Chapter 93: He was not defeated by Zhou You.
The swordfish shark, only a few centimeters long, nimbly slipped into the hollow. Below the hollow was a dark and vast space. It wandered for a moment, not finding anything noteworthy.
Turning back, the swordfish shark gazed at the stone slab overhead.
Its body began to swell bit by bit, adjusting to the size of the hollow. The inflated water protective shield almost occupied the entire space, forcing the swordfish shark to curl its tail and halt its enlargement.
Its long snout pressed against the stone slab, gently twisting. The slab could only be opened from the inside, and it quickly found the mechanism. To eliminate the sound of the stone slab opening, the water protective shield clung tightly to the slab and the stone wall, swallowing any slight noise.
Moments later, the stone slab was removed.
Gao Shu, closest to the entrance, didn’t hesitate and carefully jumped down. Landing on the water protective shield and the swordfish shark’s back, he steadied himself as the swordfish shark flipped its body, silently placing him on the ground.
Following him, Qin Ge and the others also jumped down one by one.
Before Qin Yeshi descended, he instructed Lei Chi to stay on the surface: “If you spot any sign of Zhou You and Lu Qinglai, report to me immediately.”
Lei Chi hurriedly asked, “Captain Qin, I want to confirm something. Do I have command on the surface?”
Qin Yeshi: “Yes. If any emergency arises on the surface and you cannot get a prompt response from me, you can act based on your own judgment.”
Tang Cuo and Bai Xiaoyuan stood beside Lei Chi. Bai Xiaoyuan was shaking the bottle in her hand and taking a swig.
When Gao Shu put away the swordfish shark, the first sand cat jumped down through the hole in the ground. Its body was light, its movements agile, and it landed almost silently. Lifting its front paw to lick it, the sand cat looked at Qin Ge and Xie Zijing with bright eyes.
The second, third… more and more sand cats leaped through the hole. They hardly paused, immediately following Bai Xiaoyuan’s instructions and darting into the darkness.
Qin Yeshi had only heard about Bai Xiaoyuan’s special ability from Lei Chi before setting out. He had originally thought Bai Xiaoyuan’s spirit body was useless, being just a small cat—but Bai Xiaoyuan’s replication ability was astounding, with each sand cat being incredibly detailed and moving differently. Qin Yeshi suddenly became interested: “This sentinel is impressive.”
Qin Ge was very alert: “Xiaoyuan is from our department; don’t get any ideas.”
Qin Yeshi waved his hand dismissively, not taking his words to heart.
Unlike Jiang Yong’s memories, there was no fog, no lights, and no giant white elephant spirit body here. Qin Ge guessed that the spirit body of the administrator, Rat, only appeared when the entrance was opened.
The sand cats advanced silently along the stone path, and whenever they passed a gap, one would slip in. After navigating several dark turns, a light finally appeared ahead.
Qin Ge looked back at the gaps behind him. They were originally cells in Warehouse No. 0, where two administrators were supposed to be guarding closer to the exit. But after the Luquan incident, the cells in Warehouse No. 0 were damaged, many prisoners died, and the administrators likely compressed their management area, concentrating the prisoners at the bottom of Warehouse No. 0.
A sand cat cautiously stepped into the illuminated area. As its front paw entered the light, the light behind it suddenly started to ripple, as if countless waves were rolling and surging.
“…Who’s there?” a hoarse voice called out from the light, and then a figure slowly emerged from the deeper darkness.
The figure was tall and burly, and Qin Ge recognized him as the administrator Elephant.
“Elephant, it’s me, Qin Yeshi.” Qin Yeshi stepped forward, “We should have met before, do you remember me?”
Elephant’s gaze briefly rested on his face before retreating: “I know you. You’re Qin Shuangshuang’s brother.”
Qin Yeshi nodded with pleasure. When Elephant and Rat entered Warehouse No. 0, Qin Shuangshuang was still the director of the Crisis Office, so they must remember. Qin Yeshi approached Elephant, with his wolverine following behind him, standing up on its hind legs like a person.
Strange noises came from behind Elephant, as if countless small animals were scurrying about. White mist rose in puffs, seeping into his body.
