Chapter 111 Perfection Through Refinement (10)
Weston and Shu Changyan stood and sat, looking at each other from a distance.
The floor-to-ceiling windows reflected Weston's profile under the lights, revealing his thin lips, straight nose, and even a single wrinkle between his brows.
The shadows cast under this man's eyes inevitably left a harsh impression, quite unlike Shu Changyan.
He narrowed his eyes, glanced at the two of them, and quickly looked at Shu Ningmiao: "Little baby, are you bringing your parents on the spring outing too?"
Shu Ningmiao pulled out a chair and sat down at the tea table where guests were receiving guests. She picked up a cherry, shook it, and said leisurely, "It's on my way."
“This plate of fruit has been sitting here for two weeks. Feel free to eat it if you want.” Weston stood up and walked over to her, casually placing his terminal aside. He nodded to Shu Changyan: “Please, what is it?”
Even though he was being polite, there wasn't much he could really offer, so he simply poured himself a cup of coffee.
Shu Changyan stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder, with the same polite expression on his face, showing no intention of sitting down.
Three people were standing in front of the table, while she was the only one sitting.
Shu Ningmiao put down the cherry in her hand: "No wonder I heard that people who lack vitamins are prone to irritability and anger."
“Excessive exercise can also affect the brain’s cognitive control.” Weston tapped his glasses, a half-smile on his face. “You’ve been showing signs of becoming a paramecium lately.”
Shu Changyan didn't care about his sister's attitude at all. Even though it was a bit too disrespectful for a student, Weston was just a "former teacher".
"Regarding this election," Shu Changyan replied calmly. He wasn't following her around so closely solely out of concern for Shu Ningmiao's friendships. "Kovina has something to discuss with you."
Weston glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and spoke a little faster: "Your brother and I are talking about serious business. A sensible child should leave."
Shu Ningmiao raised her hand and rolled it up, making a handset gesture to her ear: "You can turn on the jamming device. Did I want to hear this?"
Shu Changyan patted her shoulder, and the two got up and walked to the window.
Not far away, a faint blue light screen appeared in front of them, blocking out all sound.
Shu Ningmiao rested her chin on one hand, while the tip of her other finger touched the terminal that Weston had placed on the table, and a tiny Pandora swirl flowed from her fingertip.
The stolen "Golden Chain" ability has been changed to "Neural Connection".
The office owner's terminal and the indoor smart control system are clearly interconnected.
Among countless distribution modules, she found the sound jammer settings, switched the sound jamming switch back, and casually removed her hand from the terminal.
The blue light screen flickered almost imperceptibly for a moment before quickly returning to normal. Shu Changyan seemed to sense something and turned to look at her.
“If Kovina is trying to persuade me to support the pro-war candidate, then there’s no need to say any more,” Weston said, leaning to the side. “I’m not going to willingly get involved in any of these messy situations.”
He has received more lobbyists these days than the number of people who have passed by Cornunos's office in months.
His inspiring life story of rising from humble beginnings and his dramatic exoneration were widely publicized, which greatly enhanced his importance in parliament during this period.
This was the result Shu Ningmiao wanted. He successfully gave her the authority to deal with Prometheus, and the others had little objection to the organization, which was no longer capable of accomplishing anything significant.
No faction can use it as a pretext anymore; Prometheus has essentially lost its value for debate.
Following the change of parliamentary representatives, the two candidates are now deadlocked and urgently need a more significant advantage.
Whig Party candidate Senping advocated for a significant increase in tariffs and supported the development of Pandora industries to boost the economy of Piedmont.
Liberal Party candidate Lucicolay is a radical hawk. He actively promoted the eight-year war between Pinheis and Intori when he was Deputy Minister of State Security, and he and the current Minister of the Army, Kovina, are kindred spirits.
No matter which side you stand on, you'll get covered in stench, which is the biggest reason why Weston hates the United Council.
In this kind of political game, no matter which option you choose, there is no comforting future to be seen.
"Save those words for her." Shu Changyan opened the terminal. He had anticipated her attitude. Kovina had sent him a lot of information, which he had read, but he had basically skimmed over it casually.
He would have had no interest in completing this task if it weren't for wanting to see the friend Shu Ningmiao mentioned.
“In that case, I suppose you have something else to say?” Weston raised his hand, the coffee cup hovering steadily above his palm before moving back to the table without spilling a drop. “If it’s related to that idiot sitting in the chair adding sugar to his coffee, then there’s no need to continue.”
