Chapter 661: How Do You—
Lu Yizhou had no idea why his heart skipped a beat when he heard Dr. Feng say that. Anticipation, thrill and a hint of anxiety swelled in his heart in equal asure. Not only that, he even felt mildly nauseous.
Suppressing the turbulent emotions, he trailed behind the other, entered the building and was imdiately greeted by a lively voice of a female receptionist. "Good morning. May I help—" Her eyes rounded in shock when they landed on Lu Yizhou, it was as if she had seen a ghost. Then she shot a few aningful glances at Dr. Feng, obviously flabbergasted at the blonde-haired young man’s abrupt appearance.
"It’s okay," Dr. Feng waved his hand in dismissal. "It’s
who decided to bring him here."
Lu Yizhou shot him a speechless look. What did he an by that? Was the female receptionist under so sort of preconception that Lu Yizhou was the one who threatened Dr. Feng to bring him here?
"Oh!" The woman heaved an obvious sigh of relief and proceeded to offer Lu Yizhou a big smile. "I have heard a lot about you, Mr. Lu. Welco to our research institute! Here, we are focused on– oh, well, you will be able to hear it soon from Dr. Feng himself..." She intended to explain their scope of jobs to Lu Yizhou only to catch a glimpse of Dr. Feng’s obvious displeasure. Almost imdiately, she clamped her mouth shut and her entire person wilted like a wet radish.
Dr. Feng did not linger for long in the lobby. He raised the terminal on his wrist — a new one, Lu Yizhou noticed — and brought it to the scanner beside the elevator. Imdiately afterward, a familiar chanical voice sounded.
[Current ti 7.18 am. Welco back, Admin God, to the research institute. The docunts you asked for have been sent to your terminal. Please check it and tell
if there is any problem.]
Lu Yizhou’s eyes widened and for a brief second, he thought he had returned to the simulator. It was the exact sa emotionless voice as the one who had always reported the completion of each mission to him!
"Okay, thank you," Dr. Feng replied lightly. He turned to see Lu Yizhou’s stunned look, then decided to explain out of goodwill. "The whole building’s security is based on AI created by . If it doesn’t recognize you, then the alarm in the whole building will be turned on at once. I am sure you know this voice very well already. This is the sa main system as the simulator."
[Scanning the new visitor...]
[Beep. Scan completed.]
[Mr. Lu Yizhou, welco to the research institute. As of now, your status is a ’visitor’. You will need an authorized personnel to guide you around this place. If you still intend to co back in the future, then I will issue a visitor card to your terminal. Do you want to proceed?]
Lu Yizhou had no idea what to answer, so he could only turn to Dr. Feng.
"It’s fine," the head administrator gave a series of commands. "Directly raise his level of security to level three. He will be a part of this research institute from now on. Give him access to the SSS patient’s room too."
[Very well. Mr. Lu Yizhou’s security level has been upgraded into level three. Your status as a ’visitor’ is no longer valid. Welco to the research institute, Mr. Lu. I am very happy to have you here.]
This was the first ti Lu Yizhou had been exposed to the existence of another system aside from 666. It was a stark contrast to a certain noisy, clumsy and crybaby system. As he expected, this was how a sophisticated and brilliant system was supposed to be. Very professional and ticulous.
Lu Yizhou asked Dr. Feng with a hesitant look, "...SSS? Are you talking about... him?"
Dr. Feng gestured for him to enter the elevator first and hence, they stepped in one after another. Only when the elevator started to ascend did Dr. Feng clear his doubts. "It is indeed Zachary. Even in this place, I strive to keep his identity as discreetly as possible. There are less than five people in this world who have access to his room, and they are all dical personnel who are responsible for doing a regular check-up on his health. One needs to get my permission in order to see him, so you can be rest assured."
Lu Yizhou swallowed once, then he finally asked the answer which had been plaguing him for a while. "...How long has he been in a coma?"
Dr. Feng cast him a furtive glance. "It’s been almost three years now."
"Three years..." Lu Yizhou’s heart sank to the pit of his stomach. Three years... it certainly was not a short ti. "Exactly what has happened to him?"
