CH 182 Exposed
Translated by The BL Muse (ko-fi)
After half a year, Jiang Chen and He Qianjian met again. Putting aside other emotions, both of them were mostly a little stunned.
Judging from the appearance alone, He Qianjian seemed to have not changed much, but the dullness, numbness and lifelessness in his eyes seem to reflect deep from his bones. Even people who have never seen him before could tell this with just one glance that this person was not mentally right. Jiang Chen, who had seen He Qianjian surrounded by people and looking proud and arrogant, was deeply affected by this.
He knew very well why this was happening. The research institute had its own regulations, and the army also had its military regulations. The Military Research Institute combined the two and was more stringent in many aspects. The Military Research Institute admitted He Qianjian, except for necessary treatment and tracking, would never treat him as a human test subject. But any ordinary person would not be able to survive the necessary repeated examinations, questioning and high-pressure round-the-clock guard detail unless they were specially trained soldiers.
What was more, He Qianjian had lived a pampered life for so long and had never really experienced ups and downs even in his previous life.
With the existence of the System, He Qianjian would always stay awake. He needed to face the same interrogation every day. Sitting opposite him would be a team of no less than three experts, including but not limited to psychologists, interrogation experts, negotiation experts, etc…
Faced with different people asking the same questions every day, He Qianjian must absolutely execute every step of the System in order not to reveal its secrets. However, the conversation between the System and He Qianjian's brain could already be captured and translated. After the System learned about this, He Qianjian would also learn about this so under double pressure, he needed to be cautious even when thinking. When a person must control even the thoughts that may pop up in his brain at any time, and cannot relax for a moment twenty-four hours a day, the results it would have on his mental health could be imagined.
Therefore, the first moment he saw Jiang Chen, what burst out in He Qianjian's heart was not the hatred before, but instead a strong hope.
——Hope that appeared for the first time in these three months.
"Help me……"
He Qianjian tried his best to open his mouth and raise his voice to call for help, but the sound he made was as weak as a mosquito. He opened and closed his mouth, and Jiang Chen could only hear a hoarse breath. However, the words he could not speak were displayed on the monitor next to him.
"Save me, please, as long as you are willing to save me, you can do whatever you want to deal with the System, and I know its weaknesses——will it kill me again if I say it? But this is my last chance——I'll tell you, Jiang Chen, I'll tell you everything you want to know——the System just lost contact with me, will it come back, is it listening to me and Jiang Chen?——it would be better to die then stay here, I haven't lived enough and I don't want to die..."
The human brain was very quick in thinking. When thinking about one thing, it often diverged out into other unrelated trains of thought. It was also possible to think about many things at the same time. This situation was displayed on the monitor, just like a video, and the logic was confused and incoherent. But He Qianjian only thought of two things at this time: asking for help and the System.
Although it was a bit incoherent when displayed on the screen, it was easy to understand if one looked carefully.
Jiang Chen asked subtly after reading what He Qianjian wanted to say: "Why does the System want to kill you?"
"It..." He Qianjian opened his mouth and uttered a single syllable, the rest of the words appearing on the screen: "It has a big plan to execute. I am dragging it down. It doesn't want me anymore and wants to kill me, but I am of use to you. As long as you can save me, I will definitely tell you everything I know about the System——"
Jiang Chen: "Do you know its plan?"
Seeing that Jiang Chen seemed to be moved, He Qianjian's pale and numb face seemed to burst with life, appearing rather strangely twisted.
"I…uh, I-know...know..." His chest was heaving violently but he still tried to sit up. He raised his head a little from the pillow and looked straight at Jiang Chen with his eyes wide open, as if he wanted to sit up: "You, save, me, I will, tell."
He Qianjian had gone crazy under the high-pressure interrogation before, yelling and screaming loudly and uncontrollably. Perhaps his vocal chords had broken during those few days, and now when he spoke it was as raspy as a heavy chainsmoker.
Jiang Chen took half a step back and said quietly: "I can't promise you that."
He Qianjian's already wide eyes widened even more in an instant, as if it could escape from their sockets in the next moment.
"Why!"
"You should know why you are here. This concerns the whole world. I have no right to let you leave."