Shu Changyan raised his hand and pressed the button on the wall to restart the signal jammer: "As a teacher, maintaining distance from students seems to be a matter of course."
“Pinnegans adoption law stipulates that the guardian must be at least forty years older than the ward. How old are you?” Weston smiled dismissively. “How dare you claim to be a guardian?”
“This is not ‘guardianship,’ but rather a request for you to possess the corresponding morals,” Shu Changyan retorted gently but firmly.
"It's quite humorous that a weapon of war, which is not subject to moral regulation, is talking to me about morality."
Weston casually turned off the shielding device and stepped out of the gradually dissipating blue light curtain.
The two walked out with normal expressions. Shu Changyan bent down and patted her head: "I'm done talking. Go back early."
Shu Ningmiao sat to the side, looking exceptionally obedient because she had been eavesdropping: "I know."
Weston stared at the elevator doors until they closed, then raised his cup to take a sip of coffee, repeating with a forced smile, "Got it."
Shu Ningmiao stirred her coffee, ignoring his sarcastic tone: "How do you plan to gloss over the election?"
This isn't a problem that can be solved by simply choosing to stand in the middle; there's never been such a good thing in the world.
“You’re as stupid and reckless as ever.” Weston put away his terminal. “Don’t listen to things you shouldn’t. Next time, I’ll send you to the detention center in the Central Trial Court to teach you a lesson.”
“That requires evidence.” Shu Ningmiao extended a finger and pointed meaningfully at his glasses, her words carrying a double meaning: “Be careful not to be murdered to silence you.”
Weston adjusted his glasses, which she had knocked askew, a nonchalant sneer playing on his lips: "A clown who's obsessed with mass-producing war criminals with Kovina, a madman who'd dig a hole through the planet, which do you prefer... Oh, I forgot, for the sake of your good brother, you should also choose Lucicolay."
Shu Ningmiao always felt that his voice sounded strange, and he emphasized the words "good brother" before giving an ambiguous reply: "Why don't you run for representative? I will vote for you. Remember to spend taxpayers' money where it's needed."
“I’m glad you’re aware of this,” Weston said, looking at him with pity. “Even though you don’t even have the right to vote.”
Pinheeu stipulated that only citizens aged twenty and above had the right to vote.
"Alright, enough nonsense. I really appreciate you bringing me a lot of trouble and wasting my time." Weston beckoned, and a stack of papers flew from the desk, landing in his hand. He flipped through two pages and pushed it in front of her.
Several miniature tables were printed on the white paper, with complex overlapping curves on them, which appeared to be some kind of monitoring data.
“The research center’s unpublished wavelength monitoring data on Pandora over the past three years.” His slender, long fingers moved between the tables as he intently stared at the numbers on the paper. “It can be seen that it is quite active, and could even be described as a living energy source.”
"So?" Shu Ningmiao and he stared at the same spot. The numbers on the paper, the size of ants, were arranged together like insects lining up. She couldn't make out their meaning at all.
"This means that Pandora's energy is active enough to give rise to life. This involves many sub-studies, such as why this highly energetic energy source cannot be regenerated, and how to introduce Pandora into the fields of life sciences and medicine..."
Weston looked up: "But you only need one of these things. Pandora has the vitality of life, so you can use pulses to regulate it and make it controllable."
The Crimson Palace Stone that was stolen from the Dean of the School of Life Sciences and burrowed into her body is something she still treats as a portable power bank. She can neither fully absorb it nor dare to fully absorb it. Su Ni is a cautionary tale.
But if she can use it safely, her power will not only evolve, but she can also try to control the power of the string.
“I’ve discussed it with Arcia. The prototype of the machine is complete, and the basic functions are fine.” He got up, walked around the tea table, opened the filing cabinet, and without turning his head, gestured for her to sit on the sofa: “Whether you control or remove the Crimson Palace Stone inside your body, it will be more secure than it is now.”
Shu Ningmiao moved to the sofa and sat down: "Can it really succeed?"
“No one can guarantee 100% success,” Weston said calmly. “The pulse is safe and controllable, but the human body is not. It’s up to you to decide.”
She opened her terminal, entered the game, and stared blankly at the completely black screen for a while.
"You're not going to use this as an excuse to shock me, are you?" Shu Ningmiao asked suspiciously.
"Thank you for the idea," he sneered.
Weston took a metal box from the filing cabinet. Inside was a set of equipment similar to the testing equipment in a medical clinic, with a main unit, a wristband, and several electrode patches.
