Man is iron, rice is steel
Zheng Nuo spoke before anyone in the room said anything and sighed.
"The higher-ups demanded that the data not be destroyed but handed over in full. Otherwise, according to the law on ghost stories, criminal liability will be pursued."
Everyone in the analysis team was stunned. After a little inevitable sense of relaxation at no longer having to take responsibility, they collectively felt an indescribable heaviness.
But then, what Zheng Nuo said made them all stunned.
"This is an important bargaining chip. The current plan is to use the method of public destruction as one of the bargaining chips, so that the whole world can unite and gather all the strange items that can lead to another world."
Zheng Nuo knew they had misunderstood something, so he quickly explained it.
"Under this premise, a series of issues such as the number of people stationed at the base, resource allocation, time and location of entry and exit, etc. need to be discussed again. The noise over there is crazy right now."
"So... no one will be sacrificed by this method?"
"Not necessarily. I can't give a definite answer, but I can say that if we can find a better way, we won't use human lives to be lazy."
Zheng Nuo leaned against the wall, looking obviously tired - she had only slept three or four hours for several days.
As the external communication representative of the group, she had finally explained the pros and cons clearly to everyone - using this method to open a channel to an alternate dimension would inevitably lead to more strangeness.
All parties communicated and applied again and again, layer by layer. If they had not obtained the right to report to the higher authorities from the representatives of each research group, the situation would be even more troublesome now.
"From the perspective of interests, judging from our leader's performance before he died and after he became a monster, it seems that after a large amount of bipolar abilities are washed away, the individual will be greatly strengthened.
If the anomalies caused by this spread to the global level, the uncontrollable impact will be unbearable for us.
From another perspective…if you enter the stage of competing for human lives, you can no longer step on the brakes. You researchers should know best the new theories, new research and scientific benefits brought by weirdness.
Anyway, you guys continue to do your research, and our research group will handle the rest."
Zheng Nuo waved his hand and walked out of the door leisurely, with a smile on his face.
"After all, the world won't work without us, so our opinions are very important."
For Zheng Nuo, being able to stand at the center of power and influence or even participate in decision-making is her life goal. Even she did not expect that she could reach the threshold of such a goal at this age.
The analysis team looked at Zheng Nuo, who was only in her early twenties, and hesitated for a moment before someone called her.
"Being involved in this kind of decision... aren't you afraid of making a mistake?"
Zheng Nuo turned around, squinted his eyes and smiled.
“The most perfect friend I could ever imagine in life once told me that if you do nothing, you can’t change anything.”
——————
"If you don't do anything, nothing will change. That's the only thing my... well, blood family has taught me."
Ji Yunding squatted down, extended his hand in a friendly manner, and tried to smile.
Problems will not solve themselves, no matter how hard you try to pretend you can’t see them. Dirty clothes will not get washed by themselves, garbage will not disappear by themselves, and the mites on your pillow will not die by themselves. Even if you sleep on it, nothing will change the next day.
So, Ji Yunding ran away from "home"!
It is foolish to seek happiness in an environment where happiness is impossible. Ji Yunding is obviously not the kind of person who would do such a thing.
"But I just..."
"I know you wanted to strangle me just now. But in our line of work, we encounter this kind of thing every now and then, so it's not a big deal."
Seeing that it hesitated and did not dare to reach out, Ji Yunding withdrew his hand, raised his index finger and began to list it.
"In ghost stories, there are many cases where the public, because of panic, harm the investigators in order to save their own lives. I have encountered this at least a dozen times when I was practicing on ordinary missions and rescue missions. Let me list them for you..."
It is written in the investigator's qualities that one must be tolerant and understanding towards people who have not been exposed to mysterious powers, and to carry out rescue operations with the mindset that they might be killed from the very beginning.
The investigator's job is to mobilize the public, determine whether there is danger in a timely manner, and carry out rescue operations as much as possible - this is agreed upon before joining the job.
