The night before the promotion

Chapter 90 The First Person?
7 month 25 day.

Zhou Si opened his eyes. Even though his brain was groggy and he was still sleepy, he was still looking around alertly due to his discomfort and vigilance towards the unfamiliar environment, even though no one would threaten him.

Unlike the minimalist room he was familiar with, Zhou Si woke up in a place that looked like an apartment, filled with fancy and useless decorations everywhere. If possible, Zhou Si wanted to throw away all the things that had nothing to do with his life.

There is a camera installed in the corner of the wall, placed so carelessly, showing an attitude of complete disregard for Zhou Si's personal privacy.

But it doesn’t matter, Zhou Si himself doesn’t care much anyway.

This is the safe house that the Supervisory Bureau prepared for itself. It is located in a building. The concrete load-bearing walls can block missile bombardment, and the network protection is sufficient to block intrusion by outside hackers.

There are alert avatar shells scattered throughout the building, and it is said that in some hidden rooms, there are armed avatars in place, ready to be awakened at any time.

Logically speaking, Zhou Si should have felt extra safe sleeping in a place like this, but he slept very tiredly. When he closed his eyes, he saw countless hallucinations.

Zhou Si couldn't tell why this happened. It could be that the torture he experienced in the paradise had an impact on his nerves, or it could be that this series of events was constantly shaking the seal of his Lishi disease.

In short, Zhou Si suspected that he was slowly losing control. He knew it clearly, but was powerless to change it.

There was a knock on the door, and then the door was pushed open.

"Doctor Zhou, it's time to go."

Song Qiliang appeared behind the door, wearing a Supervisory Bureau uniform and fully armed.

"Hold on."

Zhou Si responded, then opened the wardrobe, revealing the neatly arranged white coats inside.

Although many details of the safe house did not meet Zhou Si's wishes, these people still took certain care of and compromised with him.

Putting on the white coat, a subtle sense of identity was imposed on Zhou Si's mind through the material, and he felt a sense of peace, like the rippling surface of a lake returning to calm.

"Let's go."

Zhou Si said as he followed Song Qiliang's steps. The two walked through the corridor and entered the closed elevator.

Song Qiliang seemed a little embarrassed. He and Zhou Si had known each other for a long time, but he looked as if he was meeting Zhou Si for the first time and was a little afraid of him.

Zhou Si could roughly guess what Song Qiliang was thinking. Although Zhou Si didn't have many friends and seldom communicated with others, it didn't mean that he didn't understand the so-called interpersonal relationships.

He guessed that Song Qiliang was feeling guilty and was looking for an opportunity to apologize to him.

The elevator went down quickly, and when it approached the ground floor, Song Qiliang could no longer bear it, so he asked.

"Doctor Zhou, are you recovering well?"

"Fortunately."

Zhou Si's answer was brief and quick, just like usual.

"Is that so? That's good... I'm sorry about the incident in the hidden alley. If I had..."

Song Qiliang was about to continue speaking when he was interrupted by Zhou Si.

"It's nothing, Commissioner Song."

Zhou Si said sincerely, "You have fulfilled your duties at that time, there is no doubt about that. Moreover, if you think in a better way, if things had not developed in this way, we might not have been able to destroy Yunzhong City so quickly."

Zhou Si smiled and patted Song Qiliang's shoulder gently, comforting him, "It's nothing, don't take it too seriously."

Song Qiliang stared into Zhou Si's eyes, many complex emotions flashed in his pupils. He really wanted to say something else, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back.

"Ok."

"That's right," Zhou Si encouraged, "Don't keep thinking about those bad things. Think about something happy instead."

"for example?"

"For example, a promotion and salary increase after solving this case."

The two of them walked quickly through the hall, and the car waiting for them was parked outside the door.

Song Qiliang asked first, "What are your plans for the future, Doctor Zhou?"

"I don't have any plans. I think it's just a job, no different from any other job, except that it's a little more important and complicated."

Zhou Si didn't give Song Qiliang a perfunctory answer. After thinking carefully for a while, he said, "But if I have to say what I want to do, I want to take a break for a while."

