Inside the courtyard, there were water vats and green plants. The air was fresh and slightly humid, making Shang Jianyao feel as if he had instantly traveled from a mega-sized settlement like Initial City to the outskirts of the wilderness.

“Ah, at times like this, I should be lying on the roof of the jeep, watching the stars while being scolded by Da Bai for crushing the solar charging panels. Xiao Hong and Xiao Bai wouldn't help me either, only knowing how to flirt with each other, leaving Lao Ge to patrol alone…” Shang Jianyao muttered to himself while examining the situation in the courtyard.

This was part of the daily routine of the "Old Task Force."

The courtyard looked normal. Shang Jianyao even stuck his head into the water vat but found no clues.

“Ptooey, ptooey, there really is water!” He suddenly straightened up, pulling his head out of the water vat.

After wiping his face, he headed towards the main house's door.

The grayish wooden door was ajar, not locked.

Knock, knock, knock. Shang Jianyao, who had climbed over the wall, politely knocked, not immediately pushing the door open.

After knocking three times in a row, he said with satisfaction:

"Since you're not responding, I'll take that as your tacit agreement!"

He no longer waited, extended his right palm, and pushed open the main house's door.

The inside seemed to be a living room, its furnishings so old that Shang Jianyao couldn't help but exclaim:

"Living fossil!"

After saying that, he took two steps back, returned to the doorway, and looked upwards, muttering:

"It's not a historical preservation unit either…"

This was a phrase he had learned from the Old World entertainment materials.

The situation inside the living room was indeed quite ancient. Facing the door was a table, with a rosewood armchair on each side. Below them, interspersed with wooden tables, were two rows of old-fashioned chairs.

"Could this be part of a film and television base?" Shang Jianyao suddenly became interested.

While praising the "New World" for being small but complete, he circled the living room, searching for the source of the faint noises he had heard earlier.

Not the slightest bit scared!

After a while, Shang Jianyao plopped down on the armchair on the left side, gazing at the two lanterns that had lit up near the doorway because of him, and said to himself in disappointment:

"There's no problem…"

Before he could finish speaking, his voice came to an abrupt halt.

He slightly tilted his head, listening intently.

From the left side room, a low sob could be faintly heard.

Wuu, wuu, wuu…

Shang Jianyao silently stood up, tiptoeing towards the place where the sound was coming from.

Just as he reached the door, the light inside suddenly turned on.

The two lanterns outside went out.

"Ai!" Shang Jianyao sighed regretfully.

The light inside the door represented the light of his consciousness.

He no longer concealed his figure, twisted the handle, and opened the door in front of him.

The arrangement of the side room was relatively normal, with two bookshelves, a table by the window, and a bed across from it. A chair and a stool were casually placed on the empty space.

The style of these furnishings matched the courtyard, but their designs were not old-fashioned.

Shang Jianyao scanned the room, his gaze settling on the table by the window.

There was a photo frame there.

Shang Jianyao walked over and, with the aid of the light, clearly saw the details of the photo inside the frame.

It was a rather young woman, not particularly beautiful, but with a sweet smile and a casual braid.

Shang Jianyao scrutinized it for a while, then suddenly clenched his right fist and struck his left palm, saying:

"I remember now, we know this woman!

"That genius scientist, Lin Sui!"

Back then, Shang Jianyao had seen Lin Sui's profile in the Iron Mountain Ruins shadow of Room 522.

"She has a room here too…" Shang Jianyao said, "I get it. But why is there no light and no one here? Has she gone out and not returned yet? And what are the crying and other noises coming from?"

After asking himself these two questions, they fell into silence.

After a few seconds, Shang Jianyao began rummaging through the drawers and cabinets, searching for clues.

Gradually, he walked to the bookshelf.

Shang Jianyao glanced over and discovered that it was filled with all kinds of books, mostly professional.

He couldn't help but raise his right hand, blocking it in front of his face, as if afraid of being blinded by the light of knowledge.

After browsing the titles, he silently turned towards the bed, not even having the interest to open the books.

…

Jiang Baimian, based on her previous sensing, stealthily moved through the night, heading towards the place where some of the "Heartless" lived.

This inevitably involved going around in circles, but the general direction was correct, and the result was not a problem.

Finally, she arrived at her destination, hiding in the shadows outside a window, peering into the building.

A man and a woman, both "Heartless," were lying on the bed, sleeping like normal humans, with nothing seemingly wrong.

Jiang Baimian withdrew her gaze and sneaked off to other places.

After this round of reconnaissance, she discovered that the "Heartless" she could sense all maintained human habits, sleeping in beds, with the windows closed and doors locked.

