Chapter 86 Action
In fact, there are windows, arranged in a normal pattern. The scenery outside the window is very good, with blue sky and white clouds floating gently, and the sounds of traffic and people in the distance, and the fresh atmosphere of the city is overwhelming.
But it's one in the morning.
Those windows weren't windows at all; they were screens displaying a realistic-looking outdoor scene. If you broke them, you'd see thick rock formations outside.
They are now somewhere unknown deep underground.
Ye Xinlan stopped in front of a light beige metal door that almost merged with the wall. She took a deep breath and gently pressed the doorbell.
The door was much heavier than it looked from the outside. It opened automatically, revealing the pure white world inside. The smell of disinfectant penetrated Tu Lanxun's nostrils again, and she clutched the edge of her trouser leg with her fingers.
After passing through the white passage and turning two corners, they came to a white space where several people were standing, all wearing white uniforms and masks.
Tu Lanxun almost suffered from snow blindness if it weren't for the hard-to-ignore spots of bright red in the space.
Splattered blood covered half of the ceiling and evenly spread out on the chests of the white coats. The ground was stained with a layer of blood red, and it showed a tendency to continue spreading outwards, still fresh and warm.
If the amount of blood is large enough, it will appear "thick" in a way that it is not a liquid.
In the center of the space was a bed, on which lay a body that was clearly a corpse, its stomach ripped open. Two assistants in white coats were dragging it onto a cart.
"Let's clean it up." The leader in a white coat, wearing two blood-stained medical gloves, said to Ye Xinlan and Tu Lanxun.
Ye Xinlan frowned in physical rejection, and Tu Lanxun lowered his head and was patted by Ye Xinlan. The cleaning tools they brought came in handy.
Liu Maosheng whispered in Tu Lanxun's ear, "I was wondering why the cleaning staff were paid so well... Turns out the real work is here."
Tu Lanxun followed Ye Xinlan's example and used a floor scrubber to clean the bloodstains on the ground. Soon the red blood turned into rusty brown, and then into a very light yellow, and was cleaned layer by layer.
Seeing that Tu Lanxun had gotten started, Ye Xinlan turned to get the long-handled cleaner and rolled it to scrub the blood stains on the ceiling. Fortunately, the material there was smooth and not plaster wall plaster.
The two of them cleaned the inside and outside. The doctors in white coats had almost left, leaving behind a pile of dirty, bloody clothes. Tu Lanxun was still wondering why they didn't wear surgical gowns, but when she saw Ye Xinlan sprinkle the pile of red and white clothes with foaming reagent and throw them into a specially marked garbage bag, she understood.
These people usually stay in a disinfected environment, and their clothes are disposable and will be taken away for centralized destruction. However, tonight's "fatal operation" is not important at all. It is just an ordinary part of the many sins of Junxi Manor. It doesn't matter whether the individual undergoing the operation will be infected, so there is no need to change clothes specifically.
Tu Lanxun tied the top of the garbage bag and stuffed it into the cleaning cart. Ye Xinlan was almost done. She pushed Tu Lanxun aside and said, "Watch and learn well."
Several bottles of reagents and large gardening spray bottles appeared, and the foam that could dissolve blood stains and destroy DNA evidence was sprayed finely everywhere. The bloody scene quickly turned into a snow-white palace, and the last trace of blood smell dissipated.
After cleaning up the foam, the place was restored to its original state. Tu Lanxun was so tired that his head was covered in sweat. He leaned on the cleaning car, his mind full of the image of the person who had been disemboweled, and the face covered with gauze.
Who could it be?
Ye Xinlan cleaned the cleaning cart and tools again, then kicked the blue-painted xiao with the tip of her clean shoe. "Let's go, it's over."
The two of them went back the same way and took the second-class passenger freight elevator back to Side A of the main building. It was already past two in the morning when they returned to the cleaning department's lounge.
Tu Lanxun sat on the ground, his head buried between his knees. He felt a blow on his shoulder. It was Ye Xinlan who threw a bag of strawberry milk over to him and said, "Don't play dead. This is what we do. Your standby is over, intern. Go back to sleep."
"What about you?" Tu Lanxun asked.
