"From now on, we need to perform better. There are many hidden cameras here, filming us from all angles without any blind spots," Tang Ruoqi said. "It might be for our debut short film, or it might be to prepare material for our first unscripted variety show."
So that's how it works. Yi Heye muttered to himself. He was certain that the meditative brainwashing he practiced had affected these people's minds. They seemed to have become less skeptical, more easily believing in simple scams, and more easily controlled by the conspiracy behind the screen.
At this moment, he felt that Tang Ruoqi might not be the most outstanding in terms of "business ability," but she was definitely the most obedient, the most compliant, and the one who trusted the entire system the most. That's why they were so confident in letting him come over.
It looks like it will take some effort to take him out in the future.
The AIs leading the way pushed open the door in front of them, and a suffocating, damp, musty smell made Yi Heye frown.
Before them was a cramped factory building, dimly lit, with only rows of dark rooms visible on either side.
The feeling of being in a prison cell—this same feeling that had crept into Yi Heye's heart once again after the first "test"—his intuition told him that something very bad was about to happen.
Even in the face of such a bizarre and strange environment, Tang Ruoqi maintained his astonishing optimism: "Oh, it seems to be a horror theme. The atmosphere is really great. The production team put a lot of effort into it!"
Yi Heye was furious, but dared not speak out, so he could only use the acting skills of a professional actor to deal with it: "Yes, it really looks sinister."
Fearing that Tang Ruoqi would wander off alone, Yi Heye forced himself to act again: "Senior, don't abandon me. I'm timid, I'm scared."
Tang Ruoqi immediately picked up this persona, puffed out her chest even more, and exuded a strong sense of security: "Don't worry, just stay behind me."
After confirming that the guy wouldn't run away, Yi Heye breathed a sigh of relief and began to concentrate on observing the surrounding environment.
After the two entered the factory, the gate behind them slowly closed, and Yi Heye heard a clear locking sound.
The next second, the AI that brought them to the scene rushed over and put handcuffs and shackles on the two of them.
Yi Heye knew that they really couldn't escape at this moment, but Tang Ruoqi forced a smile and said, "The staff are too dedicated, but this is no problem for me at all."
Yi Heye didn't want to say another word to him. He couldn't bear to steal Tang Ruoqi's spotlight, so he could only lower his head and willingly play the role of a cowardly supporting character to highlight Tang Ruoqi's bravery and fearlessness.
Having recovered from the AI's brutal approach, Yi Heye blinked and looked at the factory in front of him.
Having just entered from the glaring sunlight and deafening noise of the outside world, neither of them had fully adjusted to the sudden darkness and deathly silence of the world. Then, Yi Heye heard a rustling sound coming from the rooms on both sides of the corridor.
Before he could even turn his head to look, Tang Ruoqi, who was blocking his way, visibly froze in her tracks.
Following his gaze, Yi Heye saw the first door on the left—not too far off from his guess. This was not a warehouse room, but more like an open display case.
Behind the transparent glass door was a huge, straight cylindrical petri dish. Inside, a naked adult male was curled up and immersed in the dish. His body was covered with tubes, like an infant lying in the womb, connected to the mother by these tubes.
Under the stark white light, the man's skin appeared a lifeless, deathly gray. This made him look less than human, but the occasional bubbles rising from the nutrient solution seemed to prove that the body was breathing.
"The props on the show are so realistic." Tang Ruoqi forced a smile as she was being pushed forward by the AI. "Even I get a little creeped out."
Yi Heye frowned and remained silent. In the brief moment of rushing past, he noticed the label on the petri dish.
The label above the body listed basic information: "Number: 027, Gender: Male, Biological Age: 27, Height: 182cm, Weight: 78kg, Race: Asian, Underlying Medical Conditions: None..."
The line below gave Yi Heye a very bad feeling: "Good product, already reserved, temporarily stored."
What the hell does this mean? Although Yi Heye had strong doubts in his mind, he actually already had a vague answer to it.
Under the AI's surveillance, Yi Heye slowed his pace as much as possible, quickly observing the status of each room on both sides of the corridor—
The rows of rooms on both sides are filled with similar display cases, but what's chilling is that in addition to this complete body, there are even more bizarre "exhibits".
The third room on the left contained a bunch of small jars, in which floated eyeballs of different sizes and colors.
