On the way back to the base, Qi Mi learned about the general situation of this world from Ye Shiliu.
This is a world polluted by many strange things. If accidentally touched, it will cause varying degrees of confusion in human consciousness.
Guishizi was the nickname given to this pollutant by the first purification officials. [Gui] means "cunning and sly", and [shizi] means "thing, object". Together, they form "cunning object", which is rigorous and easy to remember, and has gradually been passed down.
A purification officer is an official whose job is to investigate and purify strange things.
According to the investigations of successive Purification Officers, Weird Things and Dark Matter are close relatives, both of which unknowingly draw humans into the barrier. However, Weird Things are more like a contaminating invasion of two-dimensional data, pulling human consciousness from the three-dimensional world into the flat world of the two-dimensional world. They assault human consciousness with vast amounts of information that is difficult to distinguish between true and false, causing a series of cognitive errors.
Once the Guishizi deploys its barrier, it will silently hide in the two-dimensional flat world. Only by invading with the high-intensity consciousness of the Purification Officer, finding and purifying it from the inside, can the barrier be broken.
In this world, normally, a person's SAN value should remain at 50 or above for a long time, so that there is no possibility of cognitive changes.
A SAN value between 40-50 indicates mild confusion, with symptoms such as memory loss, but the patient will recover quickly after treatment.
A SAN value between 20-40 indicates moderate confusion of consciousness, which is prone to symptoms such as self-doubt and memory confusion. The treatment procedure will be more complicated, but recovery is possible.
But if the SAN value is lower than 20, it means severe confusion.
At this point, polluted humans basically have only two options.
People with strong willpower will show behaviors that awaken their self-awareness, gradually restoring their SAN value to a moderate level, and generally returning to normal in the end; but people with weak willpower will be completely led by the strange things, becoming a walking source of pollution and degenerating into the "destroyer" of this world.
Once a destroyer is formed, anything he/she touches has an 80% chance of becoming a Trickster, causing serious consequences for the world.
As long as the Purification Officer discovers a saboteur, it is his duty to execute him on the spot without hesitation.
According to Ye Shiliu's analysis, the old-fashioned mobile phone was a contaminated ghost. Qi Mi must have been pulled into the two-dimensional flat world inside the phone after accidentally touching it.
When he discovered Qi Mi, her SAN had dropped to 85, indicating severe confusion. With a try-it-out attitude, he infiltrated the polluted flat world, borrowed Lin Fengsong's body, stopped Qi Mi from killing, and attempted to restore her consciousness. If Qi Mi's SAN value could not be restored or even dropped further, he would have no choice but to execute her on the spot.
Qi Mi thought thoughtfully: "What you mean is, if I hadn't woken up just now, you would have killed me?"
"That's the theory...but your SAN value has recovered now, and you're out of danger. I believe you'll be back to normal soon after treatment." Feeling it was a bit awkward to talk about the topic of whether to kill or not, Ye Shiliu pulled the corner of his mouth awkwardly and changed the subject.
"Oh." Qi Mi continued to look straight ahead.
She asked this not to blame Ye Shiliu, but her head was still dizzy. Whatever information she heard basically went in one ear and out the other. She had to ask again to confirm it before it could pass through her mind.
In the silence, Ye Shiliu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, he is very scared now.
He had only been a purification officer for three days after passing the assessment. He was a junior purification officer at the lowest level in the organization. His task was to search for strange things in the city and report any unusual phenomena to his superiors for handling. He didn't even have all the equipment he was given.
At that time, the signal of his communicator was not good and he could not contact his superiors at all. Seeing the three little guys crying so pitifully, he took care of the matter in a hurry.
Now that I think about it... I really feel like I must have been kicked in the head by a donkey!
Luckily, this girl's SAN value was restored. What if it hadn't been restored? What if she had become a destroyer?
Hiss—it’s scary to think about it.
Ye Shiliu was just thinking about it when he heard Qi Mi ask, "Is that the base ahead?"
He glanced up and nodded.
Not far away, a massive, transparent, hemispherical ecosphere partially encloses a number of high-rise buildings. Compared to the dilapidated structures along the roadside, the buildings within the ecosphere are remarkably new. The tallest building, with its glass exterior, displays a vibrant hue in the sunlight, lending it a sleek, high-tech feel.
After driving a little further and getting closer to the base, Qi Mi discovered that there were many lush trees planted between those modern buildings. Some people were sitting under the shade of the trees, talking and laughing, and they seemed to be living a very contented life.
It was in stark contrast to the bleak street scenes we had seen along the way.
"Look, I told you that the base is the safest place, right? There are still many old men playing chess and chatting there. Which dangerous place would have such a scene?" Ye Shiliu raised his eyebrows proudly, his words full of pride in this base.
"Yeah, it's pretty good."
When Qi Mi saw this harmonious scene, the corners of his lips unconsciously rose.
A few minutes later, Ye Shiliu parked the motorcycle outside the transparent ecological cover and took out the communicator.
Qi Mi took the children out of the car and stood aside, waiting. From such a close distance, she found that the eco-cover looked more like a large bubble, covered only by a thin film that looked like it would burst if poked with a needle.
