This room was somewhat unusual; the heavy sheepskin carpet had been rolled up and carelessly tossed into a corner, making the room appear quiet and spacious.
A waiter looked at the carpet and asked, "Butler, shall we cover the carpet up?"
The butler glanced at it and said, "No need, Your Highness doesn't like it. Please put it away."
The martyrs' cemetery now has more tombstones of various sizes.
Some graves contain an old object, while others only have a small name on the tombstone.
Next to a somewhat old tombstone at the very back, a brand new stone tablet was erected, with Tan Shu's name engraved on it.
The father and son's similar faces came together.
The inscription on the monument reads: "May they meet in eternity."
The medical center has passed its busiest period.
After completing his medical check-up, Burke arrived at the United Government Building.
He had lost a little weight, but his face lit up with a big smile as soon as he got off the aircraft.
"Dad!" His son rushed towards him.
"Hey." Burke picked up the child and lifted him high.
He held his son and spun around for a while, then smiled and looked at his wife beside him: "Didn't I tell you to go home and wait?"
"Mom said Dad will be busy from now on, so I want to spend more time with him," the boy said softly.
Burke kissed his son on the cheek and sighed, "Yeah, he'll be a captain from now on, and he'll have even fewer vacation days."
He talked with his wife and son downstairs for a while, then put his son down and said, "Okay, wait here for Dad for a bit."
Burke entered the building.
The state of war has not yet been lifted, and the Joint Administration Building is full of military personnel.
Many people greeted Burke along the way.
"Is your injury healed?"
"That's surprising, you've lost weight one day."
Burke responded to each question, then composed himself, swiped his card, and entered the military and political office.
The military and political personnel were already waiting. When they saw Burke handing him the prepared uniform and badge, they said, "Congratulations on your discharge from the hospital, General Burke."
Burke gave a military salute.
He missed the meeting where the collective investiture was held, so he could only come to collect his belongings at this time.
After getting his things, Burke did not leave.
"Is there anything else, Admiral Burke?" the staff member asked with a smile.
“I’ve come to retrieve my comrade Qin Chu’s marshal’s uniform,” Burke said.
The staff member paused, a faint sadness flashing across her face. But she quickly composed herself: "Okay, please wait a moment."
Inside the military sanatorium with its gates tightly closed.
A test is being conducted in a spacious hospital room.
Two medical staff and a recorder stood beside the projection screen.
The images on the screen are switching.
Some scenes depicted crowds and children reveling in celebration, while others showed scenes of utter devastation that were deeply shocking.
On the opposite side of the screen is a transparent glass wall.
Behind the wall is the real main part of the ward, with a pure white hospital bed against the wall, with matching bedding neatly folded on the bed, and a low table next to the bed with only a glass of water on it.
Near the glass wall, there was a round stool, on which sat a cold, indifferent figure.
He was wearing a hospital gown, which, though not a perfect fit, was stretched taut by his upright shoulders to resemble a military uniform. His slightly long hair fell to the back of his neck, and a dark red pattern on his skin could be faintly seen through the black strands.
The man had two electrode patches attached behind his ears, which were connected to an external instrument.
The images were still playing on the screen, but the man showed no interest, his indifferent gaze fixed on the closed window.
The ward is on the first floor.
There was a flowerbed outside, but it had been overgrown with weeds because no one had taken care of it. There seemed to be something else mixed in with the tender green grass, and as the breeze blew, the bright red flower stems were revealed.
A beast tide caused many things that belonged to a certain planet to cross countless light-years and take root and grow in other places.
Seeing that the person inside was not responding, the medical staff outside were somewhat frustrated.
Besides frustration, there was also an overwhelming sadness.
One of the doctors looked at the recorder.
The recorder shook his head as he stared at the data on the instrument.
The monitored emotional fluctuation values remained at zero, and the overall level barely reached the minimum standard for humans.
The screen then switched to another set of images, a real-life photo of an explosion scene that would be censored if released; it was extremely horrific.
Seeing that the person outside the window finally reacted, he turned his head to look at the screen, but there was no change on either his face or the instruments.
He simply said, "The pictures are in the wrong order."
At this moment, the younger medical staff member finally couldn't hold back anymore and turned away to hide the sorrow on her face.
The door opened, and a middle-aged man in a white coat walked in.
