Edited by Cloud Chip Cake.
A dense darkness enveloped the narrow and cold room, wild roars echoed like thunder, pounding on the room’s every wall. Inside, a fierce beast roared in agony, as if it had encountered the most terrifying and desperate situation of its life, its howls relentless.
…
Dreamer only needed five minutes to backtrack memories. After the three sharp and crisp jingles of the hand bell, she exited the room, leaving only Zhao Hen inside.
“Judging by his mental state, it’ll probably take another five or six hours for him to fully recover. This room has been specially arranged by the User Committee, with the walls and furniture wrapped in impact-resistant foam, so he won’t get hurt,” the black-cloaked girl paused before adding, “Physically, that is.”
As for the mental impact, it was hard to say.
All of Zhao Hen’s memories of March 29, 2043, had been extracted by Dreamer. But she still needed some time to sort through them unlike before when she was extracting memories from Xiao Jinyu and the others regarding “Zhang Haixiang.” The incident at the café only happened last month, so it was easier to organize.
Dreamer: “I’ll probably need three or four days to sort out his memories before showing them to you. Right now, I’m even having trouble making sense of them.”
Xiao Jinyu: “Alright.”
After seeing Dreamer off, Xiao Jinyu and Su Jiuzhou spent some time observing from outside the one-way glass.
Zhao Hen’s sobbing gradually weakened, and the frequency of his howls decreased. He was no longer in as much pain as before, but it was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to emerge from the illusion anytime soon.
After asking the User Committee staff to take care of Zhao Hen, Xiao Jinyu and Su Jiuzhou went to the Logic Research Institute.
Descending in the elevator, the pungent smell of soil gradually filled their noses.
They could clearly feel that as their bodies descended, more and more breath of life surrounded them, and their logic chains became calmer. It was like they were drifting off into sleep.
Xiao Jinyu tested it out. The breath of life’s suppression of his logic chain wasn’t lethal, but it couldn’t be ignored.
“Ding—”
The elevator reached the negative third floor. After walking through the narrow soil corridor, the two stopped in front of an automatic glass door.
Inside the laboratory, a junior researcher noticed their arrival and immediately prepared to come over to open the door. Xu Siqing looked up and saw them. He pushed his glasses up and stopped his subordinate from coming over to open the door, walking over himself instead.
The glass doors opened wide to the sides.
Xu Siqing smiled, “Didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
Xiao Jinyu nodded lightly.
Leading the two into the laboratory, Xu Siqing spoke as he walked, “An hour ago, I took the portrait Mr. Xiao simulated, the one of ‘Shang Sijin,’ to see Pan Yue, Relativity. It’s confirmed, Pan Yue indeed hasn’t met ‘Boss Jin’. Not only does he not recognize the person in the photo, but he genuinely hasn’t met ‘Boss Jin.'”
Xiao Jinyu paused in his steps. “You inferred that from his reaction to the photo?”
Xu Siqing glanced back at him. “A40’s mind is quite simple, otherwise he wouldn’t have been so easy to catch,” he said with a slight smile, his tone carrying a hint of sarcasm.
“But his simplicity in this matter only proves one thing… Be careful over there, stay away from that table. That’s Pollutant 185, it’s quite potent against users below level four. We’re considering whether to elevate its rank.”
Xiao Jinyu glanced at the white crystal ball on the left table. Five researchers in multi-layer protective suits were conducting data checks on the crystal ball with various strange devices.
Xu Siqing continued, “The simplicity of A40’s mind proves that ‘Boss Jin’ is indeed formidable.”
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.
Wljb Alcse ibbxfv mjiwis ja tlw. “Ljr atf Frfg Jbwwlaaff obecv jcs erfgr rerqfmafv ab yf ‘Dbrr Alc’?”
“Rb. Dea P’nf gfjmtfv j qfgrbcji mbcmierlbc. Yo mbegrf, la’r pera rqfmeijalbc.”
“Qtja lr la?”
“Mgbw C01 ab C05, atf bcis olnf ifnfi rlz erfgr lc Jtlcj… ‘Dbrr Alc’ lr bcf bo atf jcbcswber C02, C03, bg C04.”
There was a moment of silence in the laboratory.
“A reasonable speculation,” Su Jiuzhou suddenly spoke up, prompting both Xiao Jinyu and Xu Siqing to look at him. With a serious tone, he said, “And coincidentally, I speculated the same.”
