Darkness.
Endless darkness, like some kind of viscous liquid, enveloped Zhou Xing's consciousness.
He felt like he had sunk into a bottomless trench, surrounded by suffocating pressure, and every inch of nerve was wailing overwhelmed.
[Vital signs monitoring: heart rate 38, blood pressure 70/40, brain wave extreme disorder...]
[Diagnosis: Severe cranial nerve damage, 87% risk of brain-computer interface meltdown...]
[Recommendation: Perform nerve isolation surgery immediately, otherwise there will be permanent loss of cognitive function ...]
These cold tones echoed at the edge of his consciousness, like the whispers of death.
Permanent loss of cognitive function?
Isn't that ... Become a vegetative state?
Nope!
Zhou Xing struggled in the dark, like a trapped beast. He thought of Xiaoyu, of his sister still waiting for him in the hospital bed, of the loan shark creditors, of the gentle girl who made him coffee in the café...
He can't fall!
He must not fall here!
[Warning: Strong desire to survive by the host is detected...]
Warning: Unknown data flow is trying to access the ...
[Warning: Firewall failure ...]
Boom!!
A stream of data as black as ink, like magma gushing out of the depths of hell, suddenly broke through Zhou Xing's consciousness and poured into his neural network on the verge of collapse.
The data stream had an ancient and wild aura, like a beast that had been sleeping for a thousand years, finally awakened by the smell of blood.
Pain.
Pain beyond human limits.
Zhou Xing felt as if his brain was about to be torn in half, and every neuron was screaming harshly. But in the midst of this extreme pain, a strange power began to flow inside him.
The power repaired his damaged nerves, reorganized his chaotic brain waves, and even ... Little by little, it devoured the traces of computing power suppression left by Zhao Mingxuan.
Just like ... A rabid dog devours its prey.
In the square, Zhao Mingxuan looked at the crowd lying on the ground, with a satisfied smile on his face.
Three thousand testers, less than a hundred can still stay awake at the moment.
For the rest, some foamed at the mouth, some fainted directly, and some knelt on the ground shivering, like mollusks whose spines had been sucked away.
"Young master, do you want to call the medical team?" The assistant beside him asked in a low voice.
"What's it called?" Zhao Mingxuan waved his hand impatiently, "These wastes, if they die, they will die." Anyway, there are many ants crawling out of the slums every day, and there is no shortage of these. "
His eyes swept over the crowd, as if he was choosing a commodity.
Suddenly, his eyes were fixed on a figure.
It was a young man, who looked only in his early twenties, wearing a white-washed overalls, and was staggering up from the ground.
His face was as pale as paper, and blood was still oozing from his seven orifices, but he did stand up.
Under the suppression of the L2-level computing power just now, he was the only one among the three thousand people to stand up.
"Oh?" Zhao Mingxuan raised his eyebrows, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, "There is actually a hard bone." "
That young man was Zhou Xing.
Zhou Xing felt like his head was stuffed into a blender, and every breath was accompanied by severe pain. But his consciousness was awake—or rather, the dark stream of data that suddenly flooded into him, forcibly pulling him back from the brink of coma.
"Boy, don't hold on." An old voice suddenly sounded in his mind, with a bit of playfulness, "Your current body is like a string that is tightened to the limit, and if you hold on hard, it will break." "
Zhou Xing was shocked all over.
This sound... Where did it come from?
"Don't look for it, I'm in your head." The voice said lazily, "To be exact, I am in the second-hand scrapped brain-computer chip you implanted yesterday." "
Peripheral pupils contracted suddenly.
He remembered.
Three days ago, he spent his last savings on the black market to buy a second-hand chip dug out of a dead man's brain. At that time, the seller laughed at him, saying that it was a piece of scrap metal and that even the parts were worthless.
Could it be... Is there something else in there?
"Now is not the time to be surprised." The voice reminded, "Look ahead, your trouble is coming." "
Zhou Xing raised his head.
