The night before the promotion

Chapter 106 Relics
Zhou Si was certain that his broken body was lying quietly in the container, protected by many expensive medical devices, maintaining its normal physiological function.

He was sure that his real self was not here. What existed here was just a projected consciousness temporarily deposited in this steel body.

But Zhou Si still didn't understand why he had a feeling similar to palpitations, as if there was an illusory heart that stopped beating for a moment inside his iron body.

Brings momentary pain and intense suffocation.

Zhou Si walked over cautiously, his visual system constantly switching modes, observing the dusty emerald green robe in different ways.

He somewhat distrusted his own eyes, even though these electronic eyes were far sharper and more reliable than human pupils.

Zhou Si bent down, reached out and picked up the emerald green robe. The bionic sensors on his fingertips sent obvious tactile feedback to his consciousness.

It was not until this moment that Zhou Si was sure that there was nothing wrong with his visual system... There was nothing wrong with it in the first place, it was just a psychological suggestion that he couldn't accept and didn't dare to believe.

"Madam Cui... Ji Siling..."

Two people who had nothing to do with each other were connected in Zhou Si's mind. As if some kind of chemical reaction had occurred, new possibilities and conspiracies were born in his thoughts.

"Record, Ji Siling is suspected to be Madam Cui, retrieve all relevant information..."

Zhou Si's thoughts were transformed into information and uploaded to the cloud, and the relevant investigation procedures were initiated.

He seemed to be standing alone in the ruins of the clinic, but behind Zhou Si was the combined strength of Shenwei Technology and the Supervisory Bureau, which was also the reason why Zhou Si dared to act alone.

Put the emerald green robe aside. If nothing goes wrong, the Supervisory Bureau should be able to extract Ji Siling's biological information from the emerald green robe.

Zhou Si was not sure what would happen to him next, and he did not want it, as evidence, to encounter any accidents.

Zhou Si opened the hidden door on the ground and sneaked in. It was dark inside with only a few faint lights, but they could not illuminate anything in the darkness.

To the naked human eye, all that can be seen is a murky black outline, but with Zhou Si's enhanced vision, everything is clear, just like a wilderness in the daytime, and every edge and corner of every grain of sand and stone can be seen clearly.

“Is this your secret base?”

Zhou Si looked around and muttered to himself.

This seems to be Ji Siling's safe house and also Madam Cui's hiding place. On one side of the wall are hung several human-shaped avatars of the same model. On the other side is a dream pool. Next to it is a rough-looking device that seems to be made up of a bunch of parts.

Zhou Si took a quick look and guessed that this device was used to hide its own mind characteristics and signal location.

Ji Siling used this device to transform her consciousness into an untraceable ghost, which allowed her to descend to various parts of the world and run her huge underground empire.

But no matter how big the underground empire she runs is, those big shots can still easily crush her with just a flick of their fingers.

Otherwise, Ji Siling wouldn't be trapped in the hidden alley, with no way to go and feeling so anxious.

Zhou Si walked towards the depths. There were a large number of daily necessities piled on the shelves, some scattered packaging bags on the ground, and rows of drinking water.

After Ji Siling realized that she could not escape from Nianyan City safely, she hid here obediently and lived on these supplies for a long time.

But her efforts to hide were just delaying time. Sooner or later, those big shots would search here little by little, just like what happened today.

Zhou Si was not sure how the other party found him. Was it by elimination? Or, as Ji Siling said, did the immortal use some means to quietly find Ji Siling through his eyes?
The outcome is unknown, but the clues are within reach.

Zhou Si continued to move forward. Although there was no clear result yet, in his heart, he had already equated Ji Siling with Madam Cui.

As soon as this idea emerged in Zhou Si's mind, many impossible mysteries became reality in an instant, as clear and perfect as mathematical formulas.

In the deepest part of the safe house, Zhou Si found Ji Siling hiding in the corner, wrapped in a green blanket.

Ji Siling likes this color so much that she regards it as an anchor of her self-personality.

"What should I call you?"