Ji Yunding liked this book since she saw the Code of Conduct for Investigators. Whether she was a citizen in the past or an investigator now, this book respected her.
It requires investigators to "do their best", allows investigators to watch people die and lack the ability to help, allows people to make mistakes to a certain extent, and respects everyone's right to put their own life first and dark thoughts under extreme conditions.
But after all, investigators are paid, with a high base salary and high benefits, and an outrageous amount of performance bonuses, so investigators are required not to use other people's lives to protect themselves by any means necessary. But even if they do so, they will only be fired and fined for not meeting the professional requirements of investigators.
Of course, this bottom line is not public to the public. The society will use higher moral standards to educate people about ghost stories.
"This is my job. So, as an investigator, I want to work with you, not get angry uselessly."
Ji Yunding tilted his head and said seriously,
"As for my personal opinion, my seniors would sometimes fight each other until their heads were broken and bloody, and we investigators would stab each other in competitions, so I really don't think much of being pinched."
The influence of work environment and colleagues on people's values is immeasurable.
Ji Yunding's idea is to use these organisms that have adapted to high-concentration monopolar energy as indirect carriers, with Ji Yunding as the transferor. This can not only alleviate the damage suffered by Ji Yunding from the bipolar energy, but also allow their bodies to adapt to the changing environment.
It didn't take much effort to communicate with the zombies, as they didn't even have "conditional consciousness". With the help of Ji Yunding's new friends, communication was quickly completed.
Communicating with the corpses was more difficult, and Ji Yunding was almost dragged over by them several times. This was a chaotic, disorderly, and unscrupulous environment, so even if he could communicate well, Ji Yunding had to be prepared for them to turn against him at any time.
"Speaking of which, don't you all have names?"
Ji Yunding asked before he started the execution.
"name?"
The zombie that held her hand was unfamiliar with this term. That's right, a species without self-awareness certainly doesn't need a "name".
"It's a nickname that carries the hope for the future, the blessing for yourself, and so on... Let me make it clear first, it's better not to let me name you. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I'm not good at it."
Ji Yunding knew that his naming skills were on par with that senior who named a tiger "Mao Mao", so he had not been involved in such matters for a long time.
Seeing it start to think, Ji Yunding did not continue to ask, but stretched out his hand to the corpse and held the rotten arm without any hesitation, not caring about the broken meat and dirty blood on his hands.
"Pay attention to your health?"
In order to ease the awkwardness, Ji Yunding exchanged some pleasantries without any context, then smiled.
"But it's not your fault. It will be fine soon. Trust me."
Perhaps in this abnormal but tolerant and gentle environment, Ji Yunding also unconsciously became much gentler. She still maintained her self-centered persistence, but she did not hate this change.
It is said that God uses a hundred misfortunes to make a man successful, but the so-called trials brought by pain are essentially scars, and scars can never replace this kind of strength.
People who often come into contact with children may vaguely feel that Ji Yunding in the past is like a child when they see her - not that her ideas are childish and immature, but that she occupies too large a proportion of her world.
The experience of being locked up alone in the storage room at a time when she should have been exposed to the outside world shaped Ji Yunding's unique personality and thinking that made her suitable for being an investigator. At the same time, it also trapped her there.
As the magician said, a young child can see through magic tricks better than the smartest person in the world, because when the person opposite holds up a finger, the adult will unconsciously focus on the finger, while the child may be looking at the person's eyebrows, nose, or even the small flowers on the back.
Children’s concept of the “outside world” is not mature, so they tend to be indifferent and difficult to guide towards the outside world.
From this perspective, Ji Yunding probably started trying to grow up after he met Li Fengqing, and only now has he finally walked out of that dark storage room.
The guys who looked like rotting corpses made a slight commotion, looked at Ji Yunding's hand, but ultimately did not move.
As the black vortex rolled up, the scenery on both sides began to converge with the real world. The neatly fallen leaves became uneven, some leaves withered, and some new buds grew.
