Chapter 130: Being Frank
Yuan Mingli did not agree to Huo Shizhen's request to give Lin Guantang the highest system authority.
She felt it was too early, but it hadn't come to that point yet, and it was also because she couldn't do it on her own.
He Xi has three levels of authority. The first level is opened by default for all freshmen, and Huo Shizhen can allocate the places at will. The second level is much stricter. One must have some outstanding deeds and need a main recommender and two guarantors to be granted authority.
To obtain the third level of authority, one must pass the school interview and designated assessment items, and be confirmed by multiple parties without objection before it can be granted.
As for the so-called highest level of authority, if it is the kind that Huo Shizhen expects, it requires the approval of the empire. It is obvious that it will not be passed.
Even if Yuan Mingli was the main developer of the system, he did not have the qualifications. It would be a daydream to directly raise the second-level authority to the highest authority.
Huo Shizhen also understood this point quite well, so as a second best option, he chose another roundabout approach.
——That is to make Lin Guantang the emergency backup candidate for his system.
It can also meet one's own requirements without being discovered by anyone, and even Lin Guantang himself will not be affected in any way.
And only Yuan Mingli is needed to assist in the process.
Yuan Mingli had no reason to refuse, but just sighed in his heart.
***
snake.
Lin Guantang dreamed of the snake again——
A huge snake skeleton that was already dead and whose flesh and blood had long since dried up and dissipated.
In the dead world, the huge and majestic white snake bones are the last remains of the world's life.
It spiraled from the sand-covered ground all the way to the sky, then lowered its serpentine head from the clouds, its hollow eye sockets and gaping mouth facing Lin Guantang, like a playful teasing, a majestic display, a murderous prey...
It also seemed like the final wailing and biting.
In short, if Lin Guantang stared at her for too long, he would feel the fear that he would be swallowed whole in the next second.
But snake bones are just snake bones. Maybe it could eat a whole person without any problem when it was alive, but no matter how majestic the dried bones look, they are ultimately just a horrifying specimen.
However, that did not affect Lin Guantang's shock at its enormity and grandeur.
And there is a strange kind of companionship and cuddling, in this empty world, there are only yellow sand, dead bones, and myself. I can't empathize with the sand.
Lin Guantang thought that if this snake was alive, it might choose to coexist with him instead of eating him because it didn't want to be the last lonely living creature in the world.
He didn't know if it was a kind of telepathy, but in this silent world where everything returned to nothingness and even the wind no longer existed, Lin Guantang suddenly felt as if something cold was crawling up his wrist, forcing him to look down.
It turned out to be a small silver snake wrapped around the wrist, with its head extending in the palm of the hand. Then it raised up and looked at Lin Guantang, spitting out its bright red tongue from time to time.
Is it true that whatever you wish for will come true?
Lin Guantang was so excited that he couldn't help but raise his hands in front of him so that the upright snake head was level with his eyes, and even the shimmering snake scales could be seen clearly.
He greeted the snake, saying softly, "Hello, little snake."
The snake also greeted him, stuck out its tongue, suddenly jumped up, and bit Lin Guantang on the forehead.
Hello--!
Lin Guantang sat up suddenly and subconsciously reached out to cover the place where he was bitten. He still felt the pain of the bite, but when he touched it, he found that his forehead was smooth, without even a pimple, let alone the teeth marks he had imagined.
I couldn't help feeling a little angry, and thought of the story of the farmer and the snake - it was indeed a cold-blooded animal. I greeted it so friendly, but it bit me without any warning.
"how?"
Someone was talking nearby. Lin Guantang looked over and saw Huo Shizhen sitting on a chair beside the bed, handling some matters. His sudden sitting up action attracted his attention and he asked:
"Another nightmare?"
Although it is a question, it expresses an affirmative tone.
Lin Guantang nodded, feeling his throat dry, and coughed muffledly, then answered in a somewhat fuzzy voice:
"I dreamt of being bitten by a snake."
His voice was hoarse from long sleep. Huo Shizhen handed him the cup of water on the table and casually interpreted the dream:
"A good omen, indicating that you will gain a great fortune."
