Did the world end today?

Chapter 291 Fusion

Chapter 291 Fusion
Major progress?

What specific progress has been made?

Lin Xu's tone was slightly hurried. He casually put on a piece of clothing, nodded to Jiang Xingye, and walked out the door.

Jiang Xingye didn't care much either—she was now completely immersed in the information she had just obtained, or rather, just realized she had obtained.

Her focus at that moment was exactly the same as Lin Xu's.

With a "bang," the door slammed shut.

Lin Xu gestured to Qin Feng, who was waiting in the living room, signaling him to prepare the car. Qin Feng then conveniently assigned the task to Qi Yuan.

As the group got into the car and drove towards the coordination group's office park, Zhang Liming, on the other end of the phone, was explaining the "progress" regarding Ayana to Lin Xu from beginning to end.

"At first, I just wanted to know what the mechanism of mind control through Ayana was."

"Although you have said before that Zhang Liming in that world spread his ideas by 'verifying his own correctness,' I still feel that this approach has an inherent flaw."

"That is, he will inevitably rely on a large number of people influenced by his ideas to carry out his plans."

"And the execution process was completely out of control."

“I find it hard to believe that he would let such a thing happen—even disregarding him, from my perspective alone, I could not tolerate such a loss of control.”

"Moreover, he has a natural distrust of humans."

"In his view, humans are sheep, and he is the shepherd."

"If one day the shepherd dies, then at least he must leave behind enough sheepdogs."

"These sheepdogs must have undergone a real ideological transformation—just like I did in the previous world."

"So, in the past few days, I've talked a lot with Julius and Ayana, and tested many different experimental schemes."

"Most of the experimental protocols were ineffective, and this path should be very difficult to follow. But just now, without any warning, Ayana underwent a personality switch."

"As you know, Aishwarya's personality has completely stabilized by now."

“Even though He Qijun’s personality temporarily took over last time, it was quickly absorbed and devoured by Aishwarya’s personality.”

But this time... it's very different!

"First of all, we can clearly see that her personality was actively guided out of her body."

"In other words, after she absorbed He Qijun's personality, Aishwarya's personality began to become aggressive—or proactive."

"She is almost no longer satisfied with the current situation, or rather, she is no longer satisfied with sharing a body with her personality."

"She is clearing away the 'abnormal personality' in her body, and although it is unknown whether she has succeeded, she has completed her first attempt!"

Cleansing up abnormal personalities?!
Sitting in the car, Lin Xu froze on the spot. After a few seconds of silence, he finally asked:
"How was this situation triggered?"

"That's the problem!"

Zhang Liming paused slightly on the other end of the phone, then slowed his tone and replied:
“All our previous experiments have failed—we originally planned to find a personality that was relatively close to Zhou Yue, to bring out that personality, and then to look for further clues.”

"But because there were too few clues available, such attempts were never successful."

"Then, just now, I was planning to go to the activity room to see her one last time. If there was still no progress, I would leave Jinling and go back to Zhuzhou to keep an eye on the progress of the Zhuzhou Ring."

“I had breakfast with her, and while we were eating, she suddenly asked me a question.”

"She asked me if we could find the answers we were looking for if all her other personalities disappeared."

"At first I still..."

"Just wait a moment."

Lin Xu interrupted Zhang Liming and then asked:
"Does she know what you're looking for?"

"know."

Zhang Liming replied:

“We never hid our purpose from her from the beginning, which was also to make the experiment process smoother.”

“But she knew we needed to find a way to control other people through her, but she didn’t really know what that way was.”

"So I was surprised when she suggested that she should actively seek the answers."

“I don’t know what she’s going to do—I even thought she was hiding some crucial information from us.”

"but."

At this point, Zhang Liming paused for a moment.

From Lin Xu's side, you could hear him taking a deep breath.

He didn't interrupt Zhang Liming, but just listened quietly.

“But the moment I nodded, Ayana changed.”

"It should be said that Aishwarya has changed."

"The scene was terrifying—I didn't have time to react, but the guards did, though they didn't know how to proceed."

The guard realized what was happening, but didn't know how to proceed.
What kind of strange situation is this?

"What exactly happened?"

