After completing all the checks, Shang Jianyao waited in the lounge for a while and saw the researcher named Liu Shiyan, who had been there before, push the door open and come in.
“Director Mei wants to talk to you,” Liu Shiyan paused for a moment and then said, “It’ll be about over after the talk.”
“So early?” Shang Jianyao looked surprised.
What do you mean so early? Isn't everyone eager to leave as soon as possible? Liu Shiyan couldn't follow his train of thought at all and could only stare at him with a puzzled look.
Shang Jianyao stood up and said with regret:
“I thought you guys would provide lunch at noon.
“I haven’t eaten at your research institute’s cafeteria before; I wonder what it’s like.”
“……” Liu Shiyan finally decided not to respond.
Shang Jianyao looked around and said:
“I’ll go to the restroom first.”
There's one right here in the lounge.
This was a normal request, and it wouldn't take too much time. Liu Shiyan said, “Okay,” and added:
“I’ll wait for you at the door.”
Soon, Shang Jianyao came out of the restroom and walked to Liu Shiyan's side.
Liu Shiyan led him through a series of closed doors and arrived at an office with bright but soft fluorescent lights.
Inside the office sat a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. His hair was black, thick, and slightly disheveled. He was wearing the same white coat as the researchers here.
“Sit.” The middle-aged man pointed to the backrest chair across the table. “I am Mei Shouan, the person in charge of the ‘C—14’ project.”
“Hello,” Shang Jianyao responded politely.
After he sat down, Mei Shouan propped his elbows on the edge of the table and clasped his hands together, saying:
“I’ll give you a brief introduction. The ‘C—14’ project is mainly related to Awakened. You’ve experienced so many things on the surface; you should know what Awakened are.”
Seeing that Shang Jianyao was just smiling at him, neither shaking his head nor nodding, Mei Shouan continued:
“We believe that awakening is actually a special malformation of the human body, and it will inevitably cause a certain degree of change in some part of the body. This should be able to be checked through scientific means.
“Do you understand what I mean?”
Shang Jianyao smiled and met his gaze without any intention of backing down.
But he still didn’t say anything.
Mei Shouan maintained his posture and smiled:
“Don’t feel pressured.
“The company’s attitude toward malformation and awakening is positive and inclusive, unlike many forces and places that believe this violates nature, is a remnant of the apocalypse, and needs to be completely eliminated to usher in a new world.
“The company has always given Awakened higher treatment and assigned them better and more important jobs, but they need to periodically cooperate with us in doing some experiments, and these experiments are carefully designed so that the Awakened don’t feel insulted or harmed.”
After he finished speaking, Shang Jianyao frowned:
“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.
“What’s the point of telling me this?”
Mei Shouan’s deep brown eyes behind his glass lenses quietly looked at Shang Jianyao, and he met his gaze for nearly ten seconds.
Finally, he revealed a slight smile and said:
“Today’s tracking observation ends here, but there will be another one in half a year.”
Shang Jianyao pointed at himself:
“So, I can go?”
“Yes,” Mei Shouan nodded.
Shang Jianyao stood up and waved his hand with a beaming smile:
“Goodbye.”
After watching him leave, Mei Shouan wrote at the end of a document:
“Recommend transferring to the secret observation list.”
After finishing the annotation, Mei Shouan opened his computer, logged into the corresponding account, and prepared to submit this matter, as it would require the cooperation of other departments later.
Just at this moment, he discovered that there was an extra email in his inbox.
And it came from a person of real power whom he dared not neglect.
Mei Shouan opened the email and found that there was only a very simple sentence on it:
“Completely stop the tracking observation of volunteer number 32 of the ‘C—14’ project.”
“This…” Mei Shouan frowned and turned his gaze towards the file in his hand with a puzzled look.
…………
After exiting the research area on the third floor of the underground building, Shang Jianyao raised his hands and began picking at his ears.
Before long, he took out a tightly packed wad of cotton from each side.
“What a pity, I don’t understand lip reading; I don’t even know what he said…” Shang Jianyao muttered to himself as he stepped into the elevator.
He stuffed the two wads of cotton back into his pocket.
The elevator went up for quite some time before finally arriving at the 647th floor, where Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen were flipping through the documents and waiting in room 14.
“How was it? What checks did they do, and what questions did they ask?” Jiang Baimian, who was sprawled on the backrest chair, used her abdominal muscles to spring up.
While closing the door to the Old Task Force’s room, Shang Jianyao described his experience.
After listening to his general conversation with Liu Shiyan, Jiang Baimian laughed out loud:
“You’ll get beaten up if you act like that!”
“He can’t beat me,” Shang Jianyao said, lacking confidence but with a strong voice.
Jiang Baimian said, “Tch”:
“And how do you know yours is different from others? Do you have a reference object?”
