under fern mountain

Shi Ran received a call from Boss Lin on the way to Pei Haojie Hotel.The other party's tone is very bad.

"Mr. Shi, are you with Mr. Pei now?"

Tietou and Shi Ran, who were driving, looked at each other, and both had a bad feeling.When they went out, they drove Shi Ran's car, and the phone was naturally played from the car stereo.At this joint, Shi Ran doesn't want to hide anything anymore.He could see the doubt in Tie Tou's eyes, and he had no time to explain.

"What's the matter, Mr. Lin?"

"Remember last time I told you that we will carry out a system update?" Mr. Lin was really anxious this time, "Tell me the truth, is "Messiah" still with you? A few days ago We held an internal meeting and decided to destroy all internal audit versions. After the first update, we have basically recovered all "Messiah". Today was supposed to be the last inspection before the service was discontinued. Stuck in the game..."

Shi Ran's expression was very ugly. He didn't know how to tell Mr. Lin that he no longer had the right to stop Pei Haojie.

"I'm on my way to find him now."

"Can you send me a location?"

"Is it that serious?" Shi Ran asked cautiously.

"All accounts that quit the game 24 hours ago have been forcibly frozen and cannot log in again. Logically speaking, we only need to wait for all players to log out of the game before stopping the game, but..." Mr. Lin spoke quickly, In the end it stopped.

"But what?" Shi Ran was anxious.

"...But Mr. Pei has not quit the game for more than 24 hours."

Shi Ran stared straight at the navigation on the car, and was disconnected and speechless for a moment. The cold air outside the window continued to flow in from the cracks in the car window, but his palms were covered with sweat.The iron head gripped the steering wheel tightly, and a few words of conversation had already given him a rough guess about the outline of the matter.He slammed on the accelerator the moment the red light turned green, and at the same time put his hand on Shi Ran's shoulder, giving him silent support.

Mr. Lin didn't hear the reply and was obviously anxious: "Mr. Shi, Mr. Shi! Can you hear me? Can you also send me an address? My team and I will rush there now!"

The screen of the phone was covered with greasy sweat. It took Shi Ran several times to successfully send out the location: "I have sent you a text message, how long will it take you to come?"

Mr. Lin told the time on the other side, but Shi Ran didn't hear what he said afterwards.The ears automatically blocked all external sounds, and only the beating in his chest could be heard.

The car slammed to the brakes at the entrance of the hotel, and before it stopped, someone jumped out of the passenger seat, startling the waiter who was about to open the door.Shi Ran almost rushed into the elevator. As soon as he entered, he frantically pressed the floor, scaring away the people who wanted to take the same trip.Shi Ran couldn't control that much.Along the way, he made no fewer than twenty calls to Pei Haojie, cutting off and replaying repeatedly almost mechanically, and the waiting beeps became longer and harder each time, until he finally stood in front of the hotel room.

At first, I could control it, knocking on the door softly and hastily, but gradually lost control, and almost slammed the door like gouging it.The guests from other houses came out cursing, but retreated tacitly when they saw his mad dog-like posture.Maybe someone called the front desk, Shi Ran greeted the rushing waiter before going downstairs.

Shi Ran couldn't prove that he was not a suspicious person, so he had to take out his mobile phone and show the wait staff more than 20 unconnected phone records on it, telling them that the people inside the door were in danger, and asked the front desk to hang up the phone to confirm.During the 1 minute waiting for the reply, he wished that the front desk really dialed Pei Haojie's room number, how he wished that Pei Haojie just didn't want to talk to him so he didn't answer the phone.but none.

Sure enough, the front desk couldn't make a call, but it detected that the room card was still inserted in the card slot from the door.A steady stream of light leaked from the gap in the doorway, as if a huge energy source was hidden in the house.

Before the iron head arrived, the door was finally opened.

It was clearly daytime, and all the lights in the room were turned on. Pei Haojie was buried under the quilt, as if she was just asleep.The gauze on the nape of his neck had been removed, and a pink, fingernail-sized scar grew at the root of his hair.The wind infiltrated the room through the screen curtains, the ashtrays on the window sills were cleared, the beer bottles were thrown away, and even the garbage bags were replaced with new ones—those messy, untidy but life-like things came from the room. The place has disappeared, and there is a cold and impersonal cleanliness here.

Shi Ran sat by the window sill, looking at him from an extreme distance.This face is still handsome and young, but its vigorous vitality has been erased.He looked at him for a long time, like reading a word for a long time, and suddenly felt very strange.Why is Pei Haojie here?Today is the weekend, they should go to the movies, eat a big meal, go to the game hall, go to the night market, then pass by the field field in front of the apartment, and go to the supermarket at the intersection to buy potato chips and yogurt.They should be snuggled up on the sofa watching a variety show, with their eyes brightly colored and still smiling, and rushing to wash up and get under the covers before twelve o'clock. Those who lose will make breakfast the next day—not in this clean, There's nothing in the room to sleep in, can't be woken up, can't be felt, not even breathing is deadly still.It was all so strange, so strange.

President Lin and Tietou arrived at the door at about the same time. They saw the helpless waiter and Shi Ran who called Pei Haojie over and over again.The two quickly glanced at each other, and in an instant they confirmed the division of labor. Tietou stepped forward and pulled Shi Ran away, and the two people led by Mr. Lin lifted Pei Haojie from the bed neatly, and walked outside the house.

"Where are you going? Where are you taking him?" Shi Ran was restrained by the iron head, unable to catch up with the person in front of him, his eyes were red with anxiety, "Why are you dragging me!"

