Embers Ad Infinitum

On the third floor of the underground building, C-14 project team.

Jiang Baimian was carrying a tactical backpack and met Mei Shouan.

"Is Mianmian here?" Mei Shouan showed a kind smile, "The team responsible for making your biological cochlear prosthesis and the corresponding equipment and equipment are ready. We will try to get it done in one go and not let you suffer additionally. "

According to the scheduled process, Jiang Baimian will receive anesthesia and enter a deep sleep in the last step of the awakening experiment. Mei Shouan plans to divide this into two parts, the first half for her to awaken, and the second half for a biological cochlear transplant.

In terms of timing, this is entirely doable.

"Thank you, Uncle Mei." Jiang Baimian thanked the other party sincerely.

She was afraid of being anesthetized, losing consciousness, falling into darkness, and no longer being able to control herself. Therefore, if it could be solved at once, she would definitely support it with both hands and feet.

Mei Shouan nodded, his expression gradually becoming serious:

“Before we officially begin, there is something I must say to you.

"You should already know that the risk of the C-14 project is very low, but that does not mean there is no risk at all.

"There is a five-in-a-thousand chance that the experimenters will never wake up again, and 20% have a variety of problems, including anxiety, mania, temporary amnesia, and skin allergies that are prone to allergies for a period of time. After treatment, most of these symptoms have improved significantly and will recover in the foreseeable future.

"The success rate of the experiment, that is, the probability of awakening people, is very unstable. Sometimes, there are two or three in a batch, and sometimes, there are no awakenings in three or four consecutive batches.

"In addition, for those who are continuously subjected to experiments, the probability of problems increases sharply, which is almost equivalent to suicide.

"If you think about it again now, you still have a chance to regret it."

After explaining the risks, Mei Shouan sighed and said:

"You are already D9. It is only a matter of time before you enter the management. If you are my daughter, I definitely don't want you to take such a risk."

The hidden meaning of his words is:

Mianmian, you have to consider the mood of your father and your mother.

Jiang Baimian smiled and said:

"Uncle Mei, as you know, I've been running around outside. The tasks I'm responsible for are a bit dangerous, and the probability of death is estimated to be more than 5 out of 1,000."

That being said, she actually didn't discuss it with Ms.

Mei Shouan said "hmm":

"Now that you've thought it through, I won't say any more and just get started."

He called in a female researcher and asked her to lead Jiang Baimian to change clothes. After all, he would have to undergo surgery later.

With a mentality of knowledge and research, Jiang Baimian followed the instructions calmly and changed his clothes, put away his backpack, and then took the test. When the results came out, he was injected with a medicine.

Then, she was exposed to three types of light in succession and stayed in a small dark room with no light or sound for nearly a quarter of an hour.

This is somewhat different from the process described by Shang Jianyao before. It can be seen that the C-14 project team has made many improvements over the past year.

At the end of the experiment, Jiang Baimian entered a room made of silver-white metal, with multiple medical personnel and pieces of equipment waiting nearby.

"Lie down on the bed." Mei Shou'an pointed to the movable operating table fixed in the center of the room.

Jiang Baimian nodded, walked over, sat down and lay down, finishing in one breath.

"Next is the injection of anesthetic." Mei Shouan said simply.

At the same time, two researchers entered the room with medical kits in hand.

"Wait a minute!" Jiang Baimian suddenly raised his hand and sat up.

"What's wrong?" Mei Shouan asked with a warm attitude.

Jiang Baimian said "uh" and asked indifferently:

"Can, can you play some music?"

She was nervous at the thought of falling into darkness beyond her control.

Mei Shouan frowned slightly:

"music?"

Jiang Baimian showed a flattering smile:

"Uncle Mei, just play a song to relax my mental state, and you can turn it off after the anesthetic is injected.

"The song is in my computer, and the computer is in my backpack. Please ask someone to get it for me."

Mei Shouan, who always strictly followed the regulations when conducting experiments, originally wanted to say whether this would affect the final results, but when Jiang Baimian said that the song could be stopped as soon as the anesthetic was injected, she choked back her corresponding words.

This is not a problem. We are all having a conversation now. There is no essential difference in playing an extra song... Mei Shouan thought for a moment, nodded lightly and said:

"good."

Soon, a researcher took the key handed over by Jiang Baimian and lifted her backpack over.

According to Mei Shouan's cautious instructions, the portable computer was not taken into the silver-white metal room and placed at the entrance.

Jiang Baimian only gave a few instructions, and the researcher, who was not unfamiliar with computers, successfully brought up the music player.

"Do you still remember the dream you had when you were young?

"Like a flower that never fades

"Accompany me through the wind and rain

"Look at the impermanence of things in the world.

"Look at the vicissitudes of life..." (Note 1)

The melodious singing echoed, Jiang Baimian took two deep breaths, lay down again, and closed his eyes.

After a few seconds, she secretly narrowed her eyes.