The elevator door slid open in front of them and the chanical voice sounded again. [You have arrived at the seventh floor. Up ahead is the room for SSS patient. Currently, there is only Dr. Xiao on duty. She has been inford of your arrival.]
As soon as the system’s sentence ford in the air, a series of footsteps ca from afar and a middle-aged woman appeared at the end of the hallway and spotted them. She had a mask on her face, yet it could not hide the obvious smile on her crescent jovial eyes. She tugged the mask down to reveal a bright grin and waved at them. "Head Administrator! I see you have finally brought him here."
Dr. Feng chuckled wryly. "If I didn’t, perhaps you would find him sneaking into this place soti in the near future."
That indeed sounded like sothing Lu Yizhou would do. He did not comnt and rely shot Dr. Feng a speechless look. "You haven’t answered my question," he reminded the other.
The corner of Dr. Feng’s lips twitched. His face contorted for a split second as if he wanted to get angry, but in the end, he rely heaved out a sigh. "What a coincidence. Dr. Xiao has been Zachary’s attending doctor even before he went into a coma. You will be able to get more information from her."
The joyous atmosphere was imdiately dampened once Zeke’s condition was ntioned. Even Dr. Xiao’s bright smile faded slightly to be replaced with a slight furrow. Lu Yizhou could not help the surge of unease weaving into his heart. Why did they react like this? Exactly what was wrong with Zeke?
"Co on," Dr. Xiao beckoned for them and then took the lead to walk in front.
The entire floor had been transford into Zeke’s hospital room so it was completely empty save for the three of them. With each step he took closer to Zeke’s room, Lu Yizhou found himself growing even more nervous, he could even feel a layer of sweat forming on his palm. This feeling... it should be the sa as when he waited for Oliver to give birth to their daughter. After that, Lu Yizhou had never experienced such anxiety for the second ti. He took a deep breath to compose himself.
Calm down, Lu Yizhou, why are you so nervous?
Because you will be eting him for the first ti, a voice inside him whispered in a matter-of-fact tone. It will not be a eting in the simulator where you are only connected through brainwaves. This ti, it is for real.
Dr. Xiao brought them into a large room similar to a laboratory. There were a few hologram screens floating atop of the rectangular table, displaying a body diagram as well as nurous data of vital condition. A large cabinet took the space of an entire wall, filled with jars in various sizes and test tubes which Lu Yizhou had often seen in Zhao Bolin’s private laboratory. And finally... on another side of the cabinet was a glass window.
Lu Yizhou sucked in a sharp breath.
He could see his lover there, slumbering inside of a glowing cabin with detectors linked to his body. It was the exact sa scene he had seen every single day on his terminal for the past week.
Now, the distance between them was less than twenty ters, yet for so reason, Lu Yizhou still felt as if there was a huge rift separating them, one that was almost impossible to cross...
Lu Yizhou pursed his lips and repressed the urge to go directly to the monitoring window so he could take in every line and edge of his lover’s features and commit them to mory. Oh how Lu Yizhou wished to go to him but... there would be ti for that later. Right now though, he needed to hear everything about his lover.
He turned to Dr. Xiao, silently inquiring.
Dr. Xiao summoned a hologram keyboard in front of her and typed sothing on it. The floating screen above the table started to shift to display a complicated diagram of soone’s brain. Lu Yizhou stiffened as realization dawned on him. He had seen this diagram before.
It was... very similar to the one 666 had retrieved from the recycle bin. One that recorded his lover’s brain activity data. He still rembered vividly that there was a bright red word ’failure’ scrawled at the end of the docunt.
And also, that glimpse of mory he had seen in Izher’s mind...
Amidst the silent space, Lu Yizhou’s voice echoed softly, sounding hollow and flat even to his own ears, "Is he not... a real human?"
Dr. Feng and Dr. Xiao’s reaction was imdiate. Both of them instantly whipped their heads to stare at him, shock and disbelief etched on their faces in capital letters.
"You..." Dr. Feng’s voice cracked in the end. "How do you—"
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