Yi Heye examined it carefully and discovered that they had even prepared labels and descriptions based on different eye colors, and even included some "product introductions"—
"Extremely rare lapis lazuli purple is a symbol of nobility and mystery," "Passionate orange-red, like a wisp of cloud on the horizon, brings a different kind of color to life," "Refreshing azure blue, like a dream at first glance, sinking into the deep sea"...
This made Yi Heye feel somewhat physically uncomfortable, but then he thought, perhaps this is an artificial eye made of glass?
But the next second after that thought arose, he saw another line of text: "This batch is all harvested live, ensuring the most original colors and excellent visual appeal."
The words "live harvesting" caught his eye, and the implications were obvious. He felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively held his breath.
If I remember correctly, modern medical technology does not support the transplantation of the entire eyeball. In other words, these eyes are taken from a living person and cannot be transplanted into another person's eye socket to restore their sight.
If they're not for organ transplants, then what are they harvested for? To satisfy a particular fetish for collecting? Or...?
Before he could figure anything out, Yi Heye saw the scene in the next room.
There were no strange petri dishes here, only a tape recorder playing audio quietly—
"And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness..."
Yi Heye doesn't understand English, but that doesn't mean he can't remember the same sentence even if it's said to him twice.
He turned his head in surprise and asked Tang Ruoqi, whose face had already turned somewhat pale, "Senior... this isn't what you read in class...?"
Tang Ruoqi smiled somewhat stiffly, "It was the passage I read, but it wasn't my voice—Xiao Yi, have you forgotten again? Isn't this the text from the basic classwork assignment...?"
Yi Heye couldn't hear the second half of the sentence at all, because the recording had changed. It was still the same text, but this time it was Tang Ruoqi herself who spoke.
Above the tape recorder, a scrolling electronic screen displays a description of each recording in real time.
"Number 046, a clean and clear voice can bring joy, while a slight graininess gives this voice a unique quality..."
"Number 047, deep and magnetic like the waves of the west coast, refreshing and expansive, as if it broadens the viewer's horizon. I believe no one can resist such a languid and sensual presence..."
Yi Heye gasped. He couldn't understand the purpose of exhibiting these voices. If they were just individual perverts, was it really necessary to mass-produce them on such a large scale? But if it was for sale—how could voices be sold?
Each of the following rooms "exhibited" different "items." Besides concrete "body parts" like these, there was another room with items that looked very abstract—
These are rows of neatly stacked USB drives, placed in different boxes according to their partitions, looking just like a lipstick display case in a shopping mall.
Several large boxes were labeled with words related to emotions such as "joy," "sadness," "anger," and "expectation," and each box contained a full set of USB drives with different serial numbers.
If you look closely, there's a line of smaller print: "Achieving orgasm during sex 01", "Achieving orgasm during sex 02", "My pet dog passed away", "I ate some bad noodles", and so on.
Looking at the rows of USB drives of various shapes and sizes, Yi Heye suddenly remembered the highly toxic drug Lost Lamb that was spread through USB drives in the previous case. He connected what he had seen and heard with the row of USB drives, and a conjecture gradually took shape in his mind.
He walked a distance of 108,000 miles down this corridor, probably because they were confident that he wouldn't run away or resist. The AIs on both sides just let him dawdle along the way.
As they walked to the end of the corridor and turned the corner, a familiar face stood before them.
At this moment, when an acquaintance appeared, Yi Heye would naturally hope that it was Jian Yunxian. However, things never go as planned. The person standing in front of him with a smile was Lao Qin, who had recently lost his murder weapon.
Yi Heye subconsciously took a step back. In the blink of an eye, Tang Ruoqi was taken away by another person who had arrived, while he was pushed directly into a room in front of him.
Before he could react, a strong smell of alcohol filled the room. Looking up, he saw three words written on the ceiling:
"Inspection Room".
Author's Note:
Old Qin, haven't you learned your lesson yet?
Chapter 110, number 110
Compared to the empty and quiet place on Yi Heye's side, Xiao Liu and his group, who entered through another side door, experienced a completely different, "lively and bustling" scene.
They didn't receive the gentle treatment of "qualified products," nor did they receive a "debut variety show script" like Tang Ruoqi. As soon as they entered, they were like a group of livestock waiting to be slaughtered, directly controlled by a group of AI that swarmed up to them.
Xiao Liu felt a sudden dizziness, and just as he was about to struggle, he felt a burning pain like an electric current piercing the back of his neck. The next second, his body went limp.