Lin Guantang lifted the quilt, lingered on the bed for a few seconds, sat down on the edge of the bed, reached out to take the cup of water, and asked humbly:
"How big?"
Huo Shizhen pondered for a moment and said seriously:
"Wealthy enough to rival a nation."
That's really huge.
He is rich enough to rival a country. It makes me happy just thinking about it.
Lin Guantang couldn't help but show a happy expression, and shook the hand holding the cup, causing ripples to appear on the water in the cup.
After finishing the water and placing the cup steadily on the table, Lin Guantang looked at Huo Shizhen carefully as if he was seeing him for the first time, observing every expression on his face.
Huo Shizhen didn't care about his blunt gaze, but in the end he couldn't stand it and looked up at him helplessly.
Lin Guantang then said curiously:
"What are you...planning?"
He clasped his hands in front of him, restrained his expression, and without waiting for Huo Shizhen to answer the question, he continued:
“Why are there only patients but no doctors in the sanatorium?”
Huo Shizhen's eyes were calm and he just looked at her.
In this eye contact, Lin Guantang asked one question after another:
"Why are you putting me in a hospital gown? What's wrong with me? Shouldn't your mother be the one who's sick? But she doesn't look like someone who's been suffering from an illness for years."
"Why do I have tinnitus when I open that door? Is it an illusion or is something real?"
“Why do people fall asleep for a second?”
"Why do people have bizarre dreams?"
"What did you do to me?"
"Is she really your mother?"
…
A voice, neither loud nor soft, echoed in the pale room, and questions were sent out like flowing water.
It's not that all the questions have no answers, but stating them all simply means that Lin Guantang was not deceived by the temporary illusion of harmony, but was aware of all the abnormalities from the beginning.
He noticed all the abnormalities, but he just didn't want to ruin the beautiful atmosphere. He felt that everyone had their own ugly side that they wanted to hide. Since it wasn't out of malicious intent, he would just pretend he didn't know. It was actually nice to be a cute and naive junior in front of amiable elders.
But why was he put to sleep without any warning?
Lin Guantang felt that he was very, very understanding and cooperative.
What can't I say to him directly?
His expression became a little sad.
Huo Shizhen listened to everything he said, and without any follow-up words, he spoke:
"You'll know everything."
What kind of answer is that?
Lin Guantang said in a cold voice:
"I guessed everything, but it's different from what you said."
Huo Shizhen smiled and said thoughtfully:
"I thought you would enjoy guessing. Isn't that what you did before?"
Because they guessed what Huo Shizhen was going to do, they cooperated very tacitly and felt happy about it.
But now Lin Guantang felt depressed because he didn't know the truth, because he felt that Huo Shizhen was being perfunctory again, because he actually understood what he was saying immediately.
But that was different. At that time, he and Huo Shizhen did not have this kind of relationship. At that time, he wanted to enter Huo Shizhen's eyes and prove himself to him.
——Okay, Lin Guantang admitted that he was actually trying to convince himself.
Huo Shizhen is a person who has grown up among all the mysteries. Isn't this something he has known for a long time?
If it weren't like this, if it weren't different from ordinary people in appearance and full of mystery, it wouldn't attract my attention and become a source of fascination. In this case, it should be fun to solve the mystery now.
But no matter how much I comfort myself, I can't suppress the dissatisfaction in my heart.
Because their relationship has changed. It is no longer senior and junior, no longer superior and subordinate, no longer a riddler and a decryptor, or any other relationship. Instead, they are partners, lovers, or spouses.
After all, we are partners who will walk side by side with each other, so shouldn’t we be honest with each other?
Two knocks on the door broke the gaze between Lin Guantang and Huo Shizhen.
Then, the half-closed door was slowly pushed open. Yuan Mingli, dressed in formal attire and a white coat, stood at the door with a smile and asked gently:
"Am I interrupting your conversation? Can I come in and have a word?"
This was a very polite greeting, but Huo Shizhen still found a loophole:
"If you really don't want to disturb someone, you shouldn't speak."
"Come in."