Ye Xinlan said without even turning her head: "I have my work." Then she left.
Tu Lanxun stayed in the lounge for a while and then returned to the dormitory in the annex building, thinking of telling Wen Chong and Li Ao what happened tonight. But just as he approached the door, a figure appeared silently behind him.
"Ouch!" Her mouth was covered and she couldn't struggle anymore. She elbowed the person behind her in the waist, which was enough to break a bone.
Tu Lanxun caught sight of a face in her peripheral vision and abruptly restrained her force before striking again. Shi Guiying stood behind her, her expression indifferent.
Shi Guiying turned her head to face the camera, rolled her eyes, and said, "Do you have money? Lend me some."
Tu Lanxun was stunned for a moment. Shi Guiying smelled of detergent. She realized it belatedly and said, "Oh, come in and tell me."
The two entered the room one after the other. Shi Guiying sat down on the bed with a grand gesture. Tu Lanxun looked at her, trying to find evidence of a recording device or other traces. "You, how much money do you want? When will you return it..."
Shi Guiying sneered: "Who sent you?"
A chill ran up Tu Lanxun's spine. "I don't know what you're talking about. I won't lend you any money. Get out of here now. If you don't leave, I'll report you to Minister Zhong."
As she spoke, she raised the cell phone she was given.
Shi Guiying crossed her legs and lifted them up in an awkwardly casual posture. She stared at him with a look that was familiar to Tu Lanxun.
Tu Lanxun suddenly discovered a strange shadow under Shi Guiying's feet. It was very blurry and almost transparent, like the tail of a huge humpback whale.
The whale's tail disappeared with a flick of its tail when she glanced at it, and Tu Lanxun hiccupped in fright.
"Sonya...Sonya?" Tu Lanxun said in a low voice.
Shi Guiying looked her up and down and snorted coldly: "You smell like potato cakes."
Tu Lanxun wanted to ask what potato cakes were, as she hadn't eaten any during the day. But Sonia glanced at Tu Lanxun's trouser legs, and saw a tiny cat hair stuck in the seam of her socks, which almost no one would notice.
Moreover, cat hair does not exist in reality, it is just an illusion with a very faint smell.
Oh, it's that mixed-haired little cat ghost again.
"Potato Pancake is my cat." Sonia looked at him darkly. "You've been to Bi Hai Chao Sheng and interacted with Xian Yu Qingyun and the others."
Tu Lanxun simply let go, "Yes, they are very worried about you. Why did you come to Junxi Manor? Because the old scientist lady was discharged from the hospital?"
Sonia stared at her with cat-like eyes for two seconds, and finally began to tell her story.
#
Like most of the transformed souls trapped in the rising blue sea, Sonia's death was planned from beginning to end. She had one more thing than the others: Ji Jingyan was her "fan". He had seen her once by chance on TV and developed a delusion about her. He had to keep her in his own home to feel at ease.
And she was the "dish" that Ji Jingyan specifically ordered.
Hunting down a young idol is risky. If Ji Jingyan hadn't offered a high enough price and Hu Haisheng hadn't had a close relationship with him, this wouldn't have been possible.
Tu Lanxun glanced outside worriedly. Suoniya smiled, "My dormitory is right next to yours."
So they started talking from the beginning again, and Tu Lanxun asked, "How did you do it?"
"Are you asking about killing Ji or coming here?" Sonia said casually: "The former has help, the latter is the same..."
She gave a sharp smile that looked a little crazy, "Of course I took over this body."
Tu Lanxun had a warning in his heart that Sonia, like other ghosts, had been a ghost for too long, did not abide by or even openly opposed human morality, and her humanity would be relatively eroded. She and her were no longer the same kind in the strict sense.
So, be careful and take precautions.
"What about the real Shi Guiying?" Tu Lanxun asked.
The real Shi Guiying is still sleeping in this body. Although Sonia did not hurt her, she took advantage of Shi Guiying's vacation and occupied her body without consulting her. I wonder if eight months of long sleep will cause any harm to Shi Guiying.
Sonia smiled: "I need a shelter to hide from the thing that comes to strangle me regularly."
Tu Lanxun found that her movements were a little stiff and she was not quite adapted to this body.