Zhou Si asked tentatively, "Doctor Ji? Or Madam Cui?"

Ji Siling raised her head slightly. She couldn't see Zhou Si's face in the dim light, but she could clearly see the faint light in Zhou Si's eyes.

She smiled awkwardly, "I never thought that I'm actually such a cowardly and embarrassed person."

Zhou Si and Ji Siling tacitly agreed to this.

"Ji Siling is Madam Cui."

Zhou Si uploaded the information to the cloud in real time, adjusted the threshold of the warning system to the maximum, and charged and preheated the Shattering Sword.

"You were right in Cloud City."

Ji Siling let out a long breath and leaned against the wall, looking miserable and pitiful.

"People like us have been hiding behind our incarnations for too long, so long that we have become detached from reality, so long that we have mistaken our incarnations for our true selves, and have mistaken the strength of steel for our own strength..."

After saying that, Ji Siling's body began to tremble again. She tried hard to control her body and not lose control, but cold sweat continued to flow down her forehead, and tears filled her eyes.

As a doctor, Zhou Si more or less understood what Ji Siling meant.

Just like a person with schizophrenia will regard the steel self as the real self and thus reject the flesh and blood self.

People like Ji Siling have been immersed in the incarnation body for a long time, playing the identity of Madam Cui. She has become accustomed to the mysterious and high-altitude feeling. She is calm and powerful, and has no fear.

When she woke up from the dream pool and became "Ji Siling", all the previous things disappeared, and she turned back into the little doctor in the hidden alley, weak and fragile.

Therefore, the noble Madam Cui in Zhou Si's memory was now like a tortured beggar, begging for Zhou Si's mercy and salvation.

Without the protection of the incarnation's body, Ji Siling's fragile heart was fully exposed, which was extremely ridiculous.

Zhou Si whispered, "How interesting."

At this moment, he suddenly realized that the so-called "dissociation disease" is not limited to the gap between flesh and steel, its essence comes from the identification of identity.

When a person has completely opposite identities and constantly switches between these different identities, anyone will feel the difference brought about by the identity switching.

Zhou Si understood all of this too well. He had been studying these things over the past few years, hadn't he?
This experience not only involves the personal psychological level, but also touches on multiple philosophical dimensions such as existence, freedom, responsibility, and social interaction.

Identity is the basis of self-identity, and its changes challenge an individual's sense of self-existence. At the same time, having multiple identities means more freedom of choice and greater responsibilities, which causes individuals to experience anxiety and pressure when making choices.

The discomfort caused by a sense of difference translates into deep pain because it touches upon the individual's desire for consistency and continuity within himself.

Yes, when we have many identities but cannot unify them, it is like schizophrenia, with only the contradictions and conflicts of the self left. Therefore, since waking up, Zhou Si has been reminding himself.

I am not here. What is here is just a body. The real me is in the Shenwei Building.

No matter how much I like that ugly body, even if it will die in a few minutes without the life support system, even if it has become a cage that will bind me for the rest of my life...

But that is still where the self is, there is no doubt about it.

Zhou Si looked at the destitute Ji Siling and said mercilessly, "I don't care about your feelings or your experiences. I just want to know what's going on."

He bent down, moved closer to Ji Siling, and lowered his voice.

"You should understand that if you want to survive, I'm the only one you can rely on."

Madam Cui is a person who does not care about her own life or death. When Yunzhong City was raided by the Supervisory Bureau, she stepped into the sea of ​​fire without hesitation and burned her own body.

But Ji Siling is different. She is a fragile woman... She is not even as strong as Ruan Linrui. As long as he shows his claws a little, she will obey him tremblingly.

She had been obsessed with another identity for too long.

"What other story could it be?"

Ji Siling smiled helplessly and shrank back, "As you know me, I am just a middleman who provides the big guys with what they want."

Zhou Si said sternly, "But this time, you provided them with a terrorist attack that could affect the entire world."

"Yeah...but what can I do?"

Ji Siling said in despair, "Even if I am really the king of the underworld, I am just a slightly larger ant to those big guys."

