The mouse kept scrolling as Gu Yan rested his chin on his other hand, deep in thought.
He was using the Ability User Bureau's equipment, so he could naturally look up some information with ease. So many of the world's top Ability Users had been lost. No matter how tightly the news was suppressed, some rumors would still leak out.
However, that was not what he cared about. He was looking for the matter Li Shi had casually mentioned before.
'The day before yesterday, a team of researchers from our country took a special plane to the Beautiful Country overnight. Yesterday afternoon, they provided us with some information. This is the image. Those red spots indicate the regions around the world where disasters have occurred.'
Thinking back on it now, it was obvious that humanity had already initially mastered a method of observing Honkai Energy.
Moreover, since they needed Kui Niu's brain to decipher the information, could they already be using the brains of other Honkai beasts for the same purpose?
If the higher-ups had truly obtained information about the Honkai, Gu Yan was not worried that they would hide it from the Ability Users. In the face of such a disaster, keeping their own combat strength in the dark would be utterly foolish.
Still, he was only mildly concerned. He was certain that before long, the situation around the world would be turned upside down.
Looking up this intelligence was merely a way to pass the time at work.
After searching for a long while without finding any useful clues, Gu Yan grew bored and opened his personal homepage. Only he could view this page. Before entering it, he also had to pass iris and fingerprint verification through his dedicated phone. Anyone else who opened it could only see his avatar.
Inside the personal homepage, apart from all sorts of miscellaneous information, the most eye-catching thing was that golden, glittering emblem:
It depicted a six-pointed star with a vertical pupil in the center. Even through the screen, one could sense the magic within it, as if the vertical pupil's gaze could cleanse a person's soul. Beneath the six-pointed star were the words "S-Class Ability User."
Thanks to Gu Yan's outstanding performance this time, he was not awarded any additional merits. Instead, he was directly promoted to S-Class Ability User.
Though aside from a higher salary and more generous benefits, the promotion was of no real use to him.
"Your private mailbox has one unread email."
The sudden notification made Gu Yan pull his finger away from the button he was about to press to shut down the computer. Only then did he notice that his personal homepage also had an email function.
But who could have sent it to him? He had not given anyone his Ability User account. It seemed it should be an official email.
Without thinking much of it, Gu Yan opened the email. But its contents made his expression change drastically--
It was a deep-blue crystal. It appeared to be no more than a fragment, but there was no doubt that it was part of the Insight Gem!
Gu Yan's gaze was drawn to it. The deep-blue light devoured his thoughts, and drowsiness surged over him. In an instant, he fell asleep.
At the final moment before losing consciousness, he remembered the Herrscher's gaze from back then--
We'll meet again.
"Where is this?"
When he opened his eyes, everything in sight was white.
It was not glowing white, but blankness itself.
Gu Yan stood up and examined his condition, then pinched his thigh hard.
"Ow, that hurts!"
He could actually feel pain. It seemed this was not an ordinary dream.
He tentatively took a step and found that he could plant his foot anywhere. After trying several more times, he discovered that he could move freely throughout this space, whether below his feet or above his head.
"Should I look around?" Gu Yan thought that since this was not an ordinary dream, the odds of waking up were probably very low.
Moreover, what he had seen before entering the dream clearly indicated that this matter was far from simple.
Strange!
"What did I see before I passed out?" Gu Yan could not remember. There was a gap in his memory, and it was continuing to grow.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, he did not want to investigate the cause. Nor was he worried about forgetting everything. The only thing on his mind now was walking.
Walking forward, walking onward without end.
He strode ahead.
His gaze fixed on the path before him, he stopped thinking about anything else, even as his memories slipped away bit by bit.
Who am I? It did not matter.
What am I doing? It did not matter.
He had completely forgotten everything, becoming a blank sheet of paper. He abandoned his identity as Gu Yan and abandoned his identity as a human.
The current Gu Yan knew nothing at all. Only now was he a qualified "audience member."
The true dream began.
"Only one of the G Group's test subjects survived?"
The frail girl showed no reaction to the words of those around her. She merely put food into her mouth with a numb expression.
"What use is surviving? She'll have plenty to endure in the experiments to come!"
At those words, the girl's hand holding the spoon paused.
She was very afraid of pain.
Gu Yan seemed to hear the girl's thoughts and sense her emotions.
She was not afraid of death, but she was very afraid of pain?
What was "pain"?
The girl did not eat anything else. Instead, she wanted to leave, as if leaving would allow her to evade the painful experiments.
"G142—no, from now on, you'll be G. You still have surgery to undergo. You can't go without eating something!"
The speaker was a man. His facial features were blurred, and Gu Yan could not see him clearly.
As for the surgery, it was naturally not a normal operation. It was a live experiment attempting to transform a human into an Ability User, and the food had been mixed with drugs.
The girl shook her head frantically. She did not want to be a lab rat or experience pain. She knew that she was a living, breathing person!
"Don't get so full of yourself. Hold her down!"
How could the petite girl resist? After the man kicked her in the lower abdomen, she curled up in agony, a trace of blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.
At the same time, an immense force struck Gu Yan in the lower abdomen, making him want to roll across the floor. The girl's senses were actually shared with him.
So this is pain?
But it was not over yet. Several hands pinned down the girl's limbs and pried open her mouth. She looked up, only to see that all their faces were shrouded in mist.
Only after roughly forcing the food down her throat did they finally stop.
"Hmph. Remember, in this world..." The man lowered his head and lifted the girl's chin.
"A life like yours is the least valuable of all!" As he spoke, he slapped her face heavily several times, his eyes full of disdain.
The man turned and walked away, leaving only the silently weeping girl behind.
Gu Yan wanted to comfort her and wipe away her tears. He did not know what this girl had done wrong, but there was no doubt that everything she had suffered was unjust.
She should have been living beneath the sunlight, not in a prison-like laboratory, serving as a human lab rat.
Hey, can you hear me?
Unfortunately, Gu Yan could not affect anything. Whether he called out, pounded on the walls, or shouted at the top of his lungs, nothing worked.
"Ugh..."
The girl began to cry aloud.
There was no grievance or pain in it, because she knew that nobody cared.
She merely wept numbly, as if venting her feelings. Her voice was not loud, but Gu Yan's heart throbbed along with it.
She had been born into this world, yet the world had not treated her gently.
Why?
He did not know, and neither did she.
The scene around them began to shatter. Only Gu Yan remained where he was.
Is it over?
Before you continue