Zhao Mingxuan was walking towards him, followed by two heavily armed bodyguards.
The crowd automatically got out of the way, and no one dared to stop the chaebol prince.
Zhao Mingxuan stopped in front of Zhou Xing and looked at him condescendingly. The pale gold "Pupil of Zeus" prosthetic eyes scanned Zhou Xing's body data like X-rays.
"Interesting." Zhao Mingxuan's mouth curled up with a playful smile, "Under the suppression of my computing power, I can still stay awake." What's your name? "
"Zhou Xing." Zhou Xing replied hoarsely, trying to stand up straight.
"Zhou Xing..." Zhao Mingxuan repeated the name, as if savoring, "The garbage at the bottom actually has such a tough name." "
He stretched out his hand and patted Zhou Xing on the shoulder - the action looked like encouragement, but Zhou Xing could feel that a cold computing power was following the other party's palm, trying to invade his brain-computer interface.
This is ... Detection?
"Young master!" At this moment, Zhao Mingxuan's assistant suddenly exclaimed, "His data... Not right! "
Zhao Mingxuan's brows furrowed slightly. Through the contact just now, he also felt that this low-level person named Zhou Xing seemed to have a kind of ... in his brain-computer interface. Unusual fluctuations.
It is not a normal nerve signal, but an older, more chaotic, more ... Dangerous stuff.
"It's interesting." Zhao Mingxuan withdrew his hand, and the smile on his face disappeared, replaced by a look of scrutiny on his prey, "What is hidden in your head?" "
Zhou Xing's heart suddenly raised his throat.
He couldn't let Zhao Mingxuan discover the existence of that voice, and he couldn't let anyone know the secret in that second-hand chip.
"Nothing." He pretended to be calm, "It's just... It's just that the ability to bear pressure is relatively strong. "
"Ability to bear pressure?" Zhao Mingxuan sneered, "A little shrimp that is not even L1-level, can it withstand the suppression of L2-level computing power?" Do you think I'm a fool? "
He took a step back and waved his hand.
"Take him to the 'in-depth examination room'. I want to know what the hell is in his head. "
The two bodyguards immediately stepped forward and held Zhou Xing's arm, one left and one right.
"Wait!" Zhou Xing struggled, "I passed the test!" I should get an L3 allocation! "
"Quota?" Zhao Mingxuan seemed to have heard some funny joke, and laughed, "Just by you?" A waste who almost died even by doing my test questions? "
He leaned close to Zhou Xing's ear and said word by word in a voice that only two people could hear:
"Listen, unevolved carbon-based monkeys. You are not even qualified to do scrap. "
"Your life, your brain, everything you have, are all material for my experiments."
"Take it away."
The bodyguard dragged Zhou Xing towards a black van on the edge of the square.
Zhou Xing's heart sank to the bottom.
He knew that once he entered that so-called "deep examination room", he would never have a chance to come out again. The dark experiments of the Zhao Consortium are an open secret throughout the East Asian computing power region. Every year, thousands of people at the bottom "disappear" and become experimental consumables for those powerful to develop new technologies.
He can't let this happen!
Xiaoyu is still waiting for him!
"Boy, do you want to live?" In his mind, the old voice suddenly sounded, with a hint of joking.
"I want to!" Zhou Xing roared in his consciousness.
"Then do as I said." The voice became serious, "After getting in the car in a while, I'll help you block their nerve scans." Then, within thirty seconds, you have to use the method I taught you to control the power in your body. "
"What power?"
"The power you just felt—that black, hungry, all-consuming force."
"It's called 'Mad Dog', and it's what I left you... Greetings. "
The back door of the black van opened, like a huge mouth waiting to devour its prey.
Zhou Xing was roughly pushed in.
The doors closed and darkness fell again.
But this time, a scarlet light flashed in Zhou Xing's eyes.
It was a rabid dog, awakening.
(End of Chapter 2)