The owner of this self-sticker was called Ying Mao. After separating from Mu Sichen in the square, Ying Mao had thought about following Mu Sichen.
However, when Ying Mao thought that Mu Sichen had said that the place he was going to would be very dangerous and Mu Sichen couldn’t guarantee his safety, Ying Mao hesitated.
Ying Mao sat in the square and thought for a long time. The fog was getting heavier and heavier, and he gradually became frustrated.
He thought that since he couldn’t go home, he might as well be an ordinary person and become insensitive like the townspeople so that he could at least live.
Believing in the “pupil of the sky” didn’t seem like such a bad thing.
The more he thought about it, the more he became obsessed with it, and as if he were called by something, he walked into the mist and came to the Bright Pupil Food Processing Factory.
Ying Mao was an able-bodied man and was naturally assigned to the energy area.
When he saw the many food and entertainment facilities in the senior staff office, not only did his mood not get better, it became more and more unbearable.
Because these so-called food and entertainment facilities weren’t even remotely comparable to the modern world. Even those so-called classic films and TV dramas were things he had seen several times or even a dozen times.
These things that he couldn’t look at in the real world were actually the highest level of treatment here.
Ying Mao realized that he couldn’t believe in any broken great being from the bottom of his heart, and he wanted to go home.
But he was already a member of the Bright Pupil Processing Factory, and he had no way back.
He was urged by the supervisor to lie down on the energy module, and he pressed the button with great reluctance. The moment his fingertips touched the button, the spot on the back of his neck where the self-sticker had been placed shivered slightly.
However, when he pressed the button, the legendary beeping sound of a completed job didn’t come.
“Is the energy pod broken?” Ying Mao pressed the button several times in front of the supervisor, but there was no sound.
The supervisor also found it very strange and came over: “It shouldn’t be; this is a miracle-working energy machine given to us by the Great Being; how could it be broken?”
Ying Mao said without the slightest bit of reverence, “The Great Being himself closes his eyes for twelve hours, so how can a machine made by him function normally all the time? It has to be serviced regularly. This button just won’t respond. Ah, if you don’t believe me, try pressing it.”
“You lowly worker!” Hearing Ying Mao’s words, the originally polite supervisor suddenly cursed angrily and condescendingly, “This button is only for workers to touch; how dare you try to make me do such a low job! It’s clearly you who are lazy and not working; press it for me!”
Ying Mao was scolded by him; he was indignant, so he secretly put on a pair of transparent gloves.
This was his initial item, the invisible gloves, and no one could see his gloves.
The gloves had a skill called “Wonderful Hands,” a kind of stealing skill. As long as the gloves were in contact with the enemy’s body, they could steal items from the enemy’s body without the other party noticing.
Ying Mao said to the supervisor in a good-natured manner, “Since you don’t believe in it and are not willing to try it out, just grab my hand and press the button as hard as you can, a few more times, to see if I am lazy or the machine is broken. If I am lazy, I’ll have finished the work under your supervision; if the machine is broken, then we must quickly get the workshop director to repair it.”
The supervisor thought so too, so he condescendingly grabbed Ying Mao’s hand.
Unbeknownst to him, Ying Mao had already stolen his finger without his knowledge.
Because of the power of the “Wonderful Hands,” the supervisor didn’t even know that his fingers were gone because they didn’t hurt.
Ying Mao was thus gripped by the supervisor’s hand and instead pressed dozens of buttons consecutively with the supervisor’s finger.
The prompt for completed work came from the energy pod. Ying Mao was shocked. “Surprisingly, it really works, ah, then how did it… work before?”
His sight fell on the supervisor, whose expression had become demented, as if he had lost his soul.
Ying Mao screamed in fear. He realized that it wasn’t that the energy pod wasn’t working well, but that his heart was full of reluctance, and the self-sticker left by Mu Sichen sensed his reluctant emotions and protected him.
The coolness at the back of his neck was the self-sticker taking effect.
If there was no self-sticker, the person who became such a fool now would be him.
Ying Mao couldn’t accept becoming such a person no matter what; he wanted to escape the processing plant, return to the square, and then follow the direction that Mu Sichen had disappeared in to find his true companions.
However, he could no longer escape.
Ying Mao was stopped at the gate and asked to stay until closing time before he could leave.