As a Security Department employee who had been on many field missions, she didn't have experience in this area, but her face had long been thick enough. She was the type who could joke with those old veterans about suggestive topics.
Of course, when she met the practical Bai Chen, she often didn't know how to respond to his words, or she would be hit in a soft spot and had to forcibly change the topic.
Just after saying the words “reference object,” Jiang Baimian’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Sure enough, Shang Jianyao turned his gaze towards Long Yuehong.
Long Yuehong didn’t know whether to refute or get angry.
Fortunately, Jiang Baimian stopped Shang Jianyao from saying anything further in time:
“Did you meet Mei Shouan?”
“Yes, I chatted with him for a while after the checkup,” Shang Jianyao nodded.
“What did you chat about?” Jiang Baimian asked.
“I don’t know,” Shang Jianyao shook his head frankly.
? This answer left Long Yuehong and Bai Chen somewhat at a loss.
Jiang Baimian asked back, both annoyed and amused:
“Didn’t you say you chatted for a while?”
Shang Jianyao took out the two wads of cotton:
“Before I went to see him, I found a chance to plug my ears; I couldn’t hear anything he said at all.”
Long Yuehong was speechless and asked curiously:
“Why, why did you plug your ears?”
Shang Jianyao explained in a serious tone:
“Since he is a scientist who studies the mysteries of the human body and is in charge of the ‘C—14’ project, I can reasonably suspect that he is also an Awakened.
“If I block my ears, I won’t have to be afraid of the Reasoning Clown and won’t simply become friends with him and tell him everything.”
Jiang Baimian slowly nodded:
“That’s true.”
She had to admit that although Shang Jianyao’s approach was a bit strange, it really had a certain meaning.
At this moment, Bai Chen was also a little curious:
“You blocked your ears, so how did you communicate with him?
“Didn’t he notice?”
Shang Jianyao revealed a smile as bright as the sun:
“Most of the time, I just listened and didn’t speak. When I felt he was done, I would say, ‘I don’t know what you mean by telling me this.’ When he showed an expression that was almost enough, I would ask, ‘Can I leave?’”
Jiang Baimian imagined the scene of them talking at cross-purposes and inexplicably found it very funny:
“You’re a genius at chatting!”
The old-world entertainment materials and the relevant documents of Jiang Xiaoyue back then had given her a richer vocabulary.
Long Yuehong laughed twice:
“Aren’t you afraid of missing key information?
“Maybe if you communicated with him in depth, he would say something valuable.”
Shang Jianyao thought for a moment and said:
“I think that as a scientist in charge of the ‘C—14’ project, he wouldn’t make such a mistake.”
That’s right… He knew how to speak properly this time… Jiang Baimian had just sighed when she heard Shang Jianyao add:
“You can’t always judge others by yourself.”
He said that while facing Long Yuehong.
Long Yuehong felt insulted, and then he saw Shang Jianyao eagerly ask:
“Do you want to say, ‘You can insult my personality, but you can’t insult my intelligence. Let’s go, let’s go out for a one-on-one fight’?”
Long Yuehong weighed it and decided to keep his mouth shut.
Jiang Baimian’s eyes quietly rolled up and down as she paced back and forth:
“I think the company is very likely already suspicious that you are an Awakened. After all, we’ve done too many things that exceed the level of a normal four-person team, and you’ve also shown mental problems, which fits the characteristic of paying a price.
“After that, they will likely do some secret observation of you. You have to be careful.
“But well, I think you can take this opportunity to expose your identity as an Awakened to the company. You’ve experienced so many things outside; you should know that the major forces, whether openly or secretly, all keep Awakened. The company won’t treat you as an experimental material. Well, just be careful to keep other things secret.”
“I’ll see how it goes then,” Shang Jianyao was clearly not too concerned about whether the company knew about his Awakened identity.
He returned to his seat and began reading the information he hadn’t finished earlier.
Close to noon, Jiang Baimian opened her computer and habitually checked her email.
She then said, “Huh”:
“Vice Minister Xi Yu has sent us an email.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Baimian had already opened the email, reading and saying:
“Some information about Awakened, based on what we can understand with our current permissions.”
Hearing this, Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen all stood up and rushed or walked to Jiang Baimian’s back, looking at her computer screen together.
The content displayed there was:
“According to the analysis of all the information collected so far, Awakened can be roughly divided into four levels:
“First is the Great Hall of Stars, second is the Origin Sea, third is the Mind Corridor, and fourth is the New World…
“The level of ‘New World’ is just our reasonable guess. No one has ever truly seen an Awakened who has entered the New World, but those powerhouses at the ‘Mind Corridor’ level all believe that there is a door in the Mind Corridor that leads to the New World, and many cults claim that their leaders have entered the New World and are serving the corresponding Fate…”
ps: Asking for monthly tickets during the double period~