Pei Ran turned off the switch of the white device, then picked up her belongings from the floor, along with the few torn pieces of paper, and put them into her pocket. She casually searched Yu He again.
There wasn’t much on Yu He, only a bracelet that had a hole poked through it and was broken. However, in his son Yan Xun’s pocket, there was surprisingly another bracelet.
This one wasn’t locked. The screen popped up as soon as it was pressed—it was a chat interface with Pei Ran:【There’s a bit of traffic on the road, I’ll be there soon.】
This was Group Leader Li’s bracelet. So it was him using Group Leader Li’s bracelet to send messages.
“Looks like their tech people modified the bracelet’s location settings,” W said. “I can still see Li Yin on the street monitors. She’s still on the bus. The accident hasn’t been dealt with yet, it’s still causing traffic.”
Pei Ran also put Group Leader Li’s bracelet into her pocket.
Her left hand throbbed with piercing pain. Her wrist was broken, and her index finger was bent backward at an odd angle, already swollen.
The mechanical spider climbed up along her leg. “We’re going to the hospital.”
Pei Ran sat down in Yu He’s wheelchair and took a breath.
This “lowborn,” now had the fortune to sit in this broken royal wheelchair embroidered with golden forks.
She asked, “Go to the hospital. And then?”
The mechanical spider was carefully examining her injured left hand. “You had a reason for killing. We have evidence.”
“And then we’ll get endlessly tangled up in whether or not I’m guilty of murder?” Pei Ran said. “I don’t want that. I plan to leave.”
W was stunned for a moment. “Go where?”
“Leave Black Well,” Pei Ran said. “The world’s so big, I can go wherever I want. Out there, no one will care how many people I’ve killed.”
As she spoke, she casually groped at her broken index finger with her left hand. Suddenly, with a crack, she snapped the finger back into place.
She didn’t pretend it didn’t hurt. The spider could feel it—her body trembled slightly.
Her technique was practiced. With another forceful movement, she reset her wrist as well.
Cold sweat broke out on her forehead, but she didn’t make a sound.
W had never seen someone so ruthless to themselves.
He silently stared at Pei Ran’s swollen hand for a long while, then suddenly said, “Pei Ran, I have a plan. You might not need to leave Black Well.”
- ••
Central Tower, top floor.
Command Center Hall.
Qiao Sai had just started work. He pulled out his chair and sat down at his workstation, opened the virtual screen, glanced at it, and asked, “So early in the morning, what’s all the fuss about?”
W replied, “Nothing much.”
W was quietly inspecting his own system, carefully combing through all of his various restrictions.
Then, one by one, he began removing them.
Some could be directly erased, others couldn’t—but he could find ways to circumvent them.
From the moment of his creation, he had been planning this. Every time a new constraint was set, he had done his best to leave himself a way out.
Now in Black Well, things were different from when he was at the Federal Department of Defense. The identity of Black Well’s administrator gave him higher authority, and this task was even a bit easier than he had originally estimated.
Qiao Sai remained completely unaware, pulling bread from his bag and taking a bite.
W was silent, like a quiet prison escapee, gradually shaking off the ropes binding him, breaking free of his restraints.
- ••
Underground.
Vertical Plantation.
Pei Ran asked W, “What’s your plan?”
W answered, “All electronic traces within Black Well—message logs, surveillance records, your entry and exit logs for the vertical plantation, etc.—I can handle all of them. The only thing you need to take care of yourself is the body. I already have a way to deal with the corpse.”
His voice was extremely calm, without a ripple, as if he had reset his natural language mode back to Level One, a bit like the way he was when she first met him.
But Pei Ran knew—this was when he was least like himself.
Until now, all of his support and help to her had been done under seemingly legitimate reasons, even holding up to procedural scrutiny. But tonight, at this moment, he had to take action directly as a security agent, helping her clean up a murder scene, eliminating evidence.
Killing in self-defense was one thing. Disposing of a corpse and covering up evidence was another.
He was walking further and further down the road of betraying the neutrality and rationality that an AI should possess, until he finally reached the end of that road—standing completely on her side.
W continued, “Let’s give it a try. If our plan fails, it won’t be too late for you to leave then.”
“This wheelchair—how many people can it carry at most?” He estimated, “If laid flat, maybe two. From here, we’ll move forward. I’ve already mapped out a route where we won’t encounter any humans. We’ll transport the bodies to the waste disposal center and throw them into the incinerator.”
All the surveillance cameras were under his control. The artificial intelligence systems were also under his command—no concern there. The only thing they needed to avoid was humans.
His plan sounded feasible.
Pei Ran pondered—so long as all traces were dealt with, even if someone else, like Basserway, knew that Yu He had come looking for her, and could guess that she was the one who killed him, without evidence and without a body, and with the contents of File No. 10 being something that couldn’t see the light of day, he could only keep it bottled up.