Qin Ge looked at the sand cats on the ground and suddenly understood. The administrator Elephant’s spirit body was mouse, but with so many sand cats here, Rat couldn’t appear normally.
The surroundings fell into a strange silence, with only the squeaking of mice and the occasional “meow” from the sand cats.
“Since you know who I am, don’t make any futile resistance,” Qin Yeshi said to Elephant, “I am here on a mission.”
“…Is Warehouse No. 0 going to be closed?” Elephant suddenly asked.
“That depends on what we find during this investigation,” Qin Yeshi replied frankly, “There are more of us than just here, and the entire Western Office is cooperating with us. Elephant, don’t be foolish.”
Elephant’s shoulders seemed to slump, as if losing strength.
“…You should have come long ago.” The man’s voice carried a tone of self-mockery, mixed with the joy of relief, “I was almost beginning to think that Warehouse No. 0 had been abandoned by the Special Management Committee.”
He turned and walked deeper inside. The wolverine followed closely behind, and Qin Yeshi walked behind the wolverine, the group following Elephant into a brightly lit, spacious room.
Qin Ge recognized this room too, equipped with various instruments, where the two administrators regularly injected sedatives into the prisoners and managed them.
Qin Yeshi looked around: “Where is Rat?”
“Dead,” Elephant said, “He died a year ago.”
Elephant knew clearly that the arrival of Qin Yeshi and others was definitely related to the Luquan incident from years ago. He just didn’t expect that the investigation, which could have been pursued further back then, had been shelved for ten years.
The Luquan incident was related to X—whom Elephant habitually referred to as Zhou You—and also to Rat.
That skinny, Rat-like administrator recognized Zhou You when Xie Liang and Jiang Yong brought him to Warehouse No. 0.
He had met Zhou You a few times. At his home, in cheap motels, he gave Zhou You some money, and Zhou You would patrol his “sea area” and then stir up storms of pleasure greater than anything else.
He recognized Zhou You but couldn’t believe it. What had this young and handsome guide done to be sent to Warehouse No. 0?
Rat had been an administrator in Warehouse No. 0 for a long time, returning to the Crisis Office headquarters with Elephant at the end of each year to report on their work. During one such report, he met Zhou You.
Someone had told him about a nameless young guide with a strange ability that could make people “happy.”
After suffering from residual light phobia for years, Rat had no close interactions with anyone other than his family. At first, he thought the person was implying that the guide was selling his body, but the person repeatedly emphasized, “Only sentinels and guides can understand what I mean.” Out of curiosity, Rat found out where the guide often appeared and met the young man.
“I don’t sell my body,” the teenage guide said with a smile, “but I have other ways to make you happy.”
After one try, Rat’s interest was unstoppable. He was addicted to the stimulation Zhou You provided, but the reporting period was too short, and when the time came, he had to return to Warehouse No. 0. The night before his departure, he met Zhou You again. The young guide still didn’t have a name, only saying his surname was Zhou, that his parents had died, and he had wandered from the south to here because his mother had told him that in the Wangdu district, any kind of special human could find a place to live.
It was snowing that day, the first snow of the city’s winter. Rat took him to the Wangdu district, watching him walk into the dim street. The snow was translucent under the lights, feather-light, star-bright, drifting down from the dark sky. That winter was long and cold, and in idle moments, Rat would occasionally think of this young and handsome boy. How would he survive such a cold winter? Would anyone give him a place to stay?
“I hope he does better,” Rat said. “In the Wangdu district, he should be able to survive. So young, he has a long way to go, learn something, make new friends, and get a name. Right?”
Rat said these words to Elephant just after throwing Zhou You into cell B0064.
Zhou You was trembling and screaming hysterically, his face covered in tears from an intense headache.
Elephant saw that his brother had an unusual attitude towards this young prisoner, and after some questioning, Rat admitted they had known each other before.
Xie Liang and Jiang Yong didn’t tell the two what Zhou You had done; the records were vague. “Murder” was the answer from the escorts.
“What nonsense,” Rat told Elephant, “His ability is so great. If he studies well and uses it properly, he could be an extraordinary person. At least more useful than you and me.”