He Qianjian breathed heavily, and his heaving chest seemed to be unable to gather strength anymore. Unable to struggle onto the little strength he held before, he fell back onto the bed. He looked up at Jiang Chen, tried his best to breathe calmly, and spoke in his head: "Then what do you want? Help me get the System out of my head. I know you have a way——he must have a way, but what if he doesn't help me? Will I have to pay a price to get it out? If I can pay the price, I will, but what should I do if Jiang Chen lies to me? He hates me so much, but he is the only person I can trust——at least he keeps his word. Who would've thought that this ridiculous weakness has become my life-saving straw now. But it doesn’t matter, as long as you can save me..."
The text on the display clearly recorded every thought in He Qianjian's head, what he wanted to say, and what appeared in his mind uncontrollably.
Jiang Chen finally understood why He Qianjian's mind seemed to have reached the critical point, but Dr. Sun did not stop observing. In terms of the activity and clarity of his brain, He Qianjian's limit seemed to be able to experience countless challenges. Don't know if it was the System's credit or something else, but being so awake might actually be the most torturous thing for He Qianjian.
Moreover, this might be the reason why the System would rather violate its rules and kill him. After all, He Qianjian was a human being, not a machine. As long as it was a creature that could think and have independent emotions, there would be uncertainty, let alone a human being with the most complex behavior.
The System could constrain some of He Qianjian's thoughts and even control some of his thinking, but it could not make him become like a robot that only executes programs and could clean up unnecessary things with one click.
When it discovered that He Qianjian could not be controlled and might even reveal more core secrets about it, it was not difficult to understand why it would try to kill him.
He Qianjian was in a miserable situation now, but it didn't raise any sympathy in others. Everything that now happened to him was his own fault. Even if one didn't count the previous life, he had still harmed many people for his own greed in this life. After learning that the System may harm the country, and even the world, and was willing to report everything he knew without reservation, he would not be in this situation now.
He believed that the System was his ace, and he had always been confident. From prison to the Military Research Institute, he never reflected on what he had done. Only when the System became a threat and began to harm his vital interests, was he willing to speak out on everything he knew.
But the damage to the brain had already occurred, and though his brain death was miraculously reversed, the damage already done could never be restored to its previous state. In the future, if the System was really pulled out of his brain and he was allowed to leave the Military Research Institute, He Qianjian would still not be able to live a normal life again. As time passed, he would need to take medicine and be hospitalized from time to time to stay alive.
Don’t know if He Qianjian could accept such a result after knowing it, even if this was his final fate.
Jiang Chen remained silent until He Qianjian called out him with difficulty.
"I do have a way to remove the System from you, but I can't guarantee that the process is absolutely safe." Jiang Chen basically got all the information he wanted to know, glanced at his watch, turned around and said, "I can give you a day to think about it and you can let your doctor tell me if you want."
"Wait, wait!" He Qianjian called to Jiang Chen. His hand, which was barely lifted from the bed, was already showing veins: "I agree!"
These were probably the most fluent words He Qianjian had spoken since their meeting, which showed his urgency.
"Help me get it out right now."
Jiang Chen shook his head: "I won't take action until I'm 100% sure, and there are a lot of things that need to be prepared. It will take a week at the earliest before we can take action."
He Qianjian froze: "A...week?"
"At least a week."
Jiang Chen nodded slightly and was about to say something when Shi Fengyue knocked on the transparent door and made a gesture.
"I have to leave now." Jiang Chen reminded: "The System shouldn't do anything to you in the next three days. You can rest assured that if you have any problems, you can communicate with Dr. Sun and he will tell me if he can't solve it."
After saying what needed to be said, Jiang Chen quickly left the ward.
Shi Fengyue looked serious. When Jiang Chen came out, his long legs began to stride down the hall: "I received an emergency notice, we have to go to the meeting hall immediately."
"The meeting hall in the central square?"
The two meetings three months ago were both held in the conference hall in the central square of the General Military Research Institute. As the most central area of the entire Military Research Institute, meetings were usually held there, either major meetings or collective meetings, because each division had a regional office building, and each laboratory was also equipped with its own conference room, internal meetings or meetings in a certain research field would be held directly on its own site.
At the same time, Changjiang also sent a message: "Dylan, you have received a message marked as an important notifier. The content of the message is: 'The United Nations General Assembly has been convened in advance, DTW has been exposed, the meeting