Lin Guantang took over his words, looked at Huo Shizhen again, and said angrily:
"I think you shouldn't speak. If you can't speak, then don't speak."
——This is taking out your anger on others.
Specifically, breathing is a mistake, and speaking is an even greater sin.
Huo Shizhen's eyes were cold for a moment, and then turned into complete helplessness. I don't know what he was thinking, but he really didn't say a word.
Lin Guantang realized belatedly after he finished speaking - it was extremely rude to criticize a son in front of his mother.
But... is she really Huo Shizhen's mother?
If not, then it's not disrespectful and doesn't seem to be anything unacceptable.
Rather, she seemed quite happy to see Huo Shizhen suffer a setback.
It's really a cause for celebration. Young Master Huo has always been the one who argues with others, but one day he was scolded and had no way to refute it, so he just shut up.
Yuan Mingli looked back and forth between the two people and sighed helplessly. He never thought that one day he would actually experience the legendary difficult situation of "who to help when son and daughter-in-law quarrel".
After all, it has always been assumed that Huo Shizhen will die alone.
At this time, more than in many years, I felt that Huo Shizhen had the breath of a living person. Like a normal person, he could not escape the fate of quarreling with his lover.
But how should she choose?
It is really a headache when my son and daughter-in-law quarrel. It is difficult to choose who to help.
She felt depressed again. After all, according to statistics, when two people quarrel, they should take the initiative to find the elderly to ask who to help. But the two people in front of her didn't seem to intend to ask her for justice.
Not even going to make a scene.
Otherwise, there should be a big quarrel or even a fight?
Yuan Mingli looked around and took in all the furniture and decorations in the room. They were great, all of them were things that didn't matter if they were smashed.
That's okay. If two people get into an argument and start fighting, there's no need to worry about any losses.
But this is an unnecessary worry. It is obvious that the two cannot fight or even quarrel.
But a cold war is not good either, so she decided to force a settlement.
"I've already told you that hiding secrets from your lover is a big taboo in love."
Yuan Mingli said this to Huo Shizhen first, but it was of no use. Huo Shizhen acted as if he didn't hear anything.
She looked at Lin Guantang again, stroked his hair, and said with a smile:
"I am his biological mother. This is an indisputable fact. Don't worry about it. Okay, for a mother, these are really sad words."
Lin Guantang immediately felt guilty.
But before he could say anything to apologize, he was shocked by what was happening before his eyes and became speechless.
Because when Yuan Mingli stretched out his arm towards him, what was revealed from under his sleeve was a silver-gray, cold machine.
As the hand stretched out, the robotic arm was gradually covered with flesh-colored skin. When it was fully extended in front of Lin Guantang, it had become a complete, original arm and fingers.
When he touched Lin Guantang's scalp, he felt warmth.
Compared to Huo Shizhen's obviously cold body temperature, this warmth seemed normal - if you ignored the hard touch.
When Yuan Mingli withdrew his fingers, the skin disguise faded away again, turning into a cold machine.
In order to let Lin Guantang see more clearly, she even stopped in front of her and moved her five fingers very flexibly, even bending them backwards to fit tightly with the back of her hand - a degree of bending that a normal human hand could never achieve.
"Huo Shizhen said he wanted to see you more normally, so I urgently took courses on how to be a perfect mother-in-law."
Yuan Mingli looked at Lin Guantang and said:
"But now it seems that perhaps it would be better for us to be direct and honest."
Is this... normal?
Lin Guantang began to doubt his life. If this was normal, then what would it be like when it was abnormal?
Lin Guantang said cautiously:
"So your arm is..."
He remembered the rumors about Huo Shizhen's mother. Perhaps the so-called long-term illness meant that her arms were disabled and she was unable to see people. Now she had prosthetic limbs installed, which was not uncommon.
However, Lin Guantang always felt that it was definitely not an ordinary prosthesis.
Putting aside other things, can a simple prosthetic limb already change shape so smoothly?
Yuan Mingli said:
"You can choose the term you prefer, whether it's a robotic arm or a prosthetic limb. The goal is simply to replace a real limb and make it more versatile and flexible."
