don't open your eyes [unlimited]

After arranging everything properly, Chairman Yan ended the call and left the lounge.

The footsteps gradually receded along the corridor until they could no longer be heard clearly.

……

Zhuang Die holds Ling Su's wrist.

After tidying up the last corner of the bed sheet, Ling Su actually stopped in place for an insignificant moment.

He lowered his eyes, his eyes hidden in the light shadows of his brows, as if he was thinking about something, or he didn't seem to think about anything - the lock cylinder popped open with a click, and at the same time, Ling Su had also rolled into the lock quickly on the spot. under the bed.

When Chairman Yan pushed open the door and casually scanned the lounge, Ling Su was firmly protecting Zhuang Die, hiding in the shadows under the bed.

But now, he still maintains this posture motionless, his shoulders and arms seem to be condensed into silent sculptures.

Zhuang Die pressed the inner side of Ling Su's wrist, and the touch there was synchronized with the real body.Ling Su's heartbeat was faster than usual, and there was some kind of silent and intense force, and it was hitting Zhuang Die's fingertips one after another.

... Fortunately, this state only lasted less than ten seconds longer.

Ten seconds later, Ling Su's pulse had begun to drop.

"It's okay...Little Curly."

Ling Su regained his senses from deep thinking, and smiled slightly, meeting the worry in Zhuang Die's eyes that couldn't be put away.

Knowing what Zhuang Die was thinking, he let go of his arms and moved his body, then stretched out his hand to hug Zhuang Die back into his arms: "It seems that before we fell asleep, we did extort a very good sleeping cabin."

It has been less than half a month since the development, commissioning, production, and testing of the latest sleep cabin specially made after the upgrade of the third-generation "cocoon" to its official use, and even the special incident handling team has not had time to equip it.

The Psychological Association also got a few samples because of the upcoming comprehensive cooperation with "Cocoon" - Ling Su had heard about this matter, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

Now it seems that no matter what the Association originally planned to do with these ultra-luxury latest sleep cabins, at least until now, the ownership of one of the double models has been very clear.

Zhuang Die still held his wrist: "Is there a new version of the sleeping cabin?"

Ling Su nodded: "It will monitor heart rate, blood pressure, brain wave frequency, and a bunch of messy data. Once any abnormalities are found, emergency treatment can be carried out immediately... It can be understood as installing a miniature automatic ambulance in the sleep cabin device."

"Small situations like this can be easily adjusted."

Ling Su turned over his palm, let Xiao Curly's hand fall on the palm, held Zhuang Die's fingers and squeezed lightly: "So don't worry."

In the past few times, Ling Su was able to quickly recover from that extremely dangerous state, and it seems that the adjustment function of the new sleep cabin was indispensable as a guarantee.

However, due to some inexplicable competitive spirit, Instructor Ling insisted on refusing to admit that this is a more clever optimization and improvement of "adding an ejection device and directly ejecting people from the sleeping cabin into the ambulance"...

Zhuang Diehui held Ling Su's finger, lowered his eyelashes and muttered in a low voice, "It would be great if there was such a sleeping cabin."

"Yes." Ling Su twitched the corner of his mouth, "If it had been earlier..."

He leaned back against the wall, stretching his legs in the darkness at the foot of the bed.

Ling Su seemed to be quite used to this kind of cramped space. He sat quietly with his head up for a while, put Zhuang Die on his lap as if hugging a large pillow, and lightly rubbed the little pouch on his neck. Curly.

"There is something I want to confirm no matter what."

Ling Su said softly: "It's not work, it's not for others, it's my own private matter..."

"No problem." Zhuang Die said without hesitation, "Let's go to our private affairs first."

Ling Su was strictly corrected, paused, raised the corners of his mouth and folded his arms, and corrected obediently: "I was wrong, ours."

Teacher Xiaozhuang was very satisfied with the child's learning attitude, nodded solemnly, turned around and was about to offer praise, when he slammed his head on the bed with lightning speed.

……

Until lunch, there was still a very obvious lump on the back of Zhuang Die's head.

The hypnotist and Yan Xun sat opposite each other with the dinner plate.

After they returned to their rooms, their memory did not appear blank again, but neither of them encountered any important events, they just waited idly in their rooms until the notice of lunch time.

Zhuang Die came back after washing his hands, and sat next to Ling Su happily.