On the other side, the sky gradually calmed down and slowly turned into an ordinary rainy day, the kind that was suitable for listening to the rain and sleeping in the house. The cracked land healed and some moss plants crawled out of the soil.
On Ji Yunding's left hand side, the beautiful mask gradually became blurred and incomplete, and finally turned into ordinary beautiful facial features; on the right hand side, the broken muscle fibers gradually healed, the rotten flesh fell to the ground and disappeared, and rough but complete skin grew out.
Until everything calmed down, Ji Yunding let go of his hands, supported his knees, slightly bent his body, silently adjusted his breathing, and wiped the sweat from his head.
It hurts so much, it really feels like a waterfall flowing through my blood vessels, but Ji Yunding feels that this pain is as if it is separated by a layer of gauze, intense yet not quite real.
I don’t know if people who can endure pain very well are not used to crying out in pain, but Ji Yunding propped himself up and shook himself. He ignored the group of confused new humans here and headed to the other side to get his reward for completing the level.
When Ji Yunding played games with Li Fengqing, he was regarded as a very practical player - rather than enjoying the game, he seemed to be heading for the completion screen.
Even though Li Fengqing complained about it, Ji Yunding still believed that the gold coins, gems and other miscellaneous things in the treasure chest were ultimately for the purpose of passing the level.
Of course, Ji Yunding's way of playing can also allow her to enjoy different fun.
She picked up the mask and looked at it, confused.
Theoretically, it’s done, but then what?
"Team Leader, can you please grow out of the mask and save me some trouble?"
Ji Yunding had just made this joking request when he turned around and suddenly felt the familiar feeling of being unable to move his hands and feet come back.
She saw a person with an unclear face holding a large pair of medical scissors. On the ground were more than twenty freshly cut heads. Some were beautiful but recognizable, while others were ugly but intact. The common point was that they could not move.
It picked up one of the beautiful heads, walked to Ji Yunding, took the mask and put it on its face, and then held the head in front of Ji Yunding.
"Well, I was just naming myself."
After it finished speaking, it observed Ji Yunding's expression, tilted its head, and the mask with a sad face moved slightly.
"Are you angry? I'll give it back to you."
As it spoke, it put its head aside, and a large amount of positive energy surged in, causing the head to grow a body. The face was covered with a mask again, and slowly became unclear, leaving only the concept of "beauty".
Ji Yun would definitely recognize it - its shape, movements and posture. But the newly born zombie just took two slow steps, then wounds appeared all over its body and it exploded.
People who appear to be very gentle may simply have completely mastered the method of making others angry and then choose to avoid them.
After meeting Ji Yunding's gaze, the masked man bent down slightly and looked at her.
"Don't worry, this place doesn't even really exist. This anger is the weight you get through being 'right'. If you can find me, I will give you an explanation.
Next, from the moment you open your eyes, pay attention. The key to getting here is over there."
The lines of the mask on its face slowly twisted, as if a child had randomly scribbled a bunch of black lines with a marker - no expression could be seen, no meaning.
The medical scissors were brought close to Ji Yunding's neck again. There was no pain, but this time Ji Yunding felt a hint of coolness.
When she opened her eyes again, Ji Yunding was standing at the door of the building again, but found that the scene in front of her had not changed - the man wearing a mask with twisted lines was holding a pair of medical scissors on her neck.
The moment he regained control of his body, Ji Yunding used both hands to hold the double blades of the scissors and pushed them apart from the inside out. At the same time, the masked man began to push inwards, trying to cut off Ji Yunding's head.
Blood dripped down his wrist, and Ji Yunding just watched, not caring. Compared to the pain of using bipolar energy, this was just a joke.
"Is this what I should pay attention to from the moment I open my eyes?"
As Ji Yunding spoke, he stretched the scissors to a certain extent, then squatted down immediately and kicked out with a sweeping kick, hoping to force the opponent back and buy time to get up and retreat.
