The short cement wall was full of bumps and holes and covered with children’s doodles done with markers.
Changmei Community’s roads were all muddy due to the first snow last week followed by the past two days of continuous rain, and pedestrian footprints were particularly obvious on it.
The three of them, led by the police officer, Xiao Wu, came to room 414 in the innermost building.
The neighborhood committee had already informed her that there would be experts coming today and so the hostess of the house took a leave of absence and did not go to work, opening the door for them. This young stepmother was shy and sat behind the dining table. Her eight-year-old stepdaughter sat on the living room couch, blinking her wide eyes and staring straight at the several strange adults.
Police officer Xiao Wu: “You already know the situation, we just came here today to take a look.”
The stepmother seemed to want to say something, but ended up just sighing, “Experts, if you have any questions, I’ll answer them all.”
It was obvious that this wasn’t the first time someone had dropped by to investigate and the stepmother had long been accustomed to being suspected as a child abuser. She had even installed a camera in her house and there was nothing wrong with the footage. However, Xiao Kexin still went to “report” as soon as she had the opportunity.
Xiao Jinyu observed this young woman in front of him, who was only two or three years older than him.
Clearly, she was at the age where she should be high-spirited and energetic, yet her sideburns were messy with a few strands of hair curled behind her ears, her face yellow, and her lips cracked.
She was very tired.
“Her dad will be back tomorrow, he ended the business trip early. Experts, if you have anything to ask, just ask.”
The three came today as experts from the Children’s Crime Division and so they had to show some professionalism. Qi Simin came prepared and she pulled out a document from her bag, asking some questions she had downloaded from the internet.
The woman answered them one by one.
Li Xiaotong nudged Xiao Jinyu with his elbow and whispered: “You can start working now.”
Not getting an answer from Xiao Jinyu, Li Xiaotong looked at him strangely and was just about to speak.
“Shhh.” Xiao Jinyu raised his index finger and pressed it against his lips.
Li Xiaotong froze.
Xiao Jinyu pointed to his eyes.
Li Xiaotong finally understood: the new user had started working already.
As early as when he had sat down, he had already activated Fourth Perspective, and starting from the tips of her hair, he examined the woman in front of him.
Fourth Perspective had a usage gap, every five minutes of usage required a rest time.
After a week, even in his house, Xiao Jinyu would use Fourth Perspective every so often, to increase his control over his logic skill. Gradually, he found out that Fourth Perspective still only had a usage time of five minutes, but its rest time was getting shorter and shorter.
Also, Fourth Perspective had two modes.
The first mode was the ordinary version. Activate Fourth Perspective and he could see logic factors.
The second mode was the enhanced version. After activating, the whole world would turn into black and white, the logic factors suspended in the air looking as if they were put under a microscope, every rotation and every millimeter of their dance were clear in his eyes.
These two modes had no difference when they were in use, but their rest times were very different.
When the former was used, it only needed ten minutes of rest time before it could be used again. The latter needed a whole hour of rest time before he could activate his logic skill again.
Today Xiao Jinyu used the ordinary mode of Fourth Perspective.
He stood up.
The stepmother who was answering Qi Simin’s questions froze for a moment, looking at the handsome young man who hadn’t said a word since he had entered the door: “What is it?”
Xiao Jinyu’s expression didn’t change: “I’m going to look around.”
The stepmother didn’t stop him: “Alright.”
Perhaps the expert wanted to see if there was any evidence of her abusing the child, this was very normal. Previously the neighborhood committee had also done this often.
Xiao Jinyu stood up, using Fourth Perspective while looking for traces of logic factors.
An hour later.
The police officer Xiao Wu led the three downstairs.
Towards Xiao Kexin’s family situation, this policeman who had graduated from the police academy was very attentive. He asked the experts with a lot of concern. Qi Simin, however, casually answered with a couple of sentences, only saying that she needed to go and discuss with others.
Xiao Wu couldn’t help but reveal a disappointed look.
Qi Simin smiled: “This time we’ll have to thank you, you can go back first. We’ll just walk around the community.”
Wu Yuan: “You have to look at the community too?”
Qi Simin blinked: “Perhaps the neighbors have some questions, causing the little girl to think her stepmother was strange? For example, someone was bad-talking her mom behind her back.”
