The night before the promotion

Chapter 107 Identification
September 9, Shenwei Building.

"Is this what happened?"

A voice came from the front, asking.

"Yes."

Li Weiyun responded.

Then, he glanced at the report in his hand and added, "Although it is just a simple investigation, the facts are already very clear."

"The explosion a few days ago was caused by someone trying to kill Ji Siling... Madam Cui."

"After the group of avatar assassins failed, they directly used a pre-set thermobaric bomb to raze Madam Cui's safe house and the core area of ​​Hidden Alley to the ground."

Li Weiyun lamented the madness of these people's actions, "It seems that they prepared this thermobaric bomb a long time ago, and only used it when they had no choice."

"It was indeed a simple and crude method. It solved Madam Cui in one fell swoop, and also cleared up many mysteries of the entire Hidden Alley... It can be felt that the other party is indeed a high-ranking figure who can even do such a thing."

The voice in front sighed, and then thought, "This makes me even more curious. Who are they to have caused a terrorist attack and detonated a bomb like this in a hidden alley."

"The Supervisory Bureau is still investigating," Li Weiyun said with a little fatigue, "There are too many things we need to investigate recently. I don't know when there will be any progress."

"It's okay, Team Leader Li. I'm not blaming you. There's nothing anyone can do about this kind of thing."

After listening to the answer, Li Weiyu put away the report and looked forward.

At this time, Li Weiyu was in a maintenance room. Right in front of him was a complex automatic maintenance table. A steel body was standing there with legs apart and arms open. Several mechanical arms were rising and falling on the steel body, repairing its damaged body.

"It's a good thing you're using an avatar body, Doctor Zhou."

Li Weiyun looked at Zhou Si who was under repair and said, "If it were a flesh and blood body, you would have been vaporized into ashes like Ji Siling."

"Is it a blessing in disguise?" Zhou Si showed his humor appropriately, "Because I was already half-crippled, I saved my life, right?"

At the moment of the explosion, the shock wave and heat wave penetrated the layers of barriers of the safe house and easily wiped out Ji Siling's existence, but it failed to kill Zhou Si. He was not there in the first place, and it was just that the incarnation body he controlled suffered some trauma.

After inspection by technicians, it was found that the injuries to the incarnation's body were not serious, but the bionic paint on the surface was severely damaged and needed to be rebuilt.

The technicians once requested that Zhou Si be put into hibernation so that they could take over the avatar body for repairs, but Zhou Si refused.

As for the reason for rejection...

The moment the technician made the request, Zhou Si thought of Bt-24. He had also put it into hibernation and taken out its thought storage core.

To Zhou Si, Bt-24 had just fallen asleep for a short time, but to Bt-24 itself, it had just been "dead" for a while.

According to Ruan Linrui, Zhou Si's "original body" was seriously injured. In order to avoid unnecessary accidents, his consciousness would be kept in the body of the avatar under the influence of the system, and he would not be able to wake up in his original body.

Therefore, Zhou Si was not sure whether he would fall into a short sleep or wake up in the container full of liquid after the technicians transferred his thought storage core, like a prisoner imprisoned in a water tank.

For a moment, Zhou Si actually felt a little scared about this.

He was afraid that he would really wake up in that mutilated body...even if that was Zhou Si's real body.

He didn't want to be trapped in the cool liquid, didn't want to be like an ornamental fish, being watched by everyone, didn't want to be imprisoned like this, living a miserable life without dignity...

Zhou Si controlled himself, stopped this meaningless fantasy, and refused to waste any energy guessing the unknown future.

So, Zhou Si stayed awake like this, standing on the automatic maintenance table, watching the robotic arms operate repeatedly. He felt like a processed commodity, a little weird, but still acceptable.

But Zhou Si knew that as time went by, he was gradually moving towards the chaos of identity.

Just like what Zhou Si encountered in the ward after the accident four years ago, the storm of thoughts will once again cover his mind, swinging heavy punches and hitting Zhou Si all over his body.

"call……"

Zhou Si took a deep breath.

He likes the action of taking a deep breath, which is like pressing the restart button for his restless thoughts and starting all over again.

