"Brainwaves?"
A-Xin murmured a sentence, walking back to the classroom. When she saw Jiang Cancan buried in her homework, she quickened her pace to the other's desk. Jiang Cancan noticed her and remembered she had gone to the office with Cheng Yiling, feeling nervous. Cheng Yiling was a scumbag after all.
A-Xin grabbed Jiang Cancan's hand and pulled her out of the classroom.
Jiang Cancan was confused, "Hey, where are we going?"
A-Xin pulled Jiang Cancan to a corridor, looking at the hidden camera positions. Soul power instantly surged out as she silently recited: Any thing monitoring us will no longer exist. Except for ourselves, anyone seeing us will only see two girls playing and frolicking on the surface.
Finally, she recited one more sentence: This school will have a power outage and internet disconnection right away.
How could Cheng Yiling's brainwave power be as strong as her soul power? Whatever she wanted to do couldn't fail to be accomplished.
Jiang Cancan only heard the music playing in the school suddenly stop, finding it a bit strange.
At this time, she heard A-Xin say, "I'll take you and escape."
Jiang Cancan was surprised that A-Xin was speaking to her directly. She instinctively looked around, afraid of being discovered. A-Xin pressed her hand, saying seriously, "I have a way to escape, to take you to a completely new world. How about it?"
"Speak. They can't monitor us here. The power and internet are already out."
It should be from today that those people only see illusions. She wanted them to see what they could see. After figuring out how this world was constructed, since it was a brainwave world, she didn't need to hold back, and didn't need to worry about anything either.
The only thing she cared about was the soul before her eyes. Even if this world was destroyed, she wouldn't be moved in the slightest.
"What about here?" Jiang Cancan said, "These people here, the people toying with us—will they continue doing such things in the future?"
"Then we'll go out and expose them." A-Xin said, "Expose these inhumane experiments, seal their laboratory, put them in prison."
Jiang Cancan smiled, "Okay, I want to leave."
Wherever Yu Xin was, anywhere was fine.
She didn't know how A-Xin could do it, but she believed her. This kind of trust from deep in her heart seemed to have existed for a very long time. From when Yu Xin lifted the blanket and pulled her out, then wrote words in her palm telling her not to be afraid—the only person she trusted was Yu Xin.
This world was terrifying everywhere. Emptily terrifying, coldly terrifying, those deceptive smiling faces were terrifying.
Everything from eighteen years ago seemed fake. Only when Yu Xin held her hand could she feel a bit of reality.
Wherever Yu Xin was, that place was real. The world would deceive her, everyone would deceive her, but Yu Xin definitely wouldn't deceive her.
"When do we leave?" Jiang Cancan asked.
A-Xin said, "When do you want to leave?"
Jiang Cancan tilted her head and considered, then said, "Now, is that okay?" She wanted to leave now, far away from this terrible place.
"Okay."
A-Xin pulled Jiang Cancan back to the classroom. They packed their bags as if no one else was there. Not a single person around felt anything was wrong. Jiang Cancan glanced at those people, shouldered her backpack, and quickly grasped A-Xin's hand. Feeling the warmth transmitted from A-Xin's hand, her heart settled.
The two walked out of the classroom and left the school.
A-Xin somehow found a car. Watching her steadily drive the car away, speeding along without encountering any obstacles, Jiang Cancan didn't ask a single question.
Ask what? Of course asking where this poor girl Yu Xin found a car, when she learned to drive. They grew up together, how could she not know these things?
But Jiang Cancan just leaned against the car window, the wind blowing, wearing a relaxed smile on her face, asking nothing, saying nothing. She would occasionally turn her head to glance at A-Xin, who was seriously driving.
"Yu Xin, where are we going now?"
"Where do you want to go?" A-Xin asked.
Jiang Cancan thought for a moment, "I can't think of anywhere. I want to go to a prettier city. This city has lots of flowers. In this city, no one will come to deceive me. Of course, in this city, you must be there."
A-Xin's lips curved, "A city of flowers, right?"
"Right, with many flowers, a very beautiful city."
"Then we'll go to this city."
Jiang Cancan looked at the straight road, her eyes full of curiosity. This road looked so long. Occasionally other vehicles could be seen on the road. A-Xin drove with her for a long time, until finally she drowsily fell asleep.
It wasn't until she woke up and saw everything before her eyes that she was a bit shocked.
The car had already stopped. Seeing she had woken, A-Xin said, "We're here. Get out."
Jiang Cancan climbed out of the car. This city was planted everywhere with flowers, various varieties of flowers—it was what she had imagined. She somewhat excitedly gripped A-Xin's hand.
"So beautiful."
"Where's the police station? Let's go report first." Jiang Cancan recovered, looking at A-Xin, "Let's report to the police first, expose those people doing experiments, bring them to justice. After they get their punishment, we'll settle here. How about it?"
