When Liao Qi returned home, he felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
At this time of the year, my mother probably hasn't gotten off work yet. But now she was sitting in front of the sofa, and the ashtray was full of extinguished cigarette butts.
He remembered that she particularly hated people smoking.
"came back?"
It sounded like she wanted to make her voice softer, but she wasn't very successful.
Liao Qi didn't reply, but walked through the smoke and walked into his bedroom with a straight face. Without looking back, he closed the door with his feet and threw his bag on the bed.
Don't want to talk, don't want to answer.
Wouldn't even want to see her if I could.
If there wasn't anywhere else to go, if she wasn't his last relative... he wouldn't even plan to come back.
He didn't know how long it had passed before he heard a knock on the door.
"Xiao Qi, I know it's hard for you, but mom has something to tell you now."
That's it again.
always like this.
People say that in front of their mother, a child will always remain a child.
Perhaps this is indeed the case, but whether this fact will make people feel warm or scary often depends on the attitude of the final choice.
Maybe Ma Wei didn't realize it herself, but Liao Qi knew very well that she was acting it out for herself.
Once again, Liao Qi felt out of breath.
"Can you open the door, Xiaoqi?"
A soft, hoarse, tearful, aggrieved voice.
She knew she would go home today.
Liao Qi thought to himself.
Perhaps she even called the talent incubation center to confirm.
"I know you are under a lot of pressure, and I also know that your mother usually forces you, but I am always doing it for your own good..."
She knew she would come back, so she deliberately smoked one cigarette after another before going home. So that I can see it as soon as possible after returning home.
See her hurting herself.
She knew that she had neither the reason nor the ability to convince herself. The only thing she could rely on was the constant family affection between the two.
So she used this as her own weapon - hurting herself to sting her son so that he could obey her plan.
Resisting the urge to open the door, Liao Qi buried his head in the quilt and turned a deaf ear.
The smell of cigarette smoke drifted into the room through the crack of the door with her voice, making him feel sick to his stomach.
After knocking on the door for a long time, my mother began to sob.
She kept blaming herself for putting too much pressure on her husband and her son.
There is no point in blaming myself. I am not smart, I have no family background, I did not work hard when I was young, and now I can only engage in the disgraceful profession of stealing and selling simulacra movies. She didn't give Liao Qi a happy childhood, and she didn't stop Liao Qi's father from taking out a prosthetic loan. It was herself who killed him...
It sounds like it's all my fault, but in fact I'm complaining about why my life is so miserable.
In fact, she may not care whether she can eventually be promoted to the company's intern employee.
Liao Qi suddenly realized.
She has never even seriously understood how small the probability is for ordinary people to enter the company through the company's talent incubation center.
She would rather believe the advertisements placed by the company and then pay wad after wad of money. Regardless of the money he just threw into the water, his family could already live a pretty good life.
All she wants is to be obedient. It cannot be forced, but must be done sincerely.
Because there is nothing else to hold on to in her life, only her son.
For this reason, she must hold on to herself at all costs, even if Liao Qi suffocates.
There were already tears outside the door, but Liao Qi still had a hard heart and refused to open the door or make a sound.
This is a confrontation involving the will of both parties. If you want to see a glimmer of light in your future, you must survive this.
A hurdle.
The sound outside the door finally disappeared, but before Liao Qi could breathe a sigh of relief, he heard the sound of a key being inserted into the keyhole.
"Where did you get the key?!"
Liao Qi was shocked and angry.
"Xiaoqi, we are a family, we shouldn't be like this..."
My mother sat on the edge of the bed with tears streaming down her face.
Liao Qi took a deep breath, suppressed his anger and sat up.
She wanted to hold her hand, but he threw it away.
"I know you are in a bad mood today. I checked your unified examination results..."
Ma Wei's tears fell uncontrollably again, and Liao Qi turned his head to the side.
"I know it's not ideal, but I also know that you have actually tried your best..."
Liao Qi still pursed his lips and said nothing.
"It's useless for your mother. Every time you pay the registration fee, you don't have money to buy you a memory for studying, so it's hard to catch up with others...
"I saw an advertisement for Minerva Information Technology two days ago. It seems that the memory of "ZhiChip 6" is the most commonly used by your classmates, right? "
Liao Qi still didn't speak.
"Mom is not smart anyway. I plan to sell my pons and cerebellum to the Lobotomy Gang..."
