Mei Shou'an didn't say much. Relatively important knowledge, such as how to determine if a room has a door to the "New World," required Shang Jianyao to pass all the reviews before he could be told. The current portion mentioned was mainly precautions, to prevent Shang Jianyao, an Awakened with mental problems, from rashly exploring the "Mind Corridor" during the review period and encountering problems that could have been avoided.

After nearly an hour of conversation, Mei Shou'an had his researchers take Shang Jianyao for a detailed physical examination.

...

Floor 495, Block C, Activity Center.

Having eaten dinner, Long Yuehong mustered his courage and came here.

He found that most of the neighbors didn't treat him like a monster. They were just very curious about his mechanical arm and quite interested in his current state.

After Long Yuehong explained with his prepared remarks, their attention quickly shifted to the functions of the mechanical arm. People came over to touch it, knock on it a few times, and ask for demonstrations.

This even included some young girls, which made Long Yuehong quite embarrassed.

After successfully overcoming his psychological barrier, he finally found a chance to squeeze out of the crowd and come to a corner.

"Hi, Meng Xia, long time no see," Long Yuehong said with a smile, greeting a lady.

He used seeing a classmate as an excuse to get rid of the "harassment."

Meng Xia was about to get up and respond to her old classmate, but her husband, Zhang Lei, swiftly came over and adopted a supportive posture.

"This is?" Long Yuehong was someone who had experience outside and immediately sensed that there was "something going on."

Zhang Lei, who usually seemed silent and introverted with only his eyes being sharp, rarely showed a smile:

"Xia Xia is pregnant."

Long Yuehong wasn't surprised at all. Meng Xia and Zhang Lei had been married for over a year, and with Pangu Biology's encouragement of childbirth, it was actually quite late for them to have a child now.

"Congratulations!" Long Yuehong put on a smile.

He took a chair and sat down, not letting his old classmate get up out of politeness.

"Thank you," Meng Xia replied, then asked with a hint of curiosity, "Is your mechanical arm really strong?"

She originally wanted to ask, "Did you really volunteer for the transplant?" but she felt that their relationship wasn't good enough for that, so she changed the topic.

Her husband, Zhang Lei, who came from the outside world, further asked:

"What model is it?"

"T1," Long Yuehong didn't hide it.

Zhang Lei was slightly surprised:

"You've been to 'United Industries'? That's a relatively new model. It's rare even in First City."

"We know an arms dealer from 'United Industries'," Long Yuehong explained simply.

Meng Xia became even more curious and turned her head to ask her husband:

"Is it really that powerful?"

"Yes," Zhang Lei looked around and gave an example, "If used well, he could wipe out everyone here."

"Here" referred to the activity center.

Long Yuehong subconsciously said modestly:

"That's assuming there are no Awakened, no genetically modified people, and no one with biological prosthetics."

Meng Xia was completely stunned.

She wasn't concerned about the power of the mechanical arm, although it was indeed something, but she was amused and annoyed by the example her husband gave.

What a terrible example!

Long Yuehong actually responded to that example!

It was like someone asking if a kitchen knife was sharp, and the other person replying that it was enough to kill your whole family.

Although this time it wasn't as serious in tone or nature, the underlying logic was similar.

Meng Xia couldn't help but scold:

"Can you guys discuss something nice?"

Was this the habitual thinking of someone who had lived on the surface?

Long Yuehong also noticed the problem, raised his mechanical arm, scratched the back of his head, and forcefully changed the topic:

"Meng Xia, you haven't been pregnant for long, have you? You can't even tell.

"At a time like this, shouldn't you be going out less? Why did you come back here?"

Under the influence of Shang Jianyao, a qualified believer of the "Life Ritual" cult, Long Yuehong had acquired some knowledge he shouldn't have.

Meng Xia pouted:

"Our floor is too dull. There's hardly anyone in the activity center. It's uncomfortable staying there. The atmosphere is better here."

Long Yuehong then remembered that Meng Xia and Zhang Lei lived on a floor mainly occupied by foreign employees.

He was about to say something, but he saw Shang Jianyao walk into the activity center.

"Over here," Long Yuehong waved his hand.

As soon as Shang Jianyao approached, he rubbed his stomach and asked Long Yuehong:

"Do you have any noodles at home?"

"Yes. What's wrong? Didn't you get any food?" Long Yuehong asked.

Shang Jianyao sat down across from Meng Xia and sighed:

"The research institute doesn't provide meals and kept me there until now. There's nothing to eat anywhere. I have to make it myself."

"What did you do at the research institute?" Meng Xia asked curiously.

Shang Jianyao replied frankly:

"I was being researched."

"Haha," Meng Xia laughed.

After so long, Shang Jianyao still loved to joke as before.

However, compared to when he was in school, his personality had changed quite a bit.

In the lively activity center, the four of them chatted casually, the atmosphere being very relaxed.