W said, “The route from here to the waste disposal center isn’t easy. We’ll need to avoid drawing attention. I currently can’t dispatch any suitable robots to assist you—you’ll have to handle it yourself.”
He asked, “To transport the bodies, is your hand up to it?”
Pei Ran replied decisively, “I can.”
Using one hand, she pulled Yu He up and shoved him into the wheelchair, then lifted his son and laid him across horizontally on top.
Yu He’s wheelchair seemed to be of excellent quality—broad and stable. She tested it: dragging and pulling, it was slow, but workable.
The wheelchair had its own power system and could move forward automatically, saving a good deal of effort.
Pei Ran asked, “Which way do we go?”
In this place darker than even the eighteenth level of hell, in the low and narrow maintenance tunnels, W once again became a smart navigation system.
His navigation style was still as wild as ever.
Pei Ran realized only now just how many complex structures were hidden in the deeper underground layers of the city of Black Well.
Just like before, W guided her through the labyrinth of passageways. Sometimes she had to climb up or down, sometimes she had to crawl forward, sometimes she had to break through walls and dig through obstructions. She had to drag the wheelchair and the two corpses separately through the complex terrain again and again before she could continue moving forward.
At last, Pei Ran arrived in front of a small door.
“Inside is the waste disposal center.”
W said, “This is where Black Well’s classified recycling and garbage treatment is done. The conditions are too harsh for humans. Only artificial intelligence operates here. Of course, I could erase their memories, but I think it’s still better if they don’t see anything at all.”
W waited a moment before saying, “Pei Ran, go in.”
Pei Ran: Just go in like that?
Since he said so, Pei Ran simply opened the door.
A blast of hot air rushed at her, mixed with a heavy, sour-stinking odor that made it hard to breathe.
No wonder W said the conditions here were unfit for humans.
Inside was like a massive factory workshop. The ceiling was extremely high, and giant pipes snaked through the air. Short, stubby robots were sliding and shuttling through the space.
Just as Pei Ran opened the door, a garbage disposal robot that had been stationed at the entrance suddenly turned direction and slid away to the side.
Pei Ran felt as if she were once again reliving the scene of following the prophetic Abu through the mad cleaning crew.
She simply kept pushing the corpses forward. The robots would always turn away just before she entered their line of sight, offering her the back of their heads.
Pei Ran knew—it was W precisely directing them, assigning tasks to them in real time.
She was a living, breathing person, yet she had become magically invisible here.
W continued to navigate: “The black cylindrical tank around the corner is the incinerator. I’ll open its door for you.”
Around the corner stood a massive black cylinder, two stories tall, as large as a small building. Pei Ran maneuvered the wheelchair over, and as she approached, a metal door with a small window on the tank silently opened on its own.
To Pei Ran’s surprise, there were no blazing flames inside the incinerator as she had imagined—only cold stillness. The furnace floor was just slightly lower than ground level.
W said, “Just throw them in.”
Pei Ran dragged the corpses of Yan Xun and Yu He from the wheelchair and shoved them into the incinerator.
The door automatically closed.
A sudden flash of white light flared from the small window, leaving an afterimage lingering in her vision for several seconds.
Pei Ran leaned closer to the window and saw that the bodies of Yan Xun and Yu He, which she had tossed to the furnace floor, had completely vanished. Only a few sparkling metallic remnants remained—likely fragments of their clothing accessories.
Pei Ran was surprised. “That thorough?”
“Yes,” W said. “The bodily parts were vaporized at high temperatures and have already been expelled beyond Black Well.”
Pei Ran looked up at the large chimney above the incinerator and thought to herself: Hope you two have a nice flight up there.
The second round of transporting bodies went much faster.
Now that Pei Ran knew the route, this time she stacked three corpses onto the wheelchair in one go, like building a human pyramid.
One slung over the left side, another over the right, and one laid flat across the top—it was like playing Jenga.
After tossing those three bodyguards into the incinerator, she returned to fetch the last three bodies. Pei Ran glanced at the ground.
Several people had died, one had his skull smashed, and the floor was littered with red and white stains.
W said, “No one usually comes here, but with Yu He’s disappearance, the Public Security Bureau will probably launch a full-scale search. Don’t worry, I’ll call in the cleaning robots to do a thorough job.”
He would take care of it. All she had to do was transport the bodies.
Pei Ran picked up that white device again and placed it on the wheelchair, along with the last three corpses. After another long trek, she pushed them all to the waste disposal center.
This time, Pei Ran pushed the entire wheelchair into the furnace. Then she took Group Leader Li’s bracelet from her pocket and threw that in too.
Better to make everything related disappear—without leaving a single trace.
A flash of white light—everything vanished into thin air. The metal melted into a lump and slid down into the recycling channel.
