“Hey, have you noticed…” Yue Ren happened to see Chi Ting’s computer interface when he came over. He smiled meaningfully, “Sure enough, there is quite a tacit understanding between us.”
Chi Ting turned around when he heard this and happened to see a computer interface that was exactly the same as his own. He nodded and said, “Things are getting interesting.”
According to Watchtower’s captain, Rong Jie, someone apparently deleted the method of clearing the inside of the instance.
He had imagined many possibilities before but never expected that the person who deleted those plans and blocked the players’ opportunity to reduce their alienation degree was actually the founder of the Ark Laboratory, Jael, who was introduced to them by the NPC at the beginning.
In Chi Ting’s original world, Professor Jael founded the Ark Laboratory with the hope of all of humanity. He was definitely a great figure worthy of being recorded in history. But in this instance, his existence should just be an NPC. In other words, he was the final boss guarding the laboratory in Area A.
Chi Ting exited the operation record panel. He clicked on the search bar and entered Jael’s name.
A series of experimental records soon popped up.
As he could see from this list, the first test report was a full ten years ago and the last one was a month ago.
The data in the database was continuously updated. It could be seen that the entire Ark Laboratory had been running in an orderly manner. Apart from Jael’s sudden strange operation, the experiments of other research experts were still progressing steadily.
So what happened a month ago? Or was it just a coincidence that these two events happened at the same time?
“Click on the previous experiment record to take a look?” It wasn’t known when Yue Ren came behind him, but Chi Ting could feel the faint breath passing behind his ears.
His fingers on the mouse paused slightly before he clicked on it.
It could be seen that after entering the laboratory, the experimental project that Jael was responsible for started from studying the most basic alienation volunteers.
On the whole, there didn’t seem to be any problems. However, Chi Ting saw another familiar name in the list of responsible people—Ling Wenguang.
It was just like what the researcher had told them in the beginning. It could be seen that Professor Jael really valued Ling Wenguang, a young junior. He always kept Ling Wenguang with him from the beginning of the initial research.
He read down the experimental records one by one and saw that after a year and a half, there were no more experimental records for a long time. It wasn’t until a full six months later that the next record document appeared. Among them, Ling Wenguang’s name had completely disappeared from the column of responsible people.
If the guess was correct, it should be an accident that killed Ling Wenguang that year.
“Look here.”
The man behind him suddenly spoke, and a faint breath passed through his hair. The hand stretched out from behind and pointed at the screen. Chi Ting could feel the chest that Yue Ren slightly pressed against his back.
His breathing paused slightly with the transmitted heartbeat. Then he looked up in the direction pointed out by Yue Ren and reacted a bit slower. “What?”
“Look at the handsome.” Yue Ren couldn’t help laughing and tapped his finger lightly on the screen. “Before the experiment recording was interrupted, this Jael’s handwriting was very elegant. It looked upright, and it can be seen that he is a person who is very meticulous in his behavior. But starting from this record, it seems that his personality has undergone obvious changes.”
Chi Ting read it again after being reminded, and quickly understood what Yue Ren meant.
From the various handwriting habits, it could be seen that the person who recorded it before and after was the same person, but the writing styles were wild as if it was a different person. The feeling was like a complete change in his entire life and beliefs.
Chi Ting’s eyes continued to scroll down. He compared the changes in the volunteers’ values again and stated, “It isn’t just the handwriting. The experimental mode has changed as well.”
He wasn’t a real researcher, but these two days of contact gave Chi Ting a basic understanding of several indicators on the experimental record sheet.
It could be seen that in Jael’s previous experimental records, the alienation indicators of these volunteers were indeed relatively controlled. Under this suppression, the growth rate of each indicator was relatively slow.
However, after a long hiatus from participating in experiments, Professor Jael returned to the research and caused the alienation of the volunteers in his hands to soar rapidly in experiments again and again.
Judging from the tasks they received in this instance, the new experimental plan was completely adjusted within the Ark Laboratory after this time. The initial focus on suppression alienation was completely shifted to the all-round ‘development’ of volunteers.
Chi Ting came out of the apocalypse and knew very well that once they were completely controlled by the alienation process, it was a terminal illness, and there was no cure. However, when it came to determining the research direction within the Ark Laboratory, he couldn’t say whether it was right or wrong. He inevitably felt a bit complicated.
He searched for Ling Wenguang’s name again. He found that there was no recorded information about this person other than the part about the experiments he conducted with Professor Jael early on.
This result made Chi Ting frown slightly.
The person whose temperament changed drastically and who suddenly decided to change the direction of research was Professor Jael, but for some reason, he always felt that it was Ling Wenguang, who died in the experimental accident, who completely turned the situation around.
Chi Ting thought for a moment before shutting down the computer.
He didn’t notice that the person behind him was still standing there and prepared to get up. Then he unknowingly bumped into that strong chest. He was slightly startled and couldn’t help glancing back.
Once their eyes met, Yue Ren raised his hand with a smile and stepped back. “What are you going to do next, Captain Chi?”
Chi Ting asked, “What do you think?”
Yue Ren smiled. “I think I will listen to you and start investigating from the person called Ling Wenguang.”
Chi Ting obviously didn’t say anything, so this made the words ‘listen to you’ seem very subtle.
He glanced up and said, “Go to the archives and take a look.’
According to the experimental records, the research progress when Ling Wenguang cooperated with Professor Jael reached around 50%. Based on the setting of this instance, it should just end in this Area C.
If it hadn’t been erased, Ling Wenguang’s personal information should be in the archives of Area C.
However, after the two of them arrived at the archives room, they didn’t find this name in the central computer.
This time, only the date when Ling Wenguang’s data was entered was found in the operation records. There was no deletion record.
Chi Ting exchanged looks with Yue Ren.
