PFRG: Chapter 76

Chi Ting thought about it for a while and realized he had no experience in communicating with this masochist. He finally chose to give up.

In any case, each stage of this instance was progressive. The impact caused by the continued alienation wasn’t comparable to 40%.

Once this man really couldn’t stand it, he would naturally ask for help.

As the equipment stopped operating, the volunteer’s development rate reached 40%. It was obvious that his human mind had been completely lost.

However, under the absolute deterrence that Yue Ren unleashed in his crazy state, he was still huddled in the corner. The several hands around the volunteer subconsciously held the edge of the device steadily in a panic. There was a vague look of panic in his eyes.

The volunteer’s appearance made Chi Ting fall into deep thought.

After all, the external image of the Ark Laboratory had always been to confront alienation. The current advancing of development was deviating from this previous understanding no matter how he looked at it.

“Why do I feel like you are a bit angry?”

It wasn’t until a voice was heard in his ears that Chi Ting’s attention was drawn back. It was only then that he realized Yue Ren had unknowingly walked up to him.

The man had already put the fallen gold-rimmed glasses back on the bridge of his nose. The embarrassed look he showed just now was gone.

If it wasn’t for the fact that the exposed arm had turned into a deep black color due to the devouring of the shadows, his appearance really looked as if nothing had happened.

There was a brief silence before Chi Ting withdrew his gaze. “Why are you asking?”

“I don’t know. It is just a feeling.” Yue Ren repeatedly observed Chi Ting’s expression, a faint smile on his face. “In fact, I think my current state is really good. It won’t be a problem to do it again once or twice. The shadow lines on my body are indeed a bit unsightly, but the degree of alienation in his game will be completely cleared after the instance is over. You don’t have to worry too much. I know it in my heart. There will be absolutely no risks.”

“I’m not angry.” Chi Ting smiled back. “In addition, you really don’t have to think about risks. If you lose control in this instance, it is estimated that someone else will probably suffer.”

Such a tone made Yue Ren slightly raise an eyebrow. “You are still saying that you aren’t angry?”

“I just don’t want to cause some unnecessary trouble. As long as you can take the initiative to put an end to this type of trouble, I naturally won’t have any objections. After all, we are a team now, Yue Ren.” Chi Ting said before turning around and walking out of the development room.

Yue Ren stood there for a while. Then he took a step forward thoughtfully. “Just now, this was the first time you called me by my name so seriously?”

As they were leaving, the other two people happened to push open the door from the opposite room.

Chi Ting saw the faint flames floating in the depths of Ji Xingque’s eyes and looked at Song Xuefeng inquiringly. “What’s the situation with Little Bird?”

“It is the complete activation of the explosive maniac gene. Just let him stay away from those guns, and it won’t be a big problem.” Song Xuefeng didn’t even raise his drooping eyelids when he answered. There was clear disgust in his tone. “He is so excited before his alienation degree even reaches 40%. Captain, are you really not going to consider removing him from Dawn?”

Ji Xingque was originally holding his head due to a splitting headache. He heard this and suddenly became anxious. “Old Song, don’t fan the flames. It is just gene activation. I can completely control myself!”

‘Song Xuefeng glanced at the gun he had taken out while speaking and asked quietly, “Can you control it?”

Ji Xingque: “……”

D*mn, he just wasn’t paying attention. How could he draw his weapon so easily?

He put the gun back angrily. Then he looked up and caught a glimpse of Yue Ren. He couldn’t help screaming. “Why do you look like this? What’s wrong with your hand?”

“This?” Yue Ren raised his black hand covered with shadow patterns and glanced at it. His calm tone obviously didn’t take it to heart at all. “It is probably one of your so-called appearance alienations.”

Chi Ting didn’t say anything. He turned around and walked toward the development room. “You wait for me. I’ll come back after pushing the progress.”

Ji Xingque saw him leaving like this and was stunned for a while before reacting. He looked at Yue Ren strangely. “What’s wrong with the captain?”

It always felt like he wasn’t very happy.

“Maybe he was angry because he saw how uncomfortable I was just now, but I didn’t ask him for help,” Yue Ren blurted out an answer.

Ji Xingque: “?”

It took a moment before he reacted. “You didn’t ask Captain to take out Old Song No. 2 to assist?”

“No.” Yue Ren smiled slightly. Then he asked sincerely, “Don’t you think this process of alienation is actually worthy of people to calm down and enjoy it?”

Ji Xingque recalled how he felt when he was escorted by Song Xuefeng and how he still had a splitting headache. He shook his head repeatedly. “No, I don’t think that at all.”

Yue Ren shrugged and sighed, “You still lack interest in the pleasure of life.”

Ji Xingque: “.”

Was this the pleasure of life? This was obviously the hell of life! This pervert!

Yue Ren had obviously gradually discovered the fun of teasing Ji Xingque.

The experiment that had just entered inevitably made him look a bit tired, but he still smiled very happily for a while.

Soon, Chi Ting returned from the development room.

The requirements for entering Area C were undoubtedly very simple for him. After directly raising the volunteer’s development level to 40%, he returned to everyone, and his demeanor hadn’t changed much from when he left.

Chi Ting didn’t know what the two of them were talking about. He saw the shocked expression on Ji Xingque’s face and then the happy smile on Yue Ren’s face. This made him look at Song Xuefeng inquiringly… then he saw the sleepy look on the other person’s eyes and finally withdrew his gaze. “Let’s go to Area C.”

The NPC in charge of reception for Area C took them to gain the operation clearance.

Everything was the same as before, except in comparison, the person in charge of Area C was larger. It was obvious that he had significantly fewer human features.