Ying Mao got emotional and argued with the doorman, shouting that he’d done his job, so why couldn’t he leave?
Such vehemence was perceived by the doorman as not being subject to the rules, and he began to lecture him.
However, what Ying Mao did next shocked Mu Sichen.
He didn’t know where Ying Mao got the power from, but he snatched the whip from the doorman’s hand and actually whipped the doorman.
After knocking over a few doormen, Ying Mao ran out of the processing plant, and before he could reach the gate, he was stopped by a man with three pupils in each eye.
The oppressive force he gave off was not inferior to that of the feathered Eyed dependent, so he should be the heavy pupil favorite who was in charge of the processing plant.
The Heavy Pupil Dependent narrowed his eyes at Ying Mao, stretched out three fingers, and slowly spoke, “In front of the pillar seat, kneel!”
His three pupils blossomed with a strange light, with a feeling of manipulating the soul.
Ying Mao, however, was still standing in place and said with a puzzled expression, “I’ll kneel if you tell me to. Are you nobler than others just because you have three pupils? I’m a noble player! Those rubbish snacks and cakes you give to senior staff can’t even coax a child; have you ever drunk milk tea? Have you ever seen a 3D film? Have you ever played a VR game? Have you ever been to an amusement park?”
Along with his words, the three pupils of the heavy pupil dependents’ left eye turned into one strangely, while Ying Mao’s left eye had three more pupils.
A strange color blossomed in Ying Mao’s eyes, and the followers who surrounded him actually cowered and avoided him, looking scared, while a three-colored light also blossomed in the Heavy Pupil Dependent’s right eye, which clashed with the power released from Ying Mao’s eyes and cancelled each other out.
He didn’t know what happened, but Ying Mao’s strength was actually comparable to the Heavy Pupil Dependent’s in an instant.
He instantly gained confidence, thinking that a game was truly a game, and since he was a player with a golden finger, he wasn’t afraid!
Ying Mao bravely pounced on the Heavy Pupil Favorite when suddenly a feather floated down from the air.
He slowly raised his head, and the feathered-eye dependent descended from the sky.
The feathered-eye dependent looked at the heavy pupil dependent contemptuously and said indifferently, “Rubbish.”
His feathered wings unfolded, and countless eyes opened up in front of Ying Mao.
The fear brought about by the feathered-eye dependent in the square eroded Ying Mao’s heart, and all of his courage disappeared as the three pupils in his left eye returned to the heavy-pupil dependent’s eyes.
Ying Mao slowly knelt down and was grabbed by the supervisors who swarmed around him.
The feathered-eye dependent retracted his feathers and said to the Heavy Pupil dependent, “As a noble favorite of the ‘Pupil of the Sky’, to be pushed down by a heretic, you don’t deserve to be in charge of the processing plant.”
“How dare you!” The heavy pupil dependent’s eyes were fierce.
The feathers of the feathered-eye dependent fluttered down and wrapped around the Heavy Pupil Favored One: “Those who are derelict in their duties are not worthy of being a Favored One of the’Pupil of the sky’, give me your power and authority.”
Just as the Heavy Pupil Dependent was about to be devoured, the processing plant gatekeeper rushed out and shouted to the Feathered Eye Dependent, “Lord Feather Eyed Dependent, the volunteers at the sanatorium sent out a distress message saying that a heretic was attacking the patients!”
The feathered-eye dependent put away his feathers and told the heavy pupil dependent, “Count yourself lucky; I’ll come and take over the processing plant when I settle the dispute at the sanatorium.”
With that, the feathered-eye dependent flew away.
The Heavy Pupil Dependent got up in a sorry state, straightened his clothes, and coldly said to the supervisors, “All of you, go back, and put this employee down to the assembly area.”
Ying Mao thought he would die, but he didn’t expect that the Heavy Pupil Dependent wouldn’t k*ill him and instead send im to the assembly area.
When he arrived at the assembly area, Ying Mao instantly understood that the employees here were senior employees who had lost their emotions, and the energy they used for the universal machines came from the energy area.
These mid-level employees, who had become numb, still had an inexplicable sense of superiority when facing Ying Mao.
Ying Mao was locked up in the punishment room by them, saying that the last employee of the day was him and that they were going to vote him to the breeding area.
