Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Yan asked casually: "What are those guys looking at?"
"Shangfeng just released the video of the battle before the corner." Qin Zhilu said: "After watching the hidden records of the orphanage, I am now watching the footage of the slums in Area 53 ascending to heaven."
The atmosphere around An Yu suddenly became a little subtle.
Everyone started looking at the terminal in unison. An irritatedly dialed the earphones and walked to the hospital first, touching her pockets as she walked. An Yu glanced at him and saw him take out the terminal and click on the video center. He cached a file that had just been opened at the top. He quickly picked up the terminal and yawned.
"..."
Qin Zhilu transferred to their private channels and said in a casual tone: "Before you come back this time, you must be mentally prepared."
"What kind of mental preparation?"
"One Jiang Xiao is gone, but it is expected that many Jiang Xiao will appear in the minaret."
"..."
An Yu recalled Ling Qiu's teachings and looked at the positive side of everything, "The weird speculation on the forum can finally stop."
The headphones went silent, and as soon as he stepped into the hospital, he heard Qin Zhilu continue to read in a calm tone: "The latest piece of nonsense about your divine power - [Shield of God] Those who loyally worship the corner will be here Gaining the supreme protection of the gods during the battle, the wounds on the body heal quickly, the attacks in front of them are twisted into another space, and people are omnipotent because of their worship of Him."
An Yu lost his expression.
"It's indeed better." Qin Zhilu objectively commented: "The words are a little exaggerated, but they are not made out of nothing."
An Yu silently poked the little octopus man on the screen.
-Sir, sometimes I think you enjoy watching me.
The little octopus man poked his head out from behind the computer with a serious face.
-You are not wrong.
An Yu: Have you been stimulated by anything recently?
The little octopus was thinking, as if the system was stuck in calculations, and the bubble box popped up after a while.
-I've been watching your excitement, but sometimes I don't say it out loud.
An Yu:......
"Stop playing with octopus." Qin Zhilu's tone suddenly became serious. "From the monitoring, the hospital is much fuller than usual. It is already overloaded. Let's find out what's going on."
"Oh, okay." An Yu immediately picked up the terminal, but still couldn't help but said: "But can you stop reading my chat with the AI at any time?"
"Are you really playing with octopus?" Qin Zhilu, who had just sat down behind his desk, raised his eyebrows and said calmly: "I didn't read it, so I lied to you."
An Yu: "?"
As soon as you enter the back door of the hospital, you will find an aisle filled with debris. An and his record ball are parked at the door of the aisle, embarrassed.
Across the door, there was a buzz of people.
The entire hall was packed with people, and the queue went around and around. After looking around for a long time, An Yu realized that most of the people were queuing for the "Skin Infection Department." He glanced over the crowd and found nothing unusual about their skin.
Qin Zhilu reminded: "The first group of people considered mentally abnormal are on the fourth floor."
An Yu hesitated, "But these people..."
Qin Zhilu said: "There is indeed something wrong with the outbreak of skin diseases in the group, but I can't see the connection with the task for the time being, so let's put it aside for now. Extraneous matters are inevitable, and you have to learn to focus on the core."
An Yu turned around and walked towards the stairwell, "Okay, sir."
Yan followed behind and laughed, "The corner is surprisingly docile."
Qin Zhilu said calmly: "There are times when you are disobedient and you get crazy when you get angry."
"Oh?" Yan glanced at Lu Ming, "I never thought you would accept supervision subjects before, so it's hard to imagine what you would do when a child disobeys."
Qin Zhilu said: "Follow him."
Lu Ming turned to glance at him, his eyes cold and provocative.
The corridors were also crowded with people, men, women, old and young sitting on the floor, scratching their bodies from time to time as if they were catching invisible lice.
It was not until the fourth floor that the corridor returned to silence.
An Yu walked along the corridor, passing the wards one by one.
In the ward, an old man was tapping the bed railing with chopsticks randomly, saying dullly: "One second, ten seconds, eight seconds..."