"What did you find?" Tu Lanxun went straight to the point.
Sonia shrugged. "The thing that sends out the strangulation pulse isn't here, but there's a host computer here that can connect to the signal source remotely. It's on the third floor of the B side of the main building."
That should refer to the third floor underground.
Tu Lanxun breathed a sigh of relief. Now that the whereabouts of Suoniya and Shi Guiying had been revealed, her mission was considered accomplished.
She moved her fingers and said, "No matter what, let's get out of here first."
"Don't you understand?" Sonia said impatiently, her eyes fixed on the communicator that Tu Lanxun had hooked over to her. "I won't cooperate with you in calling the police. I've killed people before, and I did it brutally. Do you understand?"
She was talking about Ji Jingyan.
Tu Lanxun tried to persuade her: "You can't hide in Shi Guiying's body forever. You need shelter."
"Just you guys?" Sonia was completely rebellious and refused to be persuaded. "Forget it, you can't save me, and you can't catch me. I'd better solve my own problems myself."
She stood up, crossed her arms, and looked at Tu Lanxun: "I advise you to leave this place while you can. There is no need for people who are living well to get involved."
Tu Lanxun insisted: "I'm not talking about us, I'm talking about me."
Sonia rolled her eyes.
Tu Lanxun said, "I have a place where you can stay. After Junxi Manor is taken care of, we can find a way to cut off that pulse wave. When this is all over, you can escape wherever you want. No one will care about you."
Sonia looked at her distrustfully for a long time, then slowly nodded, "Okay, but I don't believe everything you say. You have to do something with me, and then I will go with you."
"What's up?"
"Their data terminal is on the third floor of the main building's B side. Destroy that place within three days." As Sonia turned around, her stiffness became more noticeable. "I can't withstand the next pulse. This body has been used too many times."
Tu Lanxun nodded: "Do you mind if I find some help?"
Sonia glanced at Tu Lanxun's communication device and said speechlessly: "Whatever you want."
The next day, the action began.
Tu Lanxun had two dark circles under his eyes. He discussed the plan with Wen Chong and Li Ao for the whole night. Although it was risky, he was more afraid of something going wrong due to delay than having the plan not be 100% perfect.
It is only a matter of time before she is exposed. The sooner they act, the more likely they will catch Junxi Manor off guard.
Today's shift schedule is very coincidental. Tu Lanxun is on the afternoon shift, while Shi Guiying is on the evening shift, so their working hours overlap by half an hour.
After spending a few hours in the staff activity building in the morning and then going back to take a nap, Tu Lanxun happened to run into Shi Guiying. Suo Niya's voice came from her mouth: "Zhong Tie will be in the cleaning department this afternoon. Go get her card."
"Okay." Tu Lanxun said, "See you at 8 o'clock tonight."
In the afternoon, Tu Lanxun went to the cleaning department. As soon as she entered, she saw Zhong Tie and Ye Xinlan sitting together chatting. They both looked at her at the same time. Zhong Tie saw the dark circles under Tu Lanxun's eyes and smiled: "You didn't sleep well last night."
"It's okay..." Tu Lanxun replied gloomily.
Ye Xinlan was quite righteous and complained directly to Zhong Tie: "Sister Zhong, she just had an orgasm and you didn't even give her a day off. What if she faints while sweeping?"
Zhong Tie rolled his eyes and ignored her. Instead, he warmly invited Tu Lanxun to sit down and said, "We all got through this. It will be fine in the future." She also showed Tu Lanxun the employee system backend. Li Xiaoyue's balance already had four zeros. She encouraged her, "There are bonuses for emergency standbys and probationary employees. Save it and you can buy whatever you want in the future."
Tu Lanxun nodded blankly, seeming to react very slowly, which caused the two to laugh again.
"Okay, let's go to work." Zhong Tie said.
Tu Lanxun's task this afternoon was to clean the fourth-floor corridor and two empty rooms on Side A of the main building. The fourth floor connects to the auxiliary building corridor and is located just outside the cleaning department. She rolled out her cleaning cart, loaded her tools, and set off, feeling a mixture of emotions.
The image of the man who had been disemboweled last night kept flashing back and forth in her mind.
