He instinctively wanted to turn around and look downstairs, but Xia Tian, who had rushed over, pulled him away.
"Don't look, brother..." The boy's voice trembled, and tears were about to stream down his face, but he firmly pulled Yi Heye away from the fence. "No, you'll have nightmares..."
The crackling sound of flesh exploding still echoed in Yi Heye's mind. He suppressed the urge to vomit and turned back to follow Xia Tian.
Seeing his fingertips still trembling, Xia Tian wiped away her tears and comforted him, "Don't be sad, brother... it's all fate... it was destined that he would die on this day..."
Yi Heye sighed, but could only accept Xia Tian's superstitious explanation.
The two walked silently into the teaching building and found the classroom designated for meditation.
This classroom is a large hall with no tables or chairs, only cushions laid on the floor.
At this moment, the classroom was almost full of people, and the two of them finally found an empty seat.
After Yi Heye sat down on the ground, he began to look around at the students. They were in different states. Some, like Xia Tian, were still immersed in grief and pain when they first arrived, while others had become numb after staying for a long time.
To Yi Heye's right was a young man in excellent condition and full of energy. He looked like an outstanding college student who would actively answer questions in class, and his eyes and demeanor revealed a thirst for knowledge.
At this moment, he was chatting with the person in front of him. Judging from the content of his conversation, he was extremely optimistic and longed for a better future.
"If I grit my teeth and persevere when everyone else is hesitating, I will definitely stand out and become the ultimate winner," the young man said.
These words earned him a huge eye roll from Xia Tian, the master of giving up, and a heartfelt "idiot." Yi Heye didn't say anything, only looking at the lecturer walking over from the podium.
The lecturer was an ordinary-looking man, almost invisible among a group of handsome men, but that didn't stop him from completely subduing and silencing the hundred or so handsome men in the audience as soon as he stepped onto the stage.
Yi Heye looked up and secretly sized him up for a long time, but couldn't figure out anything.
Since it was a practice session, there wasn't much explanation in the classroom. After briefly introducing the basic principles of "meditation," I began guiding everyone into a meditative state.
The instructor's calm, even voice rang out: "Now, please take the brain-computer interface from your meditation mats and connect to yourselves."
Under the instructor's guidance, Yi Heye discovered that a brain-computer interface was connected to the side of his meditation mat, which was essentially a portable mini-computer.
Yi Heye became alert—he was extremely wary of anything that required brain-computer interfaces, especially in a place like this.
Seemingly noticing some hesitation, the instructor explained, "Next, we will use some music and mental videos to conduct immersive meditation."
This means that the computer is used to play songs and videos.
The experienced trainees had already completed the connection skillfully, and even the more timid new trainees started to follow suit and plug in the plugs.
Yi Heye hid himself in the crowd, clutching the plug tightly, but refusing to probe behind his ear even slightly.
Brain-computer interfaces are a very private matter for both humans and AI, and my intuition tells me that doing so would be extremely dangerous.
But at that moment, the lecturer's gaze had already swept over him, and it seemed that he was about to walk aggressively towards him in the next second.
It seemed there was no other way to continue the mission. Yi Heye took a deep breath, brushed the hair behind his ear, and inserted the plug.
Perhaps because his technique had become more proficient, Yi Heye only felt a slight discomfort in his ear this time, and the pain was not unbearable.
He was the last one in the class to plug in the power cord. As soon as he finished, the lecturer's voice rang out, "Now, please close your eyes."
Yi Heye closed his eyes uneasily, and the world went dark.
"Follow my rhythm, take a deep breath—" the instructor said, "Inhale, exhale..."
Yi Heye took two very perfunctory breaths.
He didn't want to follow his mentor's pace at all; he was afraid of being led into a passive environment.
"The eyes in your mind slowly open," the instructor said. "You have entered a world filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers."
"Before you is a butterfly, and a flower, and the melodious chirping of birds fills your ears..."