Lunch was also a clear soup with little water that made people lose their appetite. Zhuang Die opened the steamed buns on his and the captain's dinner plates, and put vegetables and a few pieces of meat in them layer by layer, making two buns. Easy burgers.

While chewing and swallowing his own, he briefly described to the two what happened afterwards.

"So... Chairman Yan came, you hid under the bed in time, and were not found, and then Mr. Zhuang accidentally hit his head."

Yan Xun still couldn't figure out something, so he couldn't help but look at Ling Su, who was covered with clouds, and every 5 minutes he was about to brush off the little curly hair on the back of Zhuang Die's head to check: "Then why is Team Ling even more depressed?" ?”

"Isn't this normal?" The hypnotist poked the steamed bun with a chopstick, and put the other arm on his shoulder, "Old Yan, when I learned that you were plotted against by the puppet in your dream, as your partner, I also Worrying and blaming yourself more than yourself..."

Yan Xun looked at him expressionlessly: "Is there?"

The hypnotist lost his memory at that time with peace of mind, and nodded: "There is true love in the world, but you are not good at discovering it..."

He was talking slowly, but his gaze suddenly fell not far away, and he sat up straight and looked at it with some surprise.

"Next time you want to fool me into believing these things, at least look at me."

Yan Xun frowned: "Also, you obviously laughed so loudly that you even laughed under the table—"

"Team Ling." The hypnotist suddenly said, and he waved his hand apologetically to Yan Xun in time, expressing that he didn't intentionally interrupt, and then motioned to a short distance, "Does that person look familiar to you?"

"It's hard to say." Ling Su was concentrating on examining the head of the little curly hair, and gently touched the shocking lump carefully, "I found that I am probably old, and my eyesight and reaction speed have seriously declined recently...Does it hurt? pain?"

Zhuang Diezheng stuffed the homemade hamburger into his mouth with relish, his eyes flickered when he heard this, and he rubbed his nose with puffy cheeks: "A little bit."

Ling Su sighed worriedly: "It doesn't make sense..."

He was aroused by Zhuang Die's way of eating, and he opened his mouth to take a big bite of Hamburger No. [-] fed by the little curly hair: "Blame me, just react faster."

If he hadn't been distracted by the other party's extraordinarily bright and firm eyes at that time, he would have reached out in time to protect the back of the little curly hair before Zhuang Die made intimate contact with the keel of the steel frame bed

"...Ling team."

Yan Xun had heard him repeat it over and over a dozen times, and couldn't help but interject: "Mr. Zhuang just knocked his head accidentally, and—"

And they were in a dream, unless the person concerned himself didn't want the bag to disappear, no matter from what point of view, it shouldn't be so swollen for a long time after knocking his head.

With Ling Su's professional level, he shouldn't have failed to discover such a simple matter...

"Just a knock on the head?" Ling Su was blowing gently on the stubborn lump, and raised his head seriously when he heard this, "Dr. Yan."

Yan Xun was about to say something to remind Ling Su, but he was stared at him suddenly, and his words froze unconsciously: "...what's the matter?"

Ling Su cautiously blew two more breaths.

He put the little wool roll on his head neatly back into shape, put his hands on the edge of the table, put his chin on the top of Zhuang Die's head, and stared at Yan Xun seriously.

"This is the bravest, smartest, most determined, best head I've ever seen."

Ling Su said: "What is certain is that the knowledge reserve, memory talent, and learning ability in this head are far superior to mine—no offense intended, but according to the transitivity of inequality..."

Yan Xun swallowed the words without hesitation, bowed his head and apologized: "I was wrong."

"Team Ling, let me borrow the bravest, smartest, most determined, and best mind from you."

The hypnotist shook his hands twice, temporarily interrupting the conversation of several people: "Mr. Zhuang, does that person look familiar to you?"

The hypnotist originally thought it was his own illusion, but the more he looked at it, the more he felt something was wrong: "I don't recognize his face, but I always feel like I've seen those two legs before..."

Zhuang Die had already seen it, and nodded: "Electric Light Hot Wheels."

The hypnotist suddenly became enlightened, his eyes lit up, and he slapped Yan Xun's thigh hard.

"What..." Yan Xun had just apologized, and he didn't dare to attract Ling Su's attention, so he frowned and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

"You haven't seen him, you were wiping the bookshelf at that time."

