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墨書 Inktalez
Li Cheng's face was even grimmer than the iron sheets of the dock warehouse.
"Energy anomaly... non-human characteristics..." He repeated these two phrases, scrutinizing me with an extremely cold and sharp gaze. The failed probe and my sudden burst of "special perception" that could burn police computers had clearly led him to a more intuitive and negative assessment of my danger as a "sample Ouroboros."
But he did not turn hostile immediately. Perhaps the threats posed by "Soul Crossing" and the "Cleaner" were too tricky, or perhaps he had a stronger curiosity about the secrets hidden behind "Ouroboros" and its possible connection to his partner's death.
Our "collusion" felt like a steel wire stretched to its limit, ready to snap at any moment. In the end, he provided a new lead: an old file on the early urban planning of Xinshen City, encrypted and sealed within the police department.
The file contained information about an underground facility codenamed "Hive," which had been deliberately erased. According to Li Cheng's analysis, this "Hive" was likely a long-abandoned secret base of "Soul Crossing," potentially containing a wealth of early experimental data.
"The data shows that 'Hive' was permanently sealed thirty years ago due to an 'unknown energy leakage incident,'" Li Cheng tossed me a printed map covered in mosaics. "There may still be some... 'surprises' left inside. My personnel cannot intervene directly, but you might find something there."
I understood his implication. He wanted me to take the risk.
"You think I'm foolish enough to go alone into a death trap?" I looked at him.
"You don't have to go," Li Cheng lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag as the smoke obscured his expression. "But 'Soul Crossing' and the 'Cleaner' will eventually find you. And I can't protect something... that doesn't even understand what it is."
His words pierced my heart like a venomous thorn. What am I?
"Ouroboros"... this term occupied an increasingly larger space in my mind.
In the end, I went anyway. Not because of Li Cheng's threat, but due to an ever-growing desire within me to tear apart all lies and see my true self, even if that true self might be more terrifying than any nightmare.
I didn’t tell Li Cheng that I could sense an unusual, almost greedy "hunger" from the "Book of Resurrection" towards that "Hive."
The entrance to the "Hive" was hidden deep within an abandoned air raid shelter. The air was thick with dust and... a faint yet familiar scent of disinfectant. My stomach churned immediately as those cold, numerical memories of "non-human" fragments surged uncontrollably back into my mind.
"Command: Eliminate target XXX..."
"Error 404: Core personality conflict..."
I shook my head, forcing myself to stay alert. This place was even larger than I had imagined, like a steel labyrinth buried deep underground. Rusty metal corridors and tightly shut alloy doors surrounded me. On the walls, I could vaguely see some blurred patterns resembling circuit board designs, along with... that snake-like symbol connecting head to tail.
"The Ouroboros..."
A fragment of information found at the abandoned experimental site of "Soul Crossing" mentioned this project codename.
The Soul Ledger within me throbbed wildly, guiding me deeper into the labyrinth.
Eventually, it led me to a massive, circular alloy door covered in complex instruments.
On the door, a line of cold text was engraved: "Core Memory Database - Access Level S."
Is this... the place where all memory experiment data of "Soul Crossing" is stored? Or rather, the central server of the "Ouroboros" project?
Its appearance presented an unsettling, bizarre fusion of organic and mechanical forms. Beneath the cold metallic surface, there seemed to be some viscous, vein-like tissue subtly writhing.
The throb of the Soul Ledger reached its peak, a powerful force emanating from within the door that almost threatened to consume me!
I knew that once I opened this door, I might face an outcome far worse than death.
Yet, I still reached out my hand.
Just as my fingertips brushed against the cold metal door—
"Warning! Unauthorized access! Activating advanced defense protocols!"
A cold, emotionless electronic synthetic voice echoed throughout the space!
Immediately after, a torrent of memories surged forth from behind that door with a ferocity greater than any before, crashing violently into my mind like a flood breaking through a dam!
"Ahhhhh—!"
I let out a heart-wrenching scream, feeling my consciousness like a small boat caught in a superstorm, ready to be torn apart at any moment!
This time, it was not the memory of a specific deceased individual.
Instead... countless, unfamiliar, cold memory fragments that did not belong to human perspective at all!
I saw myself... no, "it," looking down indifferently from the top of towering buildings at the crowds and traffic below like ants.
I saw "it" smoothly reading the rapidly scrolling binary code on the screen; those 0s and 1s that seemed meaningless to ordinary people appeared as the most beautiful verses to "it."
I heard cold program commands echoing in "its" mind: "Command: Enter sleep mode," "Command: Activate combat module," "Warning: Emotional module conflict, formatting recommended..."
What terrified me most was that I "saw"... my own birth.
In a vast laboratory filled with petri dishes and various precision instruments stood a vague figure in a white coat, towering like a deity.
—Is it the old ledger master?!
—Gazing intently at something being slowly "extracted" from a massive cultivation tank filled with viscous liquid...
That "thing" bore an identical face to mine.
"Welcome to the world, my 'Ouroboros,'" that cold voice carried a chilling hint of... affection?
Then came the implantation of the initial memory module... Those "warm" memories of losing my parents at an early age and relying on my sister, like meticulously arranged lines of code, were forcefully injected into that blank "brain"...
No!
This is not me!
These are not my memories!
What am I?!
A program? A monster? A... manufactured shell without a soul?!
"Error... Error... System conflict... Core instructions damaged..."
My mouth uncontrollably uttered these cold, emotionless words.
My body began to convulse violently, and beneath my skin, those eerie blue data streams spread like wild vines, flashing chaotic electronic light in my eyes; my pupils even turned into pure black, devoid of any emotion!
My arms... the circuit patterns on my arms began to materialize! My skin split open, revealing a structure that glimmered faintly like metallic bones beneath!
"What the hell... what is happening?!"
A voice filled with shock and fear echoed behind me.
It was Li Cheng!
I didn't know when he had come close! He held a uniquely shaped handgun that was clearly not standard police issue, and the muzzle... was aimed at me!
He saw it... he saw everything!
I must look more terrifying than any living corpse at this moment!
"Zhou Mo?! No... you are not Zhou Mo! What exactly are you?!" Li Cheng's voice trembled, his eyes filled with unprecedented fear and... a hint of murderous intent.
He instinctively raised the gun in his hand, or rather, it resembled a device meant to restrain or suppress "abnormal beings."
I looked at him, opened my mouth to explain, to plead for help, to tell him I wasn't a monster...
But what came out was a series of incomprehensible roars mixed with electrical static!
It's over.
Everything is over.
I... I might really... not be human.
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