Jiang Cancan smiled broadly, "From now on we'll be free. The sky's the limit for birds. No one will ever treat me like a lab rat again."
"Okay."
A-Xin brought Jiang Cancan to the police station. The two recounted their experiences. The police station immediately opened a case and was going to that city to arrest people before Jiang Cancan could react.
"Let's just wait here." A-Xin said.
Jiang Cancan quickly nodded, "Okay. We can settle down here now. While handling settlement matters, we'll wait for results. Oh right, do you still have money in your card?"
"Yes, lots."
"Spend it quickly." Jiang Cancan said nervously, "If they react and freeze the card, we won't be able to spend it."
A-Xin laughed inwardly. No one could freeze it.
The first day they stayed in a hotel. Starting the second day, A-Xin rented a house. The two moved in with their luggage. Everything seemed very smooth. On the fourth day, there was news from the police station. That laboratory had been destroyed, all the members inside had been controlled, and all personnel participating in the experiment would be interrogated.
A-Xin asked Jiang Cancan, "Do you want to go see your father?"
"No, not going." Jiang Cancan quickly shook her head, her head shaking as fast as a rattle drum, "I don't want to see anyone. Yu Xin, I'm busy with school enrollment. Let the past be the past, okay?"
"Okay."
"I want to go see my family."
Jiang Cancan paused for a moment, her voice low, "Then you go. I won't accompany you. Yu Xin, don't believe them, and don't sympathize with them. For money, they sold you out from childhood. They don't value you at all. What they love is only money. Remember, in this world, only Jiang Cancan won't deceive you."
Of course, in this world, only Yu Xin wouldn't deceive Jiang Cancan either.
"Mm."
A-Xin smiled, "I'll be back soon."
Jiang Cancan made a sound of agreement, twisting shyly, "That, Yu Xin."
"What?"
"What do you think about a girl and a girl being together? Earlier you said girls are quite fragrant. You shouldn't refuse, right?" Jiang Cancan looked at A-Xin expectantly, "You see, in this world, only you and I understand each other best and can trust each other most. So, how about we partner up? Partner up for a lifetime, that kind."
"Sure." A-Xin almost didn't hesitate, responding as soon as Jiang Cancan finished speaking, "I think it's very good."
"Really?" Jiang Cancan laughed aloud, a row of neat white teeth showing, enough to prove she was very happy, "Then it's settled. From now on you can only have me in your life. You're not allowed to look at other boys or other girls, understand? When we reach marriage age, we'll get married. That way we can be tied together for a lifetime."
Get married?
A-Xin murmured in her heart. In any case, she didn't reject this term. On the contrary, her heart felt infinite joy because of this term, so she directly said, "Okay."
Jiang Cancan got her answer and returned to her room with a smile, looking at her organizing her bookshelf and pulling out her books. Relieved, A-Xin turned and went out.
Walking out of the room, her body disappeared on the spot. When she appeared, she was already in another place.
The people in the room saw A-Xin suddenly appear, their faces showing horror.
"You... you're behind all this?" Cheng Yiling's face was gloomy. He wanted to move, but his body was bound by invisible rope, simply unable to budge.
He was very shocked in his heart, also somewhat panicked. His current state was also brainwave form. This world was originally constructed by his brainwaves. Here should be under his control. How could he be unable to move?
Beside Cheng Yiling, another person was also bound—that He Xin teacher.
This woman's face also showed a terrified expression. The first time coming as an intern teacher, she was just curious about this world constructed by brainwaves. The second time coming was because a problem appeared in the experiment, so she had no choice but to appear.
She never expected that when she wanted to leave, she couldn't escape this virtual world at all.
"Yiling, what's going on?" He Xin asked in panic. She really didn't want to stay in this virtual world forever.
In reality she was a healthy person with a high-end laboratory job, good-looking, and many people pursuing her. In this virtual world with hardly any people, what meaning was there?
Moreover, if brainwaves were separated from the human body for too long, and someone discovered her body couldn't move, when they couldn't find any illness, she would definitely be sent to the hospital and diagnosed as a vegetative patient. If she was trapped here all along, her body's functions would deteriorate. Who knew what would happen when she got out?
What was even more terrifying was, if the doctor diagnosed that she could never wake up, her family would definitely give up on her and directly pull out the oxygen tube. At that time, even if she wanted to leave, she couldn't.
Cheng Yiling didn't speak, his gaze fixed on A-Xin.
This girl who suddenly appeared before him really surprised him too much.
So, the errors that appeared in the laboratory before were this girl's doing?
Did the other discover something, so she created a false appearance to confuse them?