The hypnotist patted Yan Xun on the shoulder, and took out a crystal ball with a chain from his arms: "I'm going to try my luck...Ling team, help me to hold the line."

Ling Su distractedly glanced in that direction, and raised his eyebrows slightly.

He met the hypnotist's sight, nodded his head indistinctly, put one hand in his pocket, opened the chair and sat down again.

The hypnotist walked over to the new patient in a hospital gown.

The other person's face is not Z1's face, it looks strange and ordinary, if you have to say it, it is the kind of appearance that is difficult to pick out in the crowd.

He was following the flow of people in a daze for dinner, and after being stopped by the hypnotist, he looked very inexplicable, and even showed some displeasure at being entangled by strange people.

Taking advantage of no one's attention, the hypnotist quickly pulled him aside.

"If you continue to pester me inexplicably like this, I will call the guards."

The man said in a deep voice, "I'm different from you. I'm here as an undercover agent. Some of our companions are trapped in this place."

He didn't seem to realize that there was any problem in confessing this kind of thing. He raised his hand to push the hypnotist away, and continued to find a table to eat.

"Stay, stay." The hypnotist turned to look at Ling Su, and stepped forward to hold Ling Su.

The hypnotist picked up the chain of the crystal ball and shook it in front of the other party: "Look at me..."

As soon as the hypnotist uttered these three words, the man shuddered violently as if suddenly stressed.

He stood frozen in place for a while, his vision suddenly regained clarity, and he rubbed his temples vigorously in astonishment: "...Mr. Liu?"

"It's me." The hypnotist secretly gestured behind him, led Z1 back to their table and sat down, "Brother Yi Ze, how long have you been here?"

Seeing Ling Su and Zhuang Die, Z1's eyes showed uncontrollable surprise, but then his face changed slightly, and he frowned: "Why do I—"

"It's a long story, I'll tell you the details later."

The hypnotist asked in a low voice: "Are you here to see Captain Ling and Mr. Zhuang?"

Z1 collected himself, nodded and said, "Yes...the situation is more complicated."

He raised his hand and took off the mask, as if an invisible wave spread over his face: "This is a mask. I'm not very good at adjusting my appearance, so I just randomly chose a system default."

Z1 restored his original facial features, greeted Ling Su and Zhuang Die, and nodded politely with Yan Xun.

……

From the perspective of Z1, they have not seen each other for a long time.

After finishing the last mission, Z1 and several other teammates were thrown into the 50:1 time flow training mode because of their negligence in the mission, where they trained intensively for a whole month.

After finally surviving the devil's special training that made people die, Z1 was summoned by the chief person in charge before he had a long rest, and he was given a secret mission in private.

This task is not a standard mode, and the risk is quite high. "Cocoon" cannot provide support as a background, and even if it fails, it may not be able to exit in time.

Z1 is free to choose whether to take this task or not, and the headquarters will not impose any coercion—after learning all the detailed information, he still decides to take a risk, which can be regarded as a favor for Ling Su and Zhuang Die who saved him.

Ling Su nodded, and commented objectively: "The calabash baby saved grandpa..."

"..." Even Yan Xun knew that he shouldn't say such words at this time: "Captain Ling——"

"You became a cocoon breaker?" Ling Suzhao glanced at Z1. From his perspective, he could see the standard black uniform, blue butterfly logo and mask on Z1.

Entering into the reality-oriented dreamland with this outfit will undoubtedly be a bit inconsistent, and the R&D department of "Cocoon" naturally took this into consideration. The parameters of the uniform can be adjusted at any time to automatically adapt to the current background and environment, and the mask has also added a disguise function.

If you don't want to randomly select a face like Z1, you can also adjust the parameters yourself, but the effect may not always be satisfactory.

Facing Ling Su's gaze, Z1 moved his lips, did not dare to speak, but nodded frankly.

"It was very courageous, and I was also very moved."

Ling Su lowered his gaze, and said softly: "But I don't think... a first-level tasker who has only been training intensively for a month is forcibly promoted, and then sent into a dream cocoon where I may not be able to escape unscathed. It’s a well-considered decision.”

When he said this, he just leaned in the chair, his voice was so soft that it seemed to be casually chatting, but it was inexplicably calm and faintly panicked.

