Chapter 188: Consciousness Core

Su Mian lowered her eyes and bought a plane ticket to the capital.

In the cold capital, the sky was gray. This side was drier and colder than Su Mian's hometown.

She wrapped her long down jacket tightly, tucked her face into the collar, and rushed to the destination with her bag on her back.

She didn't bring much luggage on this trip. After all, going there, there were only two results.

"Hello, please go that way for the Biological Museum. This is the research base."

The woman holding a pile of materials didn't even raise her head, adjusted her glasses, and continued talking to the person on the phone.

"I want to become an experimental subject."

Just this one sentence made everyone around look over, their eyes shocked and incredulous.

The woman who looked very busy slowly put down the phone, frowning at her.

"What did you say?"

Su Mian repeated it very patiently.

"I want to become an experimental subject."

She showed the homepage information in the software to the woman. "Points reset, originally because of game failure, the later one thousand points were because they disappeared after not entering the game for a long time."

"But I haven't shown regression symptoms from half a year ago until now. Isn't this very worth researching?"

Indeed, this situation had never appeared before. Currently, players whose points were reset had all died, without exception.

The researcher finally realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately dialed the superior's phone. Whispers broke out around them.

On the other side, a black commercial vehicle stopped in the no-parking zone. The door opened, and Zheng Zizhou stepped out, almost stepping into a puddle.

"Careful!" Qiao Yinuo pulled him back quickly. "These shoes are from the sponsor. If you step on them and break them, you can't afford to pay."

Zheng Zizhou looked down at the limited-edition sneakers and curled his lips. "If I can't afford to pay, then I won't pay. They begged me to endorse, but I didn't agree before. If it weren't for Mian Mian, I wouldn't have come."

He pulled down his sunglasses and poked Qiao Yinuo's head. "Also, you fake agent, stop worrying so much. You don't have to pay for it anyway."

Qiao Yinuo couldn't get angry at that handsome face. No way, who made her a face-control person? The moment Su Mian said this plan, Qiao Yinuo agreed without even thinking.

Nonsense, choosing between pulling teeth with a bunch of relatives in her hometown and seeing a big star on New Year's Eve, she of course chose the latter.

Just didn't expect this real person's personality to be so mean. Qiao Yinuo endured and endured along the way, constantly hypnotizing herself.

For Su Mian, for Su Mian, for Su Mian.

"What are you dazed for, little assistant, keep up quickly."

Zheng Zizhou straightened his hair, putting on a star air. The two walked toward the gate, but were stopped by the security guard before they even got close.

"What are you here for?"

Zheng Zizhou flashed the contract in front of the security guard's face, his tone carrying three parts impatience and two parts arrogance. "Script Murder endorsement shooting, your institute made the appointment, no one notified?"

The security guard looked suspiciously at the contract, then at Zheng Zizhou's face. This face had indeed appeared frequently in short videos and variety shows recently, seemingly a quite popular artist.

"Wait a moment, let me ask."

Qiao Yinuo stepped forward just right, with a professional agent's smile. "Please be quick, we have other schedules later, time is very tight."

The security guard was indeed bluffed, picked up the walkie-talkie and said a few words. Soon, a young researcher wearing glasses ran out.

"Zheng, Mr. Zheng?" He rubbed his hands nervously. "Sorry, we did receive a notice that there was a shooting, but didn't expect it to be you... well, please come in, please come in."

There was no communication along the way, but when they were almost at the shooting venue, someone with an unknown identity appeared halfway.

The person in front wore glasses and dressed casually, looking like a college student, but appearing in this kind of place, which was truly puzzling.

The researcher, however, showed respect.

"Teacher Bai En, is something the matter?"

Huang Baien smiled honestly. "I'll take them there. There are project secrets here, afraid you'll take the wrong road."

Saying this, the researcher was indeed terrified, and hurriedly thanked Huang Baien, running away with the materials as if escaping.

Qiao Yinuo and Zheng Zizhou looked puzzled.

Huang Baien: "Su Mian asked us to pick you two up. Zheng Zizhou, your social influence is very big."

He paused. "Whatever you see or hear in a while, you can choose to expose it. I haven't been here long, but as the dean's nephew, I can access many things."

Huang Baien told them while leading the two, seemingly hinting "As for whether you do it or not, it's your choice, but... for this society, I think it's beneficial."

Zheng Zizhou listened for a long time and didn't know what he was talking about. He listened for a while and then lost his focus, until they came to a cloakroom.

Huang Baien let the two put on experimental clothes and wear masks. Only then did the two finally notice a hint of something wrong.

Qiao Yinuo: "What does this mean? Aren't you taking us to meet Su Mian? Where are you taking us?"

Huang Baien tidied up their clothes. "Don't worry, this is also a task Su Mian gave me."

The three walked inside. Doors began to appear on both sides of the corridor, with numbers on the doors, starting from 001, extending to the deep place that couldn't be seen.

There were no windows on every door, only a small electronic screen, displaying the green words "Normal."

"This side is the health center." Huang Baien's voice sounded in front. "Nominally, it's for treating regressors, but in fact..."

He didn't finish, but Zheng Zizhou and Qiao Yinuo had already seen it.

A door was slightly ajar. From the crack of the door, one could see the scene inside: more than a dozen beds, people lying on the beds, some still moving, some motionless.

Several people in experimental clothes were busy by the beds, but that kind of busyness was more like recording data, not taking care of patients.

"They need 'consciousness'." Huang Baien said softly. "The operation of the Inner World needs the support of player consciousness, but there isn't enough consciousness, so the instances cannot be formed. Therefore, these regressors..."

Before he finished, painful screams came from the door next to them, disappearing in a flash. Huang Baien lowered his eyes.

"So these regressors are sensed for consciousness through brain waves, causing their waveforms to be disordered, forcibly inducing the reorganization of traumatic memories. His brain is being used as a biological processor, using painful stimulation to activate those buried and suppressed neural circuits."

"The abnormal discharge of the hippocampus is resonating with the quantum field generator in the laboratory. His painful memories are being converted into programmable architecture."

"His brain is calling on all available neural resources, projecting those unbearable pains into... a world."

"The seed of the Inner World."

"Regressors use their last personality to provide the initial 'consciousness core' for that world." ===== CHAPTER 189 =====