Ji Xingque let out a long breath after coming out of the office. “ The person in charge is obviously in the alienation stage and it has already exceeded 40%. His appearance is alienated like this. Soon, he will catch up with the alien species we have seen before. Can he actually maintain a human sanity?”

“The senior specialist in Area B is even higher. When I went to meet him with the people of Watchtower, he was playing backgammon alone with tentacles on his head,” Song Xuefeng said while silently glancing at the ceiling above his head. “Maybe this Ark Laboratory does have good experimental results. It isn’t bad. If we really want to stay here, we can play the game of ‘Guess Who I am’ after we are collectively alienated. This can be regarded as a way to spend our old age peacefully.”

Ji Xingque said, “Can you please be more careful… Even if I am in my prime, I don’t want to spend my remaining years with you!”

Song Xuefeng glanced at him, tone not fluctuating at all. “Oh, then come on.”

“Will you really die if you work harder?”

Song Xuefeng thought for a while and nodded sincerely, “If I am too tired, I will definitely die.”

Ji Xingque: “……”

Yue Ren had been paying attention to the surrounding situation all the way. Then he suddenly said, “It isn’t just the person in charge. The alienation degree of other researchers here should be higher than 40%.”

Chi Ting nodded. “Indeed.”

In fact, he had discovered that since entering Area C, it wasn’t only the volunteers but also the researcher NPCs who had obvious inhuman characteristics. This situation was obviously much more serious for the person in charge of Area B with the highest authority.

Obviously, research progress was indeed the only criterion for allocating authority within the Ark Laboratory. The researchers who couldn’t withstand the pressure of alienation had been transformed into volunteers, while those who endured it would continue to be promoted to higher privilege areas. It just wasn’t known how long they could hold on until the next continuous promotion.

At this time, what made Chi Ting feel even more concerned was that as long as they didn’t enter the development room, they could avoid the deeper alienation caused by contact with these volunteers. However, these researchers were involved in daily activities in every corner of the laboratory. This made the current Area C like a petri dish filled with 40% to 60% alienation catalysis. This was very unfriendly to the players who were active in it.

It wouldn’t cause excessive improvement in the short time, but this subtle increase in alienation sometimes made it easier for people to relax their vigilance.

Chi Ting reminded, “I’m afraid we need to be more careful in the future. I don’t want someone to suddenly be crazy around me while walking on the path.”

“Oh, the degree of alienation is indeed 1% higher than when we first came in.” Chi Ting didn’t name anyone, but Yue Ren could hear what he meant. He slowly rubbed his slightly aching temples and opened the panel to see. He glanced at it and said, “Surely the establishment of this Ark Laboratory is to save the world? No matter how I look at it, I feel like they are raising gu.”

Chi Ting was noncommittal about his evaluation. “I want to go to the data room first. You go back to the lounge. I will call you before entering Area B.”

There were researchers with a high degree of alienation everywhere. They kept their distance deliberately along the way, but the faint radiation-like feeling from all directions still made Ji Xingque feel wilted.

He heard this and nodded without any objections. “I’ll go back right now.”

Yue Ren, who was standing next to him, didn’t move. He smiled slightly when he saw Chi Ting looking at him. “I’ll accompany you to the data room.”

Chi Ting said, “I think it is better for you not to stay in Area C for as long as possible unless necessary.”

Yue Ren laughed, seemingly unaware that the shadow pattern had vaguely extended from his neckline to his chin. “You really care about me more and more, Captain Chi.”

“……”

It wasn’t known if he was gradually affected by the environment in the laboratory, but Chi Ting always felt that this man’s behavior was more and more crazy than when they first met. He moved the corners of his mouth slightly but didn’t stop the perverted preferences of Yue Ren, who was keen on masochism. He just reminded, “If you feel that something is wrong, remember to tell me in time.”

“Of course, I will.” Yue Ren put his hands into the pockets of his coat and stepped forward to follow.

The databases in each area were obviously gradually overlapped. Both in terms of number and area, Area C was clearly more than ten times larger than Area D.

This made the workload even greater.

Chi Ting originally thought that Yue Ren would continue his unfinished minesweeping work. Unexpectedly, after entering the data room, this man actually checked it carefully.

After glancing at it in surprise, he also shifted his attention to the computer screen in front of him.

It could be found that the newly added data in the Area C database was more advanced than that of Area D. The content was mostly the 40% to 60% operational data.

These cumbersome and complicated contents obviously weren’t easy to understand. But one thing was for sure, it was as the people from the Watchtower team said. The experimental plan for controlling the alienation degree here had been completely eliminated.

There were several blank documents that were very eye-catching. People were increasingly curious about the content that should be inside.

After a quick glance, Chi Ting habitually prepared to exit. Something flashed through his mind and he paused slightly when touching the mouse.

From the moment he started checking it, he discovered that the database in Area C was not only much larger than Area D, but the emphasis on data had also been significantly strengthened. All operations performed by those who entered the database were also clearly recorded. Looking forward a little, he could clearly see the search records of the Watchtower team’s Rong Jie and the others two weeks ago. Even the locations of all the files that were accessed were clear at a glance.

If even the access records were recorded in such detail, shouldn’t the operation of deleting data content also be…

Chi Ting quickly exited the operation record panel and browsed through it.

Finally, his eyes fell on a line of extremely clear records.

[July 14th, 26XX.

Operation content: Delete C3345, D3354, S2344 document content.

Operator: Jael.]

After comparison, it could be found that the time this operation was performed was one month ago.

It happened to be the third day after this instance was officially launched.