However, although he should have kicked the ball, Ji Yunding didn't feel anything and almost lost his balance because of this misjudgment. Fortunately, he adjusted in time and moved to a safe distance.
The wound on his finger caused by the scissors was so deep that the bone was visible. Ji Yunding simply held it and wrapped it with positive energy, then looked across.
"Want to fight? I'm really angry right now."
The sound of the tip of the scissors hitting the ground echoed in the corridor. It looked at Ji Yunding, thought for a while, and did not continue.
Ji Yunding sighed and also did not act rashly. Instead, he glanced towards the room where the four chairs were placed.
There were two silent masked men sitting in the chairs, so the guy in front of him should be the third one. The mirror fragments she broke in the last round were still on the ground, shining, and even the irregular arrangement had not changed. When Ji Yunding broke the glass, he made a special note.
Very good, combined with the situation of the dagger and the backpack... now it is basically certain that this is the same space.
Ji Yunding ignored the masked man standing beside him, and first sorted out the information in his mind - simply dividing this strange story into two spaces, one space should be the virtual space formed by the strange story, and the other is the real space.
Obviously, the transformation was done by the scissors. Ji Yunding noticed that when the masked man used his left hand to exert force, she would fall into a dream-like state where she could not move; but just now, he used his right hand to exert force.
It was this point that was not right, coupled with the inexplicable weakness in his body, that made Ji Yunding instinctively support the blade with his hand and choose to counterattack.
One side is for space conversion, and the other side is for causing damage? If my head was cut off just now, I would really die.
The most troublesome thing is that some violations can result in instant death. On top of that, the rules here are still vague.
In addition, the sentence "anger is the weight on your side" is also very confusing. Ji Yunding suddenly thought that at the end of the virtual space of the smiley mask, she seemed to be angry too.
Is being angry a good thing here? This explanation is too illogical. Even if Ji Liuxing knew Ji Yunding's oath ability and knew that anger could make her use the oath more freely, it was obviously not a situation where she could just rush up and twist the other person's head off.
As mentioned in the ghost story process analysis class, the processes of ghost stories are different, but most of them are divided into three parts: opening, interpretation and settlement.
There won't be too many violations in the opening part, which mainly allows people to adapt to the different space with changing rules; the interpretation is the process in which the people who enter the ghost story take the initiative to act according to the clues given by the monsters in the ghost story. This part is the process of changes on both ends of the scale, and will directly determine the balance of power between the two sides at the time of settlement.
Theoretically, if an ordinary person does a perfect job in the interpretation part, he can also defeat the monster in the settlement part.
Generally, only after completing a certain amount of deduction will the investigator see the strange entity, and only then can he choose to overturn the table or continue the deduction to tip the balance.
The guy in front of Ji Yunding was obviously not Ji Liuxing's real body - Ji Yunding had seen Ji Liuxing, who was about to become a monster, in the Rongku Cemetery.
In other words, the table could be overturned, but it would be useless, especially since the sweeping kick that missed just now made Ji Yunding realize that the other party might not exist in this space.
"The main body is also very difficult to deal with the spiritual type... Team leader, you are going to go through the textbooks in every way."
Ji Yunding muttered to himself and was thinking, but then he heard a knock on the door for no apparent reason.
Theoretically speaking, with Sister Qianqiu guarding the door, no one should be able to come in rashly before the schedule to solve Ji Liuxing's problem is finalized.
Ji Yunding was still hesitating, but he found that the masked man opened the door first. Looking out through the open door, Ji Yunding was a little confused.
The people outside the door were also confused. It was obvious that in all these years, the research team had never seen a monster open the door by itself.
"Uh...Team Leader Ji Liuxing? Is that you? Did you send a message to the logistics team to deliver the supplies?"
The logistics team standing next to Wei Qianqiu were also confused and didn't know how to react.
The masked man nodded and even said thank you. He did not respond to the other questions from the outsider, but took the bag, closed the door, and handed it to Ji Yunding, then stepped back a few steps to keep a safe distance.
