Chapter 1 The Beginning
Qi Ji and Bai Zhan·Hen walked out of the news building and flew south in a luxury hovercar.
After about an hour of flying, they landed on the outskirts of the city.
This was a dilapidated block, with clusters of rundown old houses, few of which had lights on.
The two walked to a small, worn-out three-story building. Bai Zhan·Hen took out a key, opened the door with familiar ease, and walked in.
Qi Ji stood at the entrance, hesitating whether to enter the dark house.
Bai Zhan·Hen stood in the darkness and said softly, "Come in."
"It's so dark, are there any ghosts..." Qi Ji murmured, then cautiously stepped inside.
The door closed automatically.
Bai Zhan·Hen turned on his flashlight, stood against the center of the wall, counted his steps, took three steps to the left, and gently kicked a seemingly ordinary wooden skirting board.
The wall beside him suddenly cracked open, sinking inward to reveal a downward-sloping passage.
"Bai Zhan, where is this? So mysterious," Qi Ji asked softly.
Bai Zhan·Hen smiled mysteriously and walked down first.
After the two passed through the long passage and reached the gate at the end,
Bai Zhan·Hen said softly, "Be prepared."
"Wh-what?" Qi Ji was confused.
The gate opened wide,
and a white light instantly passed through them.
When Qi Ji adjusted to the white light and squinted inside,
he saw a spacious, bright white room, hundreds of square meters in size.
There were thirteen people in the room, both men and women.
They were all busy at their respective workstations.
Dozens of blue holographic screens lined the walls, encircling the room.
In the center of the room were some scattered instrument pods, giving a high-tech feel.
"What... what is this place?" Qi Ji asked dazedly.
A short, somewhat stout, bald man walked up to them and said, "Bai Zhan, this must be little brother Qi Ji? My name is Sa Kuan, and I'm an intelligence cadre under Gu Ya."
"Sa Kuan?" Qi Ji remembered who this person was and asked, "Aren't you supposed to be in Xia Xin City, responsible for contacting Fu Ya Fang?"
Sa Kuan smiled and said, "That's right. Fu Ya Fang has a new mission and identity, and has already left Xia Xin City."
"The twelve consciousness domain experts who followed Gu Ya have evacuated from Xian Xia. Following Gu Ya's orders, they have come to Black Star City to establish a secret base to prepare for a future counterattack."
Qi Ji nodded, surprised that Brother Gu had thought of this. He mused that establishing a secret base in Black Star City, teeming with agents, without anyone noticing required extraordinary ability!
The three entered the base.
Qi Ji curiously looked at the instruments and asked happily, "What are all these for?"
At this moment, a female scientist, looking down at a holographic screen, walked over and said, "Sa Kuan, the list of spare parts I need is here. I need them in the next few days."
Sa Kuan patted his bald head, annoyed, "Hong Fei, Black Star is cracking down these days, it's hard to get things!"
"I don't care. Without these spare parts, the consciousness transfer instrument cannot be debugged."
Hong Fei saw Qi Ji and Bai Zhan·Hen, smiled sweetly at them, turned, and returned to her workstation to continue her busy work.
Qi Ji murmured, "Consciousness transfer instrument?" As he spoke, Qi Ji picked up a helmet and examined it.
Sa Kuan pulled Bai Zhan·Hen aside and whispered, "There's a situation with the Young Master!"
"All the instruments he left behind have disappeared, so we had no choice but to purchase them locally from Black Star."
"My abilities are limited, so I called you here precisely for the procurement matter."
Bai Zhan·Hen nodded and said softly, "I sensed it too. I suspect that when Gu Ya killed Hai Yang, he was restrained by the Pot of Restraint."
"Since it has come to this, I will find a way."
Sa Kuan nodded with relief.
"Ah—!" Qi Ji suddenly cried out in pain!
The two turned their heads simultaneously, instantly breaking out in a cold sweat!
At some point, Qi Ji had put on a consciousness transfer helmet, and the instrument was still in the experimental running state!
Everyone instantly felt a generation gap, as Qi Ji's scream had shocked them all into acting like grandchildren!
Hong Fei was the first to react, she dashed towards Qi Ji and shouted, "Stop the instrument quickly, or his consciousness will die!!!"
But what happened next far exceeded everyone's expectations!
The consciousness transfer instrument gradually stabilized!
On the holographic screen, various numerical values began to increase in an orderly fashion!
Qi Ji's expression gradually relaxed from pain, and the corners of his mouth even began to turn upwards.
Hong Fei stared in astonishment, frozen in place like a sculpture. Immediately, she regained her senses,
turned back to her workstation, and commanded loudly, "Everyone, begin consciousness transfer operations!!"
"This young man... is not simple!"
Everyone obeyed the order, quickly straightened their posture, and began working.
Sa Kuan and Bai Zhan·Hen helped Qi Ji and slowly placed him into the transfer instrument.
They tore open Qi Ji's shirt and attached various sensors and wires to his body.
Even without debug spare parts and components, the experiment proceeded extremely smoothly!
Everyone worked nervously and busily for half an hour before slowly exhaling a sigh of relief.
Qi Ji's consciousness had been perfectly uploaded into the system!
Hong Fei looked at the near-perfect data curve in disbelief and smiled with astonishment, "This... this... near-perfect data..."
Another scientist trembled with surprise and shouted, "Look! My 'Intelligent Flash' numerical value for this young man is 0.78% higher than the Young Master's!"
"Mine too! For the 'De-gating Exotic Consciousness Particle' data, this young man is 0.94% more perfect than the Young Master!"
"The 'Anti-Divergence Consciousness Field' I'm responsible for shows that this young man is 0.15% lower than the Young Master, but the numerical value is steadily increasing! He'll surpass the Young Master soon!"
Scientists all around sent in reports of success. Occasionally, the numbers were lower, but not ridiculously so.
Hong Fei turned to look at Qi Ji in the instrument and asked, "Where did the Young Master find this young man?"
Sa Kuan shrugged, smiling and indicating he didn't know.
Bai Zhan·Hen smiled at Qi Ji and said, "Gu Ya liked Qi Ji from the moment he first met him. Perhaps it's true that people of the same attribute are attracted to each other."
"This is perhaps a matter of fate."
Hong Fei smiled and looked up dreamily, saying, "The Young Master will be very happy if he sees this!"
Bai Zhan·Hen, however, suddenly became worried and asked, "Where exactly is Qi Ji now?"
"I'm right here, hahahaha!"
Qi Ji's voice suddenly came from the public address system, full of joy!
"I am everywhere, I can see all data streams!! This world is so magical! I can... I can... I feel like I can do anything!"
Hong Fei immediately became serious, adjusted her posture, and said, "Qi Ji, we will now teach you how to use your abilities to traverse the data streams."
"You must learn diligently, avoid data traps and self-consciousness obstacles, and beware of all 'dark fellows'!"
Qi Ji said happily, "Dark fellows? I understand, like abyss-like blocks, I won't touch them!"
Hong Fei smiled and said, "That's right, you're learning quickly!"
"Perfect test subject is in place, everyone put down all your work and fully assist Qi Ji!"
"Qi Ji, oh Qi Ji, you truly are a miracle!"
Sa Kuan scanned everyone, and all of them straightened up, full of fighting spirit.
He shrugged, patted Bai Zhan·Hen on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "We should get busy too, let's go buy some experimental spare parts and help Qi Ji!"