As he spoke, Yuan Mingli stretched out his arm, which stretched directly to the wall and pointed at it.
As Lin Guantang stared in amazement, the snow-white wall turned into a transparent material.
Looking up, there were vast rooms with no end in sight, countless people and robots walking around in them, and many equipment that Lin Guantang was unfamiliar with were operating automatically with ease.
The warm courtyard he had passed by when he first came in also turned into a cold room, with a huge lamp on the top.
Just a simulated sun.
"Let X be the unknown, and let Y be the known answer. If X represents an unknown future in which one escapes the body and attains eternal freedom of the soul, is it complete evolution or utter destruction?"
Yuan Mingli's voice rang out, pulling back Lin Guantang's already wandering consciousness. She retracted her fingers and slowly spoke the next words:
"The Y represents the Empire's response. It acknowledges the fragility of the flesh and blood body, but its goal is not to completely break away from it, but to strengthen it to the extreme."
"A person is only complete when his soul rests in a body. If only his soul remains, no matter how much he describes it, death is the only reality. If everyone chooses to evolve their souls, the empire will become a land of complete death."
Lin Guantang realized what she meant almost instantly:
"Is this the answer to the riddle in those three lines?"
“That’s my answer.”
Yuan Mingli smiled at him:
"As for whether this is really what the old man wanted to express, I don't know. I can't touch the photo, nor do I have the ability to ask questions remotely."
After all, the person died decades ago, and we can't dig up his grave to ask his soul.
As for the photo, it was obviously tampered with and some dangerous substances were added. It was impossible for it to be brought into this place unless someone wanted to completely destroy the photo.
"I understand. Thank you for your answer."
In the end, Lin Guantang could only say this.
A few minutes later, the snow-white walls covered themselves back little by little, and the room became an ordinary room again.
Even Yuan Mingli retracted her arm again, returning to normal, and said goodbye with a smile, saying that she had things to do.
Lin Guantang nodded and watched her leave.
I still feel like I may have had a dream within a dream and am still in a dream.
But he pinched his palm silently, feeling the pain in his heart, but still did not wake up from the dream within the dream.
This is reality.
Lin Guantang put his hand to cover his forehead, and one of his eyes was also covered in his palm.
He could feel his eyeballs moving uncontrollably beneath the thin eyelids, fragile and sensitive, yet reassuring.
A sense of peace of mind that he was still living in the normal world.
A long time has passed - Lin Guantang thought that a long time had passed and there was no point in continuing to play the ostrich.
So he put down his hands, raised his head, sat upright, looked at Huo Shizhen and said slowly:
"I think I need to start from the beginning, including where this place is. Since you brought me here, you should also give me a clear result."
Huo Shizhen didn't say anything.
After looking at each other for a moment, Lin Guantang twitched his lips and said weakly:
"Where's your answer? You can speak now."
Huo Shizhen then nodded and said:
"We are so in tune with each other. I have the same idea."
Lin Guantang looked at him speechlessly, feeling depressed and amused.
Actually, there is nothing troublesome or difficult about it. Seriously speaking, it is nothing more than a few questions and answers.
——Didn’t you agree to go see your grandfather? Why did you come here specially?
Because they need to use the Hexi Origin System to help Lin Guantang cover up the traces that Lilith had previously imprinted in his mind through the simulated world.
During Yuan Mingli's free time, the few of them sat together and talked again, but the harmonious atmosphere they had the first time was no longer there.
It cannot be said that there were none, but both Lin Guantang and Yuan Mingli had much more serious and cold attitudes.
To put it simply, this time they sat down to talk, it was no longer between a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law, but between a doctor and a patient.
But it was Lin Guantang who was sick.
——Yuan Mingli stayed in the sanatorium for a long time in the name of recuperation and did not go out to see anyone. From the beginning to the end, it was just an excuse to deceive the outside world.
The sanatorium is essentially a large underground experimental site for research systems, and the progress has already been made in how to completely transform the human body into a complete mechanical body.
Yuan Mingli was the person in charge of the experiment and was also one of the experimental subjects.