Elephant was puzzled: “Then why did you choose B0064? It’s so small and so narrow. You know him; you should have picked a better cell.”
“I feel sorry for him,” Rat said to his brother, “But it’s not about pity. We are the absolute authority in Warehouse No. 0, and he cannot try to challenge that.”
Rat was the elder brother, and Elephant the younger.
Zhou You hadn’t stretched his body for several days. This was a common punishment method in Warehouse No. 0: the prisoner couldn’t leave the small cell, and food and water were thrown in through a hole in the cell. The administrators used injection guns to inject sedatives into the prisoners through small holes in the cell door. The punishment sometimes lasted for a month, and the prisoners, groggy, remained kneeling and lying on the ground.
Many people simply couldn’t endure such pain and confinement. They would completely lose the will to resist after undergoing this kind of punishment three or four times. The only exit of Warehouse No. 0 was guarded by Elephant and Rat, and no one could escape.
During Elephant’s explanation, almost everyone showed a look of compassion.
Cai Yi was right, thought Qin Ge. This isn’t a prison; it’s a concentration camp. It’s a concentration camp built by the Special Management Committee and the administrators under the guise of punishment but actually torturing prisoners with cruel methods.
“Rat pulled Zhou You out… Did he want Zhou You to navigate his ‘sea area’ again?” Qin Ge asked.
This question hit the core of the matter. Elephant silently nodded.
How could Zhou You let go of such an opportunity? Qin Ge felt a shock in his heart: it was Rat who gave Zhou You the key to escape and control him.
He didn’t know exactly what Zhou You did, only the vague fact that he had “killed someone.” He had tasted pleasure from Zhou You’s ability, and compared to the dull days underground, that pleasure was irresistibly attractive.
Besides, he and his brother were the administrators of Warehouse No. 0, the absolute authority. Zhou You, a prisoner, what could he do?
Rat tried to control Zhou You but became the biggest vulnerability himself.
“But Zhou You didn’t escape through the entrance,” Qin Ye asked. “He escaped in the direction of Luquan (Deer Spring).”
“Luquan is right here.” Elephant raised his hand to point above. “Warehouse No. 0 has a stable power supply system, running on the overall power supply project of the Western Office. The convergence point of various circuits in Warehouse No. 0 is right here.”
This information was obviously not something Zhou You could know. He had obtained many things from Rat’s “sea area.”
“That day, my brother also let Zhou You out. They had done this many times. I had objected before, but it was useless,” Elephant said. “I remember that day very clearly. During the day, the Falcon Squad came. They escorted three prisoners and had tea with us brothers. Few people come to Warehouse No. 0, and I know Bai Fan and Yang Chuan from the Falcon Squad, so I wasn’t afraid of them. We talked for a long time, so when they left, it was already night.”
Qin Ge closed his eyes, feeling weak in his legs. Xie Zijin supported his arm, letting him lean on him to stand steady.
If there was no tea, if they had left immediately after finishing their work like Xie Liang and Jiang Yong, the Falcon Squad wouldn’t have needed to camp at Luquan.
All the accidents were just a series of coincidences.
After the Falcon Squad left, Rat took Zhou You to the monitoring room. And Elephant, as usual, left to patrol the cells.
He had only walked through half of Warehouse No. 0 when he suddenly heard a uniform alarm sound—a large number of cell doors suddenly opened!
Elephant immediately released his rat spirit body, a black wave of spirit bodies swarming out, pressing the cell doors shut. But it was too late. Even though the prisoners were not fully conscious, the strange sound still alarmed them. While the other special humans were still reacting, the sentinels and guides had already released their spirit bodies.
For a moment, Warehouse No. 0 was in chaos.
“Brother!” Elephant was furious, “Rat! What are you doing?!”
He rushed into the monitoring room to find Rat lying on the ground, his face bewildered. Elephant didn’t know what Zhou You had done to him, but Rat clearly hadn’t recovered. He grabbed his brother, slapping him hard a few times before Rat came to his senses.
“Zhou You… Zhou… Where is Zhou You!”
“He opened the cell doors!” Elephant roared, “You told him how to open the doors!”
“I didn’t! It was him… he got it from me…” Rat suddenly looked up. A gap had already appeared above the monitoring room. That was the weakest part of Warehouse No. 0, where dense circuits converged.
