Unlike the atmosphere at the slaughterhouse, most of the people at the entertainment company branch were still kept in the dark. Some of them were in class when they were arrested along with their teachers.
"What's going on? Officer, we're perfectly normal people!"
"Are you kidding me?! I didn't break the law!!"
"Damn, is being handsome a crime these days? I'm doomed!!"
Summer, a student who was struggling academically, had just skipped class and was lounging in his dorm bed slacking off when suddenly a group of police officers took him away. Thinking he'd been caught red-handed skipping class, he was so terrified he stammered, "Uncle...I...I..."
"Summer, right? Don't call me uncle, I'm only three years older than you." The young police officer grabbed him by the back of his collar to prevent him from collapsing, and said helplessly, "Don't be afraid, we're here to rescue you."
Upon hearing this, Xia Tian's legs stopped going weak, and she just blinked blankly.
At first, he didn't understand why he was being "saved," until the policeman pulled out a USB drive from somewhere and inserted it into his brain-computer interface without explanation. Some fragmented memories and emotions were finally reassembled, causing him to have a splitting headache.
"Your consciousness has been forcibly disrupted. This USB drive contains a simple repair program, but it can't completely fix the problem. Go back and be careful," the police officer said. "If you still feel unwell anywhere..."
The young policeman had only spoken halfway when he saw Xia Tian crouching on the ground, clutching his head in pain. The young policeman quickly knelt down and asked, "What's wrong?"
“Officer…Officer…I remember now…” Xia Tian buried her head and cried, “I was raped…and they also physically punished me…”
The young policeman immediately became serious: "Come with me to the station later and tell us everything you know, okay?"
Summer, clutching his teddy bear and dragging his luggage, got into the police car, crying and whimpering. Only after leaving the house did he realize that things were far more terrifying than he had imagined.
As a top global entertainment company, any movement from them will inevitably attract the attention of various media outlets and paparazzi. This time, the security department's large-scale operation is bound to cause a stir.
At this moment, the main body of the ISSAC building has been completely sealed off by the police. Layer upon layer of police tape has been set up, making it airtight, so that not even a fly can get in.
But beyond the cordon, the world was a scene Xia Tian had never heard of before—aside from seeing crowds of people on the streets during New Year's Eve, this was the first time he had ever seen so many people crammed together at the same time. Some were holding cameras, some were craning their necks to peer inside, and the crackling flashes of the cameras were like bolts of lightning, making it impossible for Xia Tian to open his eyes.
Their chatter was like a thorn in Xia Tian's side, giving him a headache. He heard someone say that ISSAC was a pimp, someone was going to look for their son, and someone else was going to form a group to see what kind of monsters were in Area A.
As the police car drove out of the restricted area, some media personnel rushed to take pictures of the car windows. Xia Tian was so frightened that she hid back in the workshop and it took her a long time to come to her senses.
His mind was a jumbled mess, and in the end, he could only ask one question: "Brother, is He Ye alright...?"
The police officer glanced at him and said, "He's injured and is being treated."
On the ambulance.
Yi Heye's reaction time is extremely long.
Before losing consciousness, all he could think about was praising Xiaoyun for being so brave, until his brief unconsciousness was abruptly shattered by pain. He was jolted awake by the pain and almost couldn't catch his breath—
"……grass!!"
The belated, excruciating pain was like a giant hammer falling from the sky, smashing every bone in Yi Heye's body to pieces.
Under the horrified gazes of those around him, Yi Heye sat up as if ejected from the ambulance. He was in so much pain that his muscles were twitching and he was completely unable to control his body. Coupled with his excessive mental tension, he experienced another seizure and auditory hallucination.
"Hold him down!! Give him a sedative!!"
Four or five people surrounded him, each holding down one of Yi Heye's limbs. In his terror, Yi Heye saw his empty left arm. The excruciating pain and terrifying memories overwhelmed him, and once again he completely lost control of his emotions.
"Don't press me, I don't have hands!!"
After a great deal of effort, nearly overturning the car, several people finally managed to bring the out-of-control Yi Heye under control.
A tube of clear medicine was slowly injected into his vein. Yi Heye, who had been clenching his teeth and struggling and howling, finally lost his strength and slowly calmed down.
But after countless self-tortures and meaningless stimulations, this guy's body has become very dull and less sensitive to the effects of drugs.
The dose that should have knocked him unconscious, and even a few milliliters more, only made his limbs weak and unable to struggle, but his consciousness remained perfectly clear.
His eyes drooped, his gaze unfocused, and his chest heaved as he struggled to breathe. This state made him extremely vulnerable. Whether it was due to physical pain or excessive emotional distress and fear, he cried for the first time in front of so many people without any warning.
"It hurts..." Yi Heye managed to squeeze out a syllable from his throat, "My hand..."
The medical staff surrounding him immediately said, "Don't be nervous, calm down, the medicine will take effect soon."
