An unknown Evil Spirit was wandering on the upward staircase.
It followed anyone going up or down the stairs, moving as they did while singing a song that sounded rather beautiful.
After pausing briefly, Jiang Qiao continued upward without being frightened by what lay before him. He had come to find trouble. If there was no trouble at all, wouldn't this trip have been for nothing?
He continued up the stairs.
The singing began moving downstairs again, and it was coming down very quickly. It had almost reached the point where, for every step Jiang Qiao took, it descended two.
By then, even if he chose to turn around and leave the staircase, it was already too late.
The voice would certainly catch up with him before he could leave the stairwell.
One step, two steps, three steps...
Jiang Qiao moved quickly, without the slightest hesitation. He could hardly wait to encounter that strange singing and see what it really was.
As he walked, he stared fixedly at the top of the stairs.
Closer...
Closer still...
When Jiang Qiao was only a few steps away from the sound, he suddenly realized that there was still no human figure within his field of vision. Instead, a glass fish tank half a person's height had appeared on the stairs.
The fish tank was filled with yellowish liquid.
A human brain was immersed inside, with two wires connecting it to a radio beside it.
The singing was coming from the radio.
"A brain in a vat?"
All of a sudden.
A phrase appeared in Jiang Qiao's mind.
The secret of all our consciousness lies in the brain. It allows us to think, remember, and observe everything around us.
When different regions of the brain are damaged, we lose different functions.
Memory, for example.