The "preparations" Lu Qing mentioned included not only comprehensive surveillance, but also the gun that Yi Heye had seen last time. This was beyond what an ordinary person could "prepare" for, and Yi Heye was no exception.
“But we still can’t hold on any longer…” Lu Qing’s voice began to tremble as she said this, “No matter where we move, they can find us. Yesterday, our aircraft was almost shot down from the sky. We haven’t had a single good night’s sleep in a while. Aqi is emotionally devastated right now. I don’t know how long we can live…”
Yi Heye listened to everything in silence, seemingly unsurprised by her situation. He spoke calmly, "You escaped from Area E, right?"
Lu Qing was stunned and didn't dare to answer because he didn't expect him to ask such a sensitive question right away.
Yi Heye continued, showing no politeness whatsoever: "The tattoo on your back is to cover up the E-sector markings. As a non-civil servant, you were able to obtain a large number of guns. This channel is probably not something that ordinary people can access."
Seeing that Lu Qing remained silent, Yi Heye said coldly, "If you don't need help, you don't have to admit it."
“Yes.” Upon hearing this, Lu Qing finally panicked. “Yes, we escaped from Sector E. I used to…”
Yi Heye didn't want to hear their tragic stories of what they had experienced in the past or why they were imprisoned. He simply interrupted them gently, asking, "Where are you? Who's around?"
Lu Qing's voice trembled with excitement: "Shui Yuntian in District D, they're downstairs now, armed, and it seems they've already come up here. We don't know how long we can hold out..."
Yi Heye replied, "I'll be there right away."
Based on Yi Heye's habits, he naturally prefers to fight alone. Normally, let alone a dozen AIs, even a whole train carriage full of armed men, Yi Heye is confident that he can easily handle them all by himself.
But he had just left the shooting range, and the sensation of holding the gun handle in his hand had not yet faded; his fingertips were still trembling slightly.
He sighed, cursed himself for being useless, and then, with utter desperation, dialed Director Li's number:
"Hello? Director Li, a member of the public reported to the police that they were surrounded by more than a dozen AIs. I'm afraid I can't handle it by myself. Could you please send some people to help me?"
Director Li remained silent for only a moment. He didn't ask where the people who contacted Yi Heye came from, nor did he ask why he couldn't even handle a dozen or so AIs now. He immediately said, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away. You can update the relevant information in a timely manner."
In just a short while, the two hunters who were on standby at the unit were ready to go and met up with Yi Heye.
Yi Heye discovered that, apart from a few leaders he frequently encountered, he didn't really know many people in his workplace.
The two older hunters were quite polite and greeted Yi Heye. Yi Heye nodded and briefly explained the case.
After explaining, Yi Heye fastened his equipment, hesitated for a moment, and then added, "It's like this, I was injured in a previous mission..."
"Understood," the hunter surnamed Sun nodded. "Leave it to me and Old Chen."
For official business trips, the bureau provides dedicated service vehicles, which are not subject to air traffic control and allow them to reach the scene as quickly as possible.
Shuiyuntian is a leisure club on the central street. The first and second floors are a teahouse and a billiards room, while the third floor is for long-term accommodation.
After arriving at the scene, the three people immediately used a survey robot to confirm the environment.
"Twelve AIs are concentrated in the third-floor corridor and are forcibly demolishing room 309. The guests on the same floor have already evacuated, and there are no other safety hazards."
After Lao Chen finished reporting the situation, the three of them directly surrounded the building from both sides and entered the floor.
Yi Heye, who habitually rushed to the front, hesitated for a moment this time and simply followed behind Lao Sun.
These two seem reliable, after all, they were recruited into the bureau through assessments, so Yi Heye is fairly at ease with them.
Actually, what he was most worried about was himself. That shooting training session had completely shattered his confidence, and he didn't even know if he would ever be able to pick up a gun again and be competent in this job.
Upon entering the third floor, a deafening banging on the door echoed from the end of the corridor. The AI at the front was brandishing an axe and hacking wildly at the doorknob.
Fortunately, sturdy metal doors are now widely used, providing temporary protection for Lu Qing and his companion against attacks.
Even so, the powerful offensive was still breathtaking.
After quickly assessing the situation, the three immediately began to move according to the original plan. The more mobile Lao Chen was responsible for the east side, while the older Lao Sun led Yi Heye, who was covering the rear, to the west side.
Yi Heye hid behind Lao Sun, feeling a little sad—why did he used to need to be so careful in making plans, flanking from both sides, and being protected by others? Once the bullets in his gun were loaded, the AIs in this corridor would reach their mandatory decommissioning deadline.