At this point, Yi Heye felt something was wrong. He quietly opened his eyes and found that the expressions of the people around him had become very relaxed. Xia Tian, who was next to him, couldn't help but reach out and make a gesture as if he was catching a butterfly.
Their brain-computer interfaces should have images, Yi Heye checked again—his interface had no images, no sound, just pitch black and quiet, as if it hadn't been activated at all.
What happened? Is the instrument broken?
Just as Yi Heye was feeling fortunate to have escaped a disaster, a soft sound suddenly came from his ear, startling him—it wasn't the sound coming from the earpiece, but from the brain-computer interface.
Yi Heye tensed up, deciding that if anything went wrong, he would immediately unplug the device. The next second, that familiar voice came through the headset.
"Shh, don't make a sound." Jian Yunxian's gentle and magnetic voice directly stimulated his cerebral cortex, making Yi Heye feel numb all over.
He knew this was his "exclusive perk," and in order not to show anything unusual, he could only close his eyes, adjust his breathing, and force himself to act as if nothing had happened.
"How about your partner comes to class with you?" Jian Yun asked casually.
Author's Note:
Wow, you've got some nerve, haven't you? (Slams table)
Chapter 101, number 101
Upon hearing this, Yi Heye opened his eyes abruptly, only to meet the lecturer's scrutinizing gaze. He then hurriedly closed his eyes again.
The chaos of the moment was all seen by Jian Yunxian, which earned him a low laugh that made Yi Heye's ears burn.
Oh shit.
Yi Heye lowered his head, his mind a complete mess—it seemed this guy had overheard his casual remark to Xia Tian.
“If you don’t deny it, I’ll take that as a yes,” Jian Yunxian said with a smile.
"Damn it," Yi Heye cursed inwardly—isn't this just taking advantage of the fact that I can't speak?
He dared not make a loud noise, and could only quietly clench his fists to express his indignation, while his mind couldn't help but race with thoughts—
What are you not denying? Are you referring to your partner? Or are you implicitly acknowledging that you attended the class with him? That's a huge difference!
What's most annoying is that this guy never speaks clearly, leaving a lot of room for imagination for me to interpret. If I say too little, I'm afraid I won't understand the meaning; if I say too much, I'm afraid I'll be presumptuous.
In short, he kept the hardest questions for himself; cunning, extremely cunning.
What's infuriating is that this guy is not only cunning but also incredibly despicable. Taking advantage of his inability to speak, he starts to act recklessly and without restraint.
At this moment, with his eyes closed, Yi Heye could see nothing but hear the rustling sounds coming from inside his head.
The sound was just like the normal sound of touching a microphone during a live chat, but because it was transmitted directly into the cerebral cortex, the sensation of that touch that went straight to the bone made Yi Heye tremble all over.
At first, Yi Heye thought it was an unintentional touch, but after waiting for a long time, he found that the sound was getting louder and louder.
He discovered that the guy was doing it on purpose.
Yi Heye rarely uses brain-computer interfaces, and he almost never has a time to focus on feeling intracranial contact like this. This makes him extremely sensitive to Jian Yunxian's words, sounds, and even his breathing when he gets close.
A tingling, slightly warm sensation, along with an indescribable ecstasy, made Yi Heye's breathing quicken and his body go limp.
Although I don't want to admit it, it feels like... when... you know... it's like... you know.
After having this association, Yi Heye became even more restless, which made him somewhat irritable—he wanted to reach into his brain and tear Jian Yunxian to shreds.
Just as his patience reached its limit under the man's provocation, the rustling sounds in his mind abruptly stopped.
This feeling was like being on the verge of... well, you know... but being forced to stop just a second away. It made Yi Heye feel a lump in his throat, unable to go up or down, driving him crazy with discomfort.
Damn it, Yi Heye vividly pictured himself breaking Jian Yunxian's fingers in his mind, hoping to intimidate this parasite in his brain.
