Pei Ran took a sip and asked, “Where are we? Is this my dorm in the Yellow Zone?”
“Great guess,” Ren said.
“The security bureau always keeps anti-anesthetic medication on hand because they frequently use tranquilizer guns during operations. They gave you a shot and then sent someone to help bring you back.”
It added, “The dorm door normally requires an iris scan to unlock, and you were unconscious, so our ‘God’…”
Pei Ran: “……”
“…our ‘God’, he helped open the door for you.”
Pei Ran recalled the voice she had heard beside her ear in her semi-lucid state.
She called out in her mind, “W?”
W answered almost immediately by her ear: “Mm, I’m here.”
He could finally speak again.
He explained first: “I didn’t have any safe device to talk to you through the past few days. But I’ve found one now.”
He explained it very seriously.
He had already arrived at Black Well, and the mission to escort his little storage device was complete. Talking to her in her mind wasn’t part of his duty.
Pei Ran felt like… he didn’t actually need to explain.
“I was originally going to wait until you got to the dorm before talking to you.”
But trouble had happened on the way.
He said, “The surveillance in that tunnel was destroyed. I sensed something was off and temporarily accessed Ren’s camera feed—that’s how I saw you being injected with anesthetic.
“The two people you took down—one is already dead. The other regained consciousness after fainting, then drove off, apparently heading for the exit of Black Well.
I’ve been tracking his car, giving the security bureau live updates on its position. They’ve just caught him.”
Those two unlucky bastards.
“I ran facial recognition on their information. Both of them are registered as civilians, with seemingly clean backgrounds and no criminal records. But they entered Black Well immediately after a refugee intake notice was posted—looks like they had access to inside information and were already waiting near Black Well.”
“As of now, there’s no evidence showing they were acting on someone’s orders. If there was a deal with anyone, it likely happened outside of Black Well.”
“One of them was a Fusion Body. He wore a suppression wristband when entering Black Well, but there was no wristband on the body afterward.”
W said, “If you open a wristband without a special device, the system will trigger an alert. But there’s no alert recorded in the system, which means a staff member must’ve helped him remove the wristband using a device without authorization. I’ll investigate this matter.”
He continued reporting the situation.
“The security bureau found the micro flying device that injected the anesthetic in the car. But the fact that you managed to kill two people after being injected—honestly, it’s astonishing. Most people would’ve been unconscious immediately.”
Pei Ran remembered.
“What happened to the driver?”
W replied, “He’s fine. Just hit his head a little when Ren pushed him into the passenger seat—got a bruise on his forehead. The security bureau gave him an anti-anesthetic injection too. He’s already been sent back to his dorm.”
Pei Ran made a small sound of acknowledgment and asked, “I killed someone—will that cause trouble?”
“Don’t worry,” W said.
“Even though the tunnel surveillance was destroyed, Ren’s camera recorded the entire incident of them kidnapping you and your forced counterattack.”
“Kidnapping is classified as a Level-15 violent crime that seriously endangers personal safety. Your actions qualify as legitimate self-defense and won’t be pursued.”
Having said everything he needed to, W fell silent.
After not talking for ten days, both human and machine suddenly felt a bit awkward.
The air turned quiet, like neither knew what to say next.
Thankfully, there was still a chattering little robot nearby.
Ren took the water cup away. “Master, I’ve checked the inventory list of your dorm. All the daily supplies you’re supposed to receive have already been automatically placed in your room. When I have time, I’ll go to the supply station again and pick up the pre-made meal packs you’ll need for the next few days. Also, check your wristband.”
Pei Ran opened her wristband and saw two unread messages, both from the Black Well Temporary Security Bureau.
One was a case report acknowledgment. The other was a notice regarding her emergency use of the anti-anesthetic medication.
Ren leaned over to read along, curious: “Who tried to kidnap you? What for? Is it because you’re a rich lady with lots of material vouchers?”
Who was behind it—it was obvious.
Xing Wuxian.
In that situation earlier, all he had to do was switch the anesthetic for a poison needle and he could’ve killed her outright. But he didn’t.
He really did seem determined to know what Shige Ye said before he died.
Once Ren brought it up, W seemed to have found a new topic.
He said, “On the day you entered Black Well, I discovered that Hai Po and the others came with Xing Wuxian as well.”
Pei Ran considered it. “So Xing Wuxian is Shige Ye’s older brother? They do look a lot alike.”
“Possibly. That’s my guess too,” W said.
“Unfortunately, Shige Ye’s information isn’t in the citizen database. We haven’t found any data that can confirm their relationship yet.”
He was a massive database. Pei Ran immediately asked, “W, I don’t know much about this royal family. What’s their deal?”
As long as she input a question, W could spew out information endlessly.
“You must have studied this in school—you probably know the basics. But I’d like to start from the beginning.”
Pei Ran: Perfect. I’d love it if you started from the dawn of time.