The three cubs were curious and were about to touch it with their little hands, but were immediately stopped by the sharp-eyed Ye Shiliu: "Don't touch it carelessly, otherwise you will trigger the base security team!"
"sorry……"
The three cubs put down their hands obediently.
After a burst of electric sound, Ye Shiliu's communicator finally responded.
A gentle female voice came slowly from it: "Hello, medical clinic, how can I help you?"
Ye Shiliu: "C4859 Purification Officer Ye Shiliu reports, I encountered a moderately confused woman with three conscious children on the road. I requested that the medical clinic give them a basic physical examination."
"Understood. We'll be there soon."
After saying that, the other party hung up the call.
Qi Mi didn't expect that the medical team here would really mean "immediately" when they said it would happen. She was exhausted and was about to find a place to sit. As soon as she bent down, she heard an ambulance with blue lights flashing roaring from the depths of the city.
She had no choice but to stand up again. When she glanced up, she was met with Ye Shiliu's smug smile: "Look, our base's efficiency is amazing, isn't it?"
Qi Mi curled the corner of his mouth.
In the few seconds they were talking, the ambulance had stopped not far from them. Several nurses lined up and ran over with small medical kits. They placed the cards on their chests on the ecological cover in an orderly manner and took turns scanning them.
When the artificial intelligence voice allowed passage, the transparent ecological cover automatically opened a semicircular door, and several nurses ran out with anxious looks.
"Which patient is moderately confused?" the nurse asked Ye Shiliu.
Without waiting for Ye Shiliu to answer, Qi Mi raised his hand obediently: "It's me..."
"Don't move, keep breathing steadily, follow my breath, inhale - inhale - inhale - inhale -" Several nurses surrounded Qi Mi in an instant and helped her sit down.
"?" Qi Mi felt that she was not a person with confused consciousness, but more like a woman about to give birth, adjusting her breathing rhythmically with them.
She was so enthusiastic that she had no way to refuse.
These young nurses looked quite flustered and chattering on the surface, but their movements were inexplicably orderly, and they followed one after another without making any mistakes.
[Warning! SAN value is 38, which is lower than the normal level of 50. This person is in a state of moderate confusion.]
The young nurse took out an instrument and measured her condition. She immediately poured out a few pills from the medical box and handed them to her: "Here, take these and you'll feel much better."
Qi Mi looked at these strange blue pills and did not move.
As if seeing her doubts, the young nurse immediately took a pill and put it in her mouth, smiling and said, "Don't worry, these medicines are absolutely safe. If you don't believe me, just look...ah——" As she said that, she swallowed the pill in her mouth and opened her mouth to gesture to her.
Qi Mi subconsciously glanced at Ye Shiliu. No matter what, Ye Shiliu saved her life, so she would have some trust in him.
When he nodded, she slowly picked up a few blue pills and put them in her mouth.
The medicine is a sugar-coated tablet, not too bitter, and leaves a light sweet taste in the mouth after swallowing it quickly.
To be on the safe side, the nurse then measured the SAN values of the three children using an instrument, and all of them showed normal values.
"This lady needs to go to the hospital for specialized diagnosis and treatment. Besides her low SAN value, she also has several broken bones." The nurse looked up and asked Ye Shiliu, "Sir, where did you find her? Why did she have so many injuries?"
This question stumped Ye Shiliu: "I didn't notice any injuries on her."
He turned to look at Qi Mi, who also looked bewildered: "Am I injured? I don't feel any pain."
"Your SAN value is too low, which has interfered with your pain nerves and perception system. Of course, you don't feel any pain." The nurse explained, "Do you feel very tired and exhausted all over, and don't want to move at all?"
Qi Mi thought about it and nodded: "Yes."
"That's right, this is your body's signal to you that it's time to rest."
At this time, the fattest child raised his hand and said, "Nurse, Teacher Qi's injuries were caused by very scary monsters! Hundreds of monsters raised their fists and hit Teacher Qi together, and that's why she got hurt!"
"How can there be hundreds of them? There are at most eight. How can Teacher Qi survive if hundreds of monsters attack him?" the boy with deer eyes retorted.
The young nurse listened to their argument, silently took out an instrument from the medical box, and measured their foreheads again.
"This SAN value is not low..." The nurse wondered in her heart, why is he still talking nonsense?
Looking at Qi Mi again, her expression was similar to the nurse's. Both of them looked as if they didn't understand, as if these two little brats were talking about other people's business.
Knowing that asking any more questions would be of no use, the young nurse waved in the direction of the ambulance and asked two people to push a simple medical emergency vehicle down.
As Qi Mi sat down, he suddenly realized a problem: "Am I going alone? What about these children?"
"Don't worry about this matter. I will take them to the kindergarten at the base." Ye Shiliu said with a comforting smile.
When they heard they were going to be separated from Qi Mi, the three cubs simultaneously hugged her legs and said they didn't want to be separated. No matter how the nurses tried to persuade them, the three cubs just held on to Qi Mi and refused to let go.
Finally, under the bombardment of the three children crying and making a fuss, the nurse had to give in and let them go to the hospital with Qi Mi.
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