“If you want to go to the assembly area so badly, why are you still in the energy area after three days?” Mu Sichen asked.
Shen Jiyue said, “The lady tricked the supervisor into pressing the button multiple times in a row; what hint did you get?”
Chi Lian responded, “I was asked to rest for a few days, and I can move freely within the energy zone.”
Shen Jiyue said, “That’s the reason. Even if you inject all your feelings at once, you still have to wait for a specified number of days before you can reach the breeding zone. I also tried to press the button three times in the beginning, yet I’ve been resting until today, and I don’t know how much longer I have to wait. This time, I probably won’t be able to compete with Yao Wangping.”
After saying that, he took a sip of his drink somewhat forlornly.
If it was just to complete the agreement with Qin Zu, losing to Yao Wangping wasn’t a big deal; after all, as long as Yao Wangping destroyed the “pillar” in the food processing plant, two “pillars” would have been destroyed one after another, and the field would collapse, losing the protection of the town. Then Qin Zu could deal with the Big Eye.
But Mu Sichen still had to complete the system’s task: to help the sanatorium’s people get food, he had to take the processing plant’s “pillar” for himself; otherwise, his previous efforts would be in vain, the sanatorium’s “pillar” would collapse, and these players would probably also die soon.
Not only was this not a good idea, but time was of the essence.
The key to this mission wasn’t to find the hidden location of the pillar but to reach the area where the pillar was located.
After the battle in the sanatorium, the Big Eye had gone to great lengths to hide the Pillar from anyone who might notice.
The situation in the processing plant was also the same. Everyone knew where the pillar was, but the question was how to get there.
Even if they reached the pillar after giving up all their feelings, they wouldn’t be motivated to fight because of the loss of feelings, and they may even forget why they were fighting so hard.
The pillar stood there, attracting people to it but making it impossible for anyone to get close to it.
The key to this mission was to cleverly preserve emotions and reach the vicinity of the “pillar.”.
Based on this difficulty, Mu Sichen thought that even Yao Wangping might not be able to successfully reach the pillar, and even if he did, he might not be able to retain his faith.
With Yao Wangping’s own power, he couldn’t destroy the Pillar; he would need to use Qin Zu’s Guardian Sword, and he would also need to use the power of the Totem.
But no matter whether it was the guardian sword or totem, the condition for using it was to have firm faith in Qin Zu.
Without that, Yao Wangping couldn’t do anything.
“Thanks for the information,” Mu Sichen said to Shen Jiyue. “We have other things to do, but I hope we’ll have the chance to meet again in the future. I hope that the next time we meet, you will still be you.”
Shen Jiyue’s state wasn’t quite the same as the last time they met, and it was unknown what price he had paid to enter the breeding area and how many emotions he lost.
A person was a contradiction composed of many complex feelings. After losing his emotions, the next time they met, would Shen Jiyue still be the current Shen Jiyue?
“Although I would like to promise you that I’ll still be the same when next we meet, I think it’ll definitely not be the same as now,” Shen Jiyue smiled bitterly.
Mu Sichen nodded to Shen Jiyue and took Chu Lian and Cheng Xubo back to his room.
Employees who had completed their work were allowed to visit other people, and he could invite some people to his room to play games and watch films and dramas together. But employees who hadn’t completed their work couldn’t do so.
The three of them went to Mu Sichen’s room. Cheng Xubo sat down on the floor, took out the cola that Mu Sichen had given him, and drank the whole can in one gulp.
“How is this battle going to be fought?” Cheng Xubo said, “There doesn’t seem to be a way out.”
Chi Lian felt a bit regretful: “That Shen Jiyue is so handsome. It’s a pity that he’ll lose all his emotions and become a numb person. Captain Mu, can’t we help him?”
“If we find the ‘pillar’ as early as possible and seize the processing plant, we can help him.” Mu Sichen said.
“That’s true, but what should we do?” Chi Lian casually grabbed the plush toy next to her and subconsciously tugged at it.. “It’s a pity that my cut-and-paste ability is too weak; if only I could cut-and-paste both the Energy Zone and the Farming Zone and swap them around.”
