Despite their doubts, the three of them didn't rush to discuss it. At this point, there were only two entries left in the notebook. These two entries were far longer than all the previous ones, and the dates displayed on them were surprisingly the day before yesterday and late last night.
[July 14, 2020.
In the past week, the base has provided us with closed-door intensive instruction in the name of "preparing for an experiment," but the content of the instruction still has nothing to do with the experiment.
Dr. Jin instructed us that when interacting with the volunteers, we must remember to imitate the words and actions of the people in the video, and to pay close attention to the communicator so as to receive temporary instructions from the base at any time.
In addition, he also mentioned some measures to deal with special situations, such as volunteers suddenly wanting to give up the experiment or becoming curious about forgotten memories.
Among them, he particularly emphasized a record called "repentance procedure" - this successfully attracted my attention because this procedure appeared in the confessions of all those who surrendered themselves, and it was the common source that led them to surrender.
However, what I found very strange was that Dr. King was extremely careful and detailed in introducing this procedure, as if it was not just a procedure that "might" be triggered, but one that "will definitely" be activated.
Why?
Is he so sure that the volunteers will become curious about their past and will initiate the retraction process?]
[July 15, 2020.
The volunteers arrived.
Also appearing with them was the instructor Jin Fuhan, who had never appeared before.
My volunteer's name is Song Yecheng.
Following the instructions given during the training at the base, I kept imitating the words and actions of the person in the video when communicating with him.
Then I soon discovered that the way he looked at me and his attitude towards me changed rapidly in a short period of time, as if we were not meeting for the first time, but old friends reuniting.
This made me realize that the person in the video might be unusual and was most likely someone he knew.
After dinner, I thought that today's mission was over, but as soon as the lights were turned off, I received a temporary instruction on the communicator, asking me to monitor the volunteer's location and follow him to correct any inappropriate behavior at any time.
I didn’t understand the purpose of this instruction at first, but soon I found that Song Yecheng’s position had really changed.
He went to the archives room on the fourth floor.
I followed his location in disbelief and went up to the fourth floor. On the way, I met two other instructors. Then I was surprised to find that there were three volunteers looking for last year's files in the archives - they were really curious about forgotten memories.
In accordance with the special situation response measures mentioned in the previous training, He Jingsheng announced to them the existence of the retraction procedure, and they all chose to initiate the procedure without exception.
During this process, I thought of a possibility. In order to verify my judgment, I tried a gamble before going downstairs - asking them for a pass.
As expected, each of them handed over one - the base deliberately placed a pass card in their room, which was what prompted them to explore the archives room at night.
But why didn't the volunteer named Duan Jingming come? Didn't he find the access card in the room?
Thinking that his room was connected to my dormitory by a secret passage, after returning to my room, I immediately went to his room through the secret passage entrance that I had figured out a few days ago.
I thought I might see him sleeping, but when I arrived, I witnessed an incredible scene:
Although the lights in the entire building were off, his room was brightly lit. Not only that, he was not the only one in the room - the base director Dr. Jin and instructor Jin Fuhan were both there.
Through the one-way glass mirror, I couldn't hear the sounds in the room, but I could clearly see Dr. Jin and Jin Fuhan standing side by side in front of the desk, saying something to him, while he leaned back in his chair, drinking tea and fiddling with the communicator with one hand.
I realized that his identity might be very problematic, but when I wanted to go closer and hear their conversation clearly, he suddenly tilted his head slightly and looked towards the secret passage vaguely.
I was worried that he might have discovered something, so out of caution, I immediately turned around and left the secret passage before he could make another move.
Everything that has happened so far is enough for me to infer a lot of the truth, but I know that the base's plan is far from over, and there will definitely be more discoveries to come.
As for the three volunteers who fell into the trap, although I cannot be sure whether they are completely innocent, my intuition tells me that they are most likely innocent.
I think I need to find an opportunity to remind them so that they don't fall deeper into this trap.
The records in the entire notebook ended here. It was like a suspense story written in the first person, allowing the three people to re-examine the entire experience so far from a completely different perspective.
After digesting the thought for a while, Ling An was the first to speak: "Who exactly is Duan Jingming?"
At this point, Song Yecheng's previous vague guesses had become more and more clear, so he was no longer vague. He brought up the strange things he had discovered before, such as the lack of blueprints for Duan Jingming's dormitory, the obvious entrance to the closet, and the lack of props in his room. Finally, he concluded:
"If these suspicions aren't my own overreaction, the base's discrepancies in treatment are pretty telling. There are no dormitory blueprints because there's no need to give him the illusion he'd been here last year. The entrance to the secret passage isn't covered because there's no need to guard against him. And there are no props in the room because he doesn't need to 'recover his memory.' He's supposed to be playing the role of 'being killed as a warning to others because he hasn't recovered his memory.'"
Tang Yao asked, "In other words, he is a spy planted among us by the base?"
Song Yecheng nodded.
"So is he dead or not?" Ling An couldn't help but wonder, "Could it be that the base is really using him as cannon fodder to force us to surrender?"
Song Yecheng listened to his last few words and suddenly sneered in an ambiguous way: "Cannon fodder?"
"?" Ling An and Tang Yao were confused.
Song Yecheng lowered his head and pointed to the scene Jiang Que had written down last night, which he had witnessed in the secret passage. "One party is standing at the table talking, while the other is sitting in a chair drinking tea. Don't you think this scene is more like a subordinate reporting to their leader?"
They were both stunned for a moment, and then Ling An glared as if he had suddenly realized something: "Big Boss?!"
