Although Long Yuehong had experienced similar scenarios countless times since he had memories, the fear of darkness and the unknown would never disappear from humans unless they had mental problems. Otherwise, no matter how bold a person was, walking alone in a silent, late-night corridor, they would inevitably feel a little bit of fear deep down.
As the flashlight beam swept around, Long Yuehong thought of what Shang Jianyao had once said:
"When you're walking alone at night and you're scared, sing to yourself!"
Before, he had dismissed this with disdain, after all, he had lived on his floor for twenty-three years. Even excluding his childhood, of which he had few memories, he had been familiar with the environment for nearly twenty years, and he could walk the route with his eyes closed.
In such circumstances, the fear would not be too severe and could be completely overcome.
But now, located on the unfamiliar 622nd floor, the darkness always reasserted its dominance over the corresponding area after his flashlight beam moved away, making him feel uneasy.
Can it be more terrifying than those city ruin nights? Long Yuehong muttered silently to himself, and his courage seemed to return.
He took larger strides, and his pace quickened.
As for the method of singing to boost courage, he ultimately did not adopt it.
In such a quiet night, wouldn't that disturb people's sleep?
Thanks to the similar layout of the residential floors, which needed to take into account the arrangement of sewage pipes, and the fact that Long Yuehong had used the toilet on this floor before the lights went out, he did not spend too much time reaching his destination.
This was the public toilet located at the intersection of Zone B and Zone C.
Inside the men's room, the dim yellow light flickered in the eerie, cold night wind, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, reminding Long Yuehong of the monster movies in the Old World entertainment materials.
Such a thought flashed through his mind, and based on twenty years of rich experience, he judged that someone was in a stall with the flashlight on, waving it around.
Not knowing how to conserve energy allocation! Long Yuehong, as a D7-level employee, still maintained a frugal spirit in this regard.
The internal energy allocation share of "Pangu Biology" was only determined according to rank and position, and you couldn't buy it even if you spent contribution points!
Of course, this was only at the public level. Privately, if you offered enough points, someone would let you use electricity at their home.
Long Yuehong retracted his gaze and walked to a urinal to solve his problem.
In order not to spill it, he also did not turn off the flashlight, wedging it on the back of his hand.
On the back of his T1-type mechanical arm.
After shaking it off and zipping up, Long Yuehong subconsciously glanced again at the flickering yellow light.
Suddenly, his gaze became slightly dazed.
He saw a faint mist spreading in that yellow light, sometimes expanding, sometimes rolling, as if it had its own vitality.
As Long Yuehong's brow furrowed slightly, he vaguely heard a suppressed groan.
This groan was almost imperceptible, as if restraining some kind of pain.
With a swish, Long Yuehong's mind became extremely clear.
His first reaction was to exit the public toilet and consider the matter at length, but then he thought that this was inside the company, and if something really went wrong, everyone would be affected, and there was no retreat for him.
First confirm what's going on, and if it's not right, quickly report it to the Order Supervision Office... Long Yuehong quickly made a decision, turned off his flashlight, and walked step by step towards that stall.
The closer he got, the more obvious the mist became, and the clearer the groan containing some kind of pain became.
Seeing the target within reach, Long Yuehong took a leap and rushed over.
The next second, he and the man squatting in the stall stared at each other.
After a brief freeze, the man said, both anxiously and angrily:
"What are you looking at?"
Long Yuehong's mouth moved for a while and said:
"Why didn't you close the door?"
The man, with a cigarette in one hand and holding the door with the other, laughed in anger:
"It's the middle of the night, and there's nobody around. What's wrong with me opening the door to ventilate?"
Long Yuehong calmed his mind:
"Where did you get the cigarette?"
Inside "Pangu Biology," except for the vast majority of the older generation who had passed away and a few people who had been brought out of habit, other employees did not smoke, so Long Yuehong had not thought about this at all.
This thing was a luxury in a sense.
If his stomach hadn't been emptied and his butt hadn't been wiped, the man squatting there would have wanted to jump up and beat Long Yuehong.
He said grumpily:
"I exchanged it for it at a settlement in the Black Marsh Wilderness when I was on field duty!
"What's wrong? I'm a newly joined employee, it's normal to have a smoking addiction!"
As his gaze swept, his pupils suddenly dilated, reflecting Long Yuehong's iron-black arm.
