Who
Shi Youchen woke to a trio of knocks on the door, the doorbell, and the phone ringing. His sleep, which had been suspended for a while, had been remarkably sound, and even waking up in the midst of the noise didn't cause any discomfort.
"Oh my god, you're finally awake! There's a commotion outside!" As soon as the door was opened, Lin Zhouze took off his shoes and rushed into the kitchen. He was busy getting himself a can of milk from the refrigerator, and he sank down on the sofa while drinking it in one gulp.
"I called you more this morning than I have in a month, and you didn't answer. I was so scared I stood outside for half an hour." Lin Zhouze howled for a long time, his mouth dry. Now he felt relieved. "If the information center system hadn't shown that you were still at the base, I wouldn't have done that. Luckily, there's only one dormitory on the first floor, otherwise I'd be scared of getting beaten up."
Shi Youchen listened to his mumbling, washed his face and came out of the bathroom: "What's the hurry?" In fact, he was just asking symbolically, after all, he could figure it out with his feet.
"Are you feeling unwell? You managed to sleep this late today." Lin Zhouze asked excitedly. "Hurry up and read the association's announcement. Something big has happened!" While Shi Youchen was flipping through the information, he couldn't help but say, "Forget it, I'll tell you. I have more comprehensive information."
So Shi Youchen followed suit and put away the screen, listening again to the Mo family incident that he had already known about.
"...That's about it." The little water Lin Zhouze had just replenished was almost gone, so he went to get two cans of milk in his slippers. As he walked back, he kept muttering, "Why do you only have water and milk at home? You recently released a new flavor of juice. Do you want to try it?"
Shi Youchen: "There is tea, but you don't like it."
Lin Zhouze: "Forget it then."
Then a long silence fell. Shi Youchen observed Lin Zhouze calmly, noticing that his crossed leg was dangling unconsciously, his toes tapping occasionally, and his hands moving constantly.
Obviously, he was not as relaxed as he appeared to be.
"You tell me." At this moment, Lin Zhouze slumped against the backrest and said, "If this is really the work of the Maintenance Bureau, then their power is too terrifying. If this continues, can the association really operate as well as before?"
He rolled over and lay on the side armrest, burying his face in the velvet. His voice was muffled: "Ever since their so-called 'direct declaration of war,' the association has barely made any effective counterattack. I'm starting to suspect there's a traitor."
Shi Youchen: "..." He secretly sighed that Lin Zhouze was too innocent to even think that way. "What if there is? What if it's someone you know? What would you do?" He rarely asked rhetorical questions in a row, so he was a little surprised when Lin Zhouze answered: "Then I would definitely ask him why. After all, he can't be so good to me and then betray me for no reason. That would be too strange."
"But after knowing the reason, I might still stand on the side of the association."
Shi Youchen: “Why?”
Lin Zhouze looked up: "Nothing in the world is perfect. Where there is light, there is darkness. Your righteousness may be rebellion to me, but a position is a position. Different positions make up this world."
"You take care of yours, and I'll take care of mine."
Lin Zhouze seemed simple, but he was actually very principled. Only someone like him could speak so freely. Shi Youchen looked away: "Even if old friends meet on the battlefield?"
Before anyone could answer, a base announcement rang out from inside the room: "Notice from the Psychic Global Management Association headquarters: All districts will close all cross-district mission windows starting at midnight tonight. All forms of cross-district activities are also prohibited. From midnight to midnight tomorrow, all psychics are requested to keep their wristband data connected to the terminal. All non-psychic association members will enter the designated areas of each district base in batches according to their work numbers."
"Second notice, all districts tonight..."
A countdown of "12:46:03" automatically appeared above Shi Youchen's bracelet. The numbers kept jumping, and it was exactly the time left until midnight tonight. "What does it mean?" he asked.
Lin Zhouze: "The Information Center hasn't received any notification either. I guess it's an association-wide review. It's just the irregular screening and updating of all data that's been going on. You can think of it as system maintenance." He stood up and stretched. "This time, I think they're also trying to screen for traitors. I'll go back and prepare."
Shi Youchen watched him leave, "A traitor...?"
Four hours later, in an old residential building in the southeast of Z City, a man stood in front of a door that hadn't been visited in a while, fiddling with the old lock. "Xiaochen?" The woman who lived upstairs, carrying vegetables by, recognized the figure and called out, "Oh, it's you, Xiaochen! I haven't seen you in a while!"
The man turned around and it was Shi Youchen who had specially run out of the base.
"Aunt Liu." He responded, "I came back to get some things." The neighbor aunt named Liu greeted her warmly: "Oh, my old man and I were worried that you were suffering alone. We are relieved to see that you are safe. Come here, Auntie has some fresh vegetable leaves that I just picked this morning. Take some!" She grabbed a handful from the colorful bag and stuffed it into Shi Youchen's arms without saying a word, then went downstairs with a smile.
Shi Youchen glanced at the green leafy vegetables in his arms, then looked at the door lock that had not been opened and sighed.
The leaves were washed clean, with clear water droplets still clinging to them. Shi Youchen glanced around at the ground at his feet. The old cement floor was covered in dust and stains. He couldn't bear to let go, so he folded one arm and leaned over to reach the door lock with his key.