Only then did Ying Mao realize that the Energy Zone would vote for an employee every day and demote that employee to the Breeding Zone.
And the employee who went to the Breeding area never came back.
Ying Mao didn’t know what was going to happen to him; he was very afraid, but he couldn’t resist.
He waited with trepidation for the vote to come before the end of his shift, like waiting for a death sentence to be carried out.
Yet it didn’t come.
Suddenly the ground shook, and the whole town shook violently for a long time as if some catastrophe had happened before it slowly stopped.
Ying Mao didn’t know what had happened, but the voting stopped that night, and no one was sent to the farm that day.
When “day” fell, Ying Mao stayed inside the punishment room, not daring to go out, but he could feel the terrifying sight from the sky, which seemed to be in another place.
He passed through the day with fear and trembling, and after the night, he heard another story.
There were four heretics who had seized the sanatorium and seriously injured the Feathered Eye dependent, and the “Pupil of the Sky” were furious and were retaking the sanatorium with a thunderous force.
The pictures of the four heretics were spread to every corner of the factory.
Ying Mao wept as he looked at the familiar faces of Mu Sichen, Ji Lian, and Cheng Xubo. His companions had indeed gone to an extremely dangerous place and had even triumphed over the terrifying monsters.
He, on the other hand, due to a moment of cowardice, came to such a hellish place.
Hope rose in Ying Mao’s heart, hoping that Mu Sichen and the others would one day come to his rescue.
Under his strong hope, the self-sticker that had dimmed down lit up again.
For three days in a row, the assembly area of the processing plant didn’t vote for the last employee.
It wasn’t until today that Ying Mao heard the news that voting had resumed.
Due to the fact that they hadn’t sent anyone to the Breeding area for three consecutive days, the farming area was severely understaffed, and they had to elect four employees to send to the farming area.
Ying Mao was naturally chosen.
He also saw that a man who was extremely ugly and had eyes all over his body was also chosen. Since this man was new to the processing plant, he was placed last, and Ying Mao was the first to go to the Breeding area.
He couldn’t wait for his companions after all.
Ying Mao was escorted to the Breeding area, where he saw endless farmland and vegetable fields, as well as livestock and poultry on the farm.
As well as the totem of the “pupil of the sky” at his feet and the white bones.
He stood on top of the totem, and in the moment of death, he understood why these crops could grow luxuriantly even though no one planted them.
Because these people were sent to the breeding area, their life energy was used on these crops and livestock, absorbed by them like fertilizer feed, and they matured quickly without disease or disaster.
Originally, the people in Tongzhi Town were given food by their great existence in this way.
Life became the energy for the growth of plants and animals; emotions became the energy for processing machines; and when it was clear what was being used to feed themselves, they were told that it was a gift from god.
Jokes, lies!
Ying Mao had only one hope at the end of his life.
He didn’t want to be the sustenance of this dystopian world; he wanted to go home, even if it was only his soul.
He regretted that he didn’t fight with his companions.
If there was still a chance, he wanted to be a part of everyone.
Mu Sichen held the self-sticker, and a line of clear tears flowed down his face.
“Why are you crying?” Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo were at a loss for words when they saw him suddenly take out a tattered self-sticker from his backpack, suddenly close his eyes, and suddenly cry.
Chi Lian rummaged through her coat pocket and fished out a packet of Kleenex, handing it to Mu Sichen.
“It’s not me who’s crying.” Mu Sichen took the tissue and dried the line of tears. “It’s Ying Mao.”
“Who is Ying Mao?” The two asked.
“Our teammate.” Mu Sichen said.
“Huh?” The two who knew nothing were filled with doubt.
Mu Sichen simply told them what happened to Ying Mao.
Chi Lian burst into sadness, snatched the tissue pack from Mu Sichen’s hand, pulled one out, and cried with a “whimper.”
“At that time, I looked at him as a bit of a nervous wreck and was especially disgusted. Had I known that he would encounter such things, I should have dragged him to you.” Cheng Xubo fiercely slapped himself.
Mu Sichen knew that he was also at fault, but at this point, discussing right and wrong was meaningless.
He clenched his fists and imprinted this self-sticker deep into his palm, firmly saying, “Let’s destroy this place.”