Wu Yuan froze.
It could even be like this?
No wonder they were experts!
“Then I’ll accompany you three experts around.”
Qi Simin: “…”
Spending quite some effort to persuade the little police officer to go back to work, they finally sent away Wu Yuan, who was reluctant to give up. Li Xiaotong said helplessly: “This person gets familiar with people way too fast, he refuses to leave. Fortunately, Sister Min was awesome and swindled him away.”
“He’s just serious about his work.”
From this morning to now, Xiao Jinyu rarely spoke and Li Xiaotong has already acknowledged that this new user was a person of few words.
Oh, a person speaks little and knows how to act and deceive others.
Li Xiaotong still hasn’t forgotten his experience of being deceived by Xiao Jinyu in Changjie Station.
However, he didn’t expect that Xiao Jinyu would speak up for the little police officer. Li Xiaotong asked in curiosity: “You seem quite concerned for this little police officer.”
Xiao Jinyu glanced at him, not answering. He walked forward: “Let’s continue the task.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Let’s go.”
C qbilmf boolmfg ktbrf tjcvr kfgf yibkc gfv ys atf mbiv klcv kjcafv ab wjlcajlc atf ijk jcv bgvfg fnfgs vjs, rb wemt rb atja tf gfoerfv ab fcafg atf uejgv ybbat jcv rla ys atf tfjafg…
Ktf ilaaif ulgi kjr rfglber ktfc rtf rjlv “Ceca lr rb ragjcuf”.
Qe Tejc kjr jirb rfglber ktfc tf kjcafv ab tfiq atf ilaaif ulgi.
Xiao Jinyu walked faster and activated Fourth Perspective, examining the entire community.
Changmei Community was too big and Xiao Jinyu could only use his logic skill for five minutes. The three of them were busy from morning to night and it wasn’t until seven o’clock at night, when the moon was in the middle of the sky, that Xiao Jinyu confirmed that there weren’t any users in this community.
“There are also no polluters or pollutants.” He added.
Qi Simin nodded and said: “There is no need to look for pollutants, there are no pollutants that can resist killing people. They can’t just sit in one place nicely, they’ll eventually rampage everywhere and kill people.”
Xiao Jinyu heard these words and lowered his eyes silently.
Qi Simin: “As for polluters… the possibility is very low. Polluters can pollute people and this girl’s mom is very normal. During the hour this morning, I can be very certain that she has no problem. As for that little girl, she is also a normal person. This community has no users, only regular people. When regular people encounter a polluter, even if it is the lowest level of polluters, they can be polluted very quickly. But this community has no pollutants, so there are also no polluters.”
Xiao Jinyu: “Their family, including the two families next to them, all have no trace of logic factors.”
Qi Simin laughed loudly: “Task completed, the five thousand dollars are in our hands!”
Li Xiaotong: “Yay! Let’s eat hot pot to celebrate. Xiao Jinyu, are you coming?”
“I won’t, I just moved so I need to go back and organize. When are you going to transfer the money?” Xiao Jinyu asked lightly.
Qi Simin sighed: “You really pay attention to the important parts. Alright, send your bank card to me and I’ll transfer it tonight.”
“Thanks.”
Exactly one thousand yuan.
This was the highlight of today.
The three walked together to Changjie Station.
On the long escalator, Li Xiaotong and Qi Simin were arguing over whether they should eat duck blood or duck intestines. Xiao Jinyu’s hand was gently resting on the escalator’s handrail when he looked up. Suddenly, he saw a young woman carrying a bag full of vegetables in one hand and a large toy box in the other.
Xiao Jinyu froze.
His lips moved, but he hadn’t opened his mouth yet.
“Ah!”
There were too many things in her hands and when she got on the escalator, she didn’t hold them properly and so the toy box fell to the ground. She looked embarrassed and holding the vegetables in one hand, she bent down to pick up the large box on the ground. She kept her head up and bent her back stiffly. Suddenly, the woman’s movements stopped. She straightened herself.
Xiao Jinyu picked up the toy box, giving it to the other.
The young stepmother said in surprise: “You’re… the expert from this morning? Thank you.”
Qi Simin and Li Xiaotong also walked over.
Li Xiaotong was surprised: “So many delicious things and there’s also princess toys!”
