CH 143

In the dark of night, the hour hand trembled slowly and pointed to ten o’clock.

Although testing intermittent data was important, people weren’t machines. High-intensity, concentrated work was exhausting, so Yin Ren urged everyone many times in advance to go back and rest—working soberly the next day was better than working groggily.

But Yin Ren didn’t follow the others back and stayed alone in the abandoned building.

To facilitate their movements, Fu Tianyi simply moved into Unit 9’s ward. The group of three in the ward had finished their supper and, except for Fu Tianyi, who had gone to bed right after, sat around a table.

Lu Xiaohe was worried and said, “I counted. Yin Ren had a bowl of porridge in the morning, a boiled egg at noon, and nothing for dinner. Now he’s not in our sight, and we don’t know how much he actually has slept… He won’t be able to keep going like this. Shall we buy something and bring it to him?”

She pulled up the takeout platform interface.

Huang Jin laughed inwardly. As a genuine evil, Yin Ren could theoretically live without eating. With so many evils in the world, he had never heard of any starving to death.

But he was also unable to understand why Yin Ren was so serious.

“Even if he’s on the verge of a breakdown, his emotions don’t seem to be collapsing into madness,” Huang Jin muttered. “He’s just scary in his determination. I don’t understand what he’s thinking…”

He had seen Yin Ren’s arms explode all day long to the point of blankness.

Lu Xiaohe thought it was some kind of mystical skill, while Ge Tingting only felt that Yin Ren was amazing. In the end, he had shouldered everything himself.

“What do you mean?” Ge Tingting argued with Huang Jin. “They were in a relationship, so it’s a bit much to think about other people’s grieving behavior.”

“How old are you? Do you understand anything?”

“You don’t even have a girlfriend.” Ge Tingting wrinkled her nose. “I seem to know a coward who is too scared to confess to Ding Jie.”

Huang Jin instantly choked up.

“Adults have to consider many things!” He coughed twice and wiped his nose hard. “It’s not like little kids nowadays, who get heartbroken at thirteen or fourteen, and think they’ve seen through the world at sixteen or seventeen… Lu Xiaohe, say something to her too!”

“What can I say? I’ve never been in a relationship either.” Lu Xiaohe was calm. “We science posts value practicality. Those who have no experience shouldn’t speak casually.”

Da Huang and Xiao Ge looked at her in surprise.

“Not surprising, right? I don’t want to date, and besides, my mother has been sick for a long time.” Lu Xiaohe shrugged. “As long as I talk about my family situation, even the most enthusiastic pursuer will run away.”

She fell silent for a moment.

“…Yin Ren said that if we successfully find Xiao Zhong, each of us can make a wish.” She moved her gaze away. “Do you think he’s serious?”

“Yes.” Huang Jin almost immediately answered. “But personally, I don’t recommend that you make a wish.”

There was a momentary freeze in Lu Xiaohe’s expression.

“You haven’t had much contact with the real world of metaphysics, so it’s normal not to understand,” Huang Jin said seriously, tapping his fingertips on the table.

“’Wishing’ is a very dangerous thing. If you’re not careful, you’ll be in deep trouble… There’s a saying among the Nightwalkers: ‘Don’t make wishes that cannot be fulfilled immediately.'”

“Because Sunken Society loves to make wish deals that cheat people,” Ge Tingting interjected.

“No, Sunken Society so-called wishes are generally fulfilled immediately. Money, power, fame, special abilities… all of them are contracted and delivered. But if it’s the kind of wish that cannot be immediately fulfilled, the wish maker will definitely be remembered.”

“Isn’t it a good thing to be remembered?” Ge Tingting asked curiously.

“If you make a wish that exceeds the abilities of an ordinary person, you have to weigh what ‘thing’ you are dealing with,” Huang Jin said in a low voice. “Neither of us seems to have accumulated enough virtue to withstand it, so we must be careful.”

Forget about accumulating virtue; they had probably committed enough sins in their past lives. Huang Jin sighed pessimistically.

Lu Xiaohe remained silent. A thought passed through her mind. ‘It doesn’t matter if I’m remembered or not.’ She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief instead.

“Anyway, that’s how it is. Even if you believe in Yin Ren, you must make your wish within the normal range.”