“Destroy!” Chi Lian roared, “As long as I can destroy this place, I’ll do whatever you want me to do!”
Cheng Xubo was relatively calm as he posed the question, “I also want to destroy this place, but at this stage, there are two difficulties that have yet to be solved. One is how to enter the breeding area, and the other is those supervisors, who are annoying but really powerful. And I don’t know what’s going on with that average power rule; no matter how strong we are, it’ll be to their advantage; that’s too unfair!”
Mu Sichen looked at the self-totem in his palm that belonged to Ying Mao and said, “The second problem, Ying Mao has already solved it for us.”
“Solved? How?” Cheng Xubo said.
Mu Sichen said, “I finally understand why Shen Jiyue deliberately guided us into thinking that we had to honestly stay in the Energy Zone for a full dozens of days before we could be sent down to the Assembly Zone.”
“Why?” Chi Lian asked tearfully.
“He’s afraid that we’ll rebel against the supervisors, and he’s afraid that we’ll discover the secret of power averaging.” Mu Sichen said, “Actually, the principle of this power averaging is very simple; it’s the same as the rules of the sanatorium. You should know that the ‘Pillar’ is only a program and has no intelligence, so its rules treat everyone equally, rather than deliberately protecting someone.”
“Then why is it the supervisor that averages our power instead of us averaging theirs?” Cheng Xubo asked.
Mu Sichen said, “Because of a sense of superiority. The ‘pillar’ of the processing plant needs superiority as an energy source, and it protects people with a strong sense of superiority. When two people are hostile, whoever has a stronger pillar of superiority, the rules of the ‘pillar’ will tend to protect them.”
Ying Mao regretted and developed a strong sense of superiority at the same time when he saw those shabby entertainment facilities in the staff office.
He thought that he was a player from a different world, someone with skills, that the gorgeous world he had seen far exceeded these otherworldly crazy fools, and he thought that he was far superior to the people in the processing plant, whether they were supervisors or the heavy-pupil dependent.
It was this strong sense of superiority of having a peaceful world as a psychological pillar that allowed Ying Mao to actually share half of the Heavy Pupil Dependent’s power and wreak havoc in all directions within the processing plant.
He was on the verge of escaping when he came across the feathered-eye dependent.
The four players purified by the Feathered Eye Dependent in the square brought a deep sense of fear to Ying Mao, and facing him, Ying Mao’s sense of superiority disappeared.
Once his sense of superiority disappeared, the rules of the Pillar would no longer protect him, and the power he had gained was taken back by the Favored One.
Just a little bit more.
Mu Sichen couldn’t help but think that if he had acted a little faster, discovered the way to break the rules of the sanatorium a little earlier, and attracted the Feathered Eye Dependent’s attention a little earlier, Ying Mao would have died.
However, at that time, Mu Sichen was in deep trouble; how could he have known that, not far away, there was another companion who was struggling?
“So as long as we believe from the bottom of our hearts that we come from the real world, that we have self-respect and self-improvement, that we possess a sense of self, and that we are better than those supervisors who are living in a muddle, we can be protected by the ‘pillar’ and can defeat them?” Cheng Xubo asked.
Mu Sichen nodded.
“Ying Mao brought us valuable information.” Chi Lian said sullenly, her voice carrying a nasal tone after crying.
Cheng Xubo also spoke, “Now there’s only the problem of how to enter the farm left to be solved. Isn’t it true that we can be sent into the farm as long as we make a scene in the energy area, attract the Heavy Pupil Dependent, and then pretend to be subdued?”
Mu Sichen shook his head. “That would make us too passive; we can’t be sent in by force by them; instead, we have to find a way to sneak in. I don’t know if my ‘digging’ skills can be used.”
Before he could finish his sentence, the radio in the room rang out.
“Important notice, important notice. There is a worker from the breeding area who escaped while working; the worker’s name is Ying Mao. Please pay attention to this person, and once you discover Ying Mao’s whereabouts, please send him to the breeding area immediately.”
“Repeat, important notice…”
At the same time as the broadcast rang out, the indoor television automatically switched on, and Ying Mao’s face appeared on the TV.
Mu Sichen looked at the face on the TV and said with a firm expression, “Now, Ying Mao has also helped us solve the problem of how to enter the breeding area.”
Thank you for the chapters!