Xiao Kexin’s stepmother smiled bitterly and said: “I bought it for Kexin. I don’t know what happened to the child, she always says I’m weird. I also don’t know what to do…” This stepmother pursed her lips and looked at Xiao Jinyu: “Thank you for helping me pick up things. I’ll leave first, Xiao Kexin is still waiting for me at home.”
Leaving an eight-year-old child at home was an inevitable thing. The stepmother hurried outside of the subway entrance, yet Xiao Jinyu stared at her back and did not move for a long time.
Li Xiaotong patted him: “What are you doing? Staring at other people for such a long time. Let me tell you, she’s already married!”
Xiao Jinyu: “…”
Li Xiaotong: “What are you staring at me for?”
The young man coldly stared at him and walked into the subway.
It was past the rush hour so there were not many people in the subway, however, there just weren’t any seats.
Qi Simin and Li Xiaotong were still arguing over what to eat tonight and Xiao Jinyu’s mind wandered, his eyes staring at a mottled brown stain on the floor, gradually going out of focus.
Somehow, the picture of the stepmother picking things up kept coming into his mind.
A strange and subtle sense of discord gently washed over his mind.
What is it…
There was something wrong, yet also seemingly very correct.
“Yo, Luhe Station.”
Xiao Jinyu turned his head and looked at the capped boy.
Li Xiaotong, wearing his fancy hat, smiled and said to Qi Simin: “Sister Min, the only time we took a task to a contamination area was in Area 81, right? Area 81, I remember, is the area above Luhe Station?”
Qi Simin smiled slightly: “You remember it very clearly. It’s the area above Luhe Station. The safest contamination area in Zhongdu City, Area 81.”
“Naturally I remember it clearly.” Li Xiaotong said triumphantly: “That was the only time I entered a contamination area.”
Luhe Station.
Xiao Jinyu looked out the window at the abandoned station that rushed past.
On the second day he had become a user, Xiao Jinyu learned from Zhao Hen that the “high-radiation areas” that were forbidden to be passed by the public were actually “contamination areas” in the eyes of users.
These contamination areas were located in all corners of a city, like tumors that grow on a human’s body, scattered and irregular, separating habitable areas.
People could only inhabit the area near extremely safe contamination areas. Moreover, outside the contamination areas, where regular people cannot see, the user committee had built a high earthen wall and dug a river along it to block the things inside the contamination areas from sneaking out.
As for the extremely dangerous contamination areas, even if the area has been confirmed to have left the contamination area, the User Committee will still set an additional three-kilometer border of forbidden land around it, prohibiting anyone from entering.
Every passenger who takes the subway and passes through the big abandoned platforms would never think of it. That at that time, above their heads, separated by layers of thick dirt, wasn’t a high-radiation area, but a contamination area hiding out of control logic skills, polluters, pollutants, and rebel users.
…It turns out that the number of the contamination area above Luhe Station was 81.
Xiao Jinyu retracted his gaze.
At the same time, Xiao Jinyu’s group of three didn’t know what was happening right above their heads.
The subway roared by.
Under the clear moonlight from the sky, on the devastated and barren land, a black off-road vehicle crushed the brick and stone debris that was everywhere on the ground and stopped at the gate of a park.
Wang Tao, the captain of Zhongdu City’s Extermination Team, stepped out of the car, holding a satellite locator in his hands. He looked around before looking back: “It’s here. After White Garden jumped off the platform, his body was dragged forward by the subway for a distance and the final landing point is probably under our feet.”
“Click—”
The passenger’s door opened.
Short black boots stepped on a piece of rubble and brick, creating a crunching sound. Su Jiuzhou raised his eyes to scan his surroundings, lightly raising his eyebrows: “It’s even a park.”
Captain Wang: “I’m going to get 004 down.”
The banging sound of metal colliding was accompanied by a sharp and piercing children’s voice.
“Ouch ouch!”
“Who hit me!”
“Don’t crash anymore, don’t crash!”
Captain Wang “humphed” loudly and grabbed a tall metal box from the back seat with his bare hands.
“Boom—”
He placed the metal box on the ground and vigilantly took two steps back. He looked at Su Jiuzhou: “Colonel Su, you can go now.”
Su Jiuzhou: “Protective clothing.”
Captain Wang hurriedly put on two sets of protective clothing.
