The cyborg monk Shang Jianyao pressed his red-glowing eyes against a corner of the employee introduction board, scrutinizing it carefully.
Soon, he discovered traces of adhesive in five places.
These five places, combined, were roughly the size of the photos next to them.
In other words, in the corner of the employee introduction board, there used to be a photograph, but it was either torn down or, after so many years, the glue had gradually failed, causing it to fall off.
Shang Jianyao straightened up, took his flashlight, and shone it on the floor of the room. He searched earnestly for a while but never found the missing photo.
Combining the characteristics of the traces, he tentatively concluded that the photo in the blank space had been forcibly torn off.
"Why take it away? Is it related to the gaze in the dark?" Shang Jianyao looked around and decided that this was not caused by the "Heartless."
Putting aside whether the "Heartless" would be interested in anything other than food, clothing, or weapons, with their lack of intelligence, they shouldn't have left no clues.
"No, that possibility can't be ruled out." Shang Jianyao stroked his chin, refuting himself. "Do you remember what happened after the lights came on in the No. 1 Swamp Ruins? That old lady clearly became 'Heartless,' but she still remembered to go home, look through her photo album, tidy up the room, and clean up the trash. This is one of the five holy sites of Buddhism, so it's normal to have similar special features."
Empty talk wouldn't lead to any effective conclusions. The Shang Jianyaos didn't waste too much time on this matter, and they shone their flashlights on the "Heartless" whose limbs were restricted and found it difficult to roll over.
He scanned their faces one by one and compared them with the employee photos on the wall. None of them matched.
This indicated that the existence of that "professional woman" was not a common phenomenon, but a special case.
This made her problem and the missing photograph even more mysterious.
The cyborg monk Shang Jianyao considered it for a moment, took pity on them, and gave up killing the "Heartless." He took his flashlight and the "Icetoe" with the silencer and walked back to the corridor.
He was about to observe the surroundings and decide where to go next when he suddenly felt a chill, and his body stiffened instantly.
It was as if a cold wind from the depths of the Icefield had blown over, freezing him in place.
And it wasn't just his body that was frozen, but his thoughts as well!
Shang Jianyao stared blankly ahead, allowing his body to turn halfway, facing the wall.
Then, he used all his strength and slammed his forehead against it.
Clang!
Shang Jianyao lost consciousness and fainted.
After an unknown amount of time, he slowly woke up and found himself back in the entrance area of this psychological shadow, the place where he had smashed a "Heartless" to death with a billboard.
"Did a bug occur?" Shang Jianyao expressed his confusion.
He believed that he had just been attacked, almost without any ability to resist, and the consequences of this situation were nothing more than two:
First, he "died" here, roughly equivalent to all his spirit being trapped in this psychological shadow, while in reality he became a vegetable, or died on the spot.
Second, his injuries were not fatal, and he barely recovered. Relying on the props he had and his Awakened abilities, he forcibly escaped from "Room 522," but was left with serious mental problems.
Of course, this was a normal development. Considering that there were ten of him, the Shang Jianyaos believed there was another possible outcome:
One of the Shang Jianyaos died on the spot, creating an opportunity for the remaining nine Shang Jianyaos. Afterwards, they sacrificed a few, and the remaining ones finally escaped "Room 522" and returned to the corridor. This would leave him with an indelible psychological shadow in reality, and with almost incurable aftereffects.
But now, neither of these situations had occurred. After the Shang Jianyaos passed out, they had safely returned to the entrance area of "Room 522." Other than a slight headache and a red and swollen forehead, there was nothing special about it.
Shang Jianyao then stroked his chin:
"This matter is obviously strange. That's it for today. I'll discuss it with Da Bai tomorrow."
The calm and rational him believed that what he had just encountered seemed more like, was... a warning?
...
Floor 495, Area C, No. 11.
In the dead of night, Long Yuehong lay awake with his eyes open, unable to fall asleep no matter what.
After lying down for a long time, to the point of feeling a little thirsty, he turned over, got out of bed, picked up his enamel cup, opened the lid, and drank it down.
An icy feeling spread through his throat, turning into lines and entering his stomach.
This made him even more awake.
—The nights at "Pangu Biology" were particularly cold, and water left for a long time would inevitably lose its temperature. Therefore, thermos cups were an indispensable part of many families. Of course, in cases where one couldn't afford or obtain a thermos cup, pouring water from a thermos bottle was also an option. However, Long Yuehong, when he was a teenager full of youthful vigor, had developed a habit of drinking cold boiled water, and he continued to do so at night.
Seeing that there was not much water left in the cup, Long Yuehong carried the enamel cup out of the room, heading straight for the green plastic thermos bottle on the dining table.
Just then, he saw his father, Long Dayong, coming out of the small bathroom.
"Still awake?" Long Dayong yawned.
Long Yuehong grunted in affirmation, and hesitated for a moment before saying,
"I'm thinking about some things."
"What things?" Long Dayong asked.
Long Yuehong opened his mouth, and hesitantly replied:
"Dad, if you encounter something that is valuable, but also has a certain amount of risk, would you choose to do it, or give up and live a peaceful life?"
Long Dayong instinctively replied:
"I listen to your mom."