"Let's get in the same car, let's ride with them!" Tietou continued to comfort Shi Ran, and finally led him to Mr. Lin's SUV.The rear trunk of the car was completely transformed into a large space, and Pei Haojie was placed on the blanket in the middle, and Shi Ran stayed by his side for a moment after getting into the car.

"There is no brainwave reader." Tietou looked seriously at Mr. Lin next to him, "Are you sure he is in the game now?"

Shi Ran's gaze refused to leave Pei Haojie for a moment, while Boss Lin's gaze did not leave the tablet in his hand for a moment. It was obviously some kind of detection data on it, which was continuously transmitted remotely.

"Mr. Pei had the 'original disc' implantation operation?" Mr. Lin could no longer calm down this time, his eyes were full of shock.

"I don't know." Shi Ran was a little distracted, he put his hand into the gap between Pei Haojie's neck and the blanket, into the dry skin and soft down, and stroked the small and uneven scar, it felt like stroking a soybean, " He didn't say anything. We met once, and he was wearing gauze, and said he was hurt a little bit, that there was no contact but something happened...he went for the operation himself. I don't know where he can do this operation. You guys Can we find him? Can we do another operation?"

Compared with just now, he looked too calm, and his words seemed to be whispering, which was not normal.Needless to say, Mr. Lin and Tietou could see that something was wrong with Shi Ran, and no one dared to speak to provoke him.

Regarding Yuan Pan's surgery, there are different opinions circulating in various underground forums.Because it is illegal, it is difficult to find out what the system says.It is different from a brainwave spectrum reader, the spectrum reader itself responds by detecting brainwaves, but the original disc is implanted in the body and connected to the cortex, it is not so much to read people's consciousness as to read people's consciousness. consciousness upload.

The original disc is completely controlled by human consciousness.In other words, except Pei Haojie himself, no one could bring him back from there.

"Aren't you trying to interrupt the server?" Tietou is also an expert in games, although he knows little about this kind of high-tech sensory-enhanced games, so he can only think from the perspective of traditional games, "Directly interrupt the server and disconnect the game." Can the consciousness be ejected directly?"

Mr. Lin shook his head sullenly: "No, the brain and consciousness are connected to the game, and it would be very dangerous to forcibly interrupt it. The music reader can be interrupted directly from the outside, but the 'original disc' is different. It is implanted in the body and directly connected to the cortex. No one can take him out of that space except himself."

"Could it be that all we can do now is wait!?" Tietou was anxious.

"Where are we going now?" Shi Ran looked up blankly.

His gaze was so empty that it was unbearable to look directly at him.Mr. Lin bit the root, and looked away.

"Go to the research institute. The core technicians and researchers of the Jinchuan cooperation are there, including the ... medical team for unexpected situations. They are in the eastern suburbs, and I am in contact now." Mr. Lin said and pressed the Bluetooth headset, Turning around, he quickly stated the situation in a low voice.The atmosphere of the call was very depressing, but Shi Ran didn't listen to a word.After a few minutes, he hung up the phone and leaned over to hold Shi Ran's shoulder, "Mr. Shi, listen to me, all the research team members are waiting for us there, as soon as we arrive, they will immediately provide assistance. Don't worry too much, okay?"

Tietou could also hear that these were just words of consolation. Just looking at Mr. Lin's expression, he knew that the situation was not optimistic.

The weather is very cold, but the morning sun is hot. The surrounding areas of the eastern suburbs are all dusty and dusty, not as colorful and dazzling as the city center.The outside of the Institute is a piece of dull cement, and the parking lot is a little old from the rain.

After driving on the road for more than an hour, the atmosphere in the car has become unbelievably dull.How did Pei Haojie get on the car, and how did she get off, like a lifeless body, the soul only lives in the brain.Shi Ran watched him being carried onto the push bed, and a group of people rushed out to greet him, and then rushed in again.He was also chasing after him, but he didn't realize it.They were taken into a clean corridor, at the end of which there was a two-meter-high glass, separating a room completely different from the outside, full of various complicated machines.Pei Haojie was lying in the pile of machines, and Shi Ran saw through the glass that he was stripped of his coat and pasted with various detectors that he could not name.

Someone brought a non-disclosure agreement and a license agreement, and Shi Ran carefully scanned it line by line, but didn't read a single word.He scribbled his signature and followed Mr. Lin into the room.

Pei Haojie's head was covered with many iron pipe-like metal patches, Shi Ran felt very familiar, but looked so scary.

"The player has implanted the 'original disc'." The researcher rubbed the wound on the back of Pei Haojie's neck, a transparent cable was connected to the display, and he was reading the content on it, "The wound is very new, no more than a week old. Sex should be 40-60%—does the family members know what kind of 'original disc' is implanted?" The researcher's gaze went back and forth between Tie Tou and Shi Ran.

"I don't know. Can it be detected?" Mr. Lin asked.

"This requires surgery to know."

"Brain wave detector." Mr. Lin explained to Shi Ran the iron pipes attached to Pei Haojie's head in a low voice, "The music reader carried in "Messiah" is an entertainment device, and the control is given to the player to detect Yi Ze only reads and has no physical control—in fact, only he can control it, because his cortex is connected to the "Original Disk"."

Shi Ran cast his eyes on the display device in front of the researcher: "That is to say...we can see what he saw now?"

"It's not possible." Mr. Lin shook his head, "But we can detect the activity of his brain and his emotions."