"How is the situation?" he asked.
"Are you Dr. Du De, who was transferred here today?" The medical staff in front of the screen walked over.
Upon hearing the name "Du De," the man who had been sitting quietly finally glanced in their direction, and the ripples on the instrument panel flickered slightly.
“There’s a response,” the recorder whispered. “He’s thinking.”
Looking at the people behind the glass wall, Dudley's feelings were also complicated.
Medical staff came over and retrieved all previous test data: "Marshal Qin Chu's consciousness was successfully separated, but the data processing took too long, and his emotions were severely lost. We are now unsure whether he is a human or artificial intelligence."
"Why is it still locked?" Dud glanced at the glass wall.
These walls are highly resistant to impact and are typically only found in the rooms of patients with extremely aggressive tendencies. But Qin Chu certainly doesn't seem aggressive right now.
The medical staff looked somewhat embarrassed: "We don't know why Marshal Qin Chu always wants to go out. The walls, doors, and windows in this room have been replaced fifteen times in the past month. He seems to have discovered that the test results are factors that can influence him to go out. In the previous tests, he even simulated normal emotions."
"Later we changed to a more detailed testing method, and the marshal stopped trying. But a couple of days ago, he tied up his attending physician... We had no choice but to isolate him."
Dud touched the top of his head: "Right, otherwise they wouldn't have called me over halfway through."
Dud walked a little further in and noticed that Qin Chu was looking at him.
That look was actually quite terrifying; it was devoid of any human emotion, the dark pupils resembling some kind of inorganic scanning device. Yet, you could also sense that he was pondering and calculating something.
Qin Chu walked around in front of the glass wall for a while, keeping his attention on it.
The medical staff were somewhat surprised: "He's not usually like this. Even when his comrades come to visit him, he doesn't pay this much attention to others."
After a moment of silence, Dudley tentatively asked Qin Chu, "Is there something you want to say to me?"
Qin Chu stared at him for a while, seemingly considering how to express himself in words.
After a long while, under the expectant gazes of everyone in the room, he finally asked, "Where is Levi?"
At that moment, Dud felt a heavy weight in his heart, so heavy that he could hardly speak.
After several attempts, he finally spoke, saying, "He is still undergoing treatment."
On the instrument next to it, the previously straight curve finally showed small peaks, undulating slightly.
Before getting close enough to watch, Dodd asked the recorder, "Pull up his emotional curve during normal times and compare it."
The recorder followed instructions.
The records that were retrieved were surprising, because even during Qin Chu's normal period, his emotional fluctuations were still near the minimum range of normal human beings, and even when his emotions fluctuated, they did not reach the average level of normal people.
But it's still much better than it is now.
After comparing the values for a while, Dudley scratched his sparse hair in frustration: "Logically speaking, this difference is within the normal range."
"Will Marshal Qin Chu recover?" someone asked.
“I don’t know,” Duds shook his head. “Because there’s no precedent.”
He looked through the documents for a while, then looked up at the person sitting behind the glass wall: "Keeping him locked up like this won't work. If he wants to go out, let him go out. Otherwise, if he demolishes the house one day, you won't be able to catch him."
“But…” The others hesitated.
If the Qin and Chu states currently exhibit antisocial tendencies, no one in the military is capable of stopping them.
“I’ll go apply for it,” Dud said.
The next day, Dodd opened the window in the glass wall.
He took out a pair of electronic handcuffs.
The people inside watched him quietly, showing no intention of coming over.
Dodd sighed and said, "You'll need to take this with you when you go to see Levy."
Qin Chu looked at him for a few more seconds.
Dud turned to the people behind him and explained, "He's getting used to how the human brain processes and transmits information. This kind of reaction is normal. If possible, you should try to talk to him as much as possible."
The other medical staff nodded.
As soon as Dud finished speaking, Qin Chu walked over, took the electronic handcuffs, and put them on himself.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and removed the wall.
Qin Chu ignored them as they were busy and walked straight out of the ward.
After he went outside, he paused for a moment, then turned to look at Dudley.
Dude was stunned for a moment before realizing what was happening. He walked over to Qin Chu and said, "Room 21 on the 3rd floor of Building B."
"Can I get there by myself?" he asked.
Qin Chu has already left.