W said, “Hundreds of years ago, the East Manya and West Tist continents were fragmented, with many nations. Among them, quite a few were actually subordinate to an empire called Tran, ruled by the Tran Emperor. Later, as people became more enlightened, countries declared independence one after another. The Tran Empire’s power waned day by day, and imperial authority became nominal.”
“About two hundred years ago, the monarchy was abolished. The royal family became commoners, retaining only an empty title. But though they were called commoners, they were still different from real commoners—they held considerable assets and had deep, tangled connections with the Federation’s major financial conglomerates.”
“The royal family’s businesses spread across the Federation. In essence, they’ve become a financial force themselves.”
“In this generation, the family was originally controlled by an empress. She had a daughter and a son. Four years ago, after the empress passed away, her chosen successor—the eldest daughter—suddenly fell gravely ill and died soon after…”
Pei Ran: Ah, palace intrigue.
W continued, “So her son, Yu He, took power. But his current condition isn’t great either—he’s in a hospital at Black Well, still unconscious. The person you met, Xing Wuxian, is Yu He’s second son. He also has an elder son named Yan Xun. Rumor has it they have different mothers, but that’s just speculation.”
W was blunt. “They say Yu He’s private life, much like the Tran royal family’s traditions, is extremely chaotic and unsavory. Shige Ye might very well be his illegitimate child, for all we know.”
“Oh,” W added, “It’s said the royal family has a tradition of cannibalism. Centuries ago, they were known to offer living sacrifices to evil gods.”
Pei Ran: What kind of messed-up family is this?
Suddenly, a thought struck her: “Last time, when Shige Ye captured me, he pulled out a dagger, ready to do it himself. Could he have been planning to…”
Eat her.
W replied, “Possibly.”
Pei Ran thought for a moment. “W, do you have any files on the royal family—especially this second prince, Xing Wuxian? Can you send them to me?”
“Of course,” W answered. “There’s too much. I’ll pick some and bundle them for your wristband.”
His efficiency was astonishing. In the blink of an eye, the files arrived—detailed news articles, documents, photos, and video footage, all in a massive pile.
As she scrolled through the data, W stayed silent.
Tonight, he seemed different from usual—almost uneasy.
Ren, keeping watch by the bed, leaned over to look at Xing Wuxian’s files with Pei Ran. After a while, he suddenly spoke.
It exclaimed in surprise, “Huh? I’ve received another order to mop the floor a hundred times! Is this dorm’s floor really that dirty?”
Ren tilted its head, surveying the room with a sweeping glance before concluding: “Seems it’s indeed not ideal. The cleaning robots from their dorm management office ought to be recalled for a system upgrade. If my standards were the benchmark, their work quality would undergo a qualitative leap.”
After this boast, it walked to the dorm entrance, straightened its legs, and reattached the floor-suction disc.
Like a cat perched atop a robotic vacuum, it whooshed away, starting enthusiastically from one corner of the room while muttering:
“First mopping round—begin!”
Ren left Pei Ran’s bedside, and only then did W speak again:
“Pei Ran, I sent you an app. Install it on your wristband.”
The wristband vibrated. Pei Ran opened it—it was a link. After clicking, it automatically downloaded.
The download completed almost instantly. A circular icon appeared on the wristband’s interface. Judging by its outline, it looked very much like W’s exploded metal ball.
Pei Ran was curious: “What is it?”
“It’s… um…” W didn’t answer directly, only saying, “Pei Ran… before you open it, can you try to shrink the screen size as much as possible?”
Pei Ran: ?
He deliberately sent Ren away and even asked her to shrink the screen—what kind of shady thing had he sent her?
Pei Ran glanced at Ren, who was busy mopping the floor, then reduced the virtual screen to the size of a palm before tapping the spherical icon.
The screen went black for a moment, and then a room appeared.
The room was dimly lit, with only a floor lamp on. In front of the camera stood a person, their eyes still clear in the dusky light, quietly looking at Pei Ran from beyond the screen.
In all her life, Pei Ran had never seen someone so good-looking. She was momentarily stunned.
Though this person looked very much like a real human, their features were so impossibly perfect that it was obvious they were virtual.
Snapping out of it, Pei Ran asked W: “What is this? W, did you send me a game?”
She had read about this kind of game in novels—ones where you could interact with virtual characters, even date them.
W was probably worried she was bored and had found her a game to play, but he was too embarrassed to let Ren see.
W was silent for a few seconds.
He said: “It’s not a game.”
Something strange happened—as his voice sounded in her ear, the lips of the person on the screen moved in sync, forming the exact words.
And in his pitch-black, bright eyes, there was a hint of exasperation.
Pei Ran: Huh??
Pei Ran quickly pieced it together, unable to believe it.
“Is this… W, is this your virtual avatar? You’re not a ball anymore?”
“I was never a ball to begin with,” W took a step forward, moving slightly closer to the camera. “The spherical patrol robot was just a tool I used when handling Federation security affairs.”
He was so close now that she could almost see his eyelashes.
Having never seen someone so breathtakingly beautiful before, Pei Ran instinctively held her breath.