Su Jiuzhou walked up to the huge black box and with his eyes looking down, he reached out to grasp the handle on the lid.
Captain Wang who was on the side, consciously went back five meters, and hiding behind two layers of protective clothing, he stared at the hand that was on the handle of the box.
The next second.
“Click—”
The cool moonlight was scattered on the ground and through the gap that was getting larger and larger, illuminating the inside of the box, it caused the little robot inside the box to suddenly stop cursing. It turned its head around in shock, looking at the glowing area.
There was light.
How could there be…
Light?
The little robot stared blankly at the top of the box, at the full and gentle moon.
After a few seconds.
“Who put me in here upside down!!!”
“My head is on the ground, did you know did you know did you know…”
“Ouch!”
The box was pushed down by someone and the little robot’s slender arms covered its head as it was slammed out of the box.
The moment it saw the sky, on the display screen on 004’s head, a series of “Ao ao ao” crazily flashed past.
Getting up from the ground, two thin little arms were on its waist and the little robot that was only as tall as half a human laughed excitedly.
“Jie Jie Jie Jie!”
“I, 004, am back once again!”
“Wait until I go back and kill you all! All killed, ouch…”
“Who is it!!!”
Covering the display that was hit, 004 looked back in anger, seeing the smiling man standing behind it.
004: “…”
The little robot crawled back into the box with its hands and feet.
Su Jiuzhou pulled it out once again.
“Where are you going?”
004: “QAQ!”
Not daring to get angry, under the smiling gaze of Su Jiuzhou, the round-headed robot wobbled to the park gate.
“Try going there again.”
“…”
“En?”
The little robot walked another ten meters to the right.
“Enter the park to take a look.”
004: “Are you done?!”
“Slap—”
The LCD screen that was at least a decade old was once again hit by the man and the little robot stood sillily in place, before crying and shouting that it wanted to tell its dad while running around the park like a rabbit.
Ten minutes later.
Captain Wang shook his head at Su Jiuzhou through two layers of protective clothing: “The detector didn’t respond. Polluter 004’s abnormality might really have nothing to do with White Garden’s logic storm.”
The little robot sat on the ground and cried. Su Jiuzhou looked at it.
004: “…”
It put away it’s fake crying.
Su Jiuzhou dragged out the ends of his sentences: “So it has nothing to do with White Garden huh… On that day, in Zhongdu City, there was only White Garden’s situation. Hm, it turns out that White Garden would even commit suicide…”
Captain Wang sighed, “I didn’t expect that he would actually commit suicide from his logic skill breaking. Just half a month before he committed suicide, he had helped our extermination team escape from contamination area 76. His logic chain was so important. As long as one stood upright with a rose in their hand, they could enter the White Garden space and be teleported to another place by him. As long as he was there, if someone encounters an inescapable danger in the contamination area, they can escape through White Garden as soon as they find the opportunity. Sigh, he actually died.”
Captain Wang said regretfully: “In fact, White Garden had a very strange personality even though he often helps the extermination team and follows us into the contamination area to do tasks. But he has always been alone and now that his logic skill collapsed, he didn’t even find anyone for help.”
Su Jiuzhou: “If he was still alive, then transporting 004 today wouldn’t have been so troublesome.”
Captain Wang was stunned and he reminded Su Jiuzhou: “Colonel Su, the logic skill of White Garden can only transfer people or items carried by people to eight fixed locations in Zhongdu City. For example, a certain hot pot restaurant.”
Su Jiuzhou smiled: “White Garden said that?”
“Ah? Yes, White Garden filled this out in his user profile, but he only included two exits of the White Garden space, there are six secret ones.”
This was very understandable. If one day White Garden is chased by an enemy and wanted to escape, but his space’s eight exits were known to the enemy and blocked, he wouldn’t be able to escape.
So he would definitely hide part of the exits.
Su Jiuzhou: “Did his logic skill actually have a fixed exit?”
Captain Wang was surprised: “You mean?”
“Perhaps it was a fixed distance?”
Captain Wang froze in place.
Su Jiuzhou slightly smiled: “I guessed.”
Captain Wang: “…”
The abnormality of Polluter 004 really seems to have nothing to do with White Garden.
It was also possible that it had nothing to do with Zhongdu City.