Long Yuehong then saw the man's appearance clearly: his skin was dark, his teeth were yellow, his face was pockmarked, and there were obvious bloodshot eyes. It was obvious that he was a foreign employee who had not undergone genetic modification. His appearance could only be said to be neither ugly nor scary.
Embarrassed as he was, Long Yuehong still asked further:
"Then why were you, why were you groaning just now?"
"Can't I be constipated, big brother?" The man's attitude became quite good.
Long Yuehong gave a dry laugh:
"I just came back from field duty, and my nerves are still tight. I reacted a bit too much, sorry."
"I understand, I understand." The man looked very easygoing.
He paused and said:
"Can you, not stand in front of me like this? Uh, no, can I close the door?"
"Yes, yes." Long Yuehong was especially grateful that the light was dim at this time, and couldn't reflect his face.
As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the stall turned back and closed.
The man inside was silent for a few seconds and said:
"Which operations team are you from? Where did you get the mechanical arm?"
"I'm from a special operations team." Based on confidentiality principles, Long Yuehong could only answer vaguely.
He asked curiously:
"What do you care about the mechanical arm for?"
The man in the stall sighed and said:
"I'm a foreign employee, and I'm not yet qualified to undergo genetic modification. I often have to go on missions on the surface. In order to survive, to survive until I can transfer to an internal affairs position, it's very cost-effective to exchange an arm for a mechanical arm."
Long Yuehong thought for a while and said sincerely:
"It's very expensive."
"Alas..." The man in the stall sighed again.
Long Yuehong didn't tell him that losing an arm during a mission could get him a free biological prosthetic limb transplant, but there was no room for choice, and it was impossible to get those with good capabilities, because losing an arm would inevitably cause severe bleeding, and the probability of not being able to be rescued was actually not low, especially when on the surface, when there was no time to treat it.
He turned his body and walked towards the outside of the public toilet.
With such a comparison, he suddenly felt that his current situation was quite good.
It would be even better if he didn't have to go on missions anymore... Long Yuehong thought as he casually shone the flashlight around.
He saw a lot of graffiti drawn with colored chalk on the walls, some deep, some childlike, some exaggerated, each with its own characteristics.
This was exactly the same as the scene in many places on the 495th floor.
The same was true on other residential floors.
For some reason, Long Yuehong was inexplicably delighted.
This was a sign that foreign employees were beginning to integrate into the company, and also a symbol that there were offspring born between them.
Thinking of this, he quickened his pace back to Room 59 in Zone B.
After taking three or four steps, Long Yuehong stopped and cocked his ear.
He seemed to have probably heard the sound of talking just now.
After listening carefully for a while, he gained nothing but snores.
"Sure enough, my mind is still not completely relaxed..." Long Yuehong shook his head self-deprecatingly and walked towards Room 59 in Zone B.
............
The next morning, 647th floor, Room 14.
Long Yuehong and Bai Chen walked in hand in hand and found that Shang Jianyao was the only one in the office.
He was in a very arrogant posture, pushing the chair back to the limit and putting his feet on the table.
"Where's the team leader?" Long Yuehong let go of Bai Chen's hand and asked subconsciously.
Shang Jianyao responded with a bright smile:
"Guess."
Lost again? Long Yuehong wanted to answer this, but suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck and became sober with a start.
If the team leader was just wandering in the corridor and heard me talking bad about her behind her back, that would be a big problem! Her hearing is different now! Long Yuehong suddenly turned his head and glanced, but didn't find anyone passing by outside.
But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bai Chen quietly withdrawing her hand from the back of his neck.
Long Yuehong stared over and saw a slightly upturned corner of the mouth on Bai Chen's serious expression.
He also showed a slight smile.
"Woof woof woof!" Shang Jianyao called out.
Just as Long Yuehong was a little embarrassed, the office telephone rang ding-a-ling.
"Go answer it quickly," he said to Shang Jianyao.
Shang Jianyao looked indifferent:
"It must be for Da Bai. She's not here, and if I answer it, I don't know what reason to find for her, so it's better not to answer it."
"That's true." Long Yuehong thought about it and felt that it made sense.
Bai Chen did not object either.
The ding-a-ling phone rang for a while before finally stopping.
Another ten minutes or so passed before Jiang Baimian walked into the office.
She didn't make any explanation and greeted the team members as usual.
Not long after Jiang Baimian sat down, the landline rang again, making a ding-a-ling sound.
She picked up the phone, put it to her ear, listened for a while, said "uh-huh" twice, and then turned to Shang Jianyao and shouted loudly:
"Hey, it's for you!"