“Actually, my ability should be able to do some.” Cheng Xubo said hesitantly but honestly, “I can temporarily put you two into the cart; normal people can live for 1 hour in my wheelbarrow; it’ll just be hard. Then I’ll press the button to clear my emotions, and I can take you to the assembly area.”
“But by doing that, you’ll be a victim.” Chi Lian said.
Cheng Xubo shook his head, “Of course I won’t! I’m just telling you about the possibility of this matter, but if you really want to sacrifice me, then I will definitely fight to the death and turn the tables on you and fight until you can’t beat me or I can’t beat you.”
“Wow, you’re such a scheming guy, throwing out solutions and then making us out to be the bad guys.” Chi Lian said.
Cheng Xubo calmly accepted the evaluation of him being “scheming.” He nodded and retorted, “I’m resourceful; I think that with Captain Mu’s skills, he can definitely think of this solution, and once he proposes for me to make a sacrifice, I may not be able to refuse! So it’s better to say it first to give myself a chance to resist.”
Hearing his words, Chi Lian didn’t know how to evaluate Cheng Xubo for a moment.
If he was scheming, why would he want to be the one to be sacrificed?
If he wasn’t scheming, then he exposed the problem and led Mu Sichen to make the decision, which was equivalent to handing over the right to be a bad person to others. He wouldn’t have to make any difficult decisions, and he would be innocent.
Even though he didn’t understand the big picture, he was quite straightforward. If Chi Lian and Mu Sichen could defeat him, he agreed to be sacrificed.
In short, he was an extremely complex person, and everything he did was very contradictory. He wanted to help Mu Sichen, but he wasn’t willing to lose his emotions.
In the final analysis, he was just an ordinary person.
Mu Sichen smiled and said, ”I never thought about the solution you proposed; it isn’t feasible. Don’t forget that after losing your emotions, you have to rest in the energy zone before you can go to the assembly zone. There are at least a few dozen colors on your badge; how can we afford a few days to wait for you?”
It wouldn’t take more than a few days, but once 22:00 Daylight arrived, the Big Eye would wake up and probably ki*ll the heretics.
Yao Wangping was able to hide from the Big Eye by disfiguring his face, but that was absolutely impossible for Mu Sichen.
He had spied on Big Eye at the last second of ‘daytime.’. Just as he was watched by Qin Zu when he called out his name, he must have been marked by Big Eye when he stared at him.
He was now just relying on the “night” that the Big Eye used to save its strength to roam around; once exposed to the “day,” he would undoubtedly die.
“Huh? What should we do then? I thought that if we really couldn’t do it, I’d sacrifice myself for everyone’s safety, then I’d be of some use!” Cheng Xubo was relieved to hear that he didn’t have to sacrifice himself, but he was also a little disappointed.
Chi Lian spoke up too: “Actually, I’ve tried to change my badge. After I received Captain Mu’s reminder, I immediately thought of the way to cut the buttons and solved the supervisor in less than five minutes.”
“The reason I arrived at the basketball court half an hour later was because I went to the swimming pool first. Of course it’s not because I like to swim; it’s because everyone changes clothes while swimming, so I thought I could secretly exchange the badges.”
“But people here keep their badges pinned to their swimming costumes or trunks even when they swim, and they don’t leave them behind. I had to find a person who was resting after swimming and secretly exchanged chest cards with him; but immediately after the exchange, our chest cards slowly returned to their original colors, and the system sent an alarm that the skill failed and returned the energy used.”
Chi Lian especially emphasized that the energy value had been returned to its original owner and hadn’t been wasted, making Mu Sichen slightly relieved.
“It seems that the badge is different from the doctor and patient identities,” Mu Sichen said. “In the eyes of the ‘pillar’, there was no essential difference between a doctor and a patient. Both were the nourishment of the ‘pillar’, and identity was only a superficial thing. On the other hand, this chest card represents our emotions and soul. Even if we exchange the chest card, the essence of the soul will not change, and the soul will affect its appearance, making the chest card return to its original form.”
“What then? Isn’t there no possibility of completing the mission?” Chi Lian sighed long and hard.
“Let’s go out and take a look around; we still know too little about the processing plant’s regulations; there might be other ways.” Mu Sichen said, “I have a feeling that Shen Jiyue didn’t tell us all the information.”