Hysterical screams came from the next ward. The strong man was tearing at the sores on his feet. Several caregivers grabbed his hands and feet and tied them to the bed frame with restraints. The man lay on his back and struggled upward, bouncing on the ground with the entire bed frame, "Didn't I say that I opened the wound myself! Let me tear it open for you to see! Are you satisfied?"
The banging sound of the iron railings was frightening, and An and Lu Ming speeded up their pace unconsciously. In the next room, the little girl with braids was practicing smiling in front of the mirror. She took a deep breath, grinned suddenly, and said "hee", but then the smile retreated from her childlike eyes. She looked at the people at the door through the mirror expressionlessly.
An decisively turned around, tugged on his hood as he walked, and rubbed his arms.
An Yu read from beginning to end and calmly looked at the mentally disturbed patients - some with several grains of rice, those with their faces pressed against the ulcerated skin to observe, those lying on the ground painfully recalling the past and writing diaries, and a "poet" "Recite "When Happiness Disappears" loudly, only this sentence, repeated over and over again.
Walking outside the last door, Qin Zhilu asked, "What do you think?"
"The behavioral logic of the super abnormality is very simple." An Yu lowered his eyes and looked at the ground. "The metaphor of the grocery store owner's rope is very appropriate. Happy times will be robbed by it, and painful encounters will be reset. That thing hates everyone equally. For everyone in Area 34."
"Not everyone." Lumen suddenly looked back at him, "Those queuing up in the corridor to see skin diseases, there are also a few injuries on their bodies, but they have scabs. Although everyone has lost time information, not everyone has lost their time information. Individuals have to endure additional torture.”
Qin Zhilu said "Hmm" and said, "According to information retrieval, the people who suffered from severe mental disorder were all severe cases of the plague three months ago."
An Yu confirmed: "Plague?"
"The seasonal plague in District 34 will come once every six to nine months on average. The last wave was three months ago. Medical resources have improved in the past year, and very few people have died from the disease."
An Yu said "Hmm", "Has the main city supported the medical team?"
"Not completely. The main city is responsible for supporting drugs. The key lies in an old doctor in District 34. He has figured out how to deal with it and can quickly prescribe the right medicine even if the germ mutates." Qin Zhilu paused and tapped the keyboard twice, "That person The doctor is in the ward in front of you, and he is the first person admitted to the hospital for mental disorder."
It was quiet on the other side of the door.
In this nervous corridor, a ward that is too quiet is easily forgotten. If Qin Zhilu hadn't reminded him, An Yu would have almost missed it.
An Yu glanced in through the glass window. He was the only patient wearing a hospital gown. He had gray hair and a stooped back. He sat on the bed and stared out the window in a daze.
An Yu asked, "What is his condition?"
Qin Zhilu browsed the information, "He came to the hospital on his own, saying he felt insane and hoped to stay here to recuperate for the rest of his life."
Yan sneered: "It sounds like it's just pretending."
"Well, the hospital was also suspicious, but because the doctor was highly respected in District 34, we still listened to him."
The old man didn't turn around when he heard the sound of pushing the door. As the group approached, they heard him whispering: "Ta, Ta, Ta, Ta..."
An Yu glanced at Ning, who squatted in front of the old man, raised his head and smiled, "Is this Dr. Lao?"
Dr. Lao glanced at Ning, rubbed his butt to the side, and continued to chant "ta, ta, ta, ta".
He read it very accurately, every second, with almost no mistakes.
A nurse came in to deliver the meal, and Yan asked, "Has he been saying this all the time?"
The nurse put down the lunch box and said, "Well, it hasn't stopped."
Dr. Lao picked up the lunch box as if no one else was watching, and opened the lid while chanting "ta, ta". His dinner was a portion of brown rice, a portion of scrambled eggs with vegetables, and a small piece of canned meat. He scooped up a spoonful of rice and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing slowly while facing the sunset outside the window. He held a wooden spoon in his right hand and tapped the bed board with his left index finger, counting in the same rhythm as "ta, ta".
The deep-set eyes were not cloudy at all. On the contrary, they were clearer than most of the people An Yu saw in Area 34.
Perhaps because of his age, his hand holding the wooden spoon was a little shaky. When he scooped up a spoonful of rice, he had to shake off half a spoonful before he could put it into his mouth with difficulty.
