Embers Ad Infinitum

Jiang Baimian was quite curious about what happened to the person in room "506".

In her opinion, the relationship between the other party and the Fourth Research Institute is like the relationship between the "Old Tune Team" and "Pangu Biology", and she currently cannot imagine that she and others will leave "Pangu Biology" for what reason, and will be separated from "Pangu Biology" by their family members. Relatives, neighbors and familiar employees all hated, hated, and were indifferent to him.

Jiang Baimian couldn't help but wonder if the owner of room "506" had made some mistake that year, which led to the catastrophe of the Fourth Research Institute.

Only in this way can the situation in the psychological shadow be explained.

Of course, this is just a guess based on Shang Jianyao's current exposure to the situation and the details he has learned. Once there are clues pointing to other possibilities, it will have to be overturned and started all over again.

And this speculation itself also has certain problems:

The two psychological shadows in Room 506 and the third place Shang Jianyao entered that "Pangu Biology" currently has mastered do not involve scenes involving emotions such as "guilt", "shame" and "guilt".

Jiang Baimian does not believe that a person who has never forgotten the change of attitude of "people from home" and regards this as a painful memory will accept the big mistake he has made with peace of mind.

Even if you instinctively deceive yourself or hypnotize yourself, there will be a certain reflection in your subconscious mind.

Unless, he really doesn't think it was a mistake, and in retrospect he still insists that he took the most correct way to deal with it, but he just can't understand why his family, relatives, friends, and neighbors see and treat him that way.

From this perspective, Jiang Baimian had to think that maybe the problem lay with the Fourth Research Institute.

Combined with the deformed corpse that Shang Jianyao saw in the first psychological shadow, she felt that this speculation was reasonable.

Huh... Jiang Baimian breathed out, retracted his thoughts, and planned to ask Shang Jianyao tomorrow if he had overcome the psychological shadow in the "506" room, and how he had overcome it.

At this time, the radio in the corridor outside rang:

"Hello everyone, I am Hou Yi, the news announcer on the hour. It is 8 o'clock in the evening..."

…………

"Hello everyone, I am Hou Yi, the news announcer on the hour. It is 8 o'clock in the evening..."

Long Yuehong sat beside the bed in Bai Chen's room. Listening to the familiar, slightly childish voice echoing, she couldn't help but laugh:

"I heard that Hou Yi is actually one of the special cases where genetic improvement failed. She is less than 1.6 meters tall, but she has a cheerful personality, a naturally good voice, and never gives up on herself. As a result, she has become the most popular employee among the company's employees in the past seven years. Welcome announcer.”

"Then she's not old, no more than thirty." Bai Chen nodded, "I thought she was the announcer you grew up hearing. She is already forty or fifty years old."

"How can you still have such a voice when you are forty or fifty years old?" Long Yuehong replied funny.

Then, he refuted himself:

"Not necessarily. Hou Yi is now in his twenties, and his voice has not changed much."

"Some people are born with childish voices, and they don't change until they are over sixty years old." Bai Chen had met similar people before.

That was in the first city.

After chatting for a while, Long Yuehong stood up and said:

"I have to go back."

He was promoted and received a reward today, and he couldn't wait to share it with his family.

He is now a D8 level employee. Once he transfers to back office and leaves the security department, he can be directly promoted to D9.

This is the highest status that ordinary employees can aspire to.

As for management positions, they are rare.

In addition, Long Yuehong chose to go back today because she and Bai Chen had not registered yet, so it would not be good to stay here all the time.

"I'll see you off." Bai Chen stood up.

Long Yuehong felt warm in her heart and did not refuse.

After leaving the room and coming to what was called a street but actually a corridor, Long Yuehong still held Bai Chen's hand and walked slowly toward the elevator.

Bai Chen was silent for a while, then asked:

"What should I pay attention to when I go to your house?"

Long Yuehong thought carefully and said:

"There's nothing you need to pay attention to. Like the team leader said, just be normal and polite."

Frankly speaking, he had no experience and could only trust Jiang Baimian.

As for the fact that Jiang Baimian also had no corresponding experience, Long Yuehong didn't care too much, because Jiang Baimian told him and Bai Chen that since she was a child, she would always get recognition when she went to other people's homes as a guest. Praising the kid next door.

At that time, the honest Shang Jianyao whispered:

"Maybe it's not because you are polite and know how to read people's opinions, but because your father is in management."

Jiang Baimian used practice to tell Long Yuehong and Bai Chen what the consequences would be if they were not polite and did not know how to watch their actions.

"Yeah." Bai Chen recalled the core words of the team leader's teachings - listen more and speak less, praise more and complain less, laugh more and move less.

It was a rare opportunity to comfort her girlfriend. Long Yuehong was about to say a few more words when she suddenly saw someone walking towards her.

The man's skin was dark, his face was pitted, his eyes were bloodshot, his appearance was average, and he could tell that he had not been genetically modified.

Long Yuehong knew this person. He was a foreign employee he met when he went to the public toilet on this floor in the middle of the night.