Ma Wei couldn't finish the second half of her sentence because Liao Qi stood up suddenly and clamped his hands on her shoulders.
His eyes burned with anger.
"You... If you dare to sell it, I will die for you!"
Liao Qi, who was out of breath as if he were drowning, finally squeezed out these words between his teeth after looking at his mother for a long time.
Wake up, I am not your property!
Besides, he wanted to shout so loudly.
But he couldn't say it.
The mother was speechless for a while.
After a long time, Liao Qi finally felt that his breathing was smoother and said:
"You don't have to do anything. You can keep the money for your own use in the future. I found a job in Haiti Street, which pays 400 Ore per month, not counting commission."
He let go of his hand tiredly. Picked up the bag and planned to go out.
"That school..."
He heard his mother's desperate voice behind him.
"That guy who always came here to make trouble..."
Liao Qi was talking about a guy in the class who came from the first floor. His family made a little money in the simulator film business. Because I know his mother's job, I usually find trouble for him when there is nothing wrong.
He had had enough of that guy for a long time.
"Before I went home today, I put a sack on him and gave him a good beating... I beat up a young man who is a gold member. The talent incubation center will probably give me a demerit and expel him from the list."
He said so.
After saying that, he felt that he had never been so relaxed.
"Liao Qi!"
After reaching the door, he heard his mother call his full name.
Looking back, Liao Qi saw her holding up the toy on the table.
The peripherals of the animated "Falcon Man", limited edition crystal figures - very expensive, not something that a family like theirs would be willing to buy.
Liao Qi remembered that his parents had gritted their teeth and bought it so that he could have the best tenth birthday.
Therefore, this is what he has always regarded as the most precious thing.
It would be great if everything could be as it was back then, how great it would be if my father was still alive.
If only this home was still whole.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be twisted into what it is now.
"Once you walk out of this door, don't come back!"
She threatened, trembling.
Although it was a threat, Liao Qi knew that the other party was more afraid of this than himself.
But if they don't do this and leave without mercy, they will never be able to get rid of this sick relationship.
When she plans to rely on selling her brains
How could he continue to stay in this home when he was in control of himself?
Liao Qi opened the door without saying a word.
In despair, Ma Wei broke the toy in her hand.
But that didn't stop his son from leaving.
Later, Liao Qi set this picture into his own mandala. …
After Jiang Zhou finished speaking, he felt sad.
Bai Dong, on the other hand, didn't speak the whole time. It wasn't until Jiang Zhou finished speaking that she let out a long sigh.
She reached out and patted the other person's shoulder to express comfort, and she said:
"I can't say that your choice to walk away was right. It was too impulsive... But if it were me, I don't know what I would choose."
"Thanks……"
Jiang Zhou nodded slightly and thanked him.
For Liao Qi, having such an evaluation is enough.
Bai Dong picked up the instrument from the side and said while debugging it:
"When your mother wakes up, I will conduct a comprehensive mental examination on her. Then she will prescribe three complete courses of emotional fine-tuning treatment. Anyway, they are all in the same community, so they won't be too much of a problem. Of course, there is no guarantee that she can be cured. , or the possibility of being cured is so small that it can be ignored...but I can guarantee that her mental index will be stable for ten years and will not continue to deteriorate."
She paused as she spoke, looked up at Jiang Zhou, and said awkwardly:
"I will try my best...if you can still believe in my ability."
She was probably recalling her previous disastrous performance.
"I believe."
Jiang Zhou nodded and then asked:
"In addition, what are the charges for these three courses of treatment?"
Bai Dong was silent for a while, then said:
"I'll treat you first, and you'll pay for it later. As for the price, it will be based on the organization's fee list..."
"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation."
Before she could finish her words, the robotic arm on the ceiling projected the figure of Jenny, the smart housekeeper.
"A change in Ms. Ma Wei's respiratory rate has been detected. She will wake up in about five minutes."
Jiang Zhou nodded and then said:
"I understand, please step back...Ah, by the way, please give this lady temporary access control rights."
"Already authorized."
Jenny nodded and disappeared.
"This will make it convenient for you to come here in the future..."
Jiang Zhou explained to Bai Dong.
But before he could finish his explanation, Jiang Zhou's private communication channel received an urgent message.
"B1, Dark Blue Zone Bar, emergency gathering."
The sender is Booker.