Yi Heye, whose vision was blurred with pain, did not get the answer he wanted, and his agitation grew even stronger.
How can I stay calm? My arm is broken, how can I stay calm?!
In the black and white light, he looked at his severed arm once more, where his blood flowed, and where the artificial blood vessels and electronic nerves were clearly severed. It was throbbing with pain, just like a normal arm—his hand had been severed for the second time.
Thinking of this, he broke down again, crying helplessly, "My hand... sob..."
The psychological counselor accompanying him whispered comforting words in his ear, but Yi Heye didn't hear a word. He just felt so annoyed that he wanted to die, and he didn't want to listen to these people at all.
He didn't want to hear people tell him to relax and calm down, didn't want to hear people tell him that his arm could be redone and that it wasn't that serious, he didn't want to hear about his subsequent treatment plan, and didn't want to hear people praise him for how many people he had saved and how great things he had accomplished.
He just wanted someone to curse with him, someone to viciously curse the culprit who caused him to lose his arm, and someone to ask him if it hurt or if he wanted to hear a childish and boring bedtime story.
He didn't want to lie coldly in bed; he just wanted a solid, warm hug.
"Jian Yunxian... Waaah..." In a daze, Yi Heye cried out, his mind hazy, "I want Jian Yunxian..."
He only stopped his uncontrollable sobbing temporarily when a warm, furry head nudged his right hand, which was hanging down by the bed.
"When did this little lamb get on the bus?" The medical staff, who had mild mysophobia, were startled. "Tell the driver to stop the bus and get it off. Be careful, the patient might get infected."
Yi Heye, who had almost fainted, woke up again with a start: "No!"
“Let it…let it stay with me…” He hurriedly hugged the little cloud’s neck, ignoring the excruciating pain in his half of his body. “Otherwise, I’ll jump down right now and go with it.”
Yi Heye, who was seriously injured, was very emotionally unstable. The medical staff did not dare to confront him, so they simply disinfected Xiaoyunduo.
When that soft, furry thing nestled in his palm again, Yi Heye's emotions finally calmed down.
He felt sleepy and barely managed to keep his eyelids open. His thoughts drifted, and he forgot about the busy eyes around him, only seeing that dark sheep face.
Before his consciousness faded, he used one last bit of strength to ask, "Little Cloud...where's your dad?"
He didn't get a direct answer from Little Cloud, and a sense of foreboding crept into his heart, so he quickly forced his eyes open to look at its expression.
He wasn't sure if he was mistaken, but the child's dark face seemed to be filled with immense sorrow.
Before she closed her eyes completely, two tears seemed to fall from those two little eyes.
It seemed something really had happened, and Yi Heye lost consciousness in a state of anxiety.
Chapter 119, number 119
Outside the operating room, Director Li of the Artificial Intelligence Administration personally arrived at the hospital and unleashed a furious tirade against Pei Xiangjin, who was standing at the door:
"I entrusted my people to you, and this is how you treat them?!"
Director Li has a kind appearance and a gentle personality. He rarely shows his face unless absolutely necessary. The fact that he came to the scene now must mean that he was filled with anger and had nowhere to vent it.
Pei Xiangjin lowered his head slightly, after all, he was a junior, and his attitude was sincere and apologetic: "I'm very sorry, Director Li, it was our poor arrangement, the difficulty of the mission far exceeded our expectations."
"Do you even know who's lying in there?!" Director Li didn't want to hear his explanation. He pointed at the operating room door, his fingers trembling with anger. "He's an absolute backbone of our Artificial Intelligence Management Bureau, a genius I haven't encountered in all these years. His achievements and merits alone are equivalent to several of your teams. If anything happens to him, how will you take responsibility?!"
Pei Xiangjin lowered his head and remained silent, letting the senior colleague launch his attack.
"Are there no capable people among the thousands of people in your department? He's just an outside helper to assist you, why send him to the front lines?!" Director Li was so angry that his face turned pale. "I shouldn't have agreed to let him go to help you in the first place!"
Pei Xiangjin kept his eyes lowered, his posture humble, but his tone neither servile nor arrogant: "Director Li, I think that the overall planning of this operation, while not perfect, is at least reasonable. As you know, this mission has very strict requirements for undercover agents in all aspects, requiring both good looks and ability. Although our security department has several thousand people, after narrowing down the requirements by age, appearance, gender, work ability, etc., we really can't find a more suitable candidate than Commander Yi."
Old Li was so angry that his lips trembled, but he couldn't think of a rebuttal for a while.
"Moreover, judging from the results, this is already the best outcome. Commander Yi's excellent personal abilities greatly shortened the entire mission cycle and prevented any unnecessary casualties. I think none of us could have done that," Pei Xiangjin said. "Director Li, in the end, whether it's our Security Section or your Artificial Intelligence Administration, the essence of our existence is to protect the lives and property of the people. When danger arises, we still need the most suitable people to rush to the front."