Not only Z1, but even Yan Xun and the hypnotist avoided his sharpness without a trace, moved their chairs out in a rare tacit understanding, lowered their heads and ate quietly and honestly.

On the whole dining table, Zhuang Die seemed to be the only one who didn't notice it, and was still sitting beside Ling Su, fiddling with the mask that Z1 took off with great interest.

"After going out, let him and other people who agree with this decision go to the training ground to meet me, and I will have a good chat with them about this matter."

Ling Su looked at Z1: "You also have to rest for more than a week."

He didn't know how much he knew about the headquarters of "Cocoon", and how he would let a first-level tasker do such a risky thing, but he still reminded one more sentence: "Your current consciousness is not strong enough to close your emotions— —may lose that emotion forever, or be completely eaten back, whichever is not good.”

Inexplicably, Z1 didn't dare to explain half a sentence, instinctively sat upright, and nodded silently.

Ling Su didn't continue talking, but just tapped on the table to signal the other party to eat as soon as possible.

In any case, Z1 has already entered this dream after all, even if the chief executive is taken out and punished to run thousands of laps, it will not help.

Ling Su pressed his brows hard to control his emotions.

This kind of unreasonable irritability was not entirely aimed at Z1 and the person in charge, he didn't intend to take his anger out on the other party, he was silent for a while before asking again: "What news did he ask you to bring me?"

It was no surprise that Ling Su could guess this. Z1 quickly put down his chopsticks and looked at Ling Su: "Captain Ling... the chief person in charge said that if possible, he wants to come in and look for you by himself."

Of course, it is simply unrealistic to find anyone who can get the same answer. If it is an extremely risky decision to send in a first-level tasker, then it is a completely stupid and reckless decision for the chief person to come in person. .

When the general manager found Z1, he actually thought of Ling Su's reaction.

……

"The instructor will be very angry, he can't accept us doing this ... or anyone else doing it."

"He just has that kind of temper." The chief person in charge rubbed his face and smiled wryly, "He doesn't want to have the slightest ties to anyone, and he takes everything as his own responsibility... You said he doesn't show children the Olympic Games?" Terman, it took him a week to rescue a child in real life."

"Punish us, as long as he and Mr. Zhuang come out safely, we can be punished however you like."

The person in charge stared into Z1's eyes: "After entering that dream cocoon, you may lose part of your memory. But no matter what you forgot, you must memorize every word I tell you next... ..."

……

"Team Ling, the person in charge said that you will definitely be tied up in this dream cocoon—you dare not break any links rashly, because you are worried that anything you do may make the original consequences worse .”

Z1 did remember this passage clearly. He looked at Ling Su and recited it word by word: "There was a pioneer who sacrificed..."

"I don't really want to talk about this matter." Ling Su said, "I still have some conjectures, and I need to verify them to get the answer."

"You can't verify it, because we are in a dream, and what I want to tell you is something in reality."

Z1 took a deep breath. He didn't understand what the words he had memorized meant, but he mustered up the courage to continue: "There is no such person as Zhao Nongshun."

Ling Su's pupils froze suddenly.

He raised his eyes, and the sharp and cold knife-like sight cast over him, piercing Z1's consciousness instinctively.

"It's not the same as when they all forgot about you by implication."

Z1 said quickly in a low voice: "The general manager went to investigate, but there is no such person. There is no information, no number, and no records—the person you visited in reality is called Zhang Liming, who has been mentally retarded since birth. Abandoned at the door of a nursing home."

"You should be able to understand, right? Facial capture, AI modeling, and then properly modify everyone's memory...just like this mental hospital can modify my memory."

"No one will realize that there are more people in the team of pioneers who didn't exist before."

"The only function of those 'non-existent people' is to set up a game, a game that is completely against you...they are called sharpening stones."

Z1 took out a plan and handed it to Ling Su: "This plan just completed the three-year declassification period yesterday, and from now on, you don't have to be bound by it and can't talk about relevant content."

"The person in charge asked me to tell you that they have made all preparations so that you and Mr. Zhuang don't have to worry about anything."

"No real thing or person will be destroyed, it's just a dream."

Z1 whispered: "You can do whatever you want."

Ling Su didn't speak.

Zhuang Die held his hand quietly hanging beside him, took the plan on the desktop, and turned to the first page.

"The Man in the Game".