Taking a look at the time, Jiang Zhou remembered that it should be the time when the first batch of prisoners were released and Perse Fanny's studio arrived.
Now tell yourself to rush there immediately. What happened? …
Wu Tou-1 wrote a 5,000-word investigation report to state the doubts about the guy codenamed "Theseus".
At the end of the writing, he himself had to admit that there was indeed some personal grudge in it.
After all, it is similar to: This person's symptoms of radiation sickness are suspected to be uploaded using the ancient taboo technology of digital personality scanning. He has written all these unreasonable speculations.
You know, after the Great Impact, all digital personality-related technologies have been destroyed. Even the technology related to it has been blacklisted by the Anthroposophical Ethics Supervisory Committee, and it is impossible to be connected with such a caveman.
But personal grudges will be personal grudges.
Aconitum-1 thought.
After the previous interrogation, although no one around him took the initiative to mention that matter, he could feel that his colleagues were secretly laughing at him behind his back.
After all, making a prisoner faint from laughter in the interrogation room is absolutely unprecedented in Tartarus.
And when he proposed to go to the prison cell to see the caveman again, he was stopped by his apprentice Wutou-23.
According to his apprentice, it is not suitable to go there now.
Wutou-1 heard rumors that the caveman is almost becoming a hero in prison now. Whenever he mentioned his experience in the interrogation room, he would receive bursts of cheering applause from other prisoners.
His apprentice was worried that he would not be able to control his emotions if he went to the prison cell now.
However, the only gratifying thing is that the interrogation of other infiltrating members also did not ask any questions about the reason.
Although no one is as embarrassed as him, in terms of progress, everyone is the same.
The company's top management has never cared much about "face" - they only evaluate their subordinates based on efficiency and results.
And the result now is - there is no result.
It's possible that they were even looking in the wrong direction.
After picking up the report he was about to write, he went directly to Cerberus's supervisor, intending to explain his suspicions clearly.
As soon as he arrived at the office, he happened to see Perse Fanny walking out of it.
What is she doing here?
Wu Tou-1 thought to himself after he nodded slightly in greeting to the other party, and the other party returned the same salute to him.
Some time ago, the breakthrough of the protein chip project made the company in front of it make great efforts to poach the brain experts from Apollo Biotechnology, and once again they were recognized by the company's board of directors.
As a reward, the company directly handed over the business of the Nord Resettlement Area to her as a reservation for her future projects.
Why would this popular man who is so popular in the company come to Cerberus for nothing?
When your career is on the rise, aren't you afraid of the rumors of "being interviewed by a hound" spreading?
He knocked on the door very puzzledly, and after getting permission to "enter", Wutou-1 pushed the door open and entered.
Cerberus's supervisor, Prison D, is modifying something on the computer.
Understanding the supervisor's behavior, he directly handed over the report without any pleasantries.
Prison D quickly read the report.
"In other words, are you planning to apply for a destructive examination of that native's brain to try to dig out more information?"
he asked.
His tone was as usual, making it impossible to tell whether his attitude was good or bad.
"That's right, I think there are too many doubts about this native codenamed "Theseus". Based on my intuition, I am 90% sure that he is related to the previous impact. "
Wutou-1 replied immediately.
In response, prison supervisor D pushed the report back:
"If your unbelievable speculations are true, then to verify your conjectures, we need to turn the other party into a cerebral palsy.
"But if you guessed it right, we can't get more information from a person with cerebral palsy... So, are you doing this out of personal grudge?"
As usual, he could see the purpose of his subordinates' entanglement at a glance.
Wutou-1 responded with silence.
"The report is well written, but unfortunately, all your proposals need to be rejected. In addition, you will no longer be responsible for this matter."
Finally, the prison supervisor D said this.
"Why?"
Hearing this, Wutou-1 suddenly became excited.
I can understand that his proposal was rejected, but why not let him continue to be responsible for this matter?
"Your proposal was rejected because we have found the culprit that caused the previous attack."
The reasons given by the other party are very reasonable.
As he spoke, he opened the screen behind him.
On the screen is a sea of chaotic data that has not yet constructed a base simulation environment.
As the visual view continues to zoom in, a model of a black dog appears in the corner.
"In the past ten years, we have been trying to surface. The darknet AI, Hecate, is inextricably linked to the Diana Lunar Development Company. We found traces of its activities in the KZ quadrant deep dive coordinates .”