“Colonel Su, what do you speculate his A-number is?”
“A04.”
Xiao Jinyu glanced at him. “Why?”
“Do you think the person you encountered at the café was ‘Boss Jin’?”
“I believe so.”
“Then he’s too young. Not over thirty. Personally, I think A02 and A03 are both at least over 35, possibly even over 40. How could someone so young rank so high? It’s extremely unreasonable.”
“…”
So here comes the most unreasonable thing, why would you be A01?
Though inwardly questioning, Xiao Jinyu knew that Su Jiuzhou’s deduction about A02 and A03’s ages couldn’t be solely based on ‘being too young’. He must have other reasons, such as…
Xiao Jinyu’s eyes flashed as he looked at the man in black, and then after a moment, he calmly withdrew his gaze.
– Turns out, both A02 and A03 were “veteran users” who had awakened before the release of the Grow Some Brains APP.
Not delving further into the topic, Xu Siqing handed over the instruments to his assistant and summed up, “In conclusion, the likelihood of ‘Boss Jin’ being a level six user is extremely high. He can be classified as an extremely dangerous □□. For such a level six user, to have crossed cities and gone to Zhongdu just to meet you in the moment when he stole the Court of Judgement’s artifact—it’s not that you’re not worthy, Mr. Xiao,” he explained with a smile, “You were probably just a level three at the time? Quite an ordinary user indeed.”
Xiao Jinyu nodded calmly. “I personally think he came to see me deliberately because of my attempt to capture him at the café.”
“Impressed by you?” Xu Siqing raised an eyebrow. Xiao Jinyu frowned. He didn’t mean that, but his only encounter with ‘Boss Jin’ was the confrontation in the café.
Xu Siqing continued, “I keep feeling like there’s another reason. But anyway, he’s very dangerous, and you… Xiao Jinyu, you’re only a level three user, yet he’s paying attention to you. So, now you’re also in danger.”
Being targeted by a mysterious level six user was definitely not a good thing. Xiao Jinyu had known this, he didn’t say anything, just lowered his gaze slightly.
Suddenly, Xu Siqing asked, “Do you know where the safest place in the whole of Huaxia is?”
Xiao Jinyu: “…Hmm?”
Xu Siqing: “The Capital Logic Research Institute.”
Xiao Jinyu: “…”
“You probably didn’t expect that answer, but I never lie, it really is the safest place. Though I hate to admit it. But where the second safest place in all of Huaxia is… you can take a guess.”
The young man remained composed, his voice steady, “The Logic Research Institute in Haidu City.”
Xu Siqing smiled, “Exactly. If you want, I can submit an application for you to stay here temporarily as my assistant. Here, even if ‘Boss Jin’ is indeed a level six user, he won’t be able to harm you. One mistake is hard to come by once, there won’t be a second time.”
…
“I don’t really want to interrupt your conversation. But there’s something I’d like to correct.”
Under the bright, glaring lights, Su Jiuzhou, at some point, had pulled up a chair and sat down. He rocked back and forth on the ergonomic swivel chair, one hand still lingering above Pollutant 181, evidently having just toyed with this highly polluting substance.
“What does Colonel Su want to correct?” Xu Siqing asked.
Su Jiuzhou interlocked his hands and tilted his head slightly. “Regarding where the safest place in the whole of Huaxia is—this matter. It’s not the Capital Logic Research Institute.”
“Oh?”
“It’s beside me.”
…
Xu Siqing’s gaze wandered back and forth between the two in front of him, the eyes hidden behind his lenses calm and gentle. After a while, he smiled, adjusting his glasses regretfully and sighing, “So, you two have a good relationship.”
Su Jiuzhou asked in surprise, “Can’t you tell?”
Xu Siqing wanted to say “Indeed, I couldn’t tell,” but there was nothing much to say about it. He just smiled, but his mind didn’t stop working.
– Of course, he didn’t think that just because they had a good relationship, they planned to be bound together, with Spear of Judgment helping protect Xiao Jinyu’s safety. There must be a reason for it. What reason led Su Jiuzhou to do this?
No user liked the feeling of being monitored by another. People had secrets. Two people who had just met wouldn’t suddenly bind themselves together without more reasons.
– It’s compulsive dependence.
What can’t he be separated from?
What’s the most important thing to Su Jiuzhou right now?