Director Li was rendered speechless by the young and shrewd man's words and could only sit aside and sigh—if only Yi Heye had half of this guy's shrewdness and cunning, the boy wouldn't have had such a difficult journey.
A short while later, the busy director received another barrage of phone calls. Director Li glanced at the three blood-red words "In Surgery," wiped his face, and said painfully, "Xiao Pei, the person was injured in your care, and you must return him to me properly no matter what."
Pei Xiangjin comforted him, "Director Li, don't worry. The doctor said that Commander Yi's life is not in danger. It's just that having the same arm severed again will inevitably cause a stress reaction. We will definitely arrange for the best doctors to monitor him, and we will also pay close attention to his psychological issues."
Director Li nodded and left the hospital, still somewhat uneasy.
Shortly after, in the ward where the surgery had just ended.
Yi Heye's condition was more serious than anyone had imagined.
The other party directly severed the artificial artery in his arm, causing a large amount of blood to gush out, which quickly led to very dangerous symptoms of anemia.
Moreover, his robotic arm was a model from over a decade ago, and it had been modified without his consent. Its internal structure was extremely complex, with wires, blood vessels, and muscle fibers tangled together, greatly increasing the difficulty of the surgery.
What's worse is that this guy is addicted to pain, so many anesthetic drugs don't work well for him. The anesthesiologist has trouble controlling the dosage, and he was woken up three times during the surgery because of the pain.
Because Yi Heye was not yet fully conscious and had no family or friends around him who could help him, the doctors could only temporarily amputate his damaged limbs and did not install new prosthetics for the time being.
So when Yi Heye woke up and saw his severed limbs tightly wrapped in layers, and saw the bright red blood seeping out of the gauze, his already agitated emotions due to pain collapsed once again.
The effects of the anesthesia hadn't completely worn off, and Yi Heye's mind was still in a state of confusion. He once again confused the time and place.
He felt his whole body burning from the inside out, yet his skin was icy cold from the torrential rain. He seemed to see several men who had chopped off his arms grinning as they disappeared into the alley. He was in pain and terrified, his whole being plunged into extreme agony.
"My arm!!" Yi Heye cried out in disbelief, "Help me!! My arm is broken—!!"
Upon hearing his scream, the medical staff outside the door quickly gathered around. While comforting Yi Heye back to bed, they patiently explained to him, "Don't be afraid, it's a prosthetic limb. Once you feel better, we can have a new one made exactly the same."
Yi Heye couldn't understand what he was saying at first. He hadn't yet recovered from the hallucination and didn't understand what a prosthetic limb was.
He just felt completely drained; the sudden awakening had completely depleted the energy he had painstakingly replenished.
He slumped back down, realizing he couldn't even clench his fist with his only remaining right hand, and panicked even more: "What's wrong with my right hand? Is it broken too?!"
The doctor quickly came over to dispel the rumors: "Don't overthink it. You have a high fever due to wound infection and inflammation, and it's perfectly normal to feel weak and exhausted. We are urgently giving you saline and glucose, and your strength should recover in a little while."
Yi Heye lay on the bed, not knowing whether he could hear anything or not. He only felt pain in his head, back, arms, and everywhere else. The buzzing in his ears was making him feel irritable.
He had been injured many times before, and sometimes even enjoyed the process of being injured, but this time, he felt unprecedented pain and frustration. He had never felt so vulnerable before.
The nurse gave him another injection, which calmed his turbulent emotions somewhat. He finally pulled himself out of his fragmented memories. He remembered that he was 25 years old this year, and it had been 10 years since he lost his real left arm. This time, he was injured while on a mission, and the severed hand was a reconstructable prosthetic arm.
His thoughts finally cleared up, but a strange sense of grievance and sadness made him want to cry again. At this moment, he felt as fragile as a straw, and he no longer had the majestic presence of a cheetah, either mentally or physically.
Because he had lost his left arm again, and because of Jian Yunxian's mysterious disappearance, he was panicked and uneasy, as if his entire spirit had completely collapsed.
"It feels so bad...cough..."
Despite his high fever, he mumbled in a low, helpless voice, not even knowing who he was talking to or what kind of response he wanted to get.
The doctor's formulaic words of comfort were once again blocked by his buzzing tinnitus, but he could only close his eyes and silently shed tears.
Jian Yunxian is such a bastard, Yi Heye thought painfully, clutching the corner of his pillow. He had just taught himself to cry and then ran away without looking back.
He was feeling unwell and irritable, and it wasn't until Xiaoyunduo was reassigned to soothe the patients that he finally managed to calm down—but he didn't know how long it took from closing his eyes to falling asleep.
During his hospital stay, this pain-prone patient sincerely hoped to be discharged as soon as possible, but things never went as planned.