The other party, wearing a gray-green camouflage uniform, was in a hurry and passed them quickly.

Bai Chen turned his head and glanced at Long Yuehong:

"You seem to know him?"

"The time he did the prank, I went to the public toilet and met him smoking inside." Long Yuehong said truthfully.

Bai Chen said "hmm":

“His name is Wang Xi and he only joined the company last year.

"I heard that he has a bad temper and often quarrels with others. If the company didn't have an orderly supervision room, they might get into fights."

"Really? He has a good temper." Long Yuehong said that during the brief contact with Wang Xi, the other party was very polite. Although he was too hasty at the time, which made the situation awkward and Wang Xi was a little angry, but There is no way to hurt anyone.

Bai Chen glanced at Long Yuehong's robotic arm and said:

"A former wilderness wanderer cannot always be violent. Such a person would not live to this age."

She paused and recalled something:

"He seems to often go to the public toilet in the middle of the night, and several neighbors have encountered him."

"This is normal, get used to it." Long Yuehong said nonchalantly.

At this time, the two of them had arrived in the elevator. He reluctantly waved goodbye and pressed the button representing the 495th floor.

Before going home, Long Yuehong went to the supply market and bought some fruits and snacks.

"Wow, there's something delicious again!" As soon as Long Aihong saw her brother walking into the house, she ran over and took the bag from his hand.

Gu Hong complained with a smile:

"Why did you buy these again?

"I just finished eating the previous one!"

Long Yuehong took advantage of this and said:

"The rewards for our mission have been distributed, and there are 30,000 contribution points."

"Another thirty thousand!" Although Long Aihong was used to the fact that her brother would get a large reward every time he came back, he still couldn't hide his joy.

Long Dayong was relieved and sighed a little.

The smile on Gu Hong's face became even brighter, and she asked in a lowered voice:

"Have you been promoted?"

Long Aihong immediately pricked up her ears.

"D8." Long Yuehong became more and more able to talk about her promotion calmly.

He no longer needs Shang Jianyao's help in publicity.

"Ah, it's really God's blessing." Gu Hong folded her hands and shook them casually.

Long Aihong said expectantly:

"Brother, your D9 will definitely not be a problem. If you can join the management one day, I will be able to get a good job in the future!

"My classmates are so jealous of me, many of them want to be my sister-in-law!"

"What are you thinking about? You want to bring trouble to your brother. It's taboo to interfere in work assignments!" Gu Hong scolded her daughter, "This is how it works: I don't care when assigning work, and wait for a year or two. , find an excuse and then transfer the post."

"These are not trivial things." Long Dayong muttered in a low voice, and then said to Long Yuehong, "Look at them, eh..."

Long Yuehong smiled and said nothing.

Just be happy.

Anyway, I never thought about becoming a manager.

…………

The next morning, on the 647th floor, in room 14.

Shang Jianyao recounted in detail the "sadness" and "heartbreak" he encountered in the family area of ​​the Fourth Research Institute.

He said doubtfully:

"What is the problem? Why do I let everyone treat me the way they did before, and even though I believe it is true, I still can't get over it?"

Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong and Bai Chen all fell into silence, looking for possible reasons.

One guess after another was raised and rejected one after another.

Suddenly, Jiang Baimian had a flash of inspiration and remembered something that Shang Jianyao had mentioned before:

"You seemed to have said last time that after the explosion, when those people looked at you, their expressions were cold and the muscles on their faces were stiff, like corpses without emotions."

"Yes." Shang Jianyao nodded.

Jiang Baimian began to think thoughtfully:

“Perhaps those people did turn into corpses.

"After the accident in the family area of ​​the Fourth Research Institute, all those people may have died. What lingers in the mind of the owner of the room is their attitude towards him before they died, and he knows that this can never be changed.

"So, this became his psychological shadow, and no matter how you changed the attitude of those people, he subconsciously knew that it was false."

"It's possible." Shang Jianyao rubbed his chin, "Then how did the owner of the room defeat the corresponding island and reconcile with himself?"

Jiang Baimian thought for a while and said:

"This may have to do with why those people changed their attitude towards the owner of the room.

“Only by clarifying this can we have the basis for reconciling with ourselves.”

Then, Jiang Baimian talked about his guess last night - the owner of the room made a mistake or discovered some secret, which led to the catastrophe of the Fourth Research Institute, and the people there unanimously changed their attitude towards him.

Long Yuehong felt her heart palpitate when she heard:

"I really can't imagine anyone betraying the place where they were born and raised."

This is just like how he can't imagine being separated from the "Pangu Creatures".

He felt that if something similar happened to him, he would probably commit suicide.

Hearing this, Shang Jianyao suddenly sang:

"Live like this for thirty years, until the building collapses..." (Note 1)

Jiang Baimian rolled his eyes at this guy, and just as he was about to say something, the phone in the office rang.

Su Yu received Shang Jianyao's report and agreed to his request to meet.

Note 1: "Kill That SJZ Man", Universal Youth Hotel