"One price, three gifts..."

Shang Jianyao glanced at the humanoid figure of light and shadow, then walked past "him" directly, heading towards the depths of the hall.

The "figure" didn't change at all, still echoing the voice of "one price, three gifts" endlessly.

Several minutes later, Shang Jianyao arrived at the innermost part of the hall, where he saw a heavy, gray-white stone door.

It was embedded in the black metal wall, bathed in the light of the "stars," which highlighted the three grooves on its surface.

These three grooves were located two meters above the ground, one on top and two below, resembling the three vertices of an equilateral triangle.

Shang Jianyao quietly stared for a few seconds, and suddenly the dazzling "stars" were reflected in his eyes.

He then leaned forward and pressed his hands against the gray-white stone door.

Clusters of white light lit up one after another within the grooves on the surface of the stone door, as if "stars" were falling from the sky and crashing into them.

Within these three "stars," illusory words rapidly emerged, but they seemed to roll and change with the fluctuations of Shang Jianyao's thoughts, never able to স্থিরize.

The gray-white double doors, which looked exceptionally heavy, creaked, but stingily refused to let a crack open.

Shang Jianyao paused, took a breath, and then exerted force again, pushing forward.

The "stars" in the three grooves first dimmed as he stopped, and then bloomed with bright, pure light again during the new round of exertion.

The illusory words inside them slowed down their tumbling, but still didn't stop.

The stone door swayed slightly, but didn't budge an inch.

Shang Jianyao pushed the stone door again and again. In the end, the blood vessels on his forehead bulged, and his facial expression was twisted and ferocious, as if he had exhausted all his strength, but he still didn't achieve better results.

"Hoo." He exhaled, paused, and stood in front of the door, watching the three clusters of "stars" in the grooves quickly dim and disappear.

He quietly watched all of this, without any movement for a long time.

After a while, Shang Jianyao showed a slight smile, brought his right index and middle fingers together, and pressed them to the center of his eyebrows.

In the next second, he seemed to become much "deeper."

Then, Shang Jianyao put his left hand in his pocket, stretched out his right palm, and easily and leisurely pressed it against the gray-white stone door.

This time, he obviously didn't exert any force, but the "stars" reflected in his eyes became clearer and more dazzling.

Above the gray-white stone door, in the three grooves, the "starlight" suddenly shone,凝结ing into white balls. The illusory words from before also rolled and emerged, but the speed of their changes gradually slowed down.

Finally, they fixed in place.

According to the order from top to bottom and from left to right, the words in the three clusters of white light were:

"Reasoning Clown," "Affected Person," "Missing Hand Movements."

The gray-white stone door trembled slightly, and with a *zha zha zha* sound, it heavily retreated a little.

Behind the widened crack, faint light flickered, and an upward silver-white metal staircase stood quietly in the darkness.

Shang Jianyao tried to reach his hand through the crack, but failed.

He also tried to fit his foot through, but it didn't work.

He used both hands and feet, changed various postures, from standing on one leg to standing upside down, but couldn't get any better results.

After verification, he determined that he could only squeeze his fingertips and the tip of his nose through the crack.

And no matter how much he concentrated his mind, the gray-white stone door didn't retreat any further.

During repeated attempts, Shang Jianyao's figure gradually blurred.

He finally stopped moving, watching his body become increasingly faint.

In Room 196, Area B, Level 495, Shang Jianyao, leaning back on the bed, opened his eyes.

He saw the four-paned window reflecting the light of the street lamps, the wooden table bathed in the dim glow, the "living room" where light was gradually transitioning to darkness, and the end of the long bench and the edge of the old bed submerged in the dim depths.

Everything around him was so quiet.

Suddenly, the loudspeakers hanging from the street ceiling sounded simultaneously, emitting a sweet voice with a slightly childlike tone:

"Hello everyone, I'm the hourly news anchor Hou Yi. It's now exactly 8:00 PM...

"At 5:20 PM, a small fire broke out in a factory on Level 102, resulting in one death and three injuries. The fire has now been extinguished, and material losses are being统计ed. Ji Ze, Vice President of the Company's Board of Directors, emphasized again: 'Fire is merciless, vigilance is eternal'...

"Starting tomorrow, the No. 2 reactor unit in the 'Energy Zone' will be officially shut down for maintenance. The energy ration for all employees will be reduced by a quarter, and the recovery time is to be determined...

"'Geothermal Research Institute' Chief Scientist Sun Chuci stated that they are exploring the establishment of a better geothermal utilization model, which can bring about a certain change in the nighttime temperature in the 'Living Zone' while maintaining the optimal environment for some blocks in the 'Inner Ecological Zone'...