During this process, Zhang Lei glanced at Shang Jianyao:

"I thought you would also get a mechanical arm transplant."

This was his intuitive judgment.

"He snatched it. There was only one," Shang Jianyao pointed at Long Yuehong with great indignation.

He showed undisguised envy and jealousy.

Meng Xia completely believed that Long Yuehong had volunteered for the transplant.

After chatting for a few more sentences, Shang Jianyao looked around and didn't see a familiar figure, so he asked:

"Where's Old Chen?"

In private, they called Chen Xianyu, the activity center supervisor of their floor, "Old Chen," but to his face, they mostly called him "Grandpa Chen."

Meng Xia's expression changed a few times, and she answered somewhat heavily:

"At the beginning of August, the company had an outbreak of 'Apathy Disease.' Grandpa Chen was unfortunately infected."

"Ah..." Long Yuehong felt a bit unreal for a moment.

Had things changed so much after only a few months away?

Shang Jianyao also fell silent, while the people in the activity center were playing cards, chatting, or discussing whether to organize a dance party on the weekend, the scene was very lively.

Long Yuehong, who originally thought this kind of leisurely and comfortable feeling was very wonderful, suddenly felt a bit restless.

He said to Meng Xia:

"Shang Jianyao and I will leave first. He's still hungry."

"Bye-bye," Meng Xia waved her hand.

...

After making a large bowl of braised beef noodles with canned goods and Long Yuehong's noodles and eating it all up, Shang Jianyao washed up and went to bed.

He entered the "Mind Corridor" once again.

He split into ten and looked around, finding that the distribution of the door numbers was the same as before, with no changes.

Along the original route, the Shang Jianyaos headed to one side of the corridor.

Before long, he arrived near room "1215."

This time, he planned to go deeper and collect more anomalies to prepare for later.

Looking with ten eyes, the gazes of the Shang Jianyaos simultaneously froze.

In their memories, the golden door number at that location was:

"1235"

"It's changed?" The Shang Jianyao wearing a deerstalker hat said silently for a moment.

"The other door numbers haven't changed," the weak and timid Shang Jianyao reminded his "colleagues."

The colleagues of the Shang Jianyao Democratic Consultative Conference.

The honest Shang Jianyao frowned:

"That's strange.

"Could room '1215' also have some quirks? Is it the type that can move, making it difficult to enter again?"

"Hard to say, hard to say," the half-human, half-machine Shang Jianyao wearing a red cassock shook his head.

The ten Shang Jianyaos discussed among themselves for a while, but they couldn't come up with a valid explanation. They could only wait until the review was over to ask Mei Shou'an if he had ever seen the door numbers of the surrounding rooms change.

...

Early the next morning, inside the elevator leading to the 647th floor.

Long Yuehong stared at the constantly changing numbers on the LCD screen and remained silent for a long time before saying:

"Is there at least one 'Apathy Disease' epidemic every year?"

He was referring to within Pangu Biology.

"That's how we remember it," Shang Jianyao raised his hand and stroked his chin.

Although many of the previous "Apathy Disease" outbreaks hadn't occurred on their floor 495, the adults who heard the corresponding broadcasts would always be a bit panicked, subconsciously reducing the number of times they gathered at the activity center. So, they, who were not very old at the time, also had a feeling and left a certain impression.

"Last year was in late autumn, and people from the 'Life Ritual' cult were involved... This year it's at the beginning of August..." Long Yuehong tried to find the connection between the two epidemics.

Without a doubt, he failed.

If the pattern of the "Apathy Disease" epidemic was so easy to discover, the researchers would have found it long ago!

At this moment, Shang Jianyao, who had his hand on his chin, made a "Huh" sound:

"Wasn't the beginning of August when you had surgery?"

The unrest in First City happened at the beginning of August.

"Could there be any connection?" Long Yuehong thought it was just a simple coincidence.

He thought Shang Jianyao just wanted to make fun of him, saying that his serious injury caused the company's internal "Apathy Disease" epidemic.

Arriving at the 647th floor and entering room 14, Shang Jianyao directly yelled at Jiang Baimian, who had already arrived:

"Da Bai, check when the company's August epidemic started and when it ended."

Jiang Baimian gnashed her teeth:

"Is there a problem?"

Although Da Bai was a nickname she chose herself and asked the team members to use, every time Shang Jianyao called her that, it gave her a feeling of wanting to hit him.

"Guess?" Shang Jianyao replied with interest.

Jiang Baimian glared at him, didn't bother to pay attention to him, and used the computer to enter the intranet and looked through the corresponding news within her authority.

She said as she read:

"The first case was on August 7th in the morning, between 8:30 and 10:30, because it was discovered relatively late, the time point cannot be precise...

"The end was on August 13th..."

Saying this, Jiang Baimian paused and frowned.

Suddenly, she raised her head and looked at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Baimian said in a deep voice:

"August 7th was the day of the unrest in First City."