Both brothers’ faces changed. Zhou You had obviously escaped.
Due to the emergency power outage, Warehouse No. 0 had insufficient power, and many protective measures failed. Elephant and Rat had to immediately deploy their spirit bodies to control the prisoners.
“A lot of people died,” Elephant recalled woodenly. “Because my brother was still groggy. His white elephant trampled into several cells.”
The surrounding people fell silent; only the sound of Qin Ge’s recorder was working.
“Then, when everything calmed down, Zhou You came back.” Elephant suddenly trembled. “He dragged two people and jumped down from there.”
Qin Ge was stunned, “Two people?”
Elephant nodded, “A man and a woman.”
Qin Ge instinctively looked at Xie Zijing. Xie Zijing’s face was extremely grim, and his eyes were bloodshot.
Night fell like a heavy curtain, draping over the earth.
Zhou You and Lu Qinglai walked forward in the darkness, each holding a flashlight.
“You want to come back here to destroy Warehouse No. 0 and Xie Liang who once escorted you,” Lu Qinglai asked. “But what does this have to do with Qin Ge? Why did you want me to find someone who can restore the ‘sea area’?”
“I want to restore Xie Liang’s ‘sea area’ first,” Zhou You said in a deep voice. “I destroyed it without creating any illusions. As long as Xie Liang isn’t dead, he will be dazed for the rest of his life, not knowing what he did.”
Lu Qinglai chuckled. This was something Zhou You had never told him. He saw these secrets as Zhou You’s trust and surprises for him.
“What did he do?” Lu Qinglai suddenly asked, “Did you manipulate him to kill someone?”
“No.” Zhou You shook his head, the light illuminating his straight nose and flashing eyes. “The situation was too urgent at the time. I didn’t have time to implant those concepts in his mind. I just destroyed him, and… I don’t know who those people were—a few guys camping in Luquan. They were very strong, I almost couldn’t handle it.”
But the anger and excitement of breaking out of the cage unprecedentedly strengthened his abilities. He keenly captured the gaps in these people’s “sea areas”—since it happened suddenly, most of the people in the camp were asleep, the most vulnerable time for the “sea area” defenses.
Zhou You easily infiltrated their “sea areas,” stirring up emotions of rage and chaos the moment he entered.
Lu Qinglai nodded, lighting up the uneven road ahead for Zhou You.
“You made those campers fight each other.” He admired, “Didn’t you think Xie Liang was there too, with his son and wife? This is quite a surprise.”
Zhou You laughed a few times.
“Some of the campers were on guard duty. They were hard to deal with,” he said more and more joyfully, recalling those days filled him with a sense of satisfaction. “But people are easily influenced by external factors. When they found out the people in the tents started fighting each other and people were dying, their emotions immediately changed. Anger and sorrow are gaps in the ‘sea area’.”
Lu Qinglai nodded again.
“I’m very good at seizing gaps. Finding the gaps, infiltrating, destroying the ‘sea area,’ and then attacking while they’re out of control. It’s simple.” Zhou You lowered his voice, “So, soon only Xie Liang was left.”
He hadn’t initially thought so much. What drove him to escape Warehouse No. 0 was nothing more than anger and fear.
But fate was too kind to him. It pushed Xie Liang’s family before him and let him later meet Lu Qinglai.
Lu Qinglai successfully gained Xie Zijing’s trust, which gave Zhou You an idea. As the years passed, this idea grew stronger until Lu Qinglai met Qin Ge during the mental adjustor exam.
A guide who could absorb the negative influences of the “sea area,” could he restore a damaged “sea area”?
Lu Qinglai knew Zhou You’s “sea area” was severely damaged. He told Zhou You this good news and strongly advised him: if Zhou You wanted Qin Ge’s help, Lu Qinglai was confident he could lure Qin Ge to Zhou You.
Zhou You refused. He quickly remembered the memories he saw in the fragments of Xie Zijing’s “sea area.”