“After all that talk, you don’t believe in Yin Ren,” Ge Tingting summarized.

“You may know someone’s face, but not their heart. It’s not right to believe in someone we’ve only known for a few months, right?”

Ge Tingting typed furiously, and the AI voice continued, “But if Yin Ren doesn’t believe in us, there’s no need to show his sadness, right?”

“Yin Ren is very strong, and he didn’t reveal anything before. Such a strong person won’t easily reveal their true emotions in front of small fries.” ‘Unless he has ulterior motives.’ Huang Jin thought.

“Doesn’t that mean his sadness is real? He even offered the conditions for us ‘small fries’ to make wishes, so he must need help.” Ge Tingting furrowed her brows. “According to what you said, he has to suppress his emotions completely and handle the problem of Zhong Chengshuo by himself… Is that necessary considering his strength?”

Huang Jin opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“Or do you think that ‘small fries’ like us are not qualified to help someone as strong as Yin Ren? Huang Jin, do you think you have seen the world?”

Lu Xiaohe looked at them with enthusiasm as she took a sip of hot water.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through, and I haven’t seen much of the world either. But at the time of the Corpse Cage, I wanted to say that you’re always judging from a high horse, spouting a bunch of harsh words, and then coldly observing everything from the sidelines! Is it really so great to be able to see people’s thoughts?”

“If Yin Ren asks us for help, I’ll go and help. If Yin Ren is sad, then as teammates, we should find a way to help him. Why do you have to make simple things so complicated?”

Huang Jin’s expression suddenly changed.

He stood up abruptly and rushed out the door.

“?!” Ge Tingting was stunned.

She turned her head stiffly. “Xiaohe Jie, do you think he ran out to cry?”

As soon as the AI finished speaking, two messages suddenly appeared in the Shian WeChat group.

[Ten Thousand Taels: I have a new idea for making the tranquility talisman. Simply suppressing it may not be “strong”. I should handle it in a more simple way…unclog instead of block.]

[Ten Thousand Taels: @Ear Person, what I said earlier was a little inappropriate. Let me think about it again.]

[Ear Person: This is an apology, right? Senior forgives you.]

[Ten Thousand Taels: …… ]

He didn’t reply after that.

Ge Tingting played with her phone for a while. “Xiaohe Sister, I’m going to bed now. I have to get up early tomorrow.”

“Go ahead,” said Lu Xiaohe.

The two juniors had finally quieted down. Lu Xiaohe stretched and decided to wash her face. However, as soon as she stood up, something unusual suddenly entered her mind—

Huang Jin could see people’s thoughts? She had read the case report of the Bai Yongji case, which showed that Huang Jin could even see Fu Xingchuan’s thought process—even if Minister Fu could hide sensitive information through quick thinking, Huang Jin’s eyes would never miss any malicious intent.

Why is he so guarded against Yin Ren?

Lu Xiaohe pondered for a few seconds and sat down in front of the wall of machines. She logged into her expanded account and began to search for Yin Ren’s identity details in the employee database—if Yin Ren was really a powerful cultivator, Shian would definitely have supplementary information. Even if those data weren’t open to her, with Lu Xiaohe’s current permissions, she could at least see the indexes.

She opened the labyrinth-like related items of Shian layer by layer and quickly recorded the recording time of each task’s supplementary data.

Nothing.

There was nothing in the Shian system about Yin Ren’s identity.

Lu Xiaohe’s movements stopped, and the glow of the screen was reflected in her eyes, which blinked incessantly.

Even if Yin Ren was an unknown powerful person, even if Yin Ren was the biological father of Sunken Society leader, Shian would still truthfully record it in the system.

…Why is there nothing?

With this thought in mind, only a member of the Fu family could activate the Corpse Cage. The one who really constructed the internal spatial technique was the ancient Charon, Fu Wuya.

However, Yin Ren was trying to keep the Corpse Cage running so he could analyze the spatial technique.

Is the spatial technique something that can be learned at will? If not, why does Yin Ren have abilities close to a Charon?

But before she could draw a conclusion, another alert sounded.

The progress of unlocking Zhong Chengshuo’s hamster device had finally reached 100%.

