Because there were lights in the laboratory, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao didn't need to use flashlights. After a short distance, they could clearly see the corresponding scene:
Three gray-white metal beds were placed side by side, set within arched instruments of the same color. From above, wires with round, thin plates hung down.
At this moment, each of two of the metal beds held a white skeleton, dressed in tattered blue and white checkered clothing, lying in a very standard position, except for their heads tilted to the side.
The other bed was empty, clean, and without even a speck of dust.
"Is the air purification system here always on?" Shang Jianyao looked up at the ceiling, unable to grasp the key point.
Otherwise, after so many years, not even a bit of dust would have settled.
Jiang Baimian ignored his words and walked to one of the metal beds with human skeletons, carefully observing it for a few seconds.
She organized her thoughts and said:
"There are many traces left on the metal surface, indicating that the corpses decomposed here..."
While speaking, she turned her head to look at the metal bed without a skeleton:
"And this one is very clean.
"Preliminary judgment, no one or corpse has lain here since the destruction of the Old World."
Her implication was that Long Yuehong might have truly had a hallucination.
The honest Shang Jianyao immediately retorted:
"Maybe the corpse on it woke up on its own, walked away unsteadily, and then the laboratory's cleaning robot came and took care of it?"
From the current situation, this laboratory, due to its high security level, extensively used robots. Jiang Baimian couldn't deny the existence of cleaning types.
She even suspected that the robots here only entered a "dormant" state after the Source Brain arrived, no longer fulfilling their duties.
And the former emperor of First City, Olei, the father of the Source Brain, most likely possessed the identification of this laboratory, directly gaining the robots' recognition.
This was Jiang Baimian's speculation based on the laboratory not showing any obvious damage.
Stop telling ghost stories... Long Yuehong wasn't grateful at all that Shang Jianyao was speaking up for him.
At this time, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao, while verbally communicating, carefully inspected the empty metal bed again.
They didn't find any noteworthy clues.
Jiang Baimian then went to the operating area of the instrument.
There, a stack of bound papers was placed.
Jiang Baimian was quite familiar with this:
Experiment logbook!
Looking closely, Jiang Baimian found that the experiment logbook remained open, listing many items:
"Serial Number," "Heart Rate," "Blood Pressure," "Frequency," "Intensity," etc.
Perhaps the experiment had just begun when the Old World was destroyed, so, other than the numbers under the Serial Number column, everything else was blank.
The Serial Number column had three groups of numbers written in order:
"14 (Left Bed);
"27 (Middle Bed);
"32 (Right Bed)."
Jiang Baimian turned her head and once again cast her gaze at the three metal beds inside the arched instrument.
Based on her experience, the empty one was the left bed, with the serial number "14."
She quickly informed her team members of this information.
"This should be the subject's number..." Bai Chen muttered to himself while observing his "defense zone," "What is the basis for the numbering?"
Long Yuehong suddenly had a flash of inspiration:
"Could it be the ward number?
"14 refers to the experimental subject living in ward 14?"
When the Old Task Force entered this hall along the corridor earlier, they noticed that the doors of those wards were all marked with numbers.
Bang bang bang, Shang Jianyao applauded Long Yuehong by patting the side of his Berserker assault rifle.
"Very likely," Jiang Baimian also expressed her agreement.
She paused for a moment, her tone becoming solemn:
"Since the experiment logbook is written this way, then it means that there were indeed three people lying here at the time.
"And now there are only two skeletons left."
Hearing his team leader's words, Long Yuehong, although somewhat mentally prepared, was still shocked and blurted out:
"One 'ran' away earlier?"
"It's also possible that they ran away when the Old World was destroyed, went out to fool around during the day, came back to sleep at night, and just lay down today when they discovered that there were outsiders coming in, so they had to sneak away." It was unknown which Shang Jianyao had imagined the complete "process."
It's quite, quite humanized... Jiang Baimian didn't know how to evaluate it.
Long Yuehong glanced at Bai Chen and subconsciously retorted:
"When the Old World was just destroyed, these experiments, uh, the volunteers shouldn't have died yet.
"If what we guessed earlier is correct, then they were all still in a vegetative state at the time."
Shang Jianyao smiled:
"So you think a dead person sneaking away is more realistic, or a vegetative person sneaking away is more realistic?"
Neither is realistic, okay! Long Yuehong roared in his heart.
Jiang Baimian's expression changed slightly, and she said in a deep voice:
"At least Jiang Xiaoyue, a vegetative person from before the Old World's destruction, still has a corresponding Mind Corridor room today.
"It's not impossible for a vegetative person to suddenly wake up due to stimulation when the Old World was destroyed..."
Bang! Shang Jianyao patted the side of the Berserker assault rifle and suddenly understood:
"I get it!
"The Northern Company and this secret laboratory are both studying how to receive the power of the Darkness, allowing humans to gain special abilities, and there is no better experimental subject than a vegetative person who has lost their own consciousness.
"Without their own consciousness, they won't clash with the erosion of the Darkness!
"The Old World was destroyed because there was a problem with this type of experiment, the Darkness broke through the barrier, completing a large-scale erosion, which led to the corresponding human consciousness being dissolved, becoming the Heartless.
"A small number of these vegetative people, because they didn't have their own consciousness, actually turned misfortune into blessing, becoming the Darkness's lackeys and awakening.