Before Xie Zijing encountered the Luquan incident, he had many happy memories. The memories were incomplete, almost entirely destroyed by Zhou You. But he remembered that in a bright part of Xie Zijing’s memory, there appeared a young boy. Amidst the cheers in the stadium, Xie Zijing remembered a young guide named Yang Ge.
He looked very similar to Qin Ge on the registration form for the mental adjustor’s exam. Lu Qinglai even directly asked Qin Ge and found out he used to have the surname Yang.
Fate had piled all the puzzle pieces before Zhou You and Lu Qinglai. Zhou You was extremely excited. “Let Xie Zijing get involved with Qin Ge, shall we?” He trembled with excitement, pacing in Lu Qinglai’s office, his voice shaking. “Tell him he loves Qin Ge. Implant false memories in his ‘sea area,’ let him have a beautiful dream.”
If Xie Zijing was always immersed in the dream, he would eternally feel pain: the non-existent, false memories would deeply affect him, influencing every step of his long life. If he never met Qin Ge, he would be forever trapped in this unrealistic dream.
Lei Chi glanced at his watch.
Qin Yeishi and his team had been underground for almost two hours, with no interruption in communication. About an hour ago, Qin Yeishi informed him that they were preparing to transfer the still-living prisoners from Warehouse No. 0 and that he should have personnel ready to receive them.
Tang Cuo was pacing nervously. He couldn’t follow them into Warehouse No. 0 and could only wander nearby, filled with worry.
“They’re coming up,” Bai Xiaoyuan, sitting on a slope, called out to him. “Come over and chat with your sister.”
She had almost finished a bottle of wine, releasing belches and sand cats continuously.
“Alright, alright, stop drinking,” Lei Chi walked over and took the bottle from her hand. “The sand cats are enough.”
“Only two thousand,” Bai Xiaoyuan said. “I’m in good shape today; I can try for eight thousand.”
Lei Chi looked at her. “You just really want to drink, don’t you?”
Bai Xiaoyuan fell silent. At that moment, Tang Cuo and the others guarding the cave entrance suddenly became agitated.
“Stretcher!” Tang Cuo shouted. “Doctors!”
The waiting medical personnel immediately lifted the stretcher and rushed over.
A giant sawtooth shark approached the cave entrance, carrying three people on its back. Qin Yeishi emerged first, holding a thin person, followed closely by Qin Ge.
After placing the person on the stretcher, Qin Yeishi exhaled deeply.
The man was naked and emaciated to an extreme, truly skin and bones. His hair was long, seemingly never cut or washed, matted, and emitting a foul odor. His body was covered in scars, and his face was so dirty and black that it was impossible to see his features clearly. Only from his full head of white hair could one barely recognize that this was an elderly man.
Even more shocking was his posture on the stretcher. He seemed unable to straighten his back, with his hands and feet in a strange position, trembling as if curled up in a fetal position. The doctors tried to check his heartbeat and blood pressure, but he trembled violently and muttered incoherently as soon as they touched him, making indistinguishable sounds of either pain or resistance.
Bai Xiaoyuan and Tang Cuo also walked over, and everyone was stunned. Almost none of those present were familiar with the situation in Warehouse No. 0; no one had expected the “prisoners” to look like this.
Qin Ge had returned to the cave entrance, and now Xie Zijing had also emerged.
His expression was grim and terrifying, holding a shriveled corpse.
Qin Ge accompanied him to another stretcher. After placing the shriveled but intact corpse on the stretcher, Xie Zijing’s knees buckled, and he kneeled down. He hung his head, silent, his hands resting on his knees, trembling slightly.
The long hair rabbit slipped from Qin Ge’s hands into Xie Zijing’s arms, its little paws clutching Xie Zijing’s lapel like a slowly beating heart.
The warm presence enveloped Xie Zijing, making him feel a little better. Holding the Angora rabbit felt like holding Qin Ge’s heart. He leaned slightly against Qin Ge, breathing deeply to gather strength.
Gao Shu had not yet come up, and Tang Cuo looked around helplessly. Bai Xiaoyuan came over to Xie Zijing and Qin Ge, squatting down beside them at the stretcher. Several sand cats emerged from her, snuggling up to Xie Zijing.
The comfort made Xie Zijing feel a bit better.