"..." Long Yuehong didn't know whether to be envious or speechless.
Seeing that his son was not speaking, Long Dayong thought for a moment and said:
"Our current life can be considered stable.
"But I remember your grandfather telling me that when he was a kid, even when hiding in this underground building, he didn't feel safe, because 'Heartless' could appear anytime, anywhere. Of the friends his age, only half of them survived.
"Also, after you joined the Security Department, your mom specifically got to know the women whose families had someone in the front-line troops, and she found out a lot of things from them. Uh, the number of deaths in the front-line troops is much higher than the number of people inside the company who get the 'Heartless disease.'
"She has never mentioned these things to you, because she is afraid you will be nervous, afraid that we will have any bad emotions. All we can do is let you relax every time you come back, and be happy every day."
Speaking of this, Long Dayong said with emotion:
"We can have the stable life we have now, and we really have to thank you and the other employees of the front-line troops for your sacrifices."
Long Yuehong was filled with mixed feelings as he listened, but couldn't help but complain in his heart:
Dad, you're just rambling, sometimes good, sometimes bad. I can't tell what your advice is at all...
Long Dayong glanced at him:
"Anyway, your family supports you in whatever decision you make.
"Um... if the risk of that thing is particularly high, it's better to give up. If you think you can still handle it, then try it out, and don't leave yourself with regrets."
Long Yuehong was silent for a while before saying:
"I will consider it carefully."
...
The next morning, Floor 647, Room 14.
Shang Jianyao told Jiang Baimian, who had arrived at the office early, about his experiences last night.
"What are your thoughts?" Jiang Baimian didn't immediately help analyze the situation, but instead asked Shang Jianyao for his feelings.
Shang Jianyao thought seriously for a while and said:
"It feels like a plot kill. I had no ability to resist at all."
You play too many games, right? Long Yuehong sneered at Shang Jianyao's choice of words.
Of course, he didn't dare say it out loud.
Jiang Baimian nodded gently, and said as she thought:
"Could the room's original owner have encountered something similar?
"Otherwise, your experience wouldn't be so clear, and if he didn't encounter anything in the Food Company, the psychological shadow brought about by a large number of 'Heartless' should have ended as soon as he entered the 'safe zone.'"
"After the room's original owner arrived on the third floor, scared away the woman, and saw those photos, he also suddenly had his thoughts frozen, couldn't control his body, and banged his head against the wall, knocking himself unconscious?" Long Yuehong joined the discussion, making a guess based on Jiang Baimian's statement.
Shang Jianyao followed this line of thought:
"Then what happened after the room's original owner passed out?
"Was he also 'sent' back to the original place?"
Jiang Baimian slowly shook her head:
"It shouldn't be."
Seeing that Long Yuehong didn't understand why she said that, Jiang Baimian further explained:
"Shang Jianyao has been exploring that psychological shadow for several days, and has only found one complete route.
"In other words, if the room's original owner was 'sent' back to the starting point, he would have still chosen the same path afterwards, the path to the Second Food Company, and this is very contradictory in logic. If it were you, would you still wade into the muddy waters of the Second Food Company after encountering such a strange and terrifying thing? He wasn't an Awakened back then!"
"Indeed." Long Yuehong agreed.
Shang Jianyao didn't reply, and now he didn't know which one of him it was.
Jiang Baimian continued:
"I speculate that after the room's original owner fainted, he was 'sent' to another place in the Iron City Ruins. When he woke up, he discovered a route that he could safely escape, and so he left that area, and this encounter became his psychological shadow.
"Because these subsequent situations are not within that psychological shadow, Shang Jianyao returned to the starting point."
Long Yuehong first nodded, feeling that this possibility was not low, and then frowned.
He glanced at Shang Jianyao:
"Doesn't that mean that psychological shadow can't be broken through at all?"
The room's original owner couldn't do anything about it back then.
Shang Jianyao didn't respond, as if he was in deep thought, while Jiang Baimian laughed:
"No, no, no, it's still possible.
"Did you forget that the room's original owner wasn't an Awakened back then?
"He will have to face this matter when he crosses Fear Island, and he is now an Awakened at the 'Mind Corridor' level, which means that he successfully overcame this psychological shadow."
As Long Yuehong's thoughts raced, Jiang Baimian pointed out the key point:
"Then how did he overcome it?
"For such a thing, you can't overcome it without returning to the scene and facing the original fear.
"So, he should have entered the Second Food Company of Iron City again. Hey, if you can find areas that he didn't touch during his first exploration, there's a high probability that you can squeeze his subconscious, and let it bring out his second experience to improve the scene, and there's most likely an opportunity hidden within it."
So complicated... but, it makes sense... Long Yuehong was sincerely convinced.
"I'll try it next time." Shang Jianyao looked eager to try.
Jiang Baimian then laughed:
"This is just one possibility.
"Another possibility is that the psychological shadow is dynamic. Certain things are connected to even more terrifying things, and when explorers touch them, they will attract additional trouble, which is something that the room's original owner didn't encounter, no, he didn't not encounter it, it's just that he most likely didn't notice it.
"But this doesn't explain how he later grew into an Awakened at the 'Mind Corridor' level."
ps: Asking for monthly tickets on the last day of September~