ED | Chapter 7

The air suddenly tightened.

It was actually a lie detector. Shi Jiu’s body twitched involuntarily, and a numbness spread through his limbs.

What was he supposed to do now? If he was anesthetized, not only would his consciousness be stripped away in the dream, he would not even be able to wake. He would be trapped here. If he teleported away, Chen Ai was right in front of him. Would it be the same as last time, teleporting back to the same spot?

To break out of this predicament, without being anesthetized and unable to wake naturally, he really only had one choice: tell the truth.

But the next problem came right after. The truth was obviously an answer no normal person could understand. Still, at least it could pass a lie detector.

He might as well try.

As he thought this, the person outside had already walked in step by step. Those footsteps were steady, like death itself drawing near.

Chen Ai walked up to Shi Jiu. Before he could speak, Shi Jiu cut him off. “I’ll talk.”

Chen Ai lifted his chin slightly in agreement, then sat down beside Ji Shuifeng, opposite Shi Jiu.

A hostile posture.

Shi Jiu said slowly, “I don’t know either. What you call an ability.”

“I…”

“I’m dreaming.”

“I got into bed, went to sleep, and when I came to, I saw you. Until I woke up and opened my eyes, I was still lying in my own bed.” Shi Jiu spoke word by word. “You think I teleported. Actually, I suspect it’s just a form of dream control.”

Chen Ai had been leaning back in his chair. Hearing this, he sat up, leaned slightly forward, and folded his hands together.

“So you’re saying, how coincidental, that both times I locked you in a cell, you controlled the dream and left. Then you called someone to come escort you, and you left again. When we were about to arrest you and take you to the Safety Management Center, during those two minutes in the bathroom, you again?”

“Yes.” Shi Jiu answered very briefly.

“So, the reason you don’t know that everyone has to come to the Origin Laboratory after turning twenty to register and undergo thought transparency evolution is because you want to say all of this, including me, is just one of your dreams.”

“Yes.”

Chen Ai sighed softly. His hand slowly moved toward the anesthetic gun, then he picked it up steadily, raised his arm, and aimed at Shi Jiu. His finger settled on the trigger. Finally, in a very cold voice, he said, “I gave you a chance.”

“Wait!” Ji Shuifeng suddenly spoke to stop him, but it was too late.

The silver needle swelled in Shi Jiu’s pupils, and in the end plunged into his neck.

The interrogation room fell into dead silence. Soon after, Ji Shanyue muttered from outside, “Damn it, ever since that guy who set himself on fire at Civilization Center Plaza a few years ago and I shot him dead, I haven’t run into anyone this crazy in a long time.” After saying that, he glanced at the time, remembered his patrol duty, and hurried out of the interrogation room.

Inside the enclosed space, Ji Shuifeng clicked her tongue and turned around in shock. “You were too fast.”

Chen Ai said, “What?”

Ji Shuifeng said in surprise, “What he just said at the end was true.”

Chen Ai’s brow knitted at once.

Ji Shuifeng, the chief administrator of the Safety Management Center, Endenuo’s only lie detection expert, had never been wrong.

A dream?

Shi Jiu seemed to hear many voices, and then there was only a fall wrapped in thick fog.

It was a distant dream, appearing within the dream of a dream. When he was very small, it seemed he had occasionally had dreams too, but they were different from now. Back then, dreams were the kind he understood in the traditional sense, chaotic and disordered, without logic, fragmented scenes.

After waking, he only remembered a few scattered images: a deep red sky, searing heat, him running into a long, narrow tunnel, then bursting out from the other end and charging through a golden door. Beyond the door were railroad tracks and a train. The train even had its own name: Yellow Millet Dream.

Shi Jiu did not know how long he had been unconscious. Perhaps it had not been long. When he opened his eyes again, he found that he was still in the Safety Management Center, only his position had changed from the one-way glass interrogation room to the sofa outside.

Shi Jiu opened his eyes slightly and did not move, letting his gaze sweep over the place he was in.