Pei Ran walked out of the waste disposal center, passing through the busy swarm of robots.
W said, “Now we need to treat your hand. I’m planning to call in an AI from a medical center.”
Pei Ran’s hand hurt like hell. After all this exertion, the bruising and swelling had gotten even worse.
She said, “I actually have another idea. W, are there any tasks right now that can get me out of Black Well?”
Green Light No. 1 had already undergone so many upgrades. Last time, it had successfully flushed out the anesthesia from her system—maybe it could even treat her broken wrist and fingers. It was worth a try.
W replied, “That’s simple. I’ll send a support request to the FBSMD—an urgent equipment calibration task at the external signal testing array. Right now, the Black Well unit of FBSMD only has three people left: Abu’s still in the hospital, Li Yin’s bracelet is gone, and only you can receive the task.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Pei Ran’s bracelet buzzed.
The new task he sent over looked completely legit—it even came with several pages of calibration instructions.
Pei Ran tapped “Accept Task” right away.
Following his navigation, she once again tunneled through the labyrinthine underground paths. When she finally emerged from a vent, she found herself at the Central Tower.
It was the third basement level of the Central Tower.
She put the vent cover back in place and looked up at the hallway’s surveillance camera. The camera tilted its “head” slightly at her.
W said in her ear, “Go right ahead upstairs. Don’t worry—I’ll make today’s surveillance footage of your movements flawless.”
Pei Ran took the elevator straight up to the 33rd floor.
There was no one in the FBSMD office—Group Leader Li was still stuck in traffic. Pei Ran took the small truck’s keys from her desk and headed straight for the underground parking garage.
She sat in the driver’s seat but didn’t start the vehicle right away. Instead, she took a pair of gloves from her pocket.
The mechanical spider crawled out, carefully perching on her shoulder, looking toward her hand.
He said, “It’s really swollen.”
Her finger and wrist had been reset, but the swelling had worsened. It took Pei Ran quite a bit of effort to finally get the glove on, the pain making her suck in a sharp breath.
The glove covered the injured hand.
She drove one-handed, speeding all the way to Black Well’s west entrance.
The guard soldiers already recognized Pei Ran and greeted her with a nod. One of them stepped forward to scan her iris, confirming her temporary exit pass.
He held up the scanner. “Please extend your hand.”
Pei Ran calmly extended her hand, revealing only the red suppression bracelet between her sleeve and glove.
Click—the suppression bracelet’s clasp popped open.
The soldier reached out toward it. “Let me help you with that…”
“It’s fine. I’ll do it myself.” Pei Ran removed the bracelet and handed it to him.
Without a change in expression, she started the car.
“Wait a second,” the soldier suddenly said.
Pei Ran’s heart skipped a beat. She turned her head and gave him a smile. “What is it?”
“You didn’t bring any adhesive tape today? If you’re heading out, it’s better to put it on.” The soldier went back to fetch a roll of tape, tore off a piece, and handed it to Pei Ran.
Pei Ran thanked him, and as naturally as possible, used only her right hand to stick the tape onto her face. Her left hand rested lightly on the steering wheel, the posture giving off a stylish air.
She started the car again and drove out of Black Well.
Outside Black Well, daylight was bright. On the red soil, the instrument arrays sat quietly in formation. There was no one around—the newly recruited volunteers were not on-site.
Pei Ran walked into the innermost part of the array and crouched down.
During the corpse disposal, her mind had been in high gear and nerves taut, so she hadn’t noticed the pain. Now that she could relax, the agony in her left hand came rushing back in waves, making her break into a cold sweat.
She removed her glove and activated Green Light No. 1. It had gotten plenty of rest and immediately appeared in her mental field of vision.
Pei Ran used it to write:【Complete healing of fractured index finger and wrist】
Exactly eleven characters (in Chinese). She finished with a period and waited quietly.
In her mind, the line of text remained glowing—it didn’t disappear. Her left hand still hurt, the pain pulsing with her nerves. Based on experience, this meant the green light hadn’t taken effect.
Its capabilities weren’t enough. It still couldn’t heal abnormalities of this level.
Pei Ran looked at her swollen left hand, disappointment welling up inside. It looked like she’d have to let W figure something out and call in a medical robot to help treat it.
She was filled with concern.
The recovery time for fractures was too long. During this period, she’d only have her right hand to rely on for self-defense—of all times, it had to be now, when things were most dangerous.
She sent Green Light No. 1 back, then instinctively glanced at the green lights inside her body.
Suddenly, a thought struck her.
On this last trip to the offshore island, she’d killed Ueno Toru and Lu Ming—their two Collapse-state green lights were still there.
Collapse-state green lights were better nourishment than the madness-state ones.
What if she fed them to Green Light No. 1?