When consciousness returned, someone was calling out repeatedly by her ear:
“Master?”
“Master??”
Pei Ran opened her eyes and first saw the camera on the ceiling, followed by the cartoon expression on Ren’s facial display screen.
This “Great Caretaker” had its brows furrowed, looking at her with concern.
Seeing her open her eyes, Ren immediately asked, “Master, are you going to die?”
Pei Ran moved her lips: “Not yet.”
There was no one else in the isolation room; the soldiers in protective suits had all left.
The uncomfortable sensation inside her body had also disappeared, leaving everything very quiet.
A bit too quiet.
Pei Ran inspected the green lights within her body. The injection had an astonishing effect—all the green lights, whether her own orderly green lights or the invading chaotic green lights, had stopped moving.
As if they were dead.
Pei Ran was a bit worried and tried to summon her own green lights.
Number One and Number Three did not respond. Only Number Two, the most active one, moved slightly.
The injection had taken effect on them as well, and their condition did not look good.
Ren was beside her, observing her intently with its cartoonish big eyes.
“Master, if you don’t plan on dying for now, I want to tell you that you must get up.”
Pei Ran: “…”
Might as well just die then.
Ren said, “The people from the isolation center are waiting outside. They said they temporarily controlled the green lights in your body last night and now need to take you to meet the medical team for further examination and treatment.”
Pei Ran glanced at the virtual control panel by the bed, which displayed the time.
It was already 8:00 in the morning.
In this place where day and night were indistinguishable, as long as the main lights weren’t turned on, there was no difference between morning and evening.
After being unconscious all night, she was still alive, having made it to dawn. A cause for celebration.
Pei Ran threw off the blanket and sat up, first pulling out a strip of pills from her person, pressing out a tablet, and tossing it into her mouth to swallow.
This was a daily ritual.
Ren, seeing her take the medicine, quickly slid out and returned in a flash, handing her a cup of water.
This little robot was really too perceptive.
It waited for Pei Ran to finish drinking, took the cup, and urged, “Master, we must hurry, the people from the isolation center have been waiting outside for a long time.”
The benefits of having no hair were immediately apparent—no time wasted on combing in the morning; the benefits of sleeping in clothes were also clear—no need to change clothes. If one were to skip washing their face out of laziness, just putting on shoes would instantly switch to a state ready to go out.
Pei Ran walked into the living room.
Now she understood what Ren had been quietly tinkering with outside last night.
This isolation room, from the floor to the walls, to the furniture, had suddenly become visibly cleaner.
Only after its careful cleaning did Pei Ran suddenly realize that the surfaces that had seemed clean before weren’t truly clean, with various marks subtly left behind. Now it was completely different, every spot shone like a mirror, sparkling brightly.
The virtual screen at the door showed Lin Yu standing outside, dressed in a tight protective suit, only his eyes visible, looking very calm, not at all impatient from waiting.
His voice came through, “Pei Ran, the medical team is already waiting for you.”
Pei Ran walked to the door, “Alright, let’s go.”
“Wait,” Ren quickly slid over, abruptly shoving a warm rolled pancake into Pei Ran’s hand.
“Before you go, breakfast, eat quickly.”
It was in a hurry, not even calling her “Master.”
Pei Ran took a bite of the pancake; the thin, soft dough was wrapped around an egg pancake and some kind of fried salted meat, quite delicious.
Pei Ran ate it in a few bites, and Ren, like an assembly line, handed over a drink, sour and sweet, perhaps some kind of fruit juice, which Pei Ran drank in one go.
Ren immediately handed over a cup of blue water: “No time to brush your teeth, just rinse your mouth.”
Pei Ran obediently used the spicy blue water to rinse her mouth twice, spitting into the small bucket it handed over.
Ren took the cup, and like wiping down a bathroom counter, casually pulled a wet wipe from its belly, quickly wiped the corners of Pei Ran’s mouth, then her fingers that had held the pancake, and then considered the job done, sliding away in a flash, no longer bothering with Pei Ran.
Pei Ran, holding up her cleaned fingers, deeply felt that Ren had its own life.
She, the so-called “master” was merely a prop in its busy and fulfilling life, not much different from the bathroom floor.
Lin Yu had already opened the door, silently waiting for her to finish breakfast before stepping back to let her out.
He led her to the elevator.
“The examination is just upstairs,” Lin Yu said.
That was convenient; no need to even step outside the building.