And in some houses, there were disorderly piles of bags of rice, flour, and boxes of canned goods, biscuits, and energy bars.

This made Jiang Baimian suspect that the Eighth Research Institute had installed the rails in the tunnel to transport supplies to the "Heartless" in this small city.

She was not in a hurry to eliminate these "Heartless," because nine-tenths of the targets were still missing.

Considering this, Jiang Baimian decided to leave the real "New World" and inform Shang Jianyao of the various anomalies she had discovered.

Perhaps this could promote the other party's exploration in the mental "New World," and the gains there might help Jiang Baimian crack some of the mysteries of reality.

Of course, the premise was that the two places were closely connected.

Relying on the military exoskeleton, Jiang Baimian moved away from the places where the "Heartless" lived.

Then, unsurprisingly, she confirmed that she was lost again.

With her rich experience, she嗖嗖嗖 climbed up a telephone pole, standing at the top, and looked around.

With the help of starlight and night vision, Jiang Baimian quickly identified the direction to the tunnel entrance.

"I have to bypass two streets, pass several intersections, and make quite a few turns…" The more Jiang Baimian assessed the route back, the heavier her mood became.

She could already foresee that she would get lost many times.

In a flash of thought, Jiang Baimian, who had become a good doctor through prolonged illness, came up with a countermeasure.

She planned to go straight.

Climb over walls when encountering walls, and climb onto houses when encountering houses!

This could effectively avoid mistakes in choosing a path, and with the positioning function of the equipment, Jiang Baimian felt that she would get lost at most once.

Having determined a plan, she immediately took action, quietly sliding from the telephone pole to the ground and carefully rushing towards the first house.

She suddenly stretched out her right hand, pressing it against the wall, intending to use the force to jump directly onto the roof of this low building.

But to Jiang Baimian's surprise, the wall she pressed her right palm against did not offer any resistance, being empty and hollow, as if it wasn't there!

This made it impossible for her to pull back her body, which had already changed its center of gravity, and she involuntarily tilted forward, crashing into the wall.

She directly passed through it, turning into a tumbling gourd.

Jiang Baimian had undergone genetic modification and was wearing a military exoskeleton, so she quickly stopped the uncontrolled tumbling and stood up with a carp-like leap.

She turned around, looking at the wall, with an expression of surprise and doubt.

Thinking that this was the real "New World," with its rather chaotic electromagnetic environment, Jiang Baimian couldn't help but have a guess:

"The towers and houses that I and Wei saw are not actually the true appearance of this small city. Everything here has been distorted, forming a large illusion, with truth and falsehood intertwined?"

To confirm this, Jiang Baimian walked back to the wall she had just been at and gently extended her right palm.

Her right palm passed through the whitewashed stone wall as if passing through air.

Jiang Baimian moved forward step by step, her whole body passing through, returning to the place where she had just fallen.

"Among the Arbiters, there is a 'Shattered Mirror' in charge of illusions. It's normal for the real 'New World' to have such bizarre things…" Jiang Baimian muttered silently.

She thought for a moment and extended her right hand towards the wall again.

This time, she wanted to slow down her movements and quietly experience the feeling of passing through the fake wall.

Silently, Jiang Baimian's hand pressed against the surface of the wall, but did not go any further.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she couldn't.

The wall was hard and cold, without the slightest appearance of being fake!

…

Jiang Baimian, who had been going straight, spent some time returning to the tunnel and closing the heavy black double doors once again.

She skillfully sat cross-legged next to Shang Jianyao's body, extending her spirit to touch the other party's consciousness.

After the unoriginal cutscene, Shang Jianyao waved at Jiang Baimian:

"I have something to tell you!"

"Coincidentally, so do I." Jiang Baimian's heavy mood lightened a bit.

Then, she instructed:

"When it comes to the rules and secrets of the 'New World,' try to use code words as much as possible. If you can't, change the way you say it, using other things as metaphors."

"It's not related to the secrets of the 'New World.' I entered Lin Sui's house…" Shang Jianyao babbled about his experience, "but I didn't find anything valuable, and I didn't find the source of the strange noises."

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said:

"Tell me about the books that are in Lin Sui's room."

Shang Jianyao revealed a troubled expression:

"I can't remember.

"Uh, I'll try to materialize it so you can see for yourself."

Because it was communication on the consciousness level, he directly walked back to the room with the bookshelf, looking and materializing it in front of Jiang Baimian's "eyes."

Jiang Baimian scanned it and said thoughtfully:

"Lin Sui is also very interested in research related to human consciousness…"