It seems that the villain is targeting me.

There was a loud commotion in the corridor, accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps coming closer and closer.

The door of the ward was suddenly pushed open by a huge force.

Officer Lan grabbed the door frame with one hand. Her chest was heaving violently due to her intense running. Before she could catch her breath, she rushed straight into the ward.

The nurse was still shouting something loudly behind her, but Lando was obviously not paying attention.

She quickly scanned the room and checked places where people could hide, such as under the table, in the wardrobe, and behind the door, as quickly as possible.

The windows in the ward were open, and the wind blew up the light blue curtains, which fluttered in the air like the hem of a skirt.

Officer Lan walked to the bed and closed the open window glass a little. She looked down - this was the fourth floor, and looking down from above, the heads of passers-by were as big as peanuts.

Naturally, she didn't see any suspicious people.

There was no one else in the room except the bird lying on the hospital bed receiving an IV.

After a while, Landu finally withdrew her gaze. Her brows were still furrowed, and her fingers were unwillingly gripping the wood of the window frame.

She recalled the fragments of words she had heard while scouting the scene earlier - these words now filled her mind.

"Very calm... The murderer was present at the same time when the three victims were killed..."

"The method was too cruel... the entire neck was almost cut open..."

"He's simply a murderer..."

"The gun was not found."

There was a slight sound of clothes rubbing against each other behind her. Lando paused and then turned around.

She looked towards the bed.

Xiao Niao, who was lying on the hospital bed, had opened his eyes at some point and was quietly looking at himself standing by the window.

"Ah," Lando realized, "You're awake... How do you feel? Are you okay?"

Xiao Niao didn't say anything, but just nodded slowly to the police officer.

Perhaps because it had just escaped death, the little bird looked listless and very tired.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion...her lower lip seems a little swollen.

Has Xiaoniao been awake since just now?

Lando couldn't remember.

When she broke into the ward, she did not pay too much attention to Xiao Niao lying on the bed, but was fully alert to the "murderer" who might be hiding in the house.

Therefore, Officer Lan had no way of knowing when the bird woke up.

"you……"

The policewoman calmed herself down and stepped forward to the bedside. "Do you remember how you got to the hospital?"

"Someone took you to the hospital," Lando asked. "Do you know where she went?"

Xiao Niao did not answer immediately, but stared blankly at the ceiling above his head.

She stared at the incandescent bulb on the ceiling that emitted a dazzling light for a long time before slowly lowering her eyes.

"……road."

The voice was unusually hoarse. Xiao Niao had choked on a lot of black smoke in the underground facility. His tonsils were swollen and his throat seemed uncomfortable.

"……do not know."

She said, each word coming out with great difficulty.

The words that were about to come out of her throat stopped. Lando pursed her lips, feeling a strong sense of guilt rising in her heart.

Xiaoniao was obviously not in a good position to be asked any questions right now; she needed to rest.

But the policewoman still reluctantly asked one last time, "...Really? You don't have any recollection of it at all?"

"Ah."

The room became quiet again.

The long period of intense exercise finally made the policewoman feel tired. She sat down on the chair, covered her eyes with her hands, and remained silent for a long time.

Xiao Niao was still staring at the light bulb above his head.

After a while, she was so stimulated by the light that she shed tears.

Chapter 66: The fog gradually lifts

When the incident first happened, the controller was not able to notice it immediately.

This is understandable. To it, the small world is just a field used to harvest cause and effect points - and when you own tens of thousands of fields, the condition of a single field will hardly attract your attention.

The master controller will send harvesters (systems) and operators (hosts) to harvest the causal points, and then transmit large quantities of points back to the real world - this is basically its entire connection with the small world.

Simply put, the priority of the small world is very low. Even if it is really destroyed, the main control may not cause much waves.

The most important thing and what needs the most attention is always reality.

Therefore, when it realized that the blocking barrier it had set up on a certain 'operator' was broken, a long time had already passed.

Several tentacles of consciousness surrounded the small world emitting a light blue light.

If Tongzi saw this scene, he would definitely be surprised - because even when it earned a huge amount of points for the present world, the main controller only

Only a temporary contact was established with it briefly.

But now, the main controller has allocated a lot of data streams to monitor the status of this small world.

It pondered.

A certain system noticed the silence of the master controller. Since there are already too many systems in this book, they will be sorted here by number and called 01.

01 Ask a question: [Control, what's the problem? ]

While asking the question, 01 also focused his attention on the small world that was being watched by the main controller.

This is the small world that 01 is in charge of. As one of the original models, managing the status of the small world for the main controller is 01's most basic responsibility, which is written in its underlying code.

But obviously... its current top leader has directly overstepped his authority and taken over the job that originally belonged to 01.

01Observing this small world, I can’t see anything surprising about it.

[The host responsible for 71603 has a problem.] The main control adjusted the data parameters. [The emotion blocking barrier originally set on her has been destroyed.]

Emotional blocking barrier?

01 expressed his doubts in silence.

Imposing a blocking barrier on a host experiencing memory stress is not uncommon—no, it should be said that it is quite common.

After all, a skilled 'operator' would have to experience at least two small worlds, accumulating at least decades of memory pressure, coupled with the unique near-death experience of death escape...