This time, there was slight surprise in their eyes.
Compared to the deletion of the experimental records that still had traces, the content about Ling Wenguang had disappeared from the instance out of thin air.
“So what you said is indeed correct.” Yue Ren laughed silently. “All the spearheads seem to be pointed at the mysterious Professor Jael at the moment, but in fact, I always feel that this quietly hidden Ling Wenguang seems to be more problematic.”
“Do you think it is possible that he was turned into a volunteer after that experimental accident?”
This idea came to mind, and Chi Ting switched directly to the volunteers’ library to search again. The result was still nothing.
The clues in this direction were completely broken.
Ling Wenguang, a being who once left a mark in the Ark Laboratory, seemed to have only been left behind in the information when he was with other people., All traces of his independent existence had been completely erased from this instance for some reason.
“Forget it. Let’s go back first.” One of Chi Ting’s great advantages was that he never worried over things. Many things originally couldn’t be achieved by persistence alone. Sometimes, giving up when something was good was a sign of letting go.
He had been able to maintain his sanity until now because he knew how to let himself go.
On the way back, Chi Ting was still thinking about the clues he gained today. He didn’t look back until he came to the fork in the road where they had to part. “Let’s stop here today. You also need to go back and rest. If you are in good condition tomorrow, let’s see if we can push the progress directly to the next area.”
He finished speaking and found that Yue Ren was still looking at him steadily. He blurted out, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I’m just thinking…” Yue Ren’s eyes were fixed on every change in Chi Ting’s expression while his lips curved up in a meaningful manner. “For Captain Chi, who is easily soft-hearted, personally pushing a volunteer into the abyss of alienation is really a bit too difficult for you.”
Such words made Chi Ting slightly stunned. Then he understood the meaning behind the words and smiled slightly, “I found that you regard me as too much of a saint. After all, I am not a savior. Facing the people I am destined to be unable to save, how tired will I be if I have to bear it on my shoulders?”
Yue Ren’s gaze remained calm. “Really?”
Chi Ting was silent for a moment before finally nodding. “Of course.”
He slowly raised the bone beads in his hands and smiled slightly. “Since you already know my degree of alienation, you don’t think I really have such pure human emotions, do you? Yue Ren, I feel like you sometimes think you know me too well. If I really want to go crazy, I might be even crazier than you.”
“I believe this.” Yue Ren raised an eyebrow and responded like this, but he didn’t care at all about Chi Ting’s rebuttal. “But if you are really as indifferent as you say… why did you summon that Song Xuefeng from the bone bead during the experimental process and go to unnecessary lengths to comfort the volunteer in your hand who obviously can’t be saved.”
These words made Chi Ting clear his throat. “How did you know?”
Yue Ren blinked slowly. “I guessed.”
Chi Ting: “……”
Yue Ren had an expression on his face that said, ‘I didn’t expect you to be deceived so easily’. He said, “It looks like I guessed right.”
Chi Ting: “………”
Yue Ren smiled lightly with satisfaction. “No, Chi Ting, I really understand you very well.”
The surroundings were quiet for a brief moment.
After a while, Chi Ting casually rubbed his long hair and ended the topic directly. “Go back and rest quickly. We will continue tomorrow.”
This attitude of simply playing tricks once he couldn’t say anything made Yue Ren laugh loudly in the end.
He was just about to turn around and leave when he caught a vague glimpse of something in his last glance. He blurted out a reminder, “Be careful.”
Chi Ting’s reaction was even faster than that of Yue Ren’s.
The moment he noticed the figure that suddenly jumped out from the corner, he turned around sharply. He subconsciously reached out and had already lifted the man’s collar.
Everything happened in a moment. It wasn’t until he saw the face that fell into his eyes that Chi Ting became stunned for a moment. “Why is it you? You are also in Area C?”
The person who was caught obviously hadn’t recovered. He instinctively struggled several times but failed to break free. He raised his head when he heard the sound. “Ah… I thought I had encountered some monster. It turned out to be you.”
This person was the beautiful boy who entered with Chi Ting and the others.
At that time, they cleared the area quickly and didn’t pay attention to the two players left in Area E by them. He didn’t expect that, in the blink of an eye, the teenager would actually catch up with their progress.
Yue Ren also recognized him. “Oh yes, I know you. You are… what is your name?”
The boy had introduced himself before. He was slightly speechless when he saw that neither of them remembered his name.
Chi Ting’s hand loosened and he freed his collar that had been lifted up. After carefully arranging his clothes, he introduced himself again in a good-tempered manner. “Cang Si, my name is Cang Si.”
“Okay, Cang Si.” Yue Ren nodded. “So how did you get here?”
This seemingly gentle smile was actually full of scrutiny. The young man called Cang Si shook his body slightly and replied very cooperatively, “I just followed the instance rules, pushed the research progress to 40%, and successfully opened the permission.”
“Pushed to 40% to open the permissions?” Yue Ren narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the young man in front of him, who looked no different from when they first met. “During this process, you didn’t feel any discomfort?”
“Discomfort?” Cang Si let out an ‘ah’ sound before saying, “That is why you are asking. It is like this. My personal ability is called ‘Self-healing. It has certain effects on mental and physical trauma. I tried the recovery function earlier and found that it works well in this instance. This was why I could push the progress so quickly. You can see on my panel that the current degree of alienation is still within 10%.”
As he spoke, he showed the panel to the two of them.
At a glance, the alienation degree was indeed stable at 8% while the development degree was surprisingly close to 50%.
Chi Ting and Yue Ren exchanged looks.
Self-healing?
Combined with the rule settings, this young man’s personal ability seemed to be tailor-made for this Ark Laboratory instance.
In a way, he was even more of a bug than their group of people from Dawn.
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