Song Qiliang sighed, "Rest? This word rarely comes out of your mouth."

"I am also a human being. As long as I am a human being, I will feel tired and want to stop at some point, lie quietly in bed, think about nothing, and do nothing."

Zhou Si asked him in return, "What about you? What are your plans?"

"I want to use the prize money to experience a space walk."

Song Qiliang gradually relaxed, and his conversation with Zhou Si became much more casual.

"Oh? An interesting idea." Zhou Si glanced at Song Qiliang with a little curiosity.

In the past, people always had endless fascination and curiosity about the starry sky, but with the advancement of technology, when humans created more and more magnificent technologies on the earth, people no longer looked up at the vast starry sky, but instead became addicted to the narrow screen in their hands.

"My father is an astrophotographer. When I was very young, I often went camping in the wilderness with him to photograph the stars."

Song Qiliang recalled, "At that time, it was not easy to take pictures of the starry sky. In order to avoid the influence of urban light pollution, you had to go to some remote places."

"Perhaps it was from that time that I had a dream. I didn't want to just stand on the ground and look up at all this. I wanted to be involved in it myself."

Song Qiliang said embarrassedly, "You can say that I have always wanted to be an astronaut since I was a child."

"But now you are an inspector."

"It's not easy to become an astronaut, not to mention that life is full of surprises."

Song Qiliang said slowly, "More than a decade ago, people were still trying to find ways to send humans into space, but with the development of avatar shells and mind recognition technology, it's enough to just send these cold shells up."

"If it's just the shell of the incarnation, it's much simpler than sending a flesh and blood body."

The two of them left the building as they talked. There was a car with the Supervisory Bureau logo parked on the side of the road. Through the car window, they could see Li Weiyu sitting in the passenger seat and Xiang Ji was driving.

"I've read some discussion posts online, which say that fewer and fewer people will reach space in the future."

Song Qiliang got into the back seat and continued talking to Zhou Si, "People will be trapped on the earth, and the stars will be dominated by the incarnations of those who carry the will."

"What's wrong with that?" Song Qiliang asked, "It's safer and more efficient than flesh and blood. In fact, as long as you spend a little money, most people can also send their consciousness up there and experience the feeling of walking in space." Zhou Si replied sharply, "But you feel something is wrong. Some experiences cannot be replaced by steel. They are the enjoyment that only flesh and blood can provide."

"Maybe," Song Qiliang said uncertainly, "I can't really explain this, but I definitely want to go and take a look."

"What are you talking about?"

Li Weiyu looked back. Even though he had recovered, his body still ached slightly, so the important task of driving was given to Xiang Ji.

Song Qiliang answered for Zhou Si, "Let's talk about what everyone plans to do after the case is over."

"Oh, that's how it is."

Li Weiyun became a little more serious, showing his dignity as a leader. "Please concentrate. We should go to the Stone Fort next."

"Ms. Ruan is already waiting for us there."

After hearing about the Stone Fort, the atmosphere in the car became much more tense. For most ordinary people, and even the inspectors, the Stone Fort was a mysterious and distant existence, and unless necessary, few people would have any contact with such an existence.

"Stone Castle has analyzed a lot of data. We need to take a look at it ourselves to see if there is anything we can use."

Li Weiyu said this and gestured to Xiang Ji. Xiang Ji stepped on the accelerator and the car slowly drove into the lane.

"Stone Castle? This is my first time going to that place."

Song Qiliang whispered, "Stone Fortress... or rather, the Mind Network Management Center."

Each avatar body is constrained by a high wall and a large system. In order to facilitate the control of the avatar bodies and protect all users, people have built a consciousness network management center in various regions. It is like a large server hub, storing a huge amount of avatar body information, building an insurmountable high wall between the real world and the online world.

Due to the importance of stone forts, they are usually located in the suburbs of the city and are closely guarded by numerous armed avatars to ensure that they will not be invaded in real life or on the Internet.

