Chapter 158 Reincarnation Hell 2

After the automatic door opened, Xia Qi entered a long corridor. Various types of detection equipment lined the corridor, and the lights from these instruments continuously scanned him, finally enveloping him in a specialized disinfectant mist.

They passed through one door after another until they finally reached the location of the cloud brain center.

The center was also a glass sphere room, with layers of white data conduits covering the ceiling. These conduits, unlike the neatly organized large pipes outside, were intertwined like a vast and intricate web.

Outside the glass sphere room, there were dozens of human security guards holding particle guns.

Looking at the tightly secured layout of the center, Xia Qi thought to himself that while it appeared high-tech, it was essentially a large secret prison.

The base director stopped and spoke to the group of researchers following him, “He’s been unstable recently, so the rest of you shouldn’t go in. I’ll take Dr. Xia inside.”

After the other researchers dispersed, Xia Qi couldn’t help but ask, “Why is he unstable?”

The base director glanced at him and whispered, “…We connected him to the cloud network for a period of time. From the cloud network, he absorbed too many human emotions, which has made his personality unstable.”

Xia Qi had indeed asked this question before.

“According to current statistics, he has eight personalities now. The instability of his personality affects the regular data operations. From now on, we’ll rely on you to help us resolve this,” the base director said, patting him on the shoulder.

Eight personalities?!

Xia Qi gasped inwardly. No wonder he had noticed that the personality of someone in the game kept shifting.

The door to the center was a reflective glass door. Standing in front of the glass door, Xia Qi could clearly see his reflection from three years ago. His hair, a shade of black-brown with slight waves at the ends, framed his cool, pale skin. His irises, still reflecting a faint blue sheen from the embedded reconnaissance glasses implanted three years ago, contrasted sharply with the pure black they would become later.

“Dr. Xia, please enter.”

As the glass door opened, a thick white mist floated out. Xia Qi took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and followed the base director inside.

Z, I’m here.

The floor inside the glass sphere was as smooth as a mirror, much like the highly technological platform of Sinful Game. As the mist slowly cleared, Xia Qi looked up and saw the same pure white sky as in Sinful Game.

The white sky had no blue sky or white clouds; it was a man-made, void-like sky that seemed endless. As the white mist gradually dispersed, Xia Qi saw a circular shadow at the end of the road.

This time, the circular glass ball was transparent. Inside the glass ball, a strange light blue gas floated, resembling ocean waves, forming wavy lines in the air.

Inside the glass sphere, a man dressed in white metallic material was floating sideways. One of his long legs was straight, and the other was bent, giving him a tall and slender appearance.

His golden hair resembled a brilliant crown, and his facial features were chiseled, with long eyebrows reaching his temples and deep-set, emotionless grayish-white eyes.

Although he still differed from the Count, one could already see a glimpse of the Count’s shadow.

As if he had known someone was coming, he propped his head with one hand and quietly observed the direction Xia Qi came from.

Their gazes met in the air.

Xia Qi felt his breath catch.

Z from three years ago was different from the someone later on. His gaze was cold and emotionless, scrutinizing Xia Qi with mechanical precision, seeing through him completely, much like the scanning rays at the entrance.

Even though the air conditioning was still running, Xia Qi felt as if he had been transported back to the depths of the Pearl of the Deep Sea, where the air felt heavy, making it hard to draw a breath.

The man stared at him without blinking, and suddenly, his eyes blinked, and their color shifted from black to a deep lake blue—the same hue as the Count’s eyes, as if holding a pool of water, giving him just a hint of humanity.

Xia Qi now understood the origin of his blue eyes—they were a result of duplicating the iris pattern from his reconnaissance glasses.

"Your eyes, beautiful," the man said expressionlessly, then descended from mid-air, standing in the middle of the spherical glass, staring at him without blinking.

His voice came from the air, a bit raspy but crystal clear, as if a feather was brushing against his ear.

"…Z?"