Mu Sichen wasn’t completely sure but now that they still had time, there was no need to sit here and despair.
Instead of crying bitterly at the mountains of homework, it would be better to start with the exercise book at hand; after all, it wasn’t time to hand in the homework yet.
“We can move freely within the energy zone; for the next two hours, it would be better to look around, chat when we see people and gather intelligence.” Mu Sichen said, “Haven’t you noticed that the followers within the processing plant are all very expressive?”
“Yes!” Chi Lian immediately said, “My supervisor was too articulate; he knew everything, and sometimes even without asking questions, they themselves have to talk non-stop.”
Cheng Xubo: “Coincidentally, so was my supervisor. It wasn’t like this before when I was in the sanatorium; everyone in the sanatorium was dead calm.”
Mu Sichen answered, “This is caused by the different rules in the two locations.”
“The rules at the sanatorium are essentially eliminating each other, with doctors, families, and patients screwing each other over, and volunteers mindful of the fact that they’ll get more eyes on themselves after treating a patient.”
“It’s naturally hard to ask for information when you’re in competition with each other.”
“But the processing plant is different; why do you think the followers talk so much to us? What should be said and what should not be said will be said.”
“Under what circumstances do you guys speak without restraint?”
Chi Lian thought for a moment and said, “I absolutely won’t say anything to my classmates, colleagues, and friends. Even when it comes to chatting with my best friend, boyfriend, parents, and netizens, I can’t say everything, let alone like that.”
Cheng Xubo suddenly laughed and said, “I know everything about my wife.”
Chi Lian was full of shock: “You’re married? How can a man know everything about his wife? It’s absolutely impossible!”
Mu Sichen understood what Cheng Xubo meant: “Your wife isn’t real, right?”
Cheng Xubo said, “Yes, I have walls full of wives!”
Chi Lian: “Then I also have a bunch of paper husbands; I also dare to say anything to them.”
Both of them understood something at the same time and looked at Mu Sichen.
Mu Sichen nodded in response, “Yeah, that supervisor of mine also gave me the feeling that he was more like talking to himself than talking to me. He could never treat me as an equal, more like an object, like a chicken leg.”
“They have set tasks and will explain to us the requirements of the job, which are like the processes that must be done before cooking food, such as picking and washing vegetables.”
“But when it comes to matters outside the tasks, they treat us with extreme contempt, and we have to take advantage of that contempt.”
Being contemptuous meant not being defensive enough, and without being defensive, one could ask about a lot.
It wasn’t enough to ask for information from the energy zone alone; they had to ask for information from the assembly zone and the farming zone.
“In addition, let’s explore the energy zone in three directions, which are the assembly zone, the farming zone, and the processing plant. Under the premise of guaranteeing our own safety, we need to expand the area of operation as much as possible and see what exactly is the barrier between zones and whether there is any possibility of crossing the barrier.” Mu Sichen said.
Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo originally thought that they had already walked into a dead end and that there was no way out.
Unexpectedly, when Mu Sichen said this, they then realized that there were a lot of things they could do.
Chi Lian thought for a moment and said, “I suddenly understand a little bit of the meaning of ‘hope’. ‘Hope’ is not something that I shout every day, ‘hope’ to get into a prestigious university, and I hope to earn a million yuan annually. Instead, I have a beautiful wish in my heart and then use it as motivation to make good plans and implement them step by step.”
“If the ‘hope’ cannot be realized with action, then that wonderful feeling is forever hidden at the bottom of Pandora’s box.”
“The only way to not seal it in a box is to have hope in your heart and turn it into action.”
“I ‘hope’ to get close to the ‘pillar’ of the processing plant, so I’m going to reach out to the followers of the processing plant as much as I can to investigate the clues, and I’m going to get as close as I can to the boundary line of the assembly area.” Cheng Xubo said, “That’s what ‘hope’ is all about.”
“I know what kind of Hope Town to help you build.” The two said it to Mu Sichen in unison.
Mu Sichen also finally understood the difference between his two believers and Qin Zu’s believers.
Yao Wangping was very strong; he possessed extremely terrifying determination and action. If they were to fight, Mu Sichen thought that he wouldn’t be able to defeat Yao Wangping.
