sudden backlash always hits my heart, turning into sticky blood that flows down from the tip of my nose or the corners of my lips, flowing between my lips and tongue with a sweet and fishy taste.
My eyes also hurt a little. Shi Xu pressed his eyeballs through his eyelids, swirling them gently to soothe himself, trying to stop the stinging pain.
Continuous energy was transmitted from the thread connecting the two, and the value representing the heat value slowly fell downward. In order to avoid touching the "anti-hacker mode" in Lu Qingyuan's mind, Shi Xu and the light ball paid the heaviest price so far.
He had been recuperating in the space for the past three days, with sleep alone taking up most of his time. Occasionally, he would choke on the blood that flowed into his throat without him noticing. When it woke up, what caught its eyes was a ball of light that was venting its emotions due to the continuously decreasing heat value. It was bouncing in the air, relieving its pain.
…
"It's not a big problem." The young man wiped the blood from his mouth and nose casually, but it left more marks on his face. He ignored the miserable scream of the light ball after it turned around and discovered this scene. He just lowered his eyes without any energy. "Apart from bleeding and eye pain, there are no other side effects. I think I'll be fine after Lu Qingyuan is done."
"There's no need to be so panicked. It doesn't matter to me." Shi Xu couldn't help laughing at the panic of the light ball jumping up and down. But the next second, he was choked and frowned, covering his mouth and coughing.
"You are not allowed to talk!" The light ball threw the tissue at him, pushed the water on the table to the edge, and finally condensed a ball of soft energy, covering the young man's body.
After a series of moves, the young man finally had some space to catch his breath. He leaned against the back of the sofa with his head down, waiting for the bleeding to stop. That beautiful face was now stained with blood, which flowed from the neck into the deep collar, leaving red spots on the white shirt. He looked utterly miserable.
But those eyes were as indifferent as ever, with eyelashes drooping quietly, and no one knew what he was thinking. After the backlash subsided, he changed his clothes, washed his face, and lay back down, falling asleep again.
The ball of light curled up silently beside him and also became quiet.
By today, perhaps his body had finally gotten used to it, or Lu Qingyuan's consciousness had finally gotten tired. In any case, the rare peace made Shi Xu very satisfied. His clear mind after a good sleep made him regain interest in work.
The things that he had not had time to think deeply about these days were written down in a notebook. The young man picked up the notebook on the table and opened it to check.
On the paper, the unruly handwriting due to sleepiness and irritability occupied two lines of space, and one could barely make out the mood of the person holding the pen at that time.
"Lu Qingyuan, at 2:26 in the morning, I received a communication from the Dark Nest, the method was brain transmission."
Yes, in the early hours of yesterday morning, there was a noticeable buzzing sound coming from the connection of the silk threads, and the fluctuation of the internal mental network instantly woke Shi Xu up from his dream.
Lu Qingyuan lay on the bed with her eyes open. She did not respond to the inquiry, but her muscles subconsciously stiffened and her body straightened.
This should be the Dark Nest's communication method. The communication adapter is most likely the black bug in the brain. It seems that in addition to "protecting" the mental network, it has other functions.
Of course, it is also an exclusive method for important personnel, and the acquisition process is harsh. Otherwise, the caught cultists would have taken advantage of this function to escape long ago, and there would be no need to pin them to the ground.
Shi Xu took a deep breath, forced his brain to be clear, then controlled Lu Qingyuan's thoughts, connected the communication with his intuition, and waited for the thrilling conversation that followed.
Could it be that leader? The young man and the ball of light looked at each other and both held their breath and concentrated. The instruments nearby began to analyze frantically, trying to forge a "real" Lu Qingyuan without being noticed by the person communicating.
Although he had a rough understanding of this person's true temperament, compared to those who had actually come into contact with Lu Qingyuan, it was still very risky to rashly OOC.
Fortunately, God has eyes and did not issue an S-level difficulty task in such a sudden scenario. Maybe Lu Qingyuan had contacted her and explained the next actions, or maybe the leader was still in hiding, and the person who called was just a cultist of the same level, asking about the completion of her mission.
He even introduced himself before he appeared. Although his tone was frivolous and annoying, he included all the necessary information... He really made Shi Xu cry.