The vacuum cleaner was humming as it sucked up dust, and the cleaner's shaft was turning endlessly. Tu Lanxun was leaning lazily against the wall. In the distance, a figure flashed out from the cleaning department. Seeing Tu Lanxun slacking off, he gave her a smile. It was Ye Xinlan, and she left briskly.
Zhong Tie is still in the cleaning department. Tu Lanxun just noticed that Zhong Tie is on duty tonight, so she might stay there all the time. She has to find a way to get her out of the way.
Tu Lanxun quickly finished sweeping the corridor, let the glass cleaner work automatically, and walked back to the cleaning department to drink water. Zhong Tie fell asleep on the table, and no one knew where she had gone in a hurry last night.
The minister's uniform is different from the cleaner's uniform. It is more slim-fitting and has flat trouser and jacket pockets. Zhong Tie's cards and keys are either in the drawer or in the handbag on the table.
Tu Lanxun looked at it for a while, and suddenly heard a voice: "What are you looking at?"
Zhong Tie woke up at some point, and Tu Lanxun took two seconds to respond, "Minister, I'll go get you some food."
The sky outside the window was still light yellow. It was past three o'clock, and it got dark early in late autumn and early winter. There were also signs of gathering clouds, which made people feel uneasy.
Zhong Tie rubbed his eyes and scolded softly, "Have you finished your work? Go back quickly. You're so young, you've only been working for two days, but you've already learned to slack off in front of your boss."
"Oh." Tu Lanxun turned around slowly, yawning as she walked out. But as she was about to leave, Zhong Tie said from behind her, "Please bring me a bowl of fish-flavored shredded pork rice bowl. Bring it after you're done. I'll eat at 5:30."
Tu Lanxun said yes. Her shift ended at 6pm, so Zhong Tie was giving her a short break.
After another hour of struggling in two empty rooms, Tu Lanxun took the time to go to the bathroom. Sonia was waiting impatiently inside. They had agreed to meet at 4:50 in the evening.
"You're ten minutes late." Sonia was unhappy. "Others would get suspicious if they saw me staying in the bathroom for ten minutes."
Tu Lanxun waved his hand and said, "Constipation isn't against the law."
Sonia's face darkened, and Tu Lanxun quickly continued, "I'll go buy lunch for Zhong Tie at five o'clock and buy it until half past five." If she failed, this period would be her alibi.
"Okay." Sonia took the responsibility. "I'll make some noise and make her leave the office at 5:20."
Tu Lanxun nodded, turned around, washed her hands, and left. Putting the cleaning tools back in the lounge, Zhong Tie sat in her office chair, idly playing with her phone. She said, "I'm going."
Logically, she couldn't leave the main building directly unless it was work, so she took the passageway to the annex. While fixing her hair, she put on her communicator and tapped it twice. Li Ao's voice rang out, "We're already outside preparing for support."
Tu Lanxun squeezed out a sound from between his teeth: "Everything is ready."
After leisurely entering the cafeteria, Tu Lanxun ordered two servings of fish-flavored shredded pork rice at the Chinese stir-fry counter and then went to the beverage area to get some milk tea. By the time he returned, carrying a pile of bags, it was already 5:17.
When she passed the dormitory building, she turned in and put down her meal. The moment she disappeared behind the door, N appeared beside her and said, "When you enter the data management center, remember to copy first, then insert the destruction program."
He put a USB flash drive in Tu Lanxun's hand. There was no doubt that this was a realistic game prop.
Tu Lanxun had thought about asking N to help carry the communicator before, but Mikhail said that the personal belongings of ghosts like them can only store things brought out from the game and things related to the game data.
Tu Lanxun thought they were talking nonsense at the time: "N had put sugar cookies in his backpack."
N folded his hands, raised his eyelids indifferently, and sneered, "Anyway, you can't bring it. I'll tell you the details later."
So Tu Lanxun could only pretend to be Camel Xiangzi, smuggling some contraband. She put N's USB drive in her pocket, and it returned to the silver chain. She squeezed it twice as she put it in her pocket.
When he walked out expressionlessly again, the corridor became a little chaotic. Tu Lanxun heard someone say, "What happened?" But the tone was more gossipy than panic.