The stone fort that everyone is going to next is extremely large because it is close to Shenwei Technology and is listed as one of the three largest stone forts in the country.

"It is said that those people are very interested in you, Dr. Zhou."

Li Weiyu suddenly changed the topic to Zhou Si.

"what happened?"

Zhou Si was moving his shoulders. Ruan Linrui got him another prosthetic limb from somewhere. It was the same model as the previous one, with the same performance and functions. It was unknown how many similar arms Shenwei Technology had prepared.

"They dug out information about the ephemeralization technology from the data of Cloud City. As a result, past accidents of immortals falling into the sky were also dug up. As the first person to become an immortal, you have attracted a lot of attention from them."

Li Weiyun thought about it and used the metaphor again, "Just like Yuri Gagarin, the first person to enter the universe."

Zhou Si shook his head wearily. He hated being called the number one, but everyone who knew him would say so.

He had gone from resisting initially to compromising now, and he retorted mechanically.

"The first person?"

Zhou Si habitually looked out the window and murmured, "Actually, this also depends on how you define this number one person."

"how?"

Li Weiyun looked at the rearview mirror. Usually he and Zhou Si sat in the same row. After they separated, it was difficult for them to talk to each other.

"Yuri Gagarin was indeed the first human to reach space, but he was not the first Earth-bound creature to reach space."

Zhou Si reminded solemnly.

"The first life to touch the universe was a stray dog ​​from the streets of Moscow. Her name was Laika."

Li Weiyun knew this history, and he added, "But it actually died of panic and high temperature within a few hours after takeoff."

"But this cannot be denied. It did arrive in space ahead of humans, even if it was a corpse floating in it."

Zhou Si laughed at himself, "Number one? That's nothing."

Xiang Ji interrupted the topic, "You are not a person who likes honor, Doctor Zhou."

"honor?"

Zhou Si laughed and asked, "Commissioner Xiang, under what circumstances do you think a person can be awarded honors?"

Xiang Ji said, "I have done some great things and have achieved success."

"But you only see the glorious side, but not the pain beneath the glory."

Zhou Si said with disgust, "Behind all honors there is extreme pain... This feels like a ceremony full of irony. They give you the highest honor to commemorate your most painful moment."

"You are obviously shaking in pain, but they are reveling in your suffering."

Zhou Si stared at the rearview mirror, his eyes darting around in the car.

"Don't you think this is a bit absurd?"

Everyone fell silent. To them, the identity of being the number one was like a curious performance in a freak show. However, to the performer, Zhou Si himself, it was like a torture and humiliation. Even if he tried to defend himself, he had no way to explain it.

"We've arrived at the Stone Castle."

Suddenly, Zhou Si spoke again, changing the depressing topic.

Looking out the window, the towering tall buildings disappeared, replaced by a green wilderness. At the end of the road, a large number of low gray stone buildings came into view.

They are like fortresses from the old times, with several giant rivets standing alone on the ground. The gray and white rock faces beaten by wind and rain show the vicissitudes and length of time.

The towering fences tightly wrap the fortress, with watchtowers located on the corners. In addition to the personnel on duty, one can also see drones hovering in the sky and avatar bodies walking on the ground. The defense level seems to be a few points higher than that of the Shenwei Building.

The car drove into the inspection post. Even though Li Weiyu had informed them in advance, the necessary inspections were still carried out. Even Zhou Si had to remove his prosthesis and undergo a body scan.

It is not a pleasant feeling to be searched so carefully by others, as if you have been objectified and measured by others.

Zhou Si could understand the rigorous nature of these people's work. The stone fortresses in various places stored a large amount of avatar body data and were responsible for real-time monitoring within the high walls and large systems to avoid large-scale hacker intrusions and avatar body unrest.

The stone fortress that Zhou Si is about to enter not only has this function, it also stores one of the three largest high-walled system servers in the country. Once this stone fortress falls, the disaster that will be caused will be unimaginable.

"Good morning, everyone."

A familiar voice came from not far away. Zhou Si passed through security check and Ruan Linrui was standing not far away, waving to everyone.

(End of this chapter)