But Zhou Si also understood that this incarnation of his had no respiratory tract or lungs, and the so-called "deep breathing" was more like an illusion created by his brain to satisfy himself.

The habits brought from the flesh are not applicable to steel, and Zhou Si still needs some time to adapt to this difference.

But Zhou Si was not sure whether he could adapt to this differentiation again or become confused about his identity in this differentiation.

"Hahaha……"

A faint laughter lingered in Zhou Si's ears. The laughter was consistent with Zhou Si's voice, as if there was another Zhou Si hiding in the corner, mocking him.

Zhou Si paid attention to the expression of Li Weiyu beside him. He still looked calm and it seemed that he did not hear the strange laughter.

"A hallucination?"

Zhou Si murmured to himself in his heart.

Not only did Li Weiyu not hear the laughter, Zhou Si checked his system and found no faults, and the auditory detector did not capture any other sounds.

The laughter came from Zhou Si’s mind, an illusion created by his cognitive illness.

"Is that you? The man in the mirror."

Zhou Si thought to himself, looking at the thing in the room that could be considered a mirror, trying to spy on the other party's existence, but soon, the laughter returned to silence, as if it had never existed.

Zhou Si had experienced similar hallucinations many times in his past life, but this time, he inexplicably felt a strong sense of uneasiness in his heart.

His consciousness was separated from his body and resided in the steel.

Even though Zhou Si knew clearly that this iron body was countless times stronger than his own broken body, he still felt an inexplicable uneasiness and fear about this situation.

The soul and the body are separated, and healthy relationships become fragmented.

Zhou Si couldn't tell the difference and couldn't figure it out. He thought he needed some time to accept it all, but the development of the situation didn't give him any time for self-reflection.

"Subsequent investigation..."

Li Weiyun was still standing under the automatic maintenance table, reading his report over and over again.

In fact, he could have sent the electronic version directly to Zhou Si, but Li Weiyu also maintained the habits of a flesh and blood body, and instinctively repeated the text with his vocal cords and mouth.

The subtle feeling of difference became stronger in Zhou Si's heart. He tried to dispel the restlessness in his heart and spoke.

"Team Leader Li, do you have anything else to do later?"

"A little bit, what's wrong?"

Li Weiyun stopped repeating and looked at Zhou Si in confusion. Zhou Si said calmly, "Please wait for me for a moment. I have something to tell you after the maintenance is completed."

"You can send me a message. You are not connected to the Internet right now, so it is very convenient..."

Li Weiyun made excuses.

He didn't know why he was trying to excuse himself. He and Zhou Si were friends who had been through thick and thin together. However, he didn't know that it was the change in the carrier that caused his attitude towards Zhou Si to change.

If possible, Li Weiyu didn't want to stand here, facing a bony steel skeleton... at least until it was covered with bionic paint again and turned back into the familiar Zhou Si in his memory.

As Zhou Si gradually becomes confused about his own identity, other people's understanding of his identity also becomes blurred.

After a brief moment of calm, Zhou Si forcefully interrupted Li Weiyu's words.

"Team Leader Li, I have something to say to you later."

Li Weiyu was stunned for a moment. He noticed that there was something wrong with Zhou Si’s tone and took it seriously.

"Okay, I know."

"Oh, and please call Ms. Ruan for me. If it's convenient for her, please ask her to come over as well."

Zhou Si thought for a moment and added, "I'll make an appointment with her."

"Ah."

Li Weiyun nodded, put away the report, crossed his hands in front of him, and stared at Zhou Si silently.

The robotic arms lifted up Zhou Si's body. The preliminary inspection had been completed. What they had to do next was to apply a new layer of bionic paint to Zhou Si's body and put human skin on this cold metal skeleton.

Zhou Si's body moved along the slide and transferred to a tightly closed hatch, which then slowly opened, revealing a beige hot spring pool underneath.

The hot spring pool was filled with special bionic materials. Zhou Si immersed himself in it little by little. After staying for a moment, he rose up again. The liquid flowed all over his body, gathered at his toes and dripped down.