With a confirmation gesture from the other side, both sides immediately began to act. The moment the AIs on both sides noticed the situation and turned around, they were immediately shot by Old Sun.
A muffled thud exploded in his mind, and Yi He felt a sudden, irrational unease. Images he shouldn't have recalled attacked him wildly in an instant. At that moment, the nearest AI collapsed, and his eyes began to turn white.
"Bang!" Another shot rang out. It was Old Chen who fired the gun. Before Yi Heye could even think of anything, his stomach began to spasm—he felt like vomiting.
But this is just the beginning. Of the twelve AIs in this corridor, excluding those that were missed or couldn't be killed with a single shot, Yi Heye's tribulation journey has only just passed two-twelfths.
Amidst the hail of bullets, Yi Heye felt as if he was being drained dry—he thought he was just too afraid to fire, but he didn't expect that just hearing the gunshots would make him almost unable to hold on.
He was drenched in cold sweat, leaning against the wall as he looked at the battlefield before him—Old Li and Old Sun were decent in ability and their basic skills were up to par, but their reactions and movements were too slow, leaving them vulnerable all over. Fortunately, the enemy's level wasn't high either; they were probably civilian functional AIs that had been modified. The entire team used cold weapons, knives, forks, and axes, so naturally they couldn't cut through the hot bullets. Before long, this floor was almost cleared out.
With the hostage rescue in sight, the two old friends breathed a sigh of relief and were about to open the door to take Lu Qing and the other man away when they heard a loud "bang".
Turning around, Yi Heye was kneeling breathlessly on top of an AI that had suddenly sprang up. This bastard had been pretending to be dead, trying to take advantage of the situation to launch a sneak attack on the two of them.
Having firmly suppressed the opponent's fierce resistance, Yi Heye felt slightly relieved—that last move proved that his reaction speed was still online, and even without a gun, he could still be somewhat effective.
"Be careful." Old Sun hurriedly took the pretending-to-be-dead ghost, fastened the restraint lock on it, and checked again to make sure there were no other dangers. Finally, he typed the code given by Lu Qing—the door opened from the inside.
On the other side of the door were Lu Qing, whose face was obviously haggard, and Chen Yueqi, whose eyes were swollen from crying. They were still in a daze, as if they could not believe that the battle they had just fought was over.
Old Chen showed them his credentials: "Artificial Intelligence Administration Bureau, you are safe now."
The two girls finally broke down and hugged each other, crying.
After they finally calmed down, Old Sun seized the opportunity to say, "Please come with us to the station. We need to take a statement about what happened today."
These words seemed to frighten Chen Yueqi. She glanced at Lu Qing in a panic, then immediately looked at Yi Heye.
"Could you please contact the recycling center to trace the origins of these AIs? Take a statement from those that haven't been scrapped yet?" Yi Heye glanced at Lao Sun, then pointed with his chin at the two girls. "I'll personally question those two with Director Li. I won't trouble you with the rest."
Fortunately, Lao Sun and Lao Chen were past the age of curiosity killing the cat, and they did whatever Yi Heye arranged.
"Be careful," Old Sun instructed before leaving. "Contact me anytime if you need anything."
Yi Heye nodded, expressing his gratitude.
As soon as Lao Sun and Lao Li left, Lu Qing anxiously asked Yi Heye, "Is this really okay? Our identities..."
Yi Heye glanced at her and said, "At least our bureau won't take your life so easily."
They might be sent back to jail, but that's much better than dying while being hunted down.
Half an hour later, they returned to the Security Bureau. Director Li, who was already of retirement age, was forced to work the late hours of the night, making him look even older.
As soon as the two girls saw the leader arrive, they immediately lowered their heads dejectedly.
Director Li smiled and said, "Don't worry, our Artificial Intelligence Administration only handles matters within our jurisdiction."
He clearly knew where these two people came from, but obviously chose to turn a blind eye and not report it to his superiors.
"Don't be nervous, we're just having a casual chat." Director Li led them to a room. There were no terrifying restraints in the interrogation room, nor were there ubiquitous surveillance cameras. There was only a long table, two rows of chairs, and two cups of tea that the little robot had just handed them.
Even the questions weren't asked separately, and the girls finally lowered their guard.
“We’ve been out of there for five years…” Lu Qing said. “For the past five years, we’ve changed our identities and lived a good life without anyone pursuing us. I don’t know why, suddenly…”
"Are you sure it's because of the escape?" Director Li prompted. "Could it be that you've offended someone recently?"