The electric shock caused Xiao Liu to lose consciousness, but it did not affect Lucky Bear's normal work.
The surveillance footage only jolted a few times following Xiao Liu's movements before diligently continuing to record his misdeeds.
After the scene in front of them was turned upside down, it underwent another dramatic upheaval. Then, the group was roughly thrown into a room with a sign on the door that read "Quality Inspection and Grade Evaluation".
This seemed to be an assembly line workshop. Several unconscious people were placed on an inspection bed like products just coming off the factory. As the conveyor belt under the bed pushed them one after another, they were pushed into a darkroom.
Fortunately, Pei Xiangjin had prepared top-of-the-line equipment for this mission, so even in a completely dark room, he could clearly see everything happening around him.
They were wheeled into a fully automated scanner with no blind spots. As soon as they entered, a bunch of probes scanned them. Soon, the detection screen displayed their height, weight, body shape, and other data—this should be the most basic external morphological scan.
We quickly entered the next room, where we found rapid medical examination equipment commonly used in modern hospitals. This equipment can detect obvious physical defects, as well as large lesions, tumors, deformities, and so on.
Xiao Liu's line reads: "Fractured left ankle, which may cause permanent mobility impairment."
The results for the two people standing nearby were: "No obvious organic abnormalities".
Next, the data from several individuals was transmitted to the central processing system, where facial scans were used to match each trainee's performance during their company training.
"Popularity assessment: Failed; Body shape data: Qualified; Health status: 83 points; Overall assessment result: Failed to meet the qualified standard; Handling suggestion: Split and use separately."
The other two cases, which did not show any obvious organic abnormalities, were advised to consider using the whole treatment.
This line of text made Pei Xiangjin hold his breath, and he could almost imagine the true intention behind this "splitting".
Seeing this, the opposing action team couldn't sit still any longer: "Captain Pei, should we set off now?"
Pei Xiangjin, watching from the other end of the monitor, remained silent in thought—the people he had dispatched had already arrived at the scene, but the most pressing issue now was how to seize the right moment for the rescue.
If the rescue is not timely, these three people are very likely to be killed. If we rush in too early and alert the enemy, what will happen to the remaining missing people?
Just as he was in a state of great distress, the three people who had completed their medical examinations were carried away with a loud rumble.
Pei Xiangjin remained silent, watching as they were lifted onto a handcart. Then, Xiao Liu was taken to a room marked "Fasting Room," while the other two were sent to the "Feeding Center."
Just those few words sent chills down Pei Xiangjin's spine. The moment the door to the "fasting room" opened, even Yu Yili on the other side of the monitor couldn't help but gasp.
The huge room in front of him was not empty as he had imagined, but bustling with people.
The people there are slightly different from the all-male composition of the company; there are both men and women, but they are still mostly young, beautiful, and good-looking.
At first glance, the scene appeared chaotic and crowded, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that everyone was patiently queuing. The room, which housed hundreds of people, was separated by rows of U-shaped queuing barriers. As Xiao Liu entered the room, the queue moved forward slightly.
Faced with the suddenly opened door, the people near the door slowly turned around, only to be met with empty gazes.
Most of them looked extremely exhausted; some were pale and emaciated, while others had bulging eyes, indicating that they had not eaten for some time.
Inside the completely enclosed room, apart from the buckets labeled "salt water" along the railings, there seemed to be nothing else.
After a long silence, Yu Yili couldn't help but say, "Captain Pei, do you know what this reminds me of?"
Pei Xiangjin looked at him, feeling a little afraid of what he was about to say.
“The slaughterhouse,” Yu Yili answered. “Before slaughtering, the pigs will stop eating and rest for half a day to a day. During this period, they will be provided with enough salt water to ensure that the pigs can carry out normal physiological activities, regulate their body temperature, and promote excretion so that they can be bled during slaughter.”
Pei Xiangjin gasped – his hunch was right.
At this moment, Xiao Liu, who had been completely unconscious from the electric shock, slowly woke up. He slowly got up, and the camera finally focused on the transparent glass wall in front of him.
As if intentionally showing them, the process they would face next was just outside the glass wall in front of them.
Xiao Liu watched helplessly as the people at the very front of the line, closest to the glass door, entered the glass room. Under the machine's force, they stripped naked, and then their limbs were controlled by several robotic arms, spread out in a spread-eagle position.
Once everything was ready, a showerhead extended from above their heads, spraying them with high-pressure water and forcing the dazed group of people back to their senses.