In short, the current atmosphere is a business-like one.
As for Huo Shizhen, his expression was as cold as ever, with a hint of weariness, perhaps even a bit of embarrassment from having his crimes exposed in front of him.
Although I didn't notice it at all, and an unpleasant joke would still be inserted from time to time.
But his jokes really sounded like pouring cold water, and no one could laugh.
So it was simply ignored.
Yuan Mingli had no intention of explaining too much about the operation of this underground place to Lin Guantang. He simply explained the meaning of the three sentences behind the photo, and then answered questions related to Lin Guantang's dream:
"Lilith is the original system that supports the operation of the simulated world. You should have known this long ago."
Lin Guantang nodded, this was a well-known fact.
Although the streets of the simulated world are now full of advertisements for the empire's most advanced systems, in the beginning, the external propaganda slogan represented the highest-tech self-developed system - code-named Lilith.
Yuan Mingli also said:
"So, Lilith can influence people's thoughts and consciousness in the simulated world, leaving a mark. The mark can then be reactivated and expanded the next time they enter the simulated world. This is the so-called archiving and retrieval process. This should be easy for you to accept."
Lin Guantang nodded. This was not difficult to guess. It was better to say that before experiencing the simulated world, he was wondering whether it was really possible to fully immerse himself in another world.
During the experience, Lin Guantang had already suspected that the simulated world must have done something to the brain, otherwise it would be impossible for people to completely forget the existence of the real world.
Even if I tell myself again and again that I am in a virtual world, I still instinctively feel that it is extremely real.
Therefore, in the simulated world, Lin Guantang tried his best not to move or think at all, being even more NPC than an NPC, because he subconsciously felt that in the simulated world, the more he moved and thought, the more his consciousness would be captured by the simulated world.
That is definitely not a good thing... Jian Yinglai, who was experiencing the simulated world with him, had the same reaction and shared the same opinion with Lin Guantang.
And before leaving there, he never mentioned his discovery for fear of being caught saying something crucial.
What Lin Guantang didn't expect was that he would be marked just after going in to experience it once.
From this, Lin Guantang thought of another thing:
"Lilith leaves a mark in the mind that can be activated at any time. Is this something you've known for a long time?"
When saying this, Lin Guantang was looking at Huo Shizhen - so what he really wanted to ask was: Huo Shizhen knew that it would leave a mark, but still did nothing to stop it.
The meaning is not difficult to understand.
Huo Shizhen understood what he really wanted to say, but he asked back:
"If I had warned you not to enter the simulated world, or else you would be left with a mark that would be difficult to erase, would you have refused?"
"No."
Lin Guantang was silent for a long time before he sighed deeply and said:
“I would also choose to experience it.”
He has a strong curiosity. If he knew everything in advance, he would not only choose to go in, but also be more cautious than last time, observing everything in the simulated world more carefully, and feeling more cautiously when Lilith invaded and parasitized his consciousness.
"So I didn't stop you, and I didn't tell you."
Huo Shizhen said calmly:
"Only in this way can you bring out your most natural acting skills."
Only in this way can Lilith avoid noticing anything.
This answer is reasonable, but quite cruel.
But at that time, there was no personal relationship between them. Even if it sounds painful now, should we use our current emotions to criticize the indifference at that time?
Of course not.
Lin Guantang pressed his aching heart - but it couldn't stop him from feeling sad at the moment.
"If you can't speak properly, you can't blame others for losing your love."
Yuan Mingli sighed and explained to Lin Guantang in more detail:
"Only when you return to the so-called experience chamber can Lilith activate the mark and control your consciousness again. If you only experience it once and don't have a second experience, you won't be affected by it again."
"It's absolutely impossible for Lilith to influence your consciousness from a distance. Your nightmare was a complete accident. Neither Huo Shizhen nor I could have imagined this. That's why after he learned you had that nightmare, he immediately brought you here to cover the mark and prevent you from being dragged into the nightmare a second time."
"Whether the dream you had was a coincidence or someone deliberately lured you in, he wasn't going to gamble on the possibility."
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