While waiting for the elevator, Lin Yu stood beside Pei Ran as he had the day before, silent.
Pei Ran glanced at him, and he immediately lowered his eyelashes, but soon looked up at her again, asking softly, “Are you okay?”
Pei Ran replied, “I’m alright.”
Still alive for now.
Lin Yu’s gaze held a bit more concern: “I know they gave you a strong inhibitor last night. That stuff can only be administered once; any more and the body can’t handle it.”
Not only couldn’t the body handle it, but her own green lights also seemed unable to cope, as if they were about to give out.
Lin Yu said, “The doctors don’t have many solutions either. After this, you’ll have to rely on yourself and the suppression bracelet to tough it out.”
Mentioning the suppression bracelet, Pei Ran raised her arm, showing the red bracelet on her wrist, and asked him, “You mean this?”
“Yes,” Lin Yu said, “It can suppress the activity level of the green lights in a fusion body.”
The elevator arrived.
Pei Ran stepped into the elevator and asked with curiosity, “Does this suppression bracelet have any harmful effects on the body? Can it kill the green lights?”
Lin Yu followed her in, encouraged by her tone, and quickly answered, “Don’t worry, the suppression bracelet has no side effects. Everyone with green lights inside them wears one, even people from FBSMD wear them.”
This FBSMD, which W had mentioned before, was a department under the Federal Department of Defense and Security, called the Fusion Body Support and Management Department, specifically recruiting people with special abilities, most of whom were fusion bodies.
Pei Ran asked, “So everyone with green lights wears a suppression bracelet?”
Lin Yu was thorough and forthcoming: “Of course. It’s said that after entering dormancy, the number of fusion bodies has increased, and their abilities have changed. Just two days ago, Black Well issued a new regulation, scanning everyone inside Black Well, and from now on, everyone entering Black Well must also be scanned first.”
“The current rule is that if chaotic-state green lights are detected, no matter who it is, they are prohibited from entering Black Well. If it’s orderly-state or collapse-state, they must wear a suppression bracelet, no exceptions, not even for FBSMD members.”
She had entered Black Well with chaotic-state green lights, an exception.
Pei Ran listened very attentively, and Lin Yu continued to dredge up information from his mind: “It’s said that the bracelet is only removed when going out to perform special missions.”
The red bracelet strap had no elasticity, firmly clasped around her wrist.
Pei Ran touched it, “Can’t take it off myself? I wouldn’t try to, just asking.”
“I know,” Lin Yu said with understanding in his eyes, “You have chaotic-state green lights inside you; taking it off yourself would be seeking death. But indeed, you can’t take it off, it requires a special tool.”
Pei Ran had once read about a type of anti-theft magnetic clasp in a novel, used by stores to attach to clothes, difficult to remove without a special tool. She was that piece of clothing now.
The elevator dinged, arriving at the top floor.
Once the door opened, it directly connected to another heavy door.
Lin Yu used his iris to swipe the door open and stopped at the entrance: “Just go straight in, keep walking forward.”
Pei Ran walked alone down the corridor. The snow-white hallway was empty, only the black spherical cameras on the ceiling slightly turned to follow her.
At the end of the corridor was a room, the door slightly ajar, Pei Ran pushed it open and entered.
There was no one else in the room, but one entire wall was transparent glass, and on the other side, several doctors in white coats were all staring at her through the glass.
It felt like suddenly becoming an animal in a zoo, being observed by visitors through the glass of an indoor exhibit.
One of the doctors, tall with a cold and serious demeanor, spoke: “Pei Ran, I am the chief physician for this examination, my name is Valia. Please fill out this form first.”
A virtual screen automatically popped up, floating in front of Pei Ran.
The form, besides basic information like name and age, had some questions that needed answers.
Pei Ran quickly filled it out, glancing at one option.
[Do you have green lights inside you? If so, what type are they? (If you cannot determine the type yourself, please click the question mark to inquire or consult a doctor)]
The options were only “Collapse-state” and “Orderly-state,” clearly referring to the type of green lights originally in the body, not the newly entered chaotic-state light points.
Pei Ran’s finger hovered over it.
Collapse-state green lights were simple and violent in function, without the variety of the orderly-state green lights.
Pei Ran did not want to expose the complex functions of her green lights, so she directly selected “Collapse-state.”
Maybe they could detect the true type of green lights, and if they did, she would deal with it then.