As a result, the woodworms completely failed to grasp his anger and remained as carefree as if nothing had happened.
"Let's see what the students are doing now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yi Heye's pitch-black vision was illuminated. At this moment, even with his eyes closed, he could clearly see every corner of the classroom in his mind.
Jian Yunxian likely connected the classroom's surveillance footage directly to his interface, allowing the images to form directly in his mind.
Yi Heye had been somewhat absent-minded, but the moment he saw the image, he immediately became serious again.
They were still sitting cross-legged on the meditation mats with their eyes closed, just like before. Individually, each of them seemed fine, but from the perspective of a monitor, it sent a chill down Yi Heye's spine.
These hundred or so people, who were just showing various expressions and movements in the music and videos, are now as if they have suddenly fallen asleep, and they are all motionless.
Without exception, they were all expressionless. In the summer of last year, when they could never hold back their tears, their facial expressions were completely relaxed at this moment.
Looking closer, it's less like they're asleep and more like they're dead—there's no life in them, like empty shells stripped of their souls, lifelessly placed throughout the classroom.
Looking at the faces of these living dead, Yi Heye instantly felt the atmosphere in the entire classroom become sinister.
Yi Heye knew that the meditation just now must have caused this situation. The lecturer must have implanted something in their minds, at least for the moment, making everyone unconscious.
In such an environment, Yi Heye dared not show any abnormality. He suppressed his tension and tried his best to keep his expression from revealing anything unusual.
The air seemed to freeze.
Yi Heye even suspected that the people around him had stopped breathing. He didn't know what state they were in, so he could only wait quietly.
At this moment, the lecturer on the stage had come down and was checking on the students one by one. Yi Heye held his breath, afraid that his expression would show any abnormality.
As the footsteps drew closer, Yi Heye felt his whole body tense up—although his professionalism made it almost impossible for him to show any tension, it was virtually impossible for a living person to achieve the same expression and state as them.
This worry made his palms sweat. Just a second before the lecturer walked up to him, Jian Yunxian's voice suddenly rang out: "Let me help you relax, don't be afraid."
As soon as he finished speaking, the scene before Yi Heye's eyes went black again. Then, a sheep's bleating echoed from the depths of his mind, followed by more bleating sounds.
Yi Heye subconsciously looked in the direction of the sound and saw a lush green hillside rising at the end of the dark horizon.
As the bleating grew louder, a white dot appeared on the hilltop, followed by a white wave surging and crashing in from afar.
Yi Heye opened his eyes wide and saw thousands of sheep galloping down the mountain—green grass, blue sky, white sheep, the scene was surprisingly pleasing to the eye.
Yi Heye stood at a distance, motionless, watching the flock of sheep frolic until the white waves rushed from one end to the other, and the scene before him gradually darkened.
The camera switched back to the classroom monitor, where the lecturer had already walked past him.
Yi Heye knew that when Jian Yunxian showed him the sheep, he was no different from the others, at least in terms of his behavior.
It was a false alarm—just as Yi Heye breathed a sigh of relief, he heard Jian Yunxian ask, "Were you feeling unwell anywhere just now?"
Unable to speak, Yi Heye could only make a small gesture to indicate "OK".
Jian Yunxian breathed a sigh of relief: "Forcibly severing consciousness is very harmful to the body, so we played some images to reduce discomfort. It's better to try to do it less often next time..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yi Heye heard a slight commotion around him. Looking around, he saw that the hundred or so people who had been like the dead were now gradually coming back to their senses.
Most of them did not look happy; some were rubbing their temples, some were frowning, and some had tears in their eyes, clearly indicating that they were experiencing significant physical discomfort.
"Ugh..." Someone behind me gagged, and there were also muffled coughs in the room.
Yi Heye also felt a belated headache, but it wasn't nearly as bad as theirs—it seemed the lambs on the hillside had indeed worked.