"Jiang Xiaoyue is, that one on this bed is, and the Doctor, Charlie, and Deputy Director are the same!"
Long Yuehong wanted to say that Shang Jianyao was opening his brain again, displaying the advantages of a special mental patient, but the more he listened, the more surprised he became, and in the end, he actually felt that the other party's speculation had some truth to it.
In any case, at least it's logically consistent and can explain some phenomena!
Jiang Baimian fell into deep thought, carefully considering and asking:
"Then why is there still Heartless Disease now?"
"The erosion of the Darkness is still continuing, but it has been resisted and weakened a lot. For example, the Evernight 'Dawn' has been fighting against the Nightmare, so now there are sporadic cases of Heartless Disease, and there are sporadic cases of people awakening," Shang Jianyao answered confidently.
Jiang Baimian didn't comment on whether his guess was correct or not, and said with a "Heh":
"According to your logic, are you and I now considered lackeys of the Darkness?"
Only by being eroded by the power of the Darkness can one complete their awakening.
Shang Jianyao answered sincerely:
"We're not qualified enough yet. We're too weak."
"Only those who enter the so-called New World count?" Bai Chen joined the discussion.
Jiang Baimian's heart stirred, and she muttered to herself:
"Returning from the New World carries the power of the Darkness, leading to outbreaks of Heartless Disease in the surrounding area?"
The Old Task Force had previously guessed that the source of Heartless Disease was the New World. If the experts who entered the New World didn't destroy their physical bodies, it would be equivalent to establishing a node connecting the graylands and the New World, and Heartless Disease would spread along with it.
This could effectively explain why Heartless Disease cases appeared simultaneously within Pangolin Biology during the First City riots, and why staying near Yan Hu for a long time would lead to Heartless Disease.
Now, this guess and Shang Jianyao's Reverie seem to be able to be combined.
Without waiting for Shang Jianyao and the others to respond, Jiang Baimian looked around and said:
"What is the relationship between the New World and the Darkness?
"Hmm, we'll discuss this after we leave the ruins. Remember to remind me to search ward 14 on the way back."
"Okay." Long Yuehong quickly swept his gaze to other places, focusing on observing the sleeping robots.
Fortunately, these guards hadn't been awakened by the Old Task Force's voices.
For some reason, Long Yuehong always felt a chill down the back of his neck, but it wasn't to the point of someone breathing on him or a wind blowing.
Based on the tactical manual, he didn't hide this matter, turned his body, and said to Jiang Baimian and the others:
"Don't you guys feel that it's eerie here, especially the back of your necks?"
"No," Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen shook their heads at the same time.
Just then, Long Yuehong caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye and found a figure on the empty metal bed!
"There!" He moved the muzzle of the Berserker assault rifle over in horror.
Then, he saw clearly that it was Shang Jianyao lying there.
This guy had sneaked onto the metal bed at some unknown time.
"..." Jiang Baimian squeezed out a smile and asked Shang Jianyao, "What are you doing?"
"I was thinking about what the vegetative person saw after waking up," Shang Jianyao answered frankly, "And then tried to recreate the scene."
Jiang Baimian's eyes moved slightly, and she asked seriously:
"So what do you see now?"
"The ceiling is pretty clean," Shang Jianyao replied, unsure whether it was with regret or emotion.
Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment, and a thought flashed through her mind:
"Try wearing the Angel of Life necklace."
She remembered that when she used the Angel of Life necklace, she sensed a darkness that seemed to originate from the Doctor, with the help of the aura contained within.
Shang Jianyao's eyes lit up, and he picked up the tactical backpack placed beside him and took out the Angel of Life necklace.
He didn't show any signs of limb paralysis, because he was always lying down.
The silver pendant held in Shang Jianyao's left hand lit up with a gleam, like the moon reflecting sunlight.
After a few seconds, Shang Jianyao smiled:
"There are some black shadows on the ceiling. They peek out a little from time to time, and then quickly shrink back."
Long Yuehong subconsciously looked at the ceiling, only to find it silver-white, with no black shadows at all.
Jiang Baimian carefully considered and said:
"You, try to make contact with them, using your own consciousness."
"Tried it, no response," Shang Jianyao had always been proactive in this regard.
"Shoot and see?" Bai Chen suggested.
"Okay," Shang Jianyao raised the Berserker assault rifle.
Jiang Baimian immediately paid attention to the guard robots, fearing that the gunshot would awaken them.
Bang!
A bullet hit the metal ceiling.
Nothing unusual happened.
The guard robots didn't wake up either.
Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment, exhaled, and said:
"We'll try again if we have the chance later. Let's find Old Ge now."
Shang Jianyao, who valued emotions, quickly put away the Angel of Life necklace and turned over to get out of bed.
The members of the Old Task Force formed a combat formation and walked towards the metal door on the side of the semicircular hall.
After passing through two wide-open doors in succession, they saw a giant computer.
The computer wasn't running and seemed to have been damaged, and a tall figure was standing in front of it.
The figure was about 1.9 meters tall and resembled Genava.
He was wrapped from head to toe in a strange white outfit, standing there as if he were out of power.
Sensing someone entering, the figure suddenly turned around.
A few red lights emerged from his eyes, and his mouth emitted a cold voice:
"Nothing!"