Walking over to the little robot that was still crying and cursing, Su Jiuzhou squatted down patiently and gently tapped its display.
004 lifted its head.
Old Pervert tilted his head and smiled: “Who is your dad? Is he as strong as me? Or, you can tell me who your current dad is and I’ll be your new dad.”
004: “…”
Pervert!
The little robot stood up silently and silently crawled back into the black box.
Su Jiuzhou felt bored and stood up.
“Let’s go back.”
Captain Wang: “Ok.”
Under the same moon.
In the empty and quiet house, Xiao Jinyu lay on his bed, quietly looking at the ceiling that reflected the moonlight.
004 wasn’t talking again.
This was normal. At noon it quickly sent a barrage of “Dad, Old Pervert came to Zhongdu City again”, and then it never spoke again.
Su Jiuzhou came to Zhongdu City again.
The glass-like, cold moonlight rippled slowly on the wall, and Xiao Jinyu stared silently at it, but his eyes had no focus as if he was thinking about something.
Suddenly, his eyes widened.
Xiao Jinyu quickly picked up his phone and called Qi Simin.
“Hello…” A confused voice came from the other end of the phone.
Xiao Jinyu said quickly: “Miss Qi, there’s something off about the task from today.”
In the next second, Qi Simin’s voice was more awake: “What did you discover?”
Xiao Jinyu: “Do you remember when we were coming back, we met the little girl’s stepmother at the subway station?”
“I remember.”
“She had too much in her hands and the toy box fell to the floor, so I helped her pick it up.”
“I remember this. What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the toy box? Did you see logic factors?”
“No,” Xiao Jinyu pursed his lips, “I saw that when that mom bent down to pick up something, her back was straight and her head was perpendicular to the ground.”
Qi Simin froze.
Xiao Jinyu’s muffled voice sounded: “Miss Qi, when normal people pick up things… don’t they bow their heads?”
The author has something to say:
004: I don’t want dad, I only want mom! I want mom!
—
In the previous chapter, there was a place where it said that the police officer Xiao Wu stretched his neck 360°, it’s not that he turned his head around 360°, but stretched his head. It’s like the warm-up exercises in physical education class.
It’s twisting your neck to the left and right. Don’t get it wrong.
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Thanks for the update
Thanks for the chapter!!
Or making circle with head. All 360°
Thanks for the chapter ~
So much information in this chapter!!!
So I have a wild guess, was White Garden 004’s previous dad? Did SJY guess who his new dad is, based on the (ah!) logic chain of the events? Also, the author said that the three small arcs are connected, and JXY can use white garden’s skill to create his flying fists. Maybe white garden’s skill went out of control somewhere near this community, and now those guys have all flying heads? Aah, I hope we’ll have the answer in the next chapter!
Thank you for the update!
Also, 004’s abnormality might not come from White Garden dying, but from Fourth Perspective awakening. On that note, where did these logic skilly come from? Is it like The Earth Is Online where every „ability“ had a previous owner? Probably not, but the thought is interesting.
As for Ninth Sister knowing about Xiao Jinyu… He has certainly seen his logic skills, and with his understanding of White Garden, knowing that Jinyu entered White Garden’s logic storm, maybe he was able to see a similarity and connect them? We also don’t know about the privileges of a sixth level logic skill in the app, so we don’t know how much that guy would be able to find out while 004 sits in a corner and cries.
Also, mom doesn’t fit the definition of a polluter (she isn’t murderous) so… Maybe it’s a second state induced as a consequence of a logic skill? Something that applies to anyone who did a certain set of actions (can’t be an area or an object, and I’m pretty sure it’s not voluntarily done by a person, as there is no motive) ? And we didn’t notice with meat King because, well, he was already dead, which mom isn’t?
As for 004 and Sister Ninth… Hm I don’t think sister ninth can have higher permissions on the app than 004 or JXY, because 004 is the creator of the app, and JXY has access to everything on virtue of being its “dad”.
Finally, as for the origin of logic skills… Very interesting question, I hadn’t thought about that!! Considering that every logic skill is capable of acting independently from its owner (e.g., when they are out of control) I do not think that they could have a previous owner (except exceptions, like fourth perspective). However, it does create several questions : do the logic skill suit the owner, or the other way around? Also, what would happen if two logic skills oppose each other (same causes, opposite consequences)? Do the logic skills have their own objective (we do know that they appeared at some point in time, why then and not before or after) ?