Lin Xu pressed on, and Zhang Liming seemed to be trying to calm his agitated emotions. After pausing for a few seconds, he answered:

"It's hard for me to describe—have you ever watched Fight Club?"

"There's a scene in Fight Club where the protagonist fights his alter ego."

"That scene in his boss's office."

“At that time, Ayana was almost identical to the movie protagonist in that play.”

“She is fighting with herself—or rather, Aishwarya is fighting with a personality whose identity I do not know.”

There was absolutely no negotiation or dialogue process.

"The battle had already begun the moment I noticed Aishwarya's expression change."

"I didn't have time to react. She grabbed the knife on the table and stabbed it into her own neck."

"Fortunately, the guards on the side reacted quickly enough and rushed forward to bump into her."

"Otherwise, that knife would be stuck in her neck right now!"

“She was incredibly strong; neither of the two guards could hold her down—she was fighting an unseen enemy, and our attempts to restrain her were actually hindering her performance.” “Aishwarya’s personality was being continuously attacked, and I stopped the guards as soon as I realized something was wrong.”

"We lifted the restrictions on her again, and then, five minutes later, the battle was over."

"At this point, we still don't know who will win or lose."

"Because Ayana fell into a coma immediately after the battle ended."

I don't know who won or lost.
Lin Xu's heart skipped a beat.

At this point, the car had already driven into the park of the coordination group office.

The brakes had barely been applied, and the car hadn't even come to a complete stop yet, when Lin Xu had already stood up and reached the car door.

The moment the car door opened, he stepped out, while Zhang Liming, holding a mobile phone, was already waiting not far away.

Lin Xu stuffed the security device back into his pocket, strode forward, and asked:
"What's going on now? Where's Ayana?"

Zhang Liming also put away his phone. His usually meticulously styled hair was a little messy, and his expression showed a hint of panic.

He knows all too well how serious the problem is.

If Aishwarya had been the one to lose in that battle between "personalities," it would have meant that humanity in the world of Steins;Gate would have lost one of its most important pillars of development.

At that point, they will lose far more than just a "source of information"; they will also face enormous problems in the subsequent series of "upgraded work."
"She's in the medical room."

Zhang Liming replied:

"The medical team just gave her a small dose of sedative, which should ensure that she is relatively calm when she wakes up."

"You can go see her now, but..."

"You need to be careful."

"Because none of us know who she really is now."

"clear."

Lin Xu followed closely behind Zhang Liming, while Qi Yuan and Qin Feng stepped forward and walked to Lin Xu's side and slightly in front.

In this situation, they would naturally have to play a protective role.

Lin Xu noticed that Qi Yuan's hand was already on the holster at his waist.

He had no doubt that if Ayana attacked him or posed a fatal threat, Qi Yuan would definitely pull out his gun from its holster and get rid of her at all costs.

Thinking of this, Lin Xu stepped forward, patted Qi Yuan's hand, and said:
"take it easy."

"If you decide that you must fire later, try not to aim for vital areas."

"I know."

Qi Yuan nodded, his expression solemn yet tinged with coldness.

The door to the medical room was right in front of us, and the medical staff, who had just gone through a "battle," were standing at the door waiting.

Lin Xu noticed that two of the medical staff had some blood on their collars, which made him even more uneasy.

"how is the situation?"

Lin Xu stepped forward and asked:
How serious are her injuries?

"There is a laceration on the side of my neck, about 5 centimeters long, but fortunately it is not deep and has not damaged the muscles or blood vessels."

"There is one puncture wound on my arm and one on my shoulder."

"We've already stitched it up, it's not a big problem."

Puncture wound?
Lin Xu nodded slightly.

This injury is really quite serious!
He took a deep breath and pushed open the door to enter the medical room.

Ayana was lying on a bed in the outermost ward.

Her neck was bandaged, and her shoulders and arms were bare, with even the stitched wounds still looking shocking.

Blood was still seeping out. Lin Xu suppressed his anxiety and walked to Ayana's bedside.

Just as his figure blocked the sunlight streaming in from the window, Ayana suddenly opened her eyes.

Lin Xu was slightly taken aback, but met her gaze without fear.

The two remained silent for a few seconds.

Immediately afterwards, Ayana called out:
"elder brother."

"You came."