The mechanic.

Just after dawn, Zhang Xun woke up from the single bed in his small apartment that hadn't been touched for nearly a year.The fire in the fireplace has been extinguished, and there is still a faint smell of rosin in the air.He felt a pain in the head and a thirst in his throat.He drank the water on the bedside table in one gulp, turned on the lamp, and entered the bathroom like a zombie to take a shower.The face that appeared in the mirror was thin and haggard, with heavy bruising under the eyes, bloodshot eyes in the whites, and blue stubble on the chin.

He sighed, picked up the razor and shaved his chin clean, and patted his cheek hard to make himself look less intimidating.

In the past two days, he moved out of the lab under the pretext of concentrating on reviewing the papers of the researchers who participated in the machinist assessment.He would still go to the Lab to meet Adam during the day, but he would return to the apartment after ten o'clock.It's just that he didn't review the papers, but spent the night studying the investigation report on the recovered honey plague patients submitted to him by Zhang Shuo through James.

For more than a month, Zhang Shuo asked his cronies and soldiers to take the questionnaires attached by Zhang Xun to the report and ask and investigate door by door.However, due to time constraints and limited manpower, the results of the investigation were very scattered and there was no special person to sort them out.The materials obtained are complicated, and Zhang Xun has to read them page by page.In the past few days, Zhang Xun can only sleep for three hours a day, and he has to try not to be suspicious during the day, and he is exhausted by now.

But today is extremely important, he must keep his head clear.He boiled a large pot of coffee for himself, gulped it down like drinking water, stuffed some dry bread hastily into his stomach, then put on a heavy coat, hat, scarf and gloves, and opened the door.

In the deep blue sky, the twilight has not completely faded, and the morning sun from the east is lightly sprinkled on the sloping eaves.Zhang Xun breathed in the cold air, squinted at the sunshine, and vaguely remembered the scene of Adam waving the wings he made, facing the rising sun and rushing towards the sky on the day of the harvest festival.

At that time, he was truly happy, unprecedentedly happy.

All good things have an end.He inexplicably thought of this sentence.

The head of the heart was twisted severely by the invisible hand.

Zhang Xun took a deep breath, suppressed the surging emotions in his chest, and continued to trek on the half-thawed half-frozen road.To avoid all of Pan's extended sweeping robots, he had to take some long detours.

At this early hour, even the earliest workers hadn't left their homes.The narrow and winding streets are empty, and all the gray and old buildings seem to have not yet woken up.Zhang Xun walked through the cobweb-like intricate alleyways, and finally stopped in front of a precarious low-cost apartment building on the outskirts of the third district.The wooden structure is loose and loose, full of signs of erosion by wind, frost and time.Some windows are even broken, without proper repair, hastily pasted with thermal insulation cloth, shivering in the cold wind.

The corridor is so narrow that you have to turn your body sideways to pass, and it is full of old furniture and sundries.There was a special rancid smell in the air, like rotten vegetable leaves, which Zhang Xun had never smelled before.

This is at the junction of the third district and the second district, and it is a place where the poor live together.As a member of the privileged class, Zhang Xun has hardly set foot here.He thought his own apartment was small enough, but when he saw the front door, which was as big as a wardrobe door, and the distance between the doors, he could guess that the space inside might not exceed three Ten square meters, but it often squeezes three to six people.

Zhang Xun heard that due to the limited land resources in Paradise Lost, many old apartments had to divide the original big house into several small houses and rent them to different families.Houses remodeled in this way are full of various safety hazards, and no one can escape in the event of a fire.

But there is no way, people have to need a place to live.

He knocked on the door of a house hung with a circle of mistletoe, and a moment later, a pale face of a man about his age appeared through the crack of the door.

"Hello. I have been in touch with you before..."

"You are Zhang Xun?" The man looked at him with a surprised look, with a sincere smile on his face, and opened the door while talking, "Please come in!"

Zhang Xun then squeezed into the small room that was piled full of daily necessities.It can be seen that in the limited space, the owner of the house gave full play to his storage talent. Although there are many things, they are very orderly and very clean.Even so, the rotten smell is still strong and lingering.

Zhang Xun took off his hat and gloves, and the man named Lucas took them eagerly, hung them on the hanger behind the door, and enthusiastically led Zhang Xun to a faded printed sofa, "You are our My benefactor! I don’t have any good tea here, so don’t dislike it!” The man hurriedly picked up the steaming hot water pot from the small stove next to him and poured it into the teapot, saying, “I’ve always wanted to thank you in person And Adam, but you have saved so many people, it must not be short of us two little people."

"That's what we should do." Zhang Xun said uneasily, "Please don't be busy, I just want to know something. Your partner... Kevin, how is he doing recently?"