Shu Ningmiao leaned back on the sofa and obediently stretched out her hand, letting him tighten the wristband.
"How did you come up with the idea to help me with this?" Shu Ningmiao hadn't asked him to do it, because she hadn't thought Weston could solve the problem.
To date, no one has ever imagined that Pandora could be controlled in this way.
"Close your eyes and concentrate." Weston coldly adjusted the screen: "This machine can only emit a certain signal at the moment. You will need to adjust it yourself after connecting."
She placed her hands folded in front of her, her eyes open, looking at him calmly.
The light from the screen made his glasses reflect so brightly that he couldn't see clearly, but you could clearly see his slightly furrowed brows.
Weston raised his hand to take off his glasses, revealing his familiar, extremely sarcastic smile.
"I will help you." He maintained a rational and indifferent demeanor: "Isn't this what you've been investing in all this time?"
Shu Ningmiao closed her eyes.
"Don't move." Weston pressed the patch between her eyebrows, took a deep breath silently, and said in a hoarse voice, "It's started."
After a moment of silence, she replied with a hint of amusement: "Not entirely."
His expression gradually froze, but the person speaking had already calmed down as if nothing had happened.
A tingling, numb, and stinging sensation shot through her skin. After Shu Ningmiao closed her eyes, the clear sound of her heart beating and blood flowing was so loud that it almost drowned out all other sounds.
She could see the slender, white, crimson stone that had vanished, floating in the air, beating in sync with her heartbeat.
With the increasing frequency of the pulses, she could feel the stone fading more and more in her vision. A large amount of Pandora washed over her body, melting her bones as if it were burning, and the whole world was collapsing in a dizzying manner.
As if she had broken through some obstacle, she did not directly feel the power filling her body, but instead felt herself gradually dissolving into the air.
The wind pierced through her bones, water flowed through her flesh and blood, she saw many things, yet there was nothing in front of her, and a subtle feeling was urgently calling to her.
She could intuitively sense that she had succeeded.
The next second, her fingers twitched. Her keen intuition suddenly sensed something was wrong amidst the calm. She tried to open her eyes, but darkness had already invaded her eyeballs.
A bottomless, pure blackness crawled across her eyelids, completely covering her vision like liquid. The strange fragrance was almost tangible, pungent, greasy, and putrid, reminding her only of long-rotten flesh and bones. An uncontrollable wave of nausea and dizziness washed over her, and Shu Ningmiao almost vomited.
She couldn't open her eyes, her body trembled convulsively, and she could feel her struggling hands being restrained.
Weston knelt on the edge of the sofa, holding her wrist to prevent her from scratching herself, and couldn't help but frown.
He called her name a few times, but as expected, there was no response; she had completely fallen into a delirious hallucination.
Weston rarely felt regret, but now he felt it was a mistake to let her touch this thing.
Maintaining the status quo might be better.
The machine's electrodes had even detached during the struggle, yet she remained trapped in this state. Weston knew this had nothing to do with the machine anymore; just like last time, she was caught in Pandora's vortex of influence—the frequency was clearly controllable, so where exactly did things go wrong?
Shu Ningmiao knew who was holding her hand, but the tactile sensation of reality overlapped with the illusion before her eyes.
Someone grabbed her wrist.
The cold, stiff temperature stung her nerves.
"My dear, how have you been? I can feel you're closer to me now." The blurry shadow grabbed her wrist from behind, its damp, cold touch clinging to her skin.
It wasn't a frequency a human could produce, yet it had a human tone of voice. She hadn't heard it before, but it felt familiar.
"However," the shadow leaned closer to look at her, "it seems you've forgotten something?"
“How pathetic.” The shadow appeared on her left and then on her right, and a voice faintly drifted from behind her: “...Even with the power of the Omniscient One and the Stone Foundation, this is all we can achieve.”
Shu Ningmiao frowned, realizing that she could finally control her body—albeit not her real body. She waved her arm, scattering the shadow, which then reformed into a new one.
Shu Ningmiao took a few steps back and found that they were in endless darkness, with a huge, illusory clock face at their feet.
She stood on one of the pointers.
As if hallucinating, I heard a clicking, clattering sound in my ears.
The shadow stood on another pointer, its blurred figure extending a "hand" that stopped at its lips. The pointer began to reverse as if it had gone mad, sweeping across her feet and leaving a white afterimage.
"Don't be afraid." The shadow smiled contentedly. "I'll help you remember."
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