After about five minutes of cooling, the bionic coating attached to the body surface solidified, as if it was covered with a layer of silicone shell. When it shook, it was as soft as human flesh.

During the whole process, Zhou Si remained awake. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he temporarily shut down his sensory system. His body was like the nerve connections were disconnected. He could not feel anything but a blank numbness.

Just like a puppet, it allows itself to be manipulated by these robotic arms.

After several more processes, Zhou Si's body surface gradually became complete, but the most critical face was still empty, with only rough metal exposed.

Then a robotic arm dropped down from the top of his head, and a piece of skin was placed on the slender bracket. It was Zhou Si's face restored through 3D scanning. It fit Zhou Si's face tightly like a mask.

From then on, Zhou Si was reshaped and stood steadily on the automatic maintenance table.

"You look much better now."

Li Weiyun looked at Zhou Si. He liked the current Zhou Si more than his previous iron-like appearance, even though he was not a real human being.

"I don't think it's very good."

Zhou Si complained in a low voice, "I feel like a machine that just came off the production line, just like in a science fiction movie... although it is true."

Walking to the side, Zhou Si picked up the clothes prepared for him by the technicians and put them on skillfully.

These clothes are also made of special materials, with greater toughness and ductility, and will not be easily torn by some of Zhou Si's large-scale extreme movements.

In addition, they also thoughtfully prepared a white coat for Zhou Si. After putting on this familiar white coat, Zhou Si's feeling of uneasiness in his heart was slightly alleviated.

The body is a kind of identity, and the white coat is also a kind of identity, like a heavy anchor, which prevents Zhou Si from losing his direction in the noisy and boiling sea.

"Team Leader Li, after the attack on Stone Fort, the struggle between the Supervisory Bureau and Shenwei Technology should have a clear outcome."

Zhou Si seemed to be chatting casually with Li Weiyu, but he found the key to the topic in his words.

"That's it."

Li Weiyu didn't notice anything unusual about Zhou Si. Having known each other for so long, he was not wary of Zhou Si.

"As far as I know, Shenwei Technology has ceded a lot of power to the Supervisory Bureau in order to survive this crisis," Li Weiyun recalled the content of the meeting, "It won't be long before the situation in Yanyan City will change drastically."

Zhou Si nodded gently, recalling Ji Siling's words full of madness and panic in his mind.

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

The attack on Stone Fort caused a lot of disturbances, but it also succeeded in making everyone aware of the existence of Lishi disease, just as Huo Daochuan expected. In recent news alone, "524 Draft" has appeared frequently.

But if we think about it more carefully, those who benefit from this incident are not only the patients with Li Shi disease, but also the Supervisory Bureau and all the technology companies that are in extreme competition with Shenwei Technology.

Zhou Si looked at Li Weiyu with complicated eyes, doubting the Supervisory Bureau he represented. Zhou Si was not sure whether the Supervisory Bureau was also behind the attack on Shibao. The situation became more and more confusing.

He suddenly asked, "Can I trust you, Team Leader Li?"

"What's wrong?" Li Weiyun looked at Zhou Si in confusion. "Of course, I and the Supervisory Bureau are your solid backers."

"No, I'm not asking about the Inspectorate, just about you."

Zhou Si asked again, "Can I trust you, Li Weiyun?"

Li Weiyun suspected that he had heard it wrong and looked at Zhou Si with an incredible look.

The two have known each other for many years, but Zhou Si has always addressed him as Team Leader Li and almost never called Li Weiyu's name.

Later, Zhou Si explained that he only cared about Li Weiyu's identity as the team leader and did not care about him as an individual. It was a distant yet close relationship.

Until now, Zhou Si called him by his name Li Weiyu.

Zhou Si was not asking for help from Team Leader Li, but from Li Weiyu.

"of course."

Li Weiyun nodded firmly.

Zhou Si suddenly took a step closer to Li Weiyu, as if he wanted to hug him, or as if he was whispering in his ear.

"I have a hunch."

A countdown emerged in Zhou Si's mind. He was uncertain, but it was full of a sense of fate.

“We are very close to the truth.”

(End of this chapter)