He was wearing a white lab coat, but Chen Xiao noticed his legs...
He no longer has legs; below the knees are two metal prosthetics!
Old Tian sighed, looked at the person in the wheelchair, and smiled: "We meet again. I didn't expect you to come and greet us in person."
"Don't flatter yourself," the wheelchair-bound man said indifferently. "I have absolutely no interest in you. If it were just you alone, I wouldn't even bother to say a word to you. What interests me is this little guy you brought along."
Then, he pressed a button on the armrest of his wheelchair, and quickly, the wall to Lao Tian's right cracked open again, revealing a space resembling an elevator lobby.
"You can leave now." The wheelchair-bound man's tone was cold and harsh. "Don't waste my time. This kid is mine. I'll return him to you intact in forty-eight hours."
Surprisingly, Lao Tian didn't refuse. He laughed and gave Chen Xiao a reassuring look before striding into the elevator. The walls closed, and he disappeared.
Chen Xiao couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
"Your heart is starting to race." A cold smile appeared on the wheelchair-bound man's lips. "The holographic scanner can sense your accelerated heartbeat and rising blood pressure... What are you afraid of?"
“I’m just worried that you might turn me into a guinea pig,” Chen Xiao replied.
"Don't worry. I won't." The wheelchair-bound man shook his head, but his eyes were filled with a strange look as he looked at Chen Xiaodi: "First, you are not a guinea pig. Second, in my eyes, you are far more valuable than a guinea pig. Even if all the rats in the world were added together, their value would not be as much as yours alone."
Uh... is that last sentence a compliment?
The wheelchair-bound man yawned and said lazily, "I know that, from a human perspective, anyone coming here for the first time will feel curious about this place. Even if I stop you, you'll still have a lot of questions. So... you see, I'm a very open-minded person. I'll give you three minutes to ask your questions, and I'll answer them. In three minutes, I'll satisfy your curiosity. After three minutes, no more gossip. Understand?"
He sneered twice: "Start the timer now."
"..." Chen Xiao hesitated for a moment: "Who are you?"
“People from the service company.” The wheelchair-bound oddball chuckled dismissively. “Your first question was rather unsophisticated, but I don’t mind.”
"So... are we still on the island?"
“Of course.” The wheelchair-bound man sneered. “I don’t know teleportation magic… so you, me, and we are all still on the island. Ah. You mean you’re amazed by the view outside the window?”
He even smiled more politely: "I'm sorry, I almost forgot. You are a guest from the East, and I should treat you in an Eastern style."
After saying that, he raised another finger and pressed a button on the armrest...
Silently, to Chen Xiao's astonishment, the walls, floors, ceilings, and even the windows all around him rapidly flipped up and down!
It's just like a Rubik's Cube.
Ten seconds later, Chen Xiao found that his location had completely changed!
Just moments ago, I felt as if I were in a medieval European castle, but now…
Looking around, there are pavilions and towers on both sides, with carved railings and jade beams! Antique screens, brick and wood structures... it's all in the architectural style of ancient Chinese palaces!
There were still windows nearby. But looking out, the valleys, rivers, and castles that had been there just moments before were gone!
Outside was a vast, empty square, with the majestic ancient Chinese palace in the distance, its dragon carvings, red walls and green tiles... Chen Xiao was awestruck! He couldn't help but reach out to touch a relief carving of a dragon's head beside him.
“I told you, if I were you, I wouldn’t have done that—reached out to touch it.” After the wheelchair-bound man finished speaking, the wheelchair turned around and then gently glided away down the corridor.
Chen Xiao quickly followed.
How did you do that?
"Technology, kid, everything is a product of technology." The wheelchair-bound man didn't even turn his head. He said calmly, "It's simple. Everything you see is an illusion... a holographic, three-dimensional virtual projection. Everything is fake—the palace, the castle, the view outside the window, the carvings... everything is fake."
"Holographic three-dimensional virtual scene..." Chen Xiao murmured a few words.
"It's very simple. Anyone would go crazy if they were confined to this place year-round. So we have to create these views... to make people feel more cheerful. I've designed dozens of different views outside the windows here, Chinese style, Western style, ancient style, modern style... oh. I've also made some interesting modifications. If I wanted, I could bring the view of Manhattan, New York, to my window."
Chen Xiao swallowed hard.
"There are only two sets of this equipment in the world. I have one here, and NAS in the United States has one. Their set is specifically used to train astronauts on the space station in order to eliminate the mental stress that astronauts experience while working on the space station for a long time. However... their set is a semi-finished product that I made twenty years ago."
Chen Xiao: "..."
Chen Xiao used to think that his parents were a pair of mad scientists.
But now that I see this guy in a wheelchair... he's the real mad scientist!
"Do you have any other questions? Enough of this idle chatter."
"Last one... May I ask your name?"
“Another question with no technical content.” The wheelchair-bound oddball yawned again. “Human curiosity is always low-level… Okay, I’ll satisfy you this once and for all. My name is Scott Feld, chief member of the Service Corporation’s research institute.”
He then sneered, "Now, come with me, my human guinea pig."
Chen Xiao followed Shi Gaofei with some trepidation. Soon, the two turned into the corridor and arrived at the gate of a classical Chinese palace—no need to ask, these were all illusions.
When the door opened, Chen Xiao was surprised to find that in the center of the room was a throne that looked like the one used by emperors in ancient China—a dragon throne!
Shi Gaofei pointed to the dragon throne, "Sit on it."
"Huh?" Chen Xiao couldn't help but ask.
“Illusion, kid, remember my words, illusion!” Shi Gaofei said impatiently. “It looks like a wheelchair now, but if I wanted, I could turn it into what you see as an electric chair for death row inmates anytime! But its true nature is a machine that measures your entire body’s data. Understand? Now, you sit in this damn chair, and from this very second, you are not allowed to speak! Unless I ask you, if you utter a single word, I guarantee you’ll regret it. Here, you do whatever I say. Understand?”
He seemed very agitated: "Now, sit down! Shut your mouth."
Chapter Ninety-Two: Repression – Purification
Chen Xiao hesitated for a moment, but finally walked over silently and sat on the "dragon throne".