If it is not dealt with, the host will become insane after a few tasks.

In the past, the most commonly used method was actually simple and crude methods such as deleting memories, but in recent years, with the improvement of host protection regulations, more gentle methods such as "emotional blocking barriers" are used more frequently.

But no matter what... it is quite bizarre for the main controller to set up the blocking barrier - it is like asking the group president to personally write the year-end report for an employee.

I don't understand, Control.

01 tried to simulate the main control's operating logic: [This was against procedure from the beginning. 04 requested to enter this small world, and then 03 and its host accepted the task... How could there be multiple systems in one small world?]

[This host is indeed special.] 01 found Xiao Niao's first mission record, [but her willingness to continue participating in the mission is very low, not worth investing so much follow-up resources.]

Speaking of invested resources... after retrieving the mission records of this small world, 01's running code froze for a moment.

Oh my God, it has been fifty-one times already. This little world has been restarted at least fifty times.

How huge a number of causal points would this consume?

Even if you squeeze this small world clean from the inside out, you can't even recover one tenth of the points.

This is a thankless task, and there is absolutely no need for the master control to do this - there is absolutely no need to repeatedly restart and send new operators to try to complete this task.

At worst, it will be destroyed. After all, what does the life and death of the small world have to do with them?

The master controller did not answer its doubts - perhaps the master controller felt that this was a question that did not need to be explained.

01's computing module ran continuously for two weeks, and then it decided to give up further investigation of the problem.

There must be a reason why the master controller did this. 01 doesn't think that his creator would do something meaningless.

A work of art can, to a large extent, reflect the character of its creator, and the underlying logic of all systems is 'efficiency first' - this is undoubtedly a reflection of the controlling will.

In this case, it is unnecessary to continue wasting computing power on this.

You mentioned that there was a problem with the host 03 was in charge of. 01 suggested, "Do we need to end the mission early and reclaim that host?"

【No. 】

After a long silence, the master controller finally spoke again, "The mission continues."

[The barrier has been breached,] 01 said, [perhaps the host is no longer fit to continue the mission.]

01 There are only two conceivable reasons for the barrier to be destroyed: the host's sanity value plummets, causing madness; or the brain suffers irreversible physical damage.

No matter which one, the host will lose the ability to move normally - basically, the mission has failed. Early recovery can also save some costs.

【No need to recycle.】

The controller again rejected 01's judgment.

[The host is conscious enough to continue the mission.]

The barrier was breached in an unconventional manner, the controller said. She came into contact with the holder of ■■.

【■■？】01Suddenly realizing,【…So that’s how it is.】

If it was this thing, then it made sense—if it was for the purpose of recycling ■■, then it wouldn't be surprising to spend a huge amount of causal points to restart the small world.

[■■ has been lost for a while,]

The master controller stared coldly at the small world emitting a light blue light, as if he wanted to catch the world will hidden in it and eat it alive.

[There wasn't a suitable candidate among this generation's 'players,' so it was lost to the small world.]

01 was silent for a moment. [The world's will is holding ■■ tightly?]

"It's courting its own destruction," the Master Control said. "Once ■■ is successfully recovered, the small world it's in will no longer have any need to continue existing."

Oh, 01 sighed a little for a moment, poor guy.

The will of that world is dead, and the master will peel it apart like peeling an orange, and then eat it raw piece by piece.

After a while, 01 suddenly remembered something: [What about the owner? How should she deal with it?]

"It would be best if she voluntarily gave up ownership of ■■," the controller's voice was filled with fatigue. "We can't let any more mistakes happen."

Oh, it seems that the owner of ■■ may not be aware of its function, and is just using it subconsciously - this is really a blessing in disguise.

If the other party really knew how to use it, it would not just be that small world that would be in chaos.

01After figuring out the key, I instinctively felt a little regretful.

It is extremely rare to find people who can adapt to ■■, and qualified people are the hardest to find - there have even been cases where no [players] were able to adapt to it for two consecutive games.

"What a shame," 01 murmured. "If I give up, she'll be reduced to ashes."

------

-

"I have good news and bad news."

Officer Lando put his hands behind his back and asked, "Xiao Niao, which one do you want to hear first?"

Xiao Niao leaned back on the pillow dejectedly, looking at her listlessly: "Bad news."

Landu glanced at her, clenched his right fist, put it to his lips, and coughed lightly.

"...The good news is that the crackdown went smoothly, and we've busted the entire trafficking ring," Officer Lan said, his face beaming with joy. "Remember to watch the 7 o'clock news tonight—CCTV News."

Xiao Niao raised his hands and clapped in cooperation, praising him somewhat exaggeratedly, "That's amazing."

Officer Lan lowered his head modestly, looking embarrassed: "It's all my duty. I serve the people."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot," Lando pulled out a thermos bucket from behind her. "This is lean meat and Panax notoginseng soup. It's good for your bones. My mom made it especially for you."

As he spoke, Officer Lan moved the thermos to the bedside table, opened the lid enthusiastically, scooped out a bowl of hot soup, and personally handed it to Xiao Niao - he almost fed her hand-in-hand.