"At 6:40 PM, a dispute occurred in the 'Employee Cafeteria' on Level 577. An employee accused the cafeteria server of not being fair, claiming that his portion of meat and vegetables was about a tenth less than others. The 'Order Supervision Team' on that floor has intervened in the investigation...

"From 7:20 PM to 7:30 PM, two male employees were involved in a fight in the 'Activity Center' on Level 414. The 'Order Supervision Team' on that floor has intervened in the investigation, and the specific reasons are to be announced. According to other employees at the scene, the incident was related to the results of the unified marriage matching...

"......

"......Finally, as always, a cappella song. Hope everyone enjoys it, thank you.

"......"

Shang Jianyao, leaning back on the bed where the streetlamp light didn't reach, listened to the broadcast with a calm expression, without any movement.

Unknowingly, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, the street lamps outside had already been turned off, and it was pitch black all around.

The cold night air permeated the room. Shang Jianyao discovered that he had taken off his clothes at some point,縮 into the quilt, and had even covered himself with the dark green thick cotton coat from the bedside.

He didn't have a clock, and didn't know what time it was, but he was sure it wasn't 6:30 AM yet, because the street lamps hadn't been turned on.

He estimated that he might have fallen asleep before 8:30 PM last night, more than two hours earlier than normal, so he woke up earlier than usual as well.

Feeling the bloating in his lower abdomen for a few seconds, Shang Jianyao reached out and picked up a bulky flashlight with a black plastic shell from beside his pillow, and pushed the switch forward.

A concentrated beam of light shot out, illuminating the washbasin diagonally across from him.

"Forgot to wash my face, brush my teeth, soak my feet..." Shang Jianyao muttered, suddenly throwing back the quilt and flipping out of bed.

Within the company, only the higher-level employees and managers who were assigned independent bathrooms could wash up at their convenience. Everyone else had to go to the large bathhouse attached to the "Activity Center."

Except for employees in special positions who needed to wash their bodies daily, everyone else was limited to two times a week, expiring and non-accumulative.

After getting out of bed, Shang Jianyao didn't delay. He put on the dark green thick cotton coat, took the flashlight, hurried out the door, and went straight to the public toilet at the end of the street.

The batteries in the flashlight were part of the energy ration, and he dared not waste them—many employees prepared wooden buckets, spittoons, and other things at home, just to avoid going out at night. Unfortunately, those things also needed to be exchanged for contribution points.

At this time, the public toilet was empty and无人. The sensor lights lit up one by one with Shang Jianyao's footsteps, quite dimly.

After relieving himself, Shang Jianyao walked out of the public toilet, ready to go home.

Just then, he saw a light, obviously from a flashlight, shining from the corner of the passage.

A few seconds later, a man wearing the same dark green cotton coat as Shang Jianyao strode past, turning in the opposite direction from the public toilet.

Shang Jianyao stared for two seconds, then suddenly turned off his flashlight and ran silently in the darkness, heading towards the small patch of light created by the other man.

Soon, he approached the man, and found that it was Shen Du, a middle-aged employee from a nearby block whom he would have to call uncle.

"Hi!" He suddenly jumped out of the "darkness" and patted the other man on the shoulder.

Shen Du's hand trembled, and he almost dropped the flashlight on the ground.

He looked at Shang Jianyao with a terrified expression, then breathed a sigh of relief and said,

"Little Shang, you scared me to death!

"Don't come up so suddenly and say hello in the middle of the night!"

Shang Jianyao said with a smile,

"Good evening, Uncle Shen. I wanted to ask what time it is?"

"It's not even 6 o'clock yet," Shen Du responded subconsciously.

Outside his house, there was a crossroads with a wall clock hanging there.

"Uncle Shen, where are you going?" Shang Jianyao looked around.

"I'm going to, to the toilet..." Shen Du stopped halfway through his sentence.

The direction he was going was completely opposite from the nearest public toilet.

Under the light of the flashlight, his gentle face was a mix of green and white, and it was unclear whether it was due to the cold night air, or some other reason.

Organizing his thoughts, Shen Du forced a smile and said,

"I'm going to the public toilet in Area C. Hey, when I was playing at the 'Activity Center' last night, I dropped something over there. I just woke up and realized it, and thought I'd hurry over and look for it."

Shang Jianyao nodded, his dark brown eyes seeming to be stained with the surrounding pure black.

He chuckled and said,

"Look, Uncle Shen, you're wearing a green coat, and I'm wearing a green coat. You're a man, and I'm a man."

Shen Du was confused for a moment, then suddenly realized:

"So, we're fellow believers!"

He immediately became enthusiastic:

"You're also going to listen to the 'Guide' preach, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Shang Jianyao replied with a smile.

ps: Asking for recommendation tickets~