Lu Xiaohe jumped up from her chair, clamped the laptop under her arm, and ran towards the night wearing slippers.

Fifteen minutes ago, in the abandoned building.

Yin Ren was once again forced to close the gap.

The space itself was too solid, and he was like an ant trying to move a mountain. Even if he could learn Fu Wuya’s technique or use the limited activation time of the Corpse Cage with Fu Tianyi’s support, it wasn’t enough to completely decipher the spatial magic.

But even though he didn’t know the way, he didn’t want to stop and rest.

He was like an angry prisoner, repeatedly hitting the sturdy prison door.

He believed there was always a way. At least during these eight or nine hours of the night, he may be able to loosen the door a bit more, and a little more looser was better than nothing.

The ear-piercing sound of space tearing and closing and the sticky sound of flesh exploding were better than the silence of an empty place.

Crack!

The gap was torn open for the umpteenth time, and this time it stayed open for half a second longer than before.

There was no direct road to another world inside the gap. On the contrary, it was dark inside, with countless large and semi-transparent cavities that looked like enlarged pomegranates.

Each cavity was blurry, with different scenery shadows visible inside. Those shadows constantly twisted and squeezed each other, and the colors mixed together, forming a dim compound eye that made people nauseous.

This immature gap led to a strange space close to the human world but was absolutely deserted.

No one knew where a mature gap would lead, and those who entered it never returned.

At this moment, Yin Ren only had this gap that was about to collapse. It was shallower than an immature gap, and the countless colorful masses inside it were like unopened “passages.” On the other side, perhaps it was already in a deeper, more untouchable place.

Even if he could open a path, where should he lead Mr. Qiu?

Numbly, amidst the excruciating pain of flesh and blood bursting, Yin Ren thought to himself.

If Mr. Qiu’s body was the same as Qi Xin’s, and damage wasn’t fundamental, what should he do? He had to prepare for the worst and choose a battlefield that was inaccessible…

Not far away, Lu Xiaohe’s device suddenly emitted a pleasant beeping sound.

It was Zhong Chengshuo’s hamster device that was just cracked!

Yin Ren stopped thinking instantly and hurriedly ran to Lu Xiaohe’s device. Unfortunately, the device was too complicated. His fingers were groping in a hurry, and he didn’t know how to start it. He wanted to press randomly, but he was afraid of mishandling it and destroying the hard-earned data.

Fortunately, in less than three minutes, Lu Xiaohe, with disheveled hair and a dirty face, rushed in with the laptop in her hand.

“Get out of the way!” she shouted with the typical arrogance of a science post, rushing towards the screen like a cannonball, almost leaving afterimages of her fingers.

Countless obscure and difficult-to-understand data instantly filled the screen. Lu Xiaohe’s eyes moved quickly, and the screen scrolled down one by one. Yin Ren was nervously staring at Lu Xiaohe’s expression, feeling helpless for a while.

Lu Xiaohe’s expression went from excitement to confusion, and finally settled into “worry”.

Yin Ren’s hopeful red eyes dimmed, and he remained silent.

“…The positioning result has indeed come out.” Lu Xiaohe cleared her throat twice. “But the coordinates are very strange… I have calculated it several times, and they are all coordinates that should not exist in the world. There is always an additional correction parameter… I’m sorry, this explanation is hard to understand, isn’t it?”

She thought for a while.

“Simply put, if Zhong Chengshuo’s algorithm is correct, the hamster pendant is in a space that does not exist in the world.”

“Zhong Chengshuo’s algorithm won’t be wrong.”

Yin Ren answered very confidently.

“His algorithms especially can’t be wrong now.”

Wait a minute.

A space that doesn’t exist in the world.

The Other Side was a space that didn’t exist in the world. According to Shian’s information, dead objects couldn’t enter The Other Side. That meant the hamster pendant was in a place between “this world” and “The Other Side”.

It neither existed in this world, nor was it truly in The Other Side… For example, it could be in an immature or already decaying gap.

Yin Ren stared fiercely at the now-closed huge gap. His gaze penetrated through the darkness and looked towards the countless blurred images revealed when it was opened.

“Very good,” he said.

“I know where the battlefield should be now.”