Next: Polluters pollute other people through these black light dots, but those that were polluted cannot pollute other people, so Mom was polluted but does not pose a risk factor. However, she too has these black dots of light swirling around her neck. Meat King might not have those because he was already dead.
About access to 004: 004 itself seems to have limited access to its own app for some reason. As for how exactly it might work, I have no idea because I don’t know how sentient polluters like it function. It seems only able to give people access to what it itself already has access to, but on that note I’m really curious as to why it chose Xiao Jinyu of all people to be its Dad.
And your thoughts on the logic skills are very interesting. A logic skill is capable of acting independently, therefore, is it possible for it to have sentience once it reaches a high enough level, just like the polluters? And this radiation, it is dots of light! Logic skills are colorful, pollution is black/grey, so are those contaminated logic skills, which in turn means they have the same origin?
And the cause and effect of a logic skill: Take White Garden as an example. The original could (from what I remember) create a separate space with an entrance and and exit, through which one could travel through space and appear anywhere in a specified range. But when Xiao Jinyu acquired it, it only works around his right hand. I don’t know about the cause, but the effect is a sized-down version of the original White Garden. Once it levels up, chances are that Xiao Jinyu would also be able to „teleport“. In that sense, he is/would be a successor to the White Garden logic skill.
But if there were two logic skills, with the same cause but different effects, or different causes but the same effects, what would happen? Could these things be called „sister skills“, or would they be that way because the users changed the cause and effect? If that cause and effect already exist, can the user still change them to those, or will the cause and effect automatically have differences?
Now for how logic skills suit their users. For White Garden, he was apparently a crossdresser, the way to enter White Garden was to hold a rose, people in the story thought these things to have a connection, but from the latest chapters it seems that White Garden’s and Xiao Jinyu’s personalities of being cautious but brave, restrained but bold, are quite similar to each other. Maybe it’s comparable to being friends: You’re similar to each other, so you simply get along, and the more you understand, respect and get along with each other, the better things go.
Lastly, I would like to thank CG for not having a word limit for the comments… TvT
All this head separating is giving me goosebumps cause i have a vivid imagination. And god does it feel awful and terrifying… how does even the police officer get polluted but not the 8 year old? Is there certain conditions for getting polluted or does every polluted not get their head separated? The does that mean head separation has certain conditions? So many questions galloping in my head no sleep today. Looking forward to the next chapter! Thank you for translating~ I hope you do not get burned out for the rest of your life letz go! 👏👏
Also, mom doesn’t fit the definition of a polluter (she isn’t murderous) so… Maybe it’s a second state induced as a consequence of a logic skill? Something that applies to anyone who did a certain set of actions (can’t be an area or an object, and I’m pretty sure it’s not voluntarily done by a person, as there is no motive) ? And we didn’t notice with meat King because, well, he was already dead, which mom isn’t?
As for 004 and Sister Ninth… Hm I don’t think sister ninth can have higher permissions on the app than 004 or JXY, because 004 is the creator of the app, and JXY has access to everything on virtue of being its “dad”.
Finally, as for the origin of logic skills… Very interesting question, I hadn’t thought about that!! Considering that every logic skill is capable of acting independently from its owner (e.g., when they are out of control) I do not think that they could have a previous owner (except exceptions, like fourth perspective). However, it does create several questions : do the logic skill suit the owner, or the other way around? Also, what would happen if two logic skills oppose each other (same causes, opposite consequences)? Do the logic skills have their own objective (we do know that they appeared at some point in time, why then and not before or after) ?
Sorry, wrong answer.
It’s okay! Haha
So… explanation was given so we won’t misunderstand when she twists it 360°
My 004 is so cute. He’s such a stress reliever. As for the origin of login skills and the neck separation thing, my pig brain can’t think of any useful theory, so I’ll just follow the story and wait for the author to explain.
My 004 is so cute. He’s such a stress reliever. As for the origin of logic skills and the neck separating thing, my pig brain can’t think of any useful theory, so I’ll just follow the story and wait for the author to explain.
Betting that “hotpot” is a foreshadowing lmao. Maybe a secret code or a secret base?