"You should understand this better than I do, Doctor Zhou."

Ji Siling's teeth chattered. "For those big shots, I never had a transactional relationship with them. Instead, I was just a superior and a subordinate. I had to provide whatever they needed."

"Even if I fulfill all their wishes, I will be ruthlessly kicked out in the end, just like now."

She then said self-deprecatingly, "Anyway, there is no shortage of people who want to climb up the social ladder in this world. If Madam Green is gone, Madam Red or Madam Blue will soon take her place."

"Doctor Zhou, you can't imagine how powerful they are. I no longer pray to be able to resist them. I just hope to survive."

Ji Siling suddenly grabbed Zhou Si's arm and held it tightly, "Take me away from here, and I will tell you everything."

As she spoke, she secretly stuffed something into Zhou Si's palm. Zhou Si habitually clenched his hand and held it tightly.

A vague touch came back to me, like a piece of paper, a note.

"The world is bustling with people, all for the sake of profit."

Ji Siling whispered in Zhou Si's ear, "It's the same with those big shots. They launched terrorist attacks just for another bigger profit."

"For example, if Shenwei Technology suffers a setback, who will benefit the most?"

Zhou Si looked at Ji Siling's face. In the darkness, her eyes flashed with a mixture of excitement and fear, like a precarious tower.

Standing tall, but about to fall down.

"Doctor Zhou, those who benefited are the ones who caused this disaster."

The tail end of Ji Siling's words was drowned out by the alarm sounding in Zhou Si's mind. The sharp sound kept screaming in Zhou Si's mind, and even his vision was covered with a layer of blood-colored filter.

Everything happened so fast, lasting only a few millionths of a second.

The blazing flames tore through the hidden door, and deadly heat waves and high-pressure shock waves swept into the safe house.

Zhou Si only felt the scene flash before his eyes, and then he was slammed heavily against the wall. The terrifying shock wave was as high as hundreds or even thousands of atmospheres of pressure.

The steel collapsed and dented, the walls broke and raised dust, and the Dream Pool and many daily necessities and equipment turned into dust.

Everything within sight fell apart in an instant.

Zhou Si tried to look at Ji Siling, but at this time the temperature in the safe house had reached over 2500 degrees Celsius, enough to vaporize objects inside.

In the swirling flames, Ji Siling's face was frozen in the last moment of horror.

The face was so vivid, but Zhou Si knew that she was dead.

In the first second of the high-pressure shock, Ji Siling's internal organs were severely damaged, bones were broken, and eardrums were ruptured.

She endured more than a hundred times the air pressure. Before she suffocated from lack of oxygen, Ji Siling's spine had already broken into countless pieces. The high-temperature flames burned her body, and her entire body quickly burned, vaporized, and carbonized.

Zhou Si had no chance of saving her. He even had no ability to protect himself. He could only rush around the room drifting with the flow.

Until the aftermath of the explosion slowly dissipated.

Thick black smoke slowly rose from the hidden alley. A large number of vehicles from the Supervisory Bureau had gathered outside the alley. Everyone's nerves were tense. After all, there were too many major incidents that happened recently, and people were tortured terribly.

……

“That’s the situation at the moment.”

Looking at the billowing smoke, a voice rang out.

"An unknown explosion occurred in the hidden alley. The explosion was so powerful that it almost razed the entire hidden alley to the ground. The only thing to be thankful for is that the hidden alley has been renovated several times, so there are not many people left here, and they are far away from the center of the explosion. The casualties are not as terrible as imagined..."

Li Weiyu stood outside the hidden alley with a gloomy face, and Xiang Ji calmly conveyed the results of the preliminary investigation to him.

Amidst the charred ruins, a devastated figure staggered out. His original clothes, bionic coating, silicone fillings, etc. were all burned up in the flames. Now all that was left was a blackened metal skeleton.

Zhou Si blinked, and his damaged visual system searched around, finally his eyes fell on his clenched hands.

The palm slowly opened, revealing an electronic nameplate in the palm.

This is the relic that Ji Siling gave him.

(End of this chapter)