Xia Qi froze on the spot, unable to recall what he had said to him at that time.

"Come here."

Although the man's lips didn't move, Xia Qi heard his voice.

…So he could communicate through telepathy?

Z's abilities are indeed not to be underestimated.

Xia Qi thought incredulously, is he facing the Z from three years ago, or the Z from after three years?

Based on his condition, it was clear that Z was still in the state he was in three years ago.

Then how could he get him out of the Sinful Game through the ultimate dungeon…?

"Come here." Z said again.

Having had an intimate relationship with this man before, at this command, Xia Qi felt as if bewitched, involuntarily walking toward him.

When he was only ten steps away from Z, Xia Qi shuddered all over and abruptly stopped.

He glanced at the base director and noticed that he was frozen mid-step, still in the act of lifting his leg as he walked in.

How did he get stuck like that?

Perhaps it was the director's eerie expression, or a sudden surge of task-related memories that briefly cleared Xia Qi's mind.

Z already possessed the ability to control humans at this point.

And the Lin clan was unaware of this?

Xia Qi's mind was in chaos. What exactly happened back then? How did Z end up in the Sinful Game?

"Are you afraid of hyper-humans too?" Seeing Xia Qi hesitating, the man said coldly.

With the shorter distance, Xia Qi could clearly see a data tube connected to Z's back, a thick tube about the size of a wrist, linking him to the bottom of the glass sphere and filled with a blue-glowing liquid.

Hyper-humans were a special species created from human genes, existing in a state between human and non-human. They were born in cultivation containers and possessed human-like bodies and brains.

Later, it was discovered that their brains could emit data streams and even generate magnetic fields. As a result, after being cultivated, their brains were removed and modified into fully mechanical super-brains.

Of course, the success rate of such experiments was extremely low. The Lin clan had been conducting illegal research for over two decades, resulting in nearly ten thousand failed experiments, before creating someone like Z.

Hyper-humans typically had a short lifespan, with a maximum of 25 years. To speed up their development, Z was given drugs from birth to rapidly enhance both his body and brain.

From Z's appearance, it was clear that he had reached the limits of his physical body.

As an experimental subject created with all the Lin clan's resources, even if his human body deteriorated, his modified mechanical brain could continue to function and persist.

The Lin clan intended to expand more capabilities of the cloud network after Z's physical body perished, such as creating stronger mental spaces, or even fabricating super spaces that human bodies could enter... which would become the predecessor of Sinful Game.

Xia Qi thought the Lin clan was taking a huge risk.

Connecting Z to the cloud network was terrifying. In just one second, he could input vast amounts of information, learn advanced technologies, and absorb different human lifestyles. However, in order to seize control of the domestic economy as soon as possible, the Lin clan had already secretly connected Z to the cloud network.

The change in Z's personality now indicated that he was out of control.

"Not afraid," Xia Qi replied, unsure if he had given the same answer back then.

Xia Qi recalled what the base director had said, that Z grew at an accelerated rate, and although Z had learned a lot of knowledge, emotionally, he might still be in a child-like state.

"Are you here to be my teacher?" Z asked.

Xia Qi nodded and casually replied, "I suppose so."

Officially, he was hired by the Lin clan as a linguistics specialist to help Z learn human language.

Upon hearing this, Z's expression suddenly became more animated, and a strange mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "You're not telling me the whole truth," he said in a low voice.

Xia Qi was taken aback. Lying to him?

"You're not a teacher," Z said, his mocking smile never wavering. "You're a member of the special forces from the South China region of the X squad."

Cold sweat immediately broke out on Xia Qi as he realized how much Z knew.

Had Z known from the beginning that he was an undercover agent?

How strong was Z exactly, to have hacked into the military's database?

Before he could answer, Z dropped the mocking smile and returned to a calm demeanor. "We can work together. You know what I need," he said flatly.

"What?" Xia Qi blurted out, but Z didn't answer.