Half a wall of monitors played real-time views from every corner inside and outside the interrogation room. From here, he could see several monitors high above, and also clearly observe the movement in the corridor outside.

Those two people were there too. They seemed to be discussing something the whole time, and only then did Shi Jiu focus on their conversation.

Ji Shuifeng said, “I heard you just ran into the victim’s family?”

Chen Ai said, “Mm.”

His voice was crisp and concise. Shi Jiu realized this man seemed to speak to everyone in exactly this tone.

No, he was especially cold when speaking to Shi Jiu, as if Shi Jiu had done something unspeakable to him.

Ji Shuifeng said, “I’ve received some news lately. You know, about false suspicion disease.”

Chen Ai said nothing.

Her tone carried a bit of joking, making it sound overly casual, as if she was deliberately covering up her emotions. “Tell me, do you think history will repeat itself?”

False suspicion disease. This was the second time Shi Jiu had heard that term. His memory of the last time was a little blurry, but now he was certain. And when he heard those three words, it felt as if a vibration rang through his eardrums. It was Chen Ai’s heartbeat.

Chen Ai said flatly, “No.”

After a pause, he added, “It’s different from two hundred years ago.”

“Different how?”

“Our citizens know what love is, what trust is. Since history is moving forward, it won’t always produce the same result from the same thing.”

No one could step into the same river twice. The course of history would always turn toward something new.

Ji Shuifeng smiled and agreed with him. “You’re right.”

She changed the subject. “By the way, I heard something else. If you think this little kid is a threat to the citizens, you could have handed him over to us directly. But I heard you always personally carry him to… well…”

“Seems the Safety Management Center is very idle.”

Ji Shuifeng laughed. She relaxed and said, “Ordinarily idle. I just didn’t expect Mister Chen to have a private agenda too.”

“I said nothing.”

“Fine. I only know for sure that he poses no threat to the citizens’ safety. As for the rest, do as you please.”

A brief silence followed. It could be felt that the other person did not want to answer that.

Hearing this, Shi Jiu swallowed lightly, only to feel his throat tighten. Something had gotten caught there, and his hand immediately lifted to touch it.

Then his scalp exploded like fireworks, and the shock nearly made him unable to think.

What was this?

He could not see it, but he could feel a leather ring around his neck. It was not his.

A neck collar?

Chen Ai heard the movement and turned around. Their conversation ended at once.

He met Shi Jiu’s stunned expression, crossed his legs, and said calmly, “Don’t try to forcibly remove it.”

Shi Jiu frowned, bracing himself to sit up. In a hoarse voice he asked, “What did you put on me!”

Chen Ai said lightly, “Anesthetic neck collar. It continuously injects a small amount of anesthetic into your body. It won’t affect normal life, it just suppresses your ability. If you don’t explain this matter clearly…”

“I’ll give you three days. You can organize your words. After three days it will automatically open. After one month, it will self-destruct.”

Shi Jiu’s pupils contracted sharply. His mind turned very quickly at that moment: if he was anesthetized, he could not teleport, and that also meant he could not wake from the dream. Then what would happen to him in reality?

At the same time, Chen Ai added, “If you try to force it open, it will self-destruct immediately. The release code is with me… ah, not self-destruct.”

He smiled and said softly, “It’s permanent anesthesia.”

Shi Jiu heard his own violently pounding heartbeat, like a crash from high in the sky.

Chen Ai uncrossed his legs, took out his phone, and made a call. Shi Jiu heard him tell the person on the other end to prepare a temporary operating room for one evolution.

Then Chen Ai stood up, looked down at him, and the handcuffs he was idly playing with gleamed coldly. They clinked together with a crisp sound. He said, “Extend your hand.”

Shi Jiu refused to cooperate. Then he heard Chen Ai sigh and say indifferently, “Shi Jiu, I don’t want to treat you like this, but you’d better cooperate a little.”

His tone had softened somewhat, but his gaze was still fixed on the neck collar.