Now he was bound by the other. It could be seen that the other's brainwave power was even stronger than his. So how should he coax the other to let him go?
Cheng Yiling closed his eyes, his brows furrowed tightly.
Before long, A-Xin heard the sound of brakes coming from outside. Then someone downstairs used a loudspeaker to shout, "People inside listen, immediately release the hostages. Otherwise, we will take forceful measures. Such consequences are something you cannot bear."
Hearing this, A-Xin only lowered her head and smiled, "Do you take me for a three-year-old child?" She walked to the window position, looking at the armed police brigade below that had completely surrounded this building. With a thought, a group of people dressed in white clothes, holding long swords, looking like immortal sages descended from mid-air, blocking in front of the armed police brigade.
A-Xin dropped one sentence: "Kill."
As soon as the words fell, this group of white-clothed people charged into the crowd with swords. One sword, one person. All who were struck would vanish into thin air. The others also used weapons to attack them, but this group of white-clothed people's figures were very ghostly, easily avoiding the attacks.
Before long, all the people were dealt with by this group of white-clothed people, not one remaining.
Cheng Yiling was immediately covered in cold sweat, his face deathly pale, looking at A-Xin in disbelief.
He refused to accept defeat. Before long, A-Xin saw another group of people appear downstairs. This time their attire especially resembled terrorists.
In front of them were cannons.
"Let me go, or they'll open fire. If brainwaves die, then you die forever. Even in this virtual world, you can't exist."
A-Xin laughed, turning her head to glance at Cheng Yiling, "Teacher Cheng, do you still remember that notebook? The divine power inside is real."
"Formation." She said lightly. Those white-clothed people put away their long swords, then actually used bare hands to prop up a formation around this building.
Seeing this, Cheng Yiling concentrated, ordering the people outside to open fire.
These were all produced by his brainwave power. Even if they attacked, they couldn't hurt him.
However, when the cannonballs came over, it was as if they hit a transparent wall. They opened fire several times continuously, yet still couldn't break through this transparent light shield.
And Cheng Yiling himself, because of using too much brainwave power, collapsed in the chair, no longer able to drive brainwave power.
"What do you want?" Cheng Yiling finally gave up. He had already understood that in this virtual brainwave world, he couldn't beat the other. He suddenly thought of the other's identity, his voice full of temptation, "You should know this is a virtual brainwave world, right?"
"So?"
"I can take you out. As long as you let me go."
A-Xin said, "If I devour you, I can obtain the memories in your brainwaves. Not only can I leave, I can also do many things. So why should I let you go?"
Cheng Yiling's face looked terrible.
Brainwaves devouring brainwaves—it wasn't like it hadn't happened before. His brainwave ability could be this powerful because he had indeed devoured quite a few brainwaves.
Those memories that couldn't be washed away or changed would all be devoured by him.
Their laboratory had always been secretly constructing virtual worlds with brainwaves. The one who proposed this initial idea was his teacher, Jiang Bailei. Jiang Bailei was a crazy person, someone who could pay any price for experiments.
Take that Jiang Cancan—she was indeed Jiang Bailei's daughter. Jiang Cancan had a car accident when she was eighteen. The injuries were somewhat serious, and then she became a vegetative patient. The doctor's diagnosis was that Jiang Cancan's body was good, the chance of recovery was high.
But before long, Jiang Bailei told them that Jiang Cancan would never wake up. Then, he proposed a brainwave world, planning to sacrifice Jiang Cancan and extract Jiang Cancan's brainwaves.
This brainwave world was originally constructed with care by the brainwaves of each person in that group of crazy experimenters in the laboratory.
Later, how did it become under his control?
It was because he inadvertently devoured a colleague's brainwaves and discovered his power had strengthened a lot. When he exited the virtual world, that colleague had been pronounced dead. No one suspected the other died from having brainwaves devoured, nor would anyone suspect in that direction.
He believed he had found a future direction. He often went to the hospital to stake out. Later he discovered that the brainwaves of people who had just died in the hospital weren't easy to devour—they dissipated especially fast.
He then set his sights on the brainwave virtual laboratory that Jiang Bailei had proposed. Later, they acquired a vegetative patient nursing hospital. Jiang Bailei acquired it in his beloved daughter's name. Many people felt that Jiang Bailei loved his daughter and was also worried, which was why he acquired this hospital.
Next, the brainwaves of these vegetative patients could be freely taken by Jiang Bailei for experiments.
And he, Cheng Yiling, was Jiang Bailei's student. Occasionally devouring a vegetative patient's brainwaves wouldn't arouse any suspicion at all. Even the vegetative patient's family wouldn't suspect anything. A vegetative patient suddenly dying—wasn't that very normal?