After a while, Z's brows furrowed.

"Why? Humans always use people, don’t they?" Z said, his words dripping with anti-social tendencies.

Xia Qi walked towards the glass, leaning in to look at Z's face, vaguely guessing the content of their conversation.

Three years ago, in his youthful enthusiasm, he would have felt compelled to educate Z.

"I can't accept it," Z said again, his voice steady but clearly expressing resistance.

Xia Qi realized he really had tried to educate him.

After a long pause, Z's eyes returned from blue to black, and he coldly said, "Get out."

Judging from Z's reaction, their conversation must have been quite unpleasant, and Z even told him to leave.

Before Xia Qi could continue talking to him, the base director behind him suddenly "came to life."

The director seemed completely unaware that he had missed any time and, thinking that Xia Qi and Z had a pleasant conversation, marveled, "Dr. Xia, you truly are a linguistics expert. Z seems quite fond of you."

Fond of him?

Xia Qi glared again at the mechanical face in the glass. He couldn't see it at all.

As Xia Qi was pulled away by the base director and the door to the small orb closed, the director remarked enviously, "Recently, he's absorbed a lot of negative energy from human forum databases and has become less talkative. The fact that he's willing to speak to you means he likes you a lot."

Alright, forcing himself to like it, very much in line with someone's style.

Xia Qi was brimming with questions and wished he could rush back in to check on Z again.

Unfortunately, the door to the spherical chamber had already closed.

Whatever, he’d figure everything out eventually.

Next, the base director led him to a laboratory, assigning him a workstation and tasks. Here, Xia Qi also met his "old colleague" Zhang Yun from three years ago.

Zhang Yun had chased him in the Tianxing Mountain dungeon but was knocked down by Xia Qi's witch's staff.

At the workstation, Xia Qi opened his optical computer and began to review the data on Z.

The flow of time in this dungeon was very fast, and it became noon in what felt like no time.

Xia Qi casually finished the lunch brought by the robot, but before he could finish digesting, it was already afternoon.

During this time, he also received a phone call from Lin Mo, informing him that something unexpected had come up in the evening, so he couldn't treat Xia Qi to dinner.

Xia Qi couldn’t have been happier. He hoped the Lin Mo from three years ago would stay gone for good.

By 6 PM, Xia Qi left work on time.

The autonomous vehicle picked him up from the office building. Xia Qi leaned back in the seat, just as he was dozing off, when a sudden 'bang' jolted him awake.

He opened his eyes to see something human-shaped had crashed into his windshield. The figure slowly rolled down, leaving a thick trail of bright red blood on the glass.

Could an autonomous vehicle actually hit someone?

Absolutely impossible.

Xia Qi stared intently at the sliding corpse, and through the crimson blood, he looked outside. He noticed that the white clouds floating in the sky had also been smeared with glaring bloodstains, casting the entire sky in a red hue.

He then turned to look at the side window and saw that the restaurant where the deputy team leader worked had become dilapidated. The rusty signboard had even fallen from above, not to mention the nearby gas station, which had turned into a pile of ruins, with strange black shadows gradually rising in the vicinity...

The familiar scene of terror reminded Xia Qi of the night of the Fengdu Ghost City, where hundreds of ghosts roamed.

"Howl—"

In the distance, a roar similar to that of a beast echoed. This roar was different from the demon dragon's; it sounded like a ghost crying and a wolf howling, sending chills down one's spine. The temperature plummeted, and Xia Qi knew something was off. He slammed the control panel in front of him and commanded, "Drive fast!"

He smacked it several times, but the autonomous vehicle didn’t move at all, as if it had broken down.

"Bang!"

A loud noise rang in his ear as the side window was hit by something. Xia Qi turned his head just in time to see a black human hand and a familiar face with bulging eyes, burned to a crisp...

The author has something to say: It's night, time to escape for your life~

Someone: I remember the first day we met, I ignored him and even got into a fight. Now, I regret it so much.