A blade wrapped in honey. Shi Jiu gritted his teeth and held out his hand.

He would not die. That was his greatest source of confidence. Just like truly living here, before he understood the principle of this dream, he would probably have to lie low for a while.

Click. Something cold was fastened around his wrist.

“I’ll go too,” Ji Shuifeng said gently.

Shi Jiu had never felt so wronged before. A death sentence had been strapped around his neck, and at this moment he was being dragged forward by the handcuffs of the very person who wanted to kill him.

They went downstairs from the Safety Management Center, passed through the crowd, crossed the plaza, and headed toward the building of the Origin Laboratory.

People were looking at them, but no one whispered.

Evolution. Chen Ai had just said evolution. Shi Jiu’s thoughts kept turning. Were they going to send him for evolution? But he was only a man who was dreaming. What kind of effect would the technology of this world have on him?

Perhaps his frown was too obvious. When Ji Shuifeng turned around and saw the troubled look on Shi Jiu’s face, she brushed back her hair, slowed a step, and came to his side. In a low voice she said, “Don’t be afraid. As long as you don’t mean any harm, Chen Ai won’t really hurt you. Just cooperate with him. He’s a very good person.”

There it was again. Shi Jiu felt nothing of the sort. He only thought this Mister Chen was practically the embodiment of a demon.

To ease the pain of his wrist being tugged forward, Shi Jiu’s gaze wandered everywhere, finally settling on their destination: the Origin Laboratory.

Ji Shuifeng explained to him, “The Origin Laboratory is where citizens undergo brain evolution. There are two wardens there, which is really just the two people with the highest authority. One is Chen Ai, the other is Zhou Zhifu, and they are responsible for signing off on every citizen’s upgrade confirmation. As for citizens, they don’t gain consciousness communication just because they’re born that way. They wait until they’re twenty, when they come of age, and undergo a kind of genetic modification at the Origin Laboratory. Before the modification there are all kinds of examinations. If the procedure can be carried out, then it is carried out. Some people are born with untreatable illnesses and are sent to the Reeducation Center for modification, after which they are reassessed. There are very few like that. Most people can pass the test and evaluation, then evolve, so we call this ceremony the coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Chen Ai is much busier than Zhou Zhifu, because he is responsible for the final confirmation of everyone who qualifies. At least in the large city district centered on Civilization Center headquarters, the records of every person you can see who can communicate through consciousness will pass through him.”

Shi Jiu finally turned to look at Ji Shuifeng, this woman who was tall yet gentle-faced, and asked, “Why are you telling me this?”

Ji Shuifeng looked straight ahead and kept walking. “You said this is your dream. I don’t personally believe that this thing itself is true, but I believe you’re not lying.”

She was very confident in her ability. All of this was the capital that had carried her to the position of chief administrator of the Safety Management Center.

She said, “If it’s a dream, then you are not a citizen of Endenuo. If it’s not, then you should know nothing about here.”

Shi Jiu was silent for a long while, then said, “Thank you.”

Ji Shuifeng smiled. “What do you want to do in the dream?”

Shi Jiu answered, “I don’t know. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why I ended up here, and right now all I can think about is learning these things.”

As soon as the words fell, Chen Ai quickened his pace. Shi Jiu was dragged forward so abruptly that he staggered, and his wrists were ground painfully against something hard.

In Shi Jiu’s eyes, this blue-eyed fellow had nothing whatsoever to do with the word “good.”

It was a familiar operating room. Chen Ai sat by the monitors, watching this special modification himself. Ji Shuifeng was also curious about the outcome and wanted to know what kind of spectacle would follow after forcibly linking into this man’s mind.

But Chen Ai miscalculated. The equipment had all been fastened on, and Shi Jiu was completely encased within it, yet just as the operation began, Shi Jiu woke up. Then he vanished.

Right there, before everyone’s eyes, he disappeared into thin air.

Even Ji Shuifeng could not hold back now. She slowly straightened up.