Without hesitation, Shi Xu imitated Lu Qingyuan's tone and angrily told the man everything that happened that day. His emotions were very accurate and his words were all fabricated.
After he finished his selfish speech, the androgynous young voice sounded again from the other side. The tone was devoid of camaraderie and full of sarcasm.
In this case, I should not have guessed wrongly about the way these two people get along with each other. Combined with the analysis of Lu Qingyuan's true face, the tone of the reply is probably not much different. Shi Xu tapped the table lightly, the cool touch of his fingertips faintly visible.
"Ha, so it's a failure, right?" He sneered, chewing something in his mouth, making the sound unclear.
"I don't care about the daytime, the government, or anything like that. If you fail, you fail. I don't know how you got the nerve to declare to me that this mission will definitely succeed and that you can let the leader know how much you have grown, but...ha."
He laughed wantonly, and said in a tone that would make the real Lu Qingyuan die of anger on the spot: "This is really hilarious. A third-rate bastard who came out of nowhere beat you up like this. It seems that during the time I was away, you guys have become more and more rubbish than each other."
Competitors? He sounds like a very childish and arrogant person, which makes him easy to deal with... By the way, could this person have called me in the middle of the night just to make fun of his colleagues?
Shi Xu was politely silent for a moment, and then asked angrily in Lu Qingyuan's tone: "So what? I failed, and I didn't bring back that special body, but I cleared the government's suspicion of me, which means that there are still countless opportunities for me, and success is only a matter of time."
"Ha, a guy who will be buried at any time, you don't really think he can be more valuable than me? My contributions in the past two years are obvious to all."
The woman chuckled, her soft voice entwined like a venomous snake, spitting out corrosive venom: "Don't bother me when I'm in a bad mood, trash."
The silent man changed his identity.
Shi Xu leaned drowsily on the sofa, waiting for the next reply from the other side.
Nothing more happened.
The communication was cut off, the mental network returned to silence, and the connecting threads also returned to stability, showing that there was one more person who had broken through defense in this world.
"..." Shi Xu opened his eyes speechlessly.
That’s it?
——
That's all that happened. The young man touched his chin and ended his recollection.
I still remember how speechless I felt at that time, but fortunately the result was very good. I not only got some information, but also understood the current situation - Lu Qingyuan's identity is now safe, and the mocking cultist didn't find anything wrong, so it naturally won't affect the following plot.
In order to prevent the seeds of doubt from being planted so quickly, the copy that the protagonist group is responsible for must not have any problems. Even if Lu Qingyuan does not do anything, there are enough reasons to explain that the situation in the Dark Nest is still within the controllable range.
Then, this part of the task only requires waiting.
"Let's think about the plot of the vest next." Shi Xu decisively switched the question and clapped his hands crisply, "Xiao Guang, do you have any clues?"
The ball of light fell into deep thought.
"I think..." It shook its fur seriously, becoming inexplicably excited. "We definitely can't wake up before the protagonists come back. We need a surprise! We need an explosion! We need to shock everyone, including the readers, in ways they never imagined! Only in this way can we gain more heat and replenish the energy we've lost!"
“As long as we have the dramatic qualities that are unique to comics, without losing the original intention of shonen manga, our comics will be perfect!!”
Lots of exclamation marks, diagnosed as late stage of heat value desire. Shi Xu smiled and applauded for it.
"Then let's use the most standard method. It's time to wake up." The young man moved on the paper and wrote a piece of writing in a blink of an eye.
There was a smile on his face, as if he was amused by the scene he expected to happen. Even his initial lethargy disappeared, leaving only the evil feeling of being eager to cause trouble.
The words representing the preliminary plan appeared on the paper. Shi Xu glanced at it and nodded with satisfaction.
"Yes, you are becoming more and more proficient." He added words casually, ignoring the itching in his throat and the tingling deep in his pupils. He just thought to himself, "I guess success is just a matter of time, right?"
A familiar sweet and fishy smell emerged from his throat. The young man covered his lips and coughed a few times with a smile in his eyes.
That's really interesting.
"Well, I hope you like the script I carefully rehearsed."
…
As if he was aware of something, in the ward far away, the boy's eyelashes trembled suddenly, but quickly returned to calm.
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