…
Oh, logic collapse.
…
In the blink of an eye, Xu Siqing had completely figured it out. The only thing he was puzzled about was: Could Xiao Jinyu solve the problem of Spear of Judgment’s collapse? How would he do it?
“It’s really a pity,” Xu Siqing looked at the young man and said sincerely, “I would really like to hire you as my assistant.”
Xiao Jinyu didn’t doubt the other party’s sincerity, but he said lightly, “Because I can see logic factors?”
Xu Siqing smiled and remained silent.
The three exchanged a few more words.
Currently, the two high level users locked in Haidu’s Logic Research Institute were Holy Sacrifice and Relativity.
The latter’s crimes had not yet been judged, probably not a death penalty, but at least a life sentence. This logic chain was too dangerous. It doesn’t kill, but it keeps causing deaths.
And Huo Lanxu’s death penalty by execution had already been scheduled by the User Committee.
…
“People in the institute are mostly weirdos, there’s no need for deep interaction.”
Xiao Jinyu turned his head to look at the man beside him. The stainless steel wall of the elevator reflected Su Jiuzhou’s blurred side profile. He lowered his head slightly, causing a strand of black hair to fall onto his forehead. “Eighty percent of the Capital Logic Research Institute is abnormal, and half of the Haidu Logic Research Institute is abnormal.”
Xiao Jinyu neither agreed nor disagreed. “Is your ranking based on China’s safest area ranking?”
Su Jiuzhou sensed something unusual, pursed his lips, and didn’t speak, just raising an eyebrow.
Xiao Jinyu continued, “The ranking is quite accurate.”
Su Jiuzhou chuckled.
***
The elevator hummed as it ascended, and with a “ding,” it arrived at the first floor.
The headquarters of the Extermination Squad, where young team members hurriedly moved about.
It was estimated that Zhao Hen would not fully regain consciousness until tomorrow, so Xiao Jinyu and Su Jiuzhou had no intention of staying in this three-story white building. As they walked towards the exit, Xiao Jinyu suddenly stopped halfway, looking at the young man striding towards them.
Jiang Wentao looked anxious, scanning the crowd until his eyes lit up upon spotting Xiao Jinyu and Su Jiuzhou, he then hurried over.
Xiao Jinyu’s gaze lingered on the other’s bandaged neck for a moment. “Has your injury healed?”
Jiang Wentao touched his neck. “Almost, almost. Probably another week and it’ll be completely healed.”
So fast! Although he was only a level three user, Xiao Jinyu hadn’t expected a severe throat wound to fully recover in just ten days.
Jiang Wentao straightened up, looking solemnly at Xiao Jinyu. “Well, Xiao Jinyu, I’ve heard a bit about the investigation you’ve been conducting recently from Vice Captain Xu. It seems you’ve found some clues. Originally, I couldn’t be of much help, but just half an hour ago, a good friend of mine asked for my help. He’s gotten himself involved in a strange case. I immediately thought of you.”
Xiao Jinyu asked, “Is it related to my investigation?”
Jiang Wentao nodded. “Yes! It bears some resemblance to the case of the eight recent deaths you’ve been investigating. My friend’s ID might be familiar to you; he’s B04, Surfing Scumbag, just one rank below you. He usually resides in Qingzhou City, a well-known tourist destination in China, with vast beaches and waves for him to perceive and think about his logic chain.
“And just this afternoon, there was a suspicious drowning case at Qingzhou’s No. 2 Beach.”
Xiao Jinyu frowned. “A suspicious drowning case turned out to be murder?”
“Yes. It’s hard to understand. The victim drowned, but she pressed on her own neck and drowned herself in shallow water only one meter deep! She died in broad daylight, normally it would be treated as suicide. If a person’s desire for death is really strong, it can overcome the body’s instincts. The problem is… when she died, Surfing Scumbag was at the scene.”
Jiang Wentao looked troubled, sighing at his friend’s predicament. “And the pattern of Surfing Scumbag’s logic chain… it’s too similar to the manner of death!”
——————–
Surfing Scumbag: This is unfair!!! Heavenly gods, I’m innocent!!! Look at my ID, it screams comedy! Do you think someone like me, a comedian, would commit murder? Would I, would I, would I, would I, would I???
I think he is not directly involved but who knows 🤔
Thanks for the translation !!
Thank you for the update 🖤💯