"Why is it so thick?" Jiang Baimian sat up again, pointed at the needle, and blurted out.

"Your quality is far better than that of ordinary people, so the amount of anesthetic you need is definitely different." The researcher in charge of anesthesia explained.

Jiang Baimian instinctively retorted:

"I'm not an elephant!"

"It's just a little more than normal." The researcher in charge of anesthesia said with relief.

Jiang Baimian opened his mouth, hesitated for a few seconds, closed his eyes suddenly, and fell straight down.

Out of sight!

"Do you still remember the dream you had when you were young?

"Like a flower that never withers..."

The repetitive singing lingered in her mind, making her hold on and not sit up again.

After a little sting, she knew that coma and darkness would inevitably come.

…………

Drowsily, light appeared in front of Jiang Baimian's eyes.

She slowly opened her eyes and found that she was in a strange place.

This is an unusually wide and empty hall, with the surrounding walls made of black metal that shines with a cold light.

The upper part of the hall was dark, like the night sky.

The "sky" is densely covered with countless bright stars, which rotate slowly and intertwine into thirteen dreamy rivers.

Countless starlights fell, forming a blurry figure in the center of the hall.

The figure's hands are spread out in strict symmetry, as if it is embracing the world and simulating a scale.

"His" voice was loud but hollow, echoing in the hall over and over again:

"One price, three gifts."

"One price, three gifts..."

When Jiang Baimian saw this scene, he probably understood where he was.

"Hall of Stars"!

This is exactly the same as the "Hall of Stars" described by Shang Jianyao!

I woke up...the experiment was successful...Jiang Baimian was happy at first, and then had strong doubts.

She never felt that her luck was far superior to others, and she had long been mentally prepared for the failure of her awakening. As a result, things went smoothly beyond her imagination.

Do I have any conditions that coincide with my awakening needs? Or maybe we are deeply involved in the investigation of the cause of the destruction of the old world, so someone or some people gave a little "blessing"? Jiang Baimian has always been smart, and smart people always like to overthink and be suspicious.

She composed herself and forced herself to focus on the figure in the center of the hall.

Now that she has reached this point, no matter what the reason is, she can only keep going.

Jiang Baimian, who loves to make various plans, has already thought about which area of ​​ability to awaken.

Her favorite ones, which she feels can complement her other characteristics and the specific situation of the group, are the six major areas of "Zhuang Sheng", "Bodhi", "Dawn", "The Last Man", "Broken Mirror" and "Si Ming" .

Because there was already an awakened person in the "Zhuang Sheng" field in the team, and he was very strong, Jiang Baimian immediately eliminated this option when he listed it.

In the "Dawn" realm, the only prices she knows are intermittent coma, schizophrenia, and abnormal senses. The first two are completely unbearable for her and she has no intention of choosing. For the latter, taste is the best direction, but in that case , she felt that she would lose a lot of the joy of being a human being - life was so hard, and she couldn't even eat something good to comfort herself, and she would be depressed sooner or later;

In the field of "Last Man", Jiang Baimian knew that the price was memory loss, sleep disorders and lack of self-discipline in some aspects. These were all problems that she felt affected her normal state, so she gave up on this field the second time;

In the field of "Bodhi", Jiang Baimian neither wants to go insane, have abnormal senses, nor wants to be unable to lie - this can easily lead to big troubles at critical moments. As for the desire enhancement category, she feels that she cannot kill the group members;

In the field of "Si Ming", Jiang Baimian did not consider limb paralysis or lethargy. The former would directly reduce her combat effectiveness, and the latter would obviously affect her thinking. As for the abnormality of the eyeballs, she felt that it was still bearable, but It is relatively ugly, so it is placed relatively far back;

In the field of "broken mirrors", fear of light, water and mirrors are too disturbing to daily life and are easy to be discovered. Jiang Baimian gave up immediately. The same is true for "claustrophobia". The owner of the "virtual world" The method of death is still fresh in her memory. The remaining face blindness and road madness are the former. It is easy to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy and is too dangerous, but the latter can be considered...

As his thoughts flashed, Jiang Baimian quickly went through the options of abnormal taste, fixed eyeballs, and road addiction.

After more than ten seconds, she made a decision.

"Road crazy"!

That's the price of being able to rely on auxiliary chips in bioprosthetics to reduce the negative effects.

Although this will probably also reduce her ability to observe and remember the surrounding environment, on important occasions, she can "remember" while watching without fear of forgetting or making mistakes.

In addition, always working in a team can also effectively avoid problems.

Huh... Jiang Baimian breathed out, walked in front of the figure, raised his head, and said loudly:

"I trade my stupidity for abilities."

As soon as she finished speaking, three stars fell rapidly from the sky.

They turned into different light groups and threw them at Jiang Baimian's body.

There are some words in each of these light groups, they are:

"Spatial hallucination", "object agnosia", "stimulus dysregulation".

Note 1: "The Price of Love", Li Zongsheng