Lucas handed the teacup to Zhang Xun, sat on the opposite chair, his eyes shone with happiness, "He's fine, even better than before he got sick. You may not know, but he actually had alcoholism before he was infected. Sometimes... he drank too much and became very irritable. But after being cured, he never touched a drop of alcohol."

Zhang Xun nodded, "Apart from this, is there any other change in him?"

"There are some, but they are all good changes. I can't believe it. He seems to be very... calm now, and sometimes even helps me with some housework. He even quit smoking and stopped smoking at night. Go out and hang out with those gangsters... It seems that your antidote not only cured the plague, but also cured all other problems." Lucas said, smiling a little embarrassedly, "The only thing that is a little strange is Sometimes he says things that I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" Zhang Xun continued to ask, "Can you be more specific?"

"Let him tell you by himself, he should have woken up." Lucas stood up as he spoke, opened the curtain and entered the inner room where only one bed could be placed.Not long after, another older, taller man with beards came out.

If he encountered such an image on the street, Zhang Xun would probably avoid it on purpose.After all, it looks too much like a bandit...

Slightly at odds with his rugged appearance was the generous smile he showed to Zhang Xun.He took Zhang Xun's hand regretfully, "I'm sorry, I've been having trouble sleeping lately. I kept you waiting."

"It's okay, I just arrived not long ago." Zhang Xun carefully looked at Kevin's appearance, and there was no trace of being infected with the plague.Indeed, as Lucas said, Kevin's expression was filled with a strange and detached expression, not like that of a person who works in an artificial butcher shop.

As soon as Kevin sat down, he started gushing about how grateful he was to Zhang Xun and Adam for saving his life and changing his life.However, his words made another chapter. The more he listened, the more panicked Xun became.

"You said...you feel like you've been reborn. Can you tell me how it feels?"

Kevin paused for a moment, as if to sort out his words, and then said, "Since I recovered, I feel like I've been... Always lived in a box. But now, I feel like I'm out of that box. I even feel sometimes that I can feel something, something bigger than all of us, floating above my head .Sometimes that blob is unnerving, but most of the time, it makes me… calmer.”

"Then what about those dreams you had? You said that you must sleep for more than eight hours a day?"

"Yes. Those dreams feel a bit like floating in the clouds. I feel that there are many people around, but I can't see them. But I can see things in their heads, a lot of things. It's not accurate to say, it's more like Yes...I can feel it. But it’s all fragmented and chaotic. I don’t quite understand what those dreams mean.” Kevin shrugged, “But I like those dreams, and I’m always in good spirits when I wake up from them.”

Kevin's tone was calm and serene, almost like those devout religious believers.But according to the biography of Kevin Zhang Xun obtained, it is impossible for him to have such a temperament.

This Kevin has been in prison twice for intentional wounding, and has violent tendencies after drinking.And now, his personality has undergone a major transformation.It's just that such a change is what the people around him want, so no one will report and investigate.

"I heard from Lucas that you used to drink heavily, but you haven't touched alcohol since you recovered? Did you quit on purpose?" Zhang Xun asked.

Kevin shrugged normally, "Alcohol is not good for my health. My liver is not good, so I don't drink."

"It's that simple? Quitting alcohol is very difficult for many people. Don't you have a withdrawal reaction?"

"No, I just don't want to drink, so I won't drink."

Zhang Xun nodded and pulled out a smile, "I'm happy for you."

Coming out of Lucas's house, Zhang Xun lowered his head and walked on the road alone.He felt that the emotion surging in his chest was almost uncontrollable, and his body was shaking slightly, but it was not because of the cold.

It was impossible for him to lie to himself any longer.

This is by no means a normal "sequelae"...According to several patients he interviewed, they all showed obvious personality changes to a certain extent, and some of the previous "bad habits" were swept away like antivirus, and all of them Mentioned the kind of dream that seems to be in the clouds.

All became lethargic and had to sleep more than eight hours a day.

Certainly, something is changing their brain structure, eliminating all "viruses".Not just the virus of the honey plague...

Such a change may be considered good in the short term, a "panacea" that can cure the ugliness of human nature.

But what exactly are those things eliminated by it?Are there really only ugly things on the surface?Many human traits are not as simple as good and bad, but have complex evolutionary mechanisms.When all human weaknesses are removed, what is left?

And such a dangerous "human antidote" was developed with his own help.

Zhang Xun stopped suddenly and held onto the wall with his hands.He felt dizzy and slightly sick.A sour feeling rushed to the nose and to the eye sockets.

He was wrong after all.

The author has something to say: Thanks to the little angels who threw mines~~~: Sansansan, Lili, Xia Ran Xia Ran, Hurry, Nicolekef1

Thanks to the little angels who irrigate the nutrient solution~~~: 1 bottle of Sinan and Lili