The old-fashioned lock key was not easy to insert, and after several unsuccessful attempts, his neck was already hot and covered with a thin layer of sweat.
Shi Youchen unconsciously began to feel a little irritated, and it turned out that the more anxious he was, the worse it would be. With a "ding-dong" sound, the key fell out of the lock and landed on the ground. He looked at the dusty key at his feet, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and changed his arms to hold the vegetable leaves. Just as he was about to bend down to pick them up,
The door lock made a "click" sound, and when his elbow touched it, the security iron door creaked open.
The key was wiped off the dust and lay in the dusty palm, its grooves covered with indelible rust.
Shi Youchen sat on a wooden stool, rubbing the rough rusty surface with his fingertips. He was very sure that this key had always been carefully preserved and had never rusted before. Even when he first came back here, it was still clean and smooth.
On the table behind him was a plastic basket containing a handful of vegetables that Aunt Liu had just given him. However, the leaves were no longer fresh and dripping with moisture; they had become shriveled and yellow, and some had even begun to rot.
He thought of 07, or rather, of 07's abilities, and of that night in Area 9, when Frovitch's gun had been reduced to ash. It was a devastating blow, and 07's abilities were so powerful that even a brief contact with him could have a substantial impact on everything around him.
Shi Youchen gripped his key tightly and put it in his pocket. Having accomplished his goal for the day, he didn't feel relieved. The dusk light softly brushed across this old neighborhood, across the yellowed window frames of this old residential building.
The person in the house sat alone for a long time, and when he stood up again, the vegetables in the plastic basket had all rotted.
Shi Youchen found a long padlock that had been used in this house a few years ago, strung the side locks of the security iron door together, closed the lock buckle with force, and went downstairs carrying the plastic bag.
Each floor still had thirteen steps, the handrails still peeled to the point where their original color was unrecognizable, and the makeshift trash can at the corner still contained some cheap candy wrappers. Shi Youchen walked down the stairs, step by step, just as he always did every day.
But he knew that after tonight he would never be able to come back, just like those rotten vegetables in the plastic bag would never be on the table again.
He threw the bag into a passing garbage station, then walked across the familiar intersection, turned a corner, and arrived at the recently renovated bus stop. He sat on the bench and waited for the bus to the city transportation center, which came every ten minutes.
The street lights were on and the bus arrived on time in the drizzle. Shi Youchen pulled up his collar a little and got on the bus. He put in a coin that he had found while looking for the lock, then walked straight to the back door and sat down by the window.
From here to the city, one had to cross a bridge, then take a one-way direct bus from the transportation center back to the base, which took about two hours. He should be there before midnight. Shi Youchen leaned against the car window, relaxing a little. The sound of raindrops hitting the windowpane was somewhat soothing, and he unconsciously closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, there was a person standing by the back door. Shi Youchen stretched his neck and limbs, his dry eyes blurring with vision. Suddenly, he felt that the person standing in front of him looked familiar.
The bus was about to cross the river bridge. The next stop should be on the second section of road after crossing the bridge, but it was still far away. It was a winter weekday evening, rainy and snowy, so few people were out and about, and even fewer were taking this bus. When Shi Youchen boarded, there had been four or five people, but now, besides the driver and himself, who had just woken from a nap, he was the only one left standing.
Shi Youchen, who quietly observed the situation by stretching his arms, immediately realized that something was amiss.
The vehicle was moving forward at a steady speed, so he stood up and walked to the front driver's seat and asked the driver in a natural voice: "Master, should we stop at Shuangjiang Road?" Shuangjiang Road is the second street fork after crossing the bridge. Logically, an experienced driver would give him a positive answer, and at the very least, a novice driver should let him check the map and road signs himself.
But the driver didn't react.
Shi Youchen's grip on the handle tightened. He tried calling out again, "Master?" The other driver continued staring ahead, ignoring him. The houses and roadway outside the car window vanished, replaced by the dark river, sporadically reflecting the colors of streetlights. A thin mist hung over the river under the rain, unlike the shimmering waters of daytime.
The driver's hands moved, his eyes still fixed on the road ahead, but he turned the steering wheel to the right, and the dark surface of the river appeared to the right of the front window. The road and the river were gradually divided in half, with the streetlight pole as the dividing line.
Shi Youchen immediately reached out to pull the lever. Fortunately, the car still had an old, unmodified design, so he could still reach inside by standing outside the partition. However, the driver remained silent and made no effort to stop him.
At this moment, a voice came from the back: "How can you do such uncivilized behavior?"
Without a doubt, the voice came from the third person in the car. Shi Youchen, one hand on the steering wheel, tilted his head to look. The person suddenly swerved, the car moving at a slightly unstable speed, and then walked forward leisurely, pulling down the hood of his sweatshirt as he walked.
The moment Shi Youchen saw that face, he loosened his grip and was nearly pulled back to the right by the driver. So he ignored the approaching person, held on tightly with both hands, and tried to move the driver's legs or open the partition.
"The brakes have been removed. It can't stop," said a voice close by. "You were supposed to sink to the bottom of the river with it, but unfortunately you woke up early. So I'll have to give you a ride."
Shi Youchen no longer cared what the man said. He now had only one thought in mind, which was to save the driver no matter what.
No one else should be implicated because of him.
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