The following questions were all about the invasive chaotic-state green lights inside her body, Pei Ran filled them out truthfully and clicked “Submit.”
Doctor Valia immediately received it, browsed through it on her virtual screen, and pointed beside Pei Ran, “Then we’ll start now. Please lie down on that bed.”
It was less of a bed and more of a hole that one needed to crawl into.
Pei Ran nimbly climbed in and lay down.
“What do I need to do?” Pei Ran asked.
Valia’s voice came through, “We need to scan your body, you don’t need to do anything, just rest. The scan might take a little while.”
The “little while” she mentioned was indeed quite long, and Pei Ran started to feel sleepy after lying there for some time.
Their low voices outside came through:
“…There are indeed chaotic-state green lights…”
“Yes, there are many…”
“Look, there are more here, how can there be so many?”
“She touched the light vortex. Compared to the major from yesterday, this is actually less…”
“With so many chaotic-state green lights, she hasn’t mutated yet? What kind of constitution is this, quite special…”
“Is it because she originally had collapse-state green lights in her body? Look, I see three clusters of green lights that are somewhat different from the chaotic-state.”
“I see them too. Could it be that collapse-state green lights naturally have some inhibitory effect on chaotic-state green lights?”
“…Possibly, we haven’t had this kind of experience before, we need to continue observing…”
Pei Ran listened silently.
Through the instruments, they could distinguish the chaotic-state green lights, but they seemed unable to differentiate between orderly-state and collapse-state, truly believing that the original green lights in her body were all collapse-state.
Pei Ran really wanted to hear their conclusions, but unfortunately, their voices grew softer and softer, and then they simply stopped talking. Pei Ran held on for a while longer, but eventually, she really fell asleep.
“Pei Ran?”
Someone called her, it was Valia’s voice.
“You can get up now.”
Pei Ran crawled out of the hole and noticed that the medical staff on the other side of the glass wall had already left, only Valia remained, standing in front of the virtual screen, tapping and drawing on it.
Pei Ran approached the transparent glass and asked, “Is the examination over?”
Valia nodded: “The scan is complete.”
Pei Ran asked directly: “So will I become a chaotic-state fusion entity?”
She asked straightforwardly, and Valia turned her head.
“We don’t have a conclusion yet, we need further observation. You might have to stay in the isolation room for a while longer.”
This “while longer,” who knows how long it will be.
Valia said, “Last night, we used an inhibitor injection, and those chaotic-state green lights have temporarily stabilized. However, this kind of injection is too harmful to the human body, and we hope to avoid using it again if possible. The situation going forward is still uncertain. If we can truly stabilize the chaotic-state green lights, you’ll be free to go.”
Valia’s usually cold tone softened a bit as she continued, “We’ve all heard about what you did yesterday. It’s spread all over Black Well. Thank you. We will definitely do our best to help you recover.”
Suddenly, a notification popped up on her screen, and Valia glanced at it, frowning.
“I just received a message. Someone wishes to come here to see you.”
Pei Ran was confused: “Come here to see me? Who is it? Why do they want to see me?”
Valia replied, “It’s a member of the royal family.”
The royal family?
Pei Ran was stunned. Her understanding of this world mostly came from W. W always talked about the “Federation,” but she had no idea that there was still a royal family in this world.
In Pei Ran’s original world, a century or two before the bunker era, revolutions had erupted in various countries, and royal families and nobility had long since vanished. It seemed that in this Federation, not enough royal heads had been chopped off, leaving this relic that should have been tossed into the dustbin of history eight hundred years ago.
Valia said, “Apparently, the royal family heard about your deeds and plans to visit you. If you manage to leave the isolation center alive, they might even award you something, perhaps a knighthood or some honorary title. Nowadays, the royal family doesn’t hold any real power, so the titles are just symbolic. But many people in the Federation still value them as a mark of honor.”
Pei Ran nodded, but a faint sense of unease crept into her heart.
This feeling grew stronger, and Pei Ran decided to probe cautiously: “I think I saw a royal family’s car in Black Well before, with their emblem painted on the door…”
She paused, not continuing, waiting for Valia to pick up the thread.
Valia, still focused on her virtual screen, absentmindedly responded, “You mean that fork thing?”
She turned to explain, “The royal family’s emblem, the three-headed iris, has always seemed eerie to me. It looks like a fork ready to devour people.”
A chill ran through Pei Ran’s heart.