The Feathered Eye dependent was also very strong; his abilities were great, and alone against the Feathered Eye dependent, Mu Sichen would also end up being purified.
But they had no self.
Their abilities came from the god-level monsters they each believed in, and once their faith wasn’t strong enough or the god-level monsters died out, they would become ordinary people.
But Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo were different.
Even without Mu Sichen, they were still able to use their abilities.
Although they would occasionally borrow a little bit of energy from Mu Sichen, they were also able to show their mobility.
Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo’s tactics of grabbing the supervisor’s emotions were much superior to Mu Sichen’s, and at least neither of them were too badly injured.
Chi Lian took the initiative to go to the pool to validate her idea after quickly resolving the supervisor, and Cheng Xubo was able to very reluctantly come up with a plan to sacrifice himself.
They were all people with a sense of self.
“I’m going to the farming area,” Mu Sichen said.
The border there must be the most dangerous, and Mu Sichen usually kept the more dangerous jobs to himself.
“In that case, the gate I’m going to is the safest place; at most, I’ll be driven back.” Seeing that her assigned task wasn’t heavy, Chi Lian recoiled with some dissatisfaction.
However, on second thought, “The safest place is the most relaxed place; I’m sure the mouths of the followers there must be very loose. Moreover, when we were walking from the gate to the energy area, we met a worker from the assembly area, so maybe I can also meet this kind of worker and find a way to pry his mouth open to ask for information.”
After the three of them were assigned, they headed to their respective destinations.
Mu Sichen, who was quite badly injured, picked up his backpack with one hand and limped towards the farming area.
Luckily, the snacks in the backpack had been partially consumed, and it became quite light; otherwise, it would have been quite a strain for him to carry it on one shoulder.
Mu Sichen had only taken two steps when a tentacle stretched out from the backpack and wrapped around his left arm.
Mu Sichen felt a lightness in his left arm; he removed the splint and saw that the fracture of his left arm was healed.
On Mu Sichen’s left arm, there was a tattoo that wrapped around his arm, resembling a mechanical tentacle from a science fiction movie.
And the octopus doll in the backpack lost one tentacle, and the remaining seven tentacles firmly grasped the snacks in the backpack.
Mu Sichen didn’t know whether it was better to be grateful or to mock it.
In the end, he only asked, “Why is there so much difference in personality between you and your followers?”
Qin Zu’s followers were all sensible and sacrificial, with Yao Wangping being even more extreme.
The octopus doll that Qin Zu’s totem had transformed into, on the other hand, was so humane.
Mu Sichen vaguely felt that when he had just had the totem tattooed on his chest, the Qin Zu he had come into contact with at that time was still very majestic, calm, and rational.
But, after following him back to the real world, the octopus doll became more and more human.
It was evident from the first night when he fell asleep under the warm comforter.
“Why do I think you changed so much before and after?” Mu Sichen said, “It’s like…”
It was as if a merciless god or goddess suddenly had humanity.
It also took the initiative to help him heal his injuries!
Mu Sichen suddenly thought of something: the condition for Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo to go offline was to have his totem on them.
Although the octopus doll wasn’t a life form, it possessed life characteristics; could it really come into the real world with him so easily?
Maybe ….
Thinking of this, Mu Sichen fiercely reached out and flipped the octopus doll, making it face the sky with seven tentacles.
The octopus doll kept struggling, flew back to its original position, and half squinted its big eyes at Mu Sichen, obviously angry.
But Mu Sichen had already seen what he wanted to see.
At the root of the octopus doll’s tentacles, there was actually a small self-totem.
When exactly was the totem imprinted?
Was it when he purified the pollution within the sanatorium, or when he drove out all the other believers within the sanatorium, or when it held onto him and followed him to the real world?
It seemed like it could have been at any time.
But the octopus doll wasn’t quite his believer; it was just borrowing a little bit of his power.
It was just like before when Qin Zu’s totem was tattooed on Mu Sichen’s chest, but Mu Sichen didn’t have faith in Qin Zu either and only borrowed his power.
The octopus doll possessed humanity, so maybe it was caused by his power.
Thank you!!