“No, I’m sure of it,” Chen Yueqi said softly. “Zhao Qiangqiang, who escaped from there just like us, was killed a few days ago… It’s said he was beaten to death and thrown into the artificial lake…”
According to her, Zhao Qiangqiang had recently escaped from Zone E and, through a friend's introduction, secretly came to Lu Qing's place to get a tattoo to cover up the mark. They had only met briefly once.
Lu Qing said, "Because we are fugitives, we are using aliases and false identities, and we dare not call the police when something like this happens... I'm not sure if this is a new policy in Zone E, but I feel that this doesn't seem like the official way of doing things. They could have recalled us first instead of killing us directly..."
This felt a bit like being silenced, but clearly, Lu Qing didn't know what he had that was worth silencing.
Upon hearing this, Yi Heye's mind was filled with thoughts of the male college student he had previously captured. Shortly after being captured, he was forced to shut down and be formatted, as if they were afraid he would say something that others would overhear.
The two girls chatted for quite a while, and Yi Heye listened attentively. By the time they had settled in, it was already dawn.
The old man and the young man walked silently on their way back to rest. After a long while, Yi Heye finally spoke, breaking the silence.
"Director Li..." he asked tentatively, "Do you think it's necessary to go and take a look at Area E?"
Author's Note:
Ye Bao: A day of leisure for a working person makes me feel uneasy.
Chapter 165 (Number 165)
After Yi Heye made this suggestion, he was met with a long silence from Director Li.
Yi Heye immediately wilted: "It was just a casual remark, forget I said anything."
Director Li said, "Tell me what you think."
Yi Heye's eyes immediately lit up.
“I’ve felt something was off ever since that ‘college student’ incident,” Yi Heye analyzed. “Do you really believe that it was an involuntary escape caused by incorrect instructions? He’s the simplest functional robot. Once his instructions were set at the outset, he didn’t need any further adjustments. How could he suddenly want to escape?”
Director Li nodded, signaling him to continue.
"And considering what happened to Lu Qing and the others, it becomes even clearer," Yi Heye said. "The forces that were hunting down Lu Qing were obviously trying their best to prevent anyone from escaping from Zone E, but the AI was forcibly pushed out of there. So it seems that there are actually two different forces at odds."
Yi Heye: "Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I always feel that the AI that was pushed out is like a scout who leads the way. Once he figures out the path, the people behind him can naturally follow."
Director Li affirmed, "That makes sense."
Yi Heye hesitated for a moment, then said cautiously, "And... I also want to ask you a question."
Director Li: "Go ahead and ask."
"Did you find any clues about those cases when you went to Area A last time?" Yi Heye asked, looking at Director Li's expression. "For example, the main body of ISSAC, the true origin of LostLamb, or evidence that SHEEP is the mastermind?"
Director Li fell silent. Clearly, he was somewhat reluctant to answer the question about Area A, or perhaps he didn't know how to respond.
Yi Heye understood his expression and stopped beating around the bush: "It seems there aren't any left."
"It's time to conduct a thorough investigation." Director Li paused for a few seconds, then changed the subject, saying, "Take those two girls to the security department for interrogation tomorrow, and try to find out as much as possible about the enemy. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated."
Yi Heye smiled and said, "Okay."
“However, I must remind you, which is also why I didn’t want to go too deep into it before.” Director Li looked at Yi Heye, “We cannot reasonably estimate the danger level of Area E at the moment. Unless it is necessary, I do not want any of you to take such risks.”
Unlike Area A, which everyone yearns for and dreams of, Area E is like a living hell, exuding a strong sense of gloom, causing people to spontaneously build an insurmountable wall in their minds.
Disease, crime, pollution... what they know is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
“It’s alright, Director Li.” Yi Heye smiled, but there was little light in his eyes. “I’m different from everyone else. I don’t have any family or friends. I’m all alone and have no ties. I can only bear this kind of risk myself.”
After saying this, Director Li's face turned ugly. Seeing this, Yi Heye immediately put on a playful smile and said, "Just kidding. Isn't it because you're still thinking about me? I'm mainly worried that they're not skilled enough and will just die for nothing without figuring out anything. I'm different. I can even kill SHEEP. What else can be difficult for me?"
Director Li sighed heavily, and after a long while, he said sternly, "You need to adjust yourself properly during this period, and you're not allowed to have any wicked thoughts!"
Yi Heye quickly put his hands together and said, "Yes, yes, yes, good, good, good."
After fleeing in a panic, Yi Heye finally breathed a sigh of relief and returned to his dormitory, but he couldn't fall asleep again.