There were two unread messages on the phone, both sent by Zhong Tie. The first one was "Have you bought the meal?" and the second one was "Forget it, I'll go."
Returning to the main building from the fourth-floor passage, the cleaning department's lounge was already empty. Tu Lanxun walked in with a swagger, only to see Zhong Tie's chair pushed to the middle. It looked like he had stood up suddenly and was pushed away by his knees, showing how hurried he was.
The drawer was locked, which meant the card might be inside, but the bag that Zhong Tie had placed on the table was missing, so the key was probably inside.
Tu Lanxun tapped his pocket and asked, "Could you please come out and unlock the door?"
The silver chain was coiled in his pocket like a snake, emitting an unhappy coldness, obviously feeling upset about being squeezed twice.
Tu Lanxun urged again, and N slowly emerged from the cleaning room. "I can't stay here for too long. There's a real-time patrol radar in this manor."
After saying this, the man flicked the corner of his clothes and disappeared into the silver chain again. The chain automatically drilled back into Tu Lanxun's pocket like a snake and coiled up motionlessly.
Tu Lanxun cursed in his heart, walked quickly forward and opened the drawer. There were only a few miscellaneous items such as pens and nail clippers in it. On the top was the bean green electronic card that could be used to open the B side of the main building.
She took the card away, and when the drawer closed, the lock automatically restored itself with some resentment.
Tu Lanxun greased the lid of his lunch box with his hands and slowly walked into the bathroom. While he was washing his hands, Sonia emerged from the cubicle and said, "Did you get it?"
"What did you just do?" Tu Lanxun asked curiously.
Sonia shrugged. "Nothing. I just stole a small bomb from someone and put it in the garbage compartment."
The garbage disposal room should be bursting with color by now, which looks very nice.
Tu Lanxun pressed on: "Others?"
Sonia didn't feel guilty. "It's Mu Xiaozhen, the old scientist lady who lives in the Yangui Sanatorium. She has a box."
It turned out that she had not only been hiding from others but had also taken their belongings. Tu Lanxun looked at Sonia with awe.
Now all that's left is to go to the B side of the main building and cause some damage.
"Why not just turn off the power of Junxi Manor? Why not let the police rush in and tell them to squat down with their heads in their hands?" After knowing that Tu Lanxun was cooperating with the police, Sonia has been finding fault.
Tu Lanxun didn't tolerate her pride at all and retorted, "Believe it or not, they have an independent power generation and supply system here. Even if someone were to force their way in from the outside, at most they could hold down a few people, and a few of them could be quickly pulled out because they wouldn't be able to reveal anything through interrogation."
Moreover, at the moment the frontal offensive began, the data terminals inside were probably moved and destroyed before the main building door was even broken open. It is uncertain where they will be reborn next time, and the mermaids will still not be free.
It's better to kill the cockroach on the table than to let it crawl under the bed.
The two of them pushed the cleaning cart onto the elevator, but strangely turned into the second-class passenger and freight elevator. Tu Lanxun swiped the Sonia button, and they sank underground.
Wen Chong estimated that Junxi Manor's response time would be ten minutes, at most fifteen minutes.
Now every minute and every second is a race against personal safety.
The elevator car stopped once on each of the first three underground floors. Tu Lanxun could see clearly that the first two floors were parking lots. Wen Chong said into the headset, "We'll meet up here when the time comes."
The two of them got out of the elevator one after the other. The third underground floor, like the sixth floor, was surrounded by electronic windows with artificial landscapes. The largest metal door among them was where the core of the data system was located.
There are no security guards at the door, but there are electronic eyes that are more stringent than the security guards. Any human-shaped object that enters its range will be uploaded to the monitoring system, and the intruder will trigger an alarm immediately.
Stealing Zhong Tie's access card before only guaranteed them a pitiful ten minutes.
"Now it's your turn." Tu Lanxun said.
The ghosts finally didn't have to hide. An arm stretched out from Tu Lanxun's pocket and went straight into the metal door. After twisting several times, the door opened with the sudden sound of the alarm.
Suoniya looked at Tu Lanxun, a little surprised: "You have a reserve team, I didn't realize it."
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