His brainwaves became stronger and stronger. He could even create small illusions for certain people in reality. Hypnosis was especially easy. Giving some suggestions, his experimental subjects would all think the memories he constructed were real.
"You tell." A-Xin walked in front of He Xin, placing her palm on He Xin's forehead. Her beautiful eyes looked directly at the other. In them He Xin only saw indifference. These were eyes without any emotion. "Do you choose to speak, or stay here forever? You've also seen—this is my world."
"I'll speak."
He Xin quickly said. She didn't want to stay here.
"He Xin!" Cheng Yiling shouted once, then could no longer speak.
He Xin tremblingly opened her mouth, "What do you want to know? This world is as you thought—a virtual world, constructed by brainwaves. But if you don't know this is a brainwave world, then your performance will be the same as outside, not much different. You'll feel pain, sadness, cry, get injured..."
Actually, she also didn't know why Cheng Yiling wanted to make this world this realistic, simply no different from outside.
"Who was I originally?"
He Xin bit her lip, then said, "You were originally a girl who had an accident and fell into a coma, diagnosed as a vegetative patient. You and your mother Chen Meilan were in an accident together. You two both became vegetative patients. Your father Yu Luncheng and your younger brother, they couldn't support two vegetative patients. Later it was Dr. Jiang's vegetative patient nursing hospital that wanted to help you for free. Your father thought that without spending money, it also saved a funeral fee, and even got subsidies—very cost-effective, so he agreed."
A-Xin understood. No wonder Chen Meilian's emotions were more abundant. That was because Chen Meilian was also a human brainwave.
"So, the Yu Luncheng and Yu Xiao here are both fake?"
He Xin said, "They're fake. That's just humans constructed by Cheng Yiling's brainwaves to make this world more realistic. Actually, they're all controlled by Cheng Yiling. Without Cheng Yiling's control, they would only do preset things and repeat preset actions."
"Then is my body still around now?"
He Xin's eyes flashed with fear. Finally she still bit her teeth, "Not anymore. This was all thirty years ago. After this world was constructed and you were put inside, your body and your mother Chen Meilian's body had the oxygen tubes pulled out and were pronounced dead."
"Then Jiang Cancan's isn't around either?"
"Of course not. Jiang Cancan had her accident even earlier than you." Thirty years—too few vegetative patients survived. Even if they lived, the probability of waking was almost zero. If there was one, it would definitely be a miracle.
A-Xin paused, then said, "Over these years, how many vegetative patients' brainwaves have you used for this experiment?"
"Can't count clearly." He Xin said, "I'm only in my thirties this year. I entered this laboratory only over ten years ago. If I hadn't gotten involved with Cheng Yiling, I still wouldn't know these things. Anyway, vegetative patients who moved into this vegetative patient nursing hospital all couldn't escape being used for experiments. Among them, the longest existing ones are you and Jiang Cancan, Chen Meilian. Oh right, there's one more person who entered just a bit later than you."
"Who?" A-Xin asked with interest.
He Xin looked at Cheng Yiling with his eyes wide open, but still said, "Jiang Bailei."
"Him?" Honestly, when hearing Jiang Bailei's name, A-Xin found it funny yet not surprising.
Cheng Yiling's face was ashen. The other's brainwave power was too strong. He couldn't contact people outside. Then he could only be kneaded at will by the other.
A-Xin asked He Xin, "Jiang Bailei seems to not know he's already a brainwave."
"Then you should ask Cheng Yiling. It was all his doing. Now this laboratory is also managed by him. That vegetative patient nursing hospital—not long after Jiang Bailei fell into a coma and 'passed away'—was taken over by him. Once, after we finished on the bed, he couldn't help but proudly tell me that his brainwave virtual world originally had a fatal flaw, but later he used his clever wit to patch this flaw."
"You should have thought of it—the one who patched this flaw was Jiang Bailei, right? Yes, he thought he couldn't possibly stay in this world forever. Jiang Bailei's coma made him have a flash of inspiration, so he extracted the other's brainwaves and pulled them here."
He Xin recalled what Cheng Yiling said to her, repeating it, "He said this to me: That day when teacher fell into a coma, I helped teacher back to his room to rest. Standing beside the bed looking at teacher's gray hair, aging skin, thinking that a teacher so crazy about experiments continuing like this probably didn't have many years to live. But teacher still had so many experiments not done, so many dreams not realized.
If he died like this, teacher's heart would definitely have regrets. So I thought of a method—secretly extracting teacher's brainwaves and putting them into that virtual world. Of course, to keep teacher from panicking, I reset some of teacher's memories, letting him return to his youth, and suggesting he do experiment after experiment that I also wanted to do. When the experimental reports came out, I only needed to take the reports to receive awards and gain achievements. As for teacher, he'd just be immersed in realization. I provided him with the environment. He should thank me."