What the hell?
Ji Yunding looked at the standard material package, which was produced by the logistics team and sealed and vacuum-packed. The serial number, production date and anti-counterfeiting mark were all correct.
In short, treat it with the mentality of defusing a bomb.
Ji Yunding took out a dagger, cut it open carefully, and stared at the biscuit in a daze.
Forget it, there is a mouth under your nose, so just ask directly.
"Team leader, what's going on?"
"Pause for a moment, it's already half past one in the afternoon."
The masked man tilted his head, and his voice changed significantly, sounding more human, and his tone was more lively.
"Didn't you tell me to eat on time?"
"Team leader, I don't know what your mentality is right now, but I'm working, and you wanted to cut my head off with scissors just a second ago."
"But I thought you said you didn't like the feeling of hunger very much."
"Why didn't I tell you everything..."
Ji Yunding had long lost all his memories of talking to Ji Liuxing alone because of the Rongku Cemetery, so now he really didn't know what she had said. Anyway, Ji Yunding thought about it for a while, and picked some light food from the supply bag and stuffed it into a separate compartment of the backpack.
"Team leader, are you okay now? Is this considered the real body now?"
“Not the real body. By the way, I tell you this because as the initiator, I am also subject to the rules of the ghost story. After doing something inexplicable, I have a certain degree of obligation to inform.
I don’t have control over everything here, and to be honest… it sucks. But I can still pause the process a bit in less stressful times like these.”
"I've never seen anything like this in a ghost story."
"I haven't seen it either, but since I can do it, it doesn't stop me from doing it once."
The masked man shrugged and said something teasing. The lines on his mask were still a mess, but Ji Yunding's recognition system could identify that this was indeed Ji Liuxing.
"Using Kaidan... sounds pretty impressive. But I'm not hungry right now, so let's continue."
Yes, as a weirdo, Ji Yunding doesn’t know how to use ghost stories, nor does he know how to use them - weirdos don’t have preschool education or compulsory education, so there’s nowhere to ask.
But it doesn’t matter, there is someone here that Ji Yunding can ask.
Seeing that Ji Yunding was not ready to eat, the person opposite did not persuade him much. He just lowered his head, raised it again after two or three seconds, dragged the scissors upstairs, and motioned Ji Yunding to follow.
Ah, another change of person.
Ji Yunding thought about it and decided that the first step would be to find a way to snatch the scissors, and then he could think of the rest later.
The sound of their intertwined footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Ji Yunding counted the steps to confirm whether there was any error.
Investigators all have the habit of counting stairs - the reason is simple, perhaps influenced by classic horror movies before the weird outbreak, many weirdos like to tamper with this.
Now all countries have deleted horror movies as banned subjects. This measure has effectively increased the survival rate of ordinary people in sudden strange stories by reducing people's imagination of terrifying things and reducing the horror level of the strange stories created after people become weird.
Of course, there are still many horrific ghost stories out there - after all, there are always some people whose lives and deaths are as horrible as ghost stories.
Twenty-second floor, twenty-third floor, twenty-fourth floor.
Ji Yunding followed it upwards, but found that the light was getting dimmer and dimmer. The masked man in front was still walking forward, but its "face" slowly turned backwards and faced Ji Yunding with the mess, without saying a word.
Twenty-fifth floor, twenty-sixth floor, twenty-seventh floor.
Ji Yunding maintained a steady pace, but found himself getting closer and closer to the mask.
Twenty-eighth floor...
Twenty-ninth floor?
Ji Yunding stood at the stairs, watching the masked man stop five steps higher than her, his body forward, his face backward, facing her.
"Go up."
Hearing this, Ji Yunding tentatively stepped on the step that shouldn't be there, and then continued to walk up, watching the distance between her and the masked man gradually narrow, thinking about what to do next.
Thirty-first floor, thirty-first floor, thirty-second floor...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