"Get him a pair of chopsticks." Lu Ming reminded: "Some people can't hold a spoon steadily, but they can use chopsticks fairly smoothly."
The nurse shook her head, "He didn't want chopsticks, he said they were pointed. He didn't want metal spoons either, just wooden spoons."
Yan raised his eyebrows keenly, "Afraid of getting hurt?"
"Maybe so." The nurse said while tidying up the bed. "On the first day I was admitted to the hospital, I told you that I was afraid that I would harm myself if I became too mentally ill, so I asked us to take away all hard objects, sharp objects, and ropes, and not even inject diaphragms. of."
Yan stared at Dr. Lao, "It seems that you have found a shelter in advance for the rest of your life. Did you already know what would happen in Area 34?"
Dr. Lao looked out the window intently and ignored it.
The nurse grabbed the two corners of the pillow and shook it up, but the old man suddenly turned back and grabbed something under the pillow.
But he suddenly stiffened for a moment, and the air in the ward seemed to fluctuate slightly. He raised his hand in astonishment and said frantically to the blank sheets: "Where are my things!"
While he continued to tap his pants line regularly with his fingers, he glared at the nurse angrily, "Give me back what's under the pillow!"
The nurse's eyes went straight, "Dr. Lao, what is that? Is there nothing under the pillow?"
An's head suddenly stretched forward unnaturally, as if something had hit her on the back of the head.
He immediately stretched out his hand to hold down his hood and glared at An Yu angrily. An Yu raised the corners of his mouth perfunctorily and responded with a comforting smile.
The group left the ward. The crowd on the first floor was even more terrifying. The queue had already reached outside the front door. It took a lot of effort for them to squeeze through the crowd and finally get out through the back door.
As soon as he walked out of the back door, An immediately pulled off his hood irritably. His white hair was messed up. He stared at An Yu bitterly, "Take it away!"
"Don't be angry." An Yu advised: "I originally wanted to fold it into my pocket, but the pockets of the clothes the officer bought are very thin and easily show the outline."
As he spoke, he reached out and fished out a heavy thing from An's hood.
An Yu opened the palm of his hand. It was an old metal pocket watch. The round brass dial was stained with rust, and it was connected to a slender chain. It was old but exquisite, and had a unique quality under the dim street light.
However, the pointer has stopped.
An was stunned for a moment after seeing it clearly, and Ning said in surprise: "This is the first time vehicle we have seen in Area 34, although it has not left yet."
Lu Ming only glanced at it, "Pure copper? No wonder An's neck almost broke just now."
An immediately glared at An Yu with hatred.
In order to shield his anger, An Yu also pulled his hood over his head and turned his pocket watch over.
There is a small product label attached to the back of the pocket watch, with "Antique Pocket Watch" and "540 Yuan" handwritten on it, and underneath is the printed "Zhong Ji Old Things" logo.
The recorder circled twice, and Qin Zhilu introduced on the channel: "Zhongji Old Things is a small shop that buys and sells old things in District 34. The Zhong family has been running it for several generations, and it can be traced back to a hundred years of history. Human society is still normal. When it was running, the business was very good, but now no one patronizes it. The Zhong family died one after another due to the aberration disaster, and the last generation of operators was called Zhong Ke." He paused and continued to inquire, "Unfortunately, the infection rate in the city during the last wave of plague was As high as 60%, but only about 20 people died, and he was one of them."
A woman led her daughter out of the back door. Judging from her clothes, she must be from a wealthy family.
The little girl scratched her arm and shook a small box that looked like a radio. Harsh music came from the box. It was difficult to tell whether it was human voice or electronic synthesis. The music repeatedly switched between different speeds and was completely distorted.
An frowned and stared at the machine that destroyed people's ears. Lu Ming tensed up for a while but couldn't hold it any longer, and said angrily: "What's going on?"
Only An Yu was calm. He rarely listened to music and had no sense of aesthetics. After trying to listen for a while, I always felt that the distorted human voice sounded familiar.
After a few seconds, he looked at Lumen in surprise, "Can you say one more word?"
Lu Ming's face was filled with indifference.