When Qin Ge got up, he motioned for Bai Xiaoyuan to follow him, leaving Xie Zijing some space.
“Who are these two?” Bai Xiaoyuan asked as soon as they were away.
“The people Zhou You stuffed into Cell B0064,” Qin Ge said softly. “Xie Zijing’s parents.”
Bai Xiaoyuan was so shocked she couldn’t speak for a moment.
What Zhou You had done, Elephant and Rat knew very well. But they didn’t dare act or report it. The situation was extremely serious, and they were certain to face an investigation from the Special Management Committee. Zhou You first successfully persuaded Rat not to disclose the events, and Rat subsequently persuaded Elephant. The administrators handled the disposal of the bodies of the dead prisoners in Warehouse No. 0, disguising the incident as a failed escape attempt.
Exhausted as they were, Elephant and Rat couldn’t resist the highly excited Zhou You. When Zhou You wanted to leave, they couldn’t stop him.
“Zhou You made a deal with them,” Qin Ge told Bai Xiaoyuan. “They did what Zhou You wanted, and Zhou You would never tell a fourth person about what happened in Warehouse No. 0.”
“How…how could they agree to that?”
“Elephant said that Zhou You had already controlled Rat,” Qin Ge said softly. “But both Qin Yeishi and I believe that the one truly being controlled was Elephant. Rat died a year ago, supposedly by accident. In everything Elephant told us today, he was always innocent, and Rat was the one who made mistakes and was deceived by Zhou You. If that were the case, why did he stay here after his brother died? Why didn’t he report it truthfully to the Crisis Management Office? He claimed to be against it all, yet over the past year, he followed Zhou You’s instructions, maintaining the operation of Warehouse No. 0 without telling anyone that Zhou You had escaped.”
Bai Xiaoyuan understood. “Elephant is lying. He did something to his own brother…”
“We’re not sure. Further interrogation is needed,” Qin Ge said, glancing back at Xie Zijing. Xie Zijing had moved to his father’s stretcher, holding his father’s hand. In his company, Xie Liang’s resistance had significantly decreased.
What truly enraged them was what Zhou You had made Elephant and Rat do.
Locking Xie Liang and his dying wife in Cell B0064 and implanting the suggestion of “eating humans” in Xie Liang’s “sea area.” Zhou You’s malevolence was beyond their imagination; upon learning the truth, they first felt deep shock before anger.
Bai Xiaoyuan’s chest tightened. “But…”
She remembered the mummified body Xie Zijing had carefully placed on the stretcher. Perhaps due to the cell’s temperature and humidity, the body hadn’t decayed; its moisture had simply evaporated, leaving a dry, lifeless form.
But Bai Xiaoyuan saw clearly: the body was intact, with no signs of damage.
“Xie Liang didn’t harm the body,” Qin Ge said. “When we rescued him, he was still holding the body, refusing to let go.”
According to Elephant, Rat had followed Zhou You’s instructions and hadn’t given Xie Liang any food for several days. In extreme hunger and under the chaotic influence of his “sea area,” Xie Liang had looked at the body in his arms with a ravenous gaze.
He had even opened his mouth but ultimately only moved close to his wife’s cold cheek, lightly kissing her lifeless lips, and held his lover tightly in his chaotic state.
“Then he started gnawing on his own fingers,” Qin Ge said, glancing at his hands subconsciously. He suddenly felt pain. The pain was imaginary, yet it appeared so clearly on his body. Looking back, he saw Xie Zijing carefully wiping his father’s fingers with a damp cloth, removing the damaged nails and broken fingerprints.
The one truly in pain was Xie Zijing.
Bai Xiaoyuan bit her lip, tears filling her eyes. She couldn’t say a word, only sniffing repeatedly and not daring to look at Qin Ge. The sand cat wrapped its tail around her ankle, letting out a soft “meow.”
“He wasn’t defeated by Zhou You,” she suddenly said. “Zhou You…he can’t control everyone.”
Author’s Note:
Earlier, it was mentioned that when Zhou Yiqing brought X back from the Wangdu district, it was winter.
Rat (actually Elephant) hoped that X would find a place to survive the cold, long winter, hoping he would make new friends and learn new things. In fact, X had gained all of these.
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