After removing the chip from the female corpse, they pulled the male corpse out of the pit and searched him thoroughly, but found nothing.
"It seems this woman is the main character," Su Huilan said.
Qingmu laughed, "What kind of protagonist doesn't even have any lines?"
He figured that since these two people were looking for Petru, they must be from the organization Su Huilan had mentioned. However, the chip on the woman indicated that she was an experimental subject from Laboratory No. 19. The devastating attack on Laboratory No. 19 back then was likely related to this experiment. Xia Xiaoxiao said that most of the test subjects had died, but Liu Huaian's existence meant that some had escaped, and the dead woman in front of him proved this point.
If this chip is indeed made of graphene, then it is likely the latest and last generation of products before the laboratory closes down.
Because Qingmu didn't take Liu Huaian's matter seriously at the time, and had no idea that he would have a chip on him, he couldn't determine whether Liu Huaian had been interacting with the Internet before his death. After all, the old chip was too old and might have broken down long ago.
But since this woman's chip is the latest version, she must have a connection to the Internet. She's a powerful Awakened, so why would she be manipulated by a non-existent Internet Consciousness? Is it possible that her awakening and powerful Mental Power were cultivated by the Internet? Or perhaps she's a clone of the Internet's consciousness, and her original consciousness died long ago?
Yes, if extraterrestrial Parasitic Consciousness can invade humanity, why can't Internet Consciousness directly occupy the human brain? Biochips combined with clone consciousness could turn humans into information nodes in its network—that's what true interconnectedness is all about. Otherwise, how can it be called "all things" if humans aren't connected?
Could those dead test subjects have been eliminated by the Internet itself? It didn't want humanity to discover this, so after the experiment succeeded, it eliminated all the researchers involved and the useless test subjects, leaving only those who were completely under its control, becoming part of the Internet Consciousness and its spies planted in human society and various organizations.
So, Liu Huaian is the real one who slipped through the net!
Qingmu remembered a crazy thing Liu Huaian often said, "I have two sides!"
How did he manage to evade Internet surveillance and become a double agent?
Qingmu felt a headache coming on. His strategic alliance with Ghost was essentially an alliance with the Internet, but he had no idea what the Internet truly was. Could it be even more terrifying than Dream Society and its Parasites?
He took out his phone, only to find there was no signal. He pointed the camera at the woman's face to take a picture, but found the rotten half of her face too gruesome, so he asked Petru to help him turn the woman over so he could take a side view of her intact half of her face.
"Bury it," he said.
Petru threw the man and woman into the pit. Qingmu and he filled the pit together with nearby fallen leaves, dry branches, and pebbles.
By the time these things were done, the Sun had already begun to set.
The Crow Guagua, "Hey, aren't you hungry?"
Petru laughed loudly, "Alright, come to my place, I'll treat you to whale meat!"
" Guagua, whaling is illegal!"
"Those are laws made by foolish humans; they don't apply to pirates!"
"Quack! Does that mean it won't work for us either, Hanran?"
The cat nodded and meowed, practically drooling.
Petru said, "You're right, it doesn't work on pirates and beasts, oh, and on the Japan too!"
" Japan? Uh... Guagua..." The Crow tilted its head, trying to figure out the connection.
"They withdrew from the whaling commission and joined your ranks of beasts! Hahaha..." Petru thought he had told a very funny joke.
Su Huilan said, "There's no need to join; they already are."
The Crow cawed, "Oh no! If they join, I'll withdraw!"
It meowed Hanran to indicate its agreement.
Su Huilan said, "Your IQ is high enough to be considered an animal."
The Crow said, "You're right. From now on, don't treat me like a bird. I want to be a normal person. I don't want to live under someone else's roof. Guagua!"
Qingmu said, "Can you keep stepping on my head like that?!"
"Um... but why am I always the one who listens to you? And Ruhua, she's always ordering me around! I want to protest!"
That's because you eat everything she makes.
"That doesn't mean you can order me around like that!"
"Then you shouldn't eat braised pork hock anymore."
"Alright, alright, for the sake of the braised pork knuckle... I'll let you boss me around! Guagua..."
Accompanied by the incessant cawing of Crow, interspersed with the occasional meow of a cat, they left the woods, climbed the hillside, and soon disappeared from sight.
Qiqika slowly woke up and found herself lying in the woods. She sat up, rubbed her sleepy eyes, and saw the hillside and Tushu outside the woods, as well as the peculiar stones on the hillside.
"Fuck! How did I get here?" he cursed, racking his brains but unable to recall how he got there.
The woods were damp; it looked like it had just rained. Qiqika vaguely remembered that it had rained earlier. He seemed to have received several groups of tourists today.
"Hmm, there must have been two groups," he recalled. "But where did they go? I didn't take them to Tapu, did I? No, impossible! I wouldn't take anyone to Tapu."
Besides the taboos of the gods, there also lived a Madman named Petru, who appeared out of nowhere and had been punished by the gods!
Thinking of Petru, Qiqika seemed to recall something, but then her mind went blank again. It was like a dream, so vivid yet forgotten in an instant.
Perhaps because of the rain, the woods were filled with a rotten, sour smell, with a faint hint of blood. This smell made him feel uneasy.
Qiqika stood up and realized that his crotch felt heavy and sticky. He reached down, unzipped his pants, and touched his crotch.
"Oh, shit!" he cursed. "What the hell is going on?!"
The Sun had already set in the west. Although it was still above the horizon, the western coastline was not visible from the woods. Sunlight could only be reflected down from the clouds overhead.
Some insects and small animals that only come out at night began to stir, making rustling sounds.
Qiqika wiped his hands on a nearby leaf and hurriedly pulled up his pants. He didn't want to be swallowed by the darkness in the forest. Although this island was where he grew up and he knew almost every inch of it, the hillside where Tapu was located was too mysterious, so much so that he sometimes felt it wasn't a place protected by gods, but rather a habitat for demons.
With a crotch full of gold, Qiqika hurriedly left.
As he walked past a large tree, he vaguely remembered something—he seemed to have had a dream—he was being hung upside down by a rope, and it seemed to be this tree, with a large pit full of sharp blades beneath it. In that dream, he almost fell in. He couldn't remember how he escaped, only the chilling feeling remained in his memory.
Just thinking about that feeling made him stop and look up, where he saw the rope swaying in mid-air.
The light grew dimmer, and a gust of wind blew in, bringing with it a stronger stench of blood.
Qiqika shuddered in fright and screamed as she ran towards her home, which was far away in the woods.