Song Yecheng didn't say anything too definitive, only saying, "The boss wouldn't dare say whether it was him or not, but even if it wasn't, there was absolutely no need for the base to kill him. We were locked in the office area before his stretcher was pushed out. No one had the chance to get close to his 'corpse'. We hadn't even opened the white cloth. Even if there was an inflatable doll lying inside, who would know?"
The two of them pondered for a moment and finally nodded in agreement.
After a while, Tang Yao looked down at her notebook again, frowning slightly as if troubled. "But... did you notice that according to Teacher Bai's records, he hadn't actually confirmed our innocence until yesterday?"
Song Yecheng thought for a moment, then nodded seriously, saying, "Indeed, so far, both the evidence he found and the clues we gathered ourselves only point to the current 'Second Phase' being a scam. There's no conclusive evidence to prove that the 'First Phase' didn't exist, and that the 'erasing of memory' never happened."
At this point, he suddenly remembered something beyond the plot, and added, "Although from a scientific point of view, such a miraculous technology as memory erasure is unlikely to be realized, since there is no empirical evidence, we cannot deny its existence based solely on experience."
Hearing this, Ling An, who had originally thought the truth was out, couldn't help but change his mind and sort out his logic: "Assuming that those crimes were really committed by us, and the first stage really happened, and we did erase our memories, then it is very likely that the base obtained evidence of our crimes during the first stage, and then set up the second stage... to force us to surrender?"
"Hmm." Song Yecheng raised his eyebrows.
"Huh..." Ling An sighed, leaning back and throwing himself onto the sofa. He was obviously tired of the extremely brain-burning situation. "So what should I do now?"
Song Yecheng smiled and walked over to sit down: "Actually, no matter whether we are innocent or not, we now have the best choice."
"What?" Tang Yao immediately asked curiously.
Song Yecheng raised his eyes and looked at her: "——surrender."
"Huh?" Ling An sat up reflexively. "Isn't that just like the previous volunteers? It's exactly what the base wants, isn't it?"
Song Yecheng was not in a hurry, and said slowly: "We are different from them."
"What's the difference?"
"They turned themselves in because they believed they were truly guilty, but we were more suspicious that this was a scam."
Facing the two men's confused looks, Song Yecheng continued to explain, "Precisely because of our suspicions, we've found a lot of clues and discovered a lot of tricks over the past two days. Since the base wants us to surrender, why not just do as they wish and tell them we've decided to surrender."
"Once we get to the police station, we can tell them everything we know so far and cooperate with their investigation. If we are innocent, the police will definitely find out the truth and clear our name. If we are truly guilty, then it is only natural that we will be punished for our crimes."
Having said this, he paused for a moment before concluding with his final sentence: "In any case, regardless of whether you are innocent or not, you should first find a way to get out. Staying in the police station is much safer than being trapped here and being controlled by others."
His analysis was very logical. After Ling An and Tang Yao thought about it carefully, they had to admit that this was indeed the best option at the moment.
Surrendering is surrendering, but it is not the kind of surrender that the base thinks it is. Instead, it is using the excuse of surrendering to leave here first and turn passivity into initiative.
Thinking of this, Ling An decisively pulled his thigh and made the decision: "Okay, then surrender!"
As he spoke, he looked at Tang Yao as if seeking her opinion. Seeing that they had both made up their minds, Tang Yao nodded decisively, "Turn yourself in."
Ling An was also a man of action. Upon hearing this, he immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out his communicator. "Didn't Teacher Bai say earlier that we should contact the instructor directly once we've made a decision?"
He lowered his head and poked around, quickly finding Lin Yan in the device's built-in address book. He raised the communicator and confirmed, "Then I'll... contact him now?"
Song Yecheng nodded: "Fight."
Ling An pressed the call button, and after a few seconds, a waiting tone came from the speaker:
beep--
beep--
After a few long beeps, there was no answer from the other end.
The three of them were not in a hurry and just waited patiently. However, after waiting for dozens of calls, there was still no movement from the other side.
"Huh?" Ling An turned to the two of them in confusion, "Why didn't he answer? Is his phone muted?"
Tang Yao also blinked in confusion, then took out her communicator: "Then I'll call He Jingsheng?"
"Okay," Ling An hung up the phone, "Come on."
Tang Yao found He Jingsheng's number and dialed it quickly.
Just like before, a prompt tone waiting to be connected soon came from the speaker, but the result was the same as before, it rang for a long time without any response.
"What's going on?" Tang Yao was completely confused. "Did they forget to bring their communicators with them?"
Ling An immediately raised his elbow and poked Song Yecheng: "Why don't you try calling Teacher Bai?"
Song Yecheng took out his communicator as he was told, and rummaged through his address book, but his mind was already racing with thought—
It is impossible that they didn't bring the communicator or that it was muted. After all, the program is still being recorded. Even if there are no scenes with the instructor for the time being, it is impossible for them to be completely separated from the plot.
Even if they were absent-minded and didn't notice the incoming call, all the directors following the filming had their intercom microphones on at all times, so they wouldn't be so negligent.
Then there is only one possibility -
The lack of an answer was not due to off-site factors, but rather to plot developments.
Song Yecheng clutched the communicator. Although he no longer held much hope for this call, he still selected the number as if to verify it, pressed the dial button, and patiently waited for the unknown result:
beep--
beep--
The familiar prompt sound rang out from the loudspeaker, echoing in the quiet room, like a dull knife slowly pulling at everyone's heart.
beep--
beep--
After dozens of beeps, the long prompt tone suddenly stopped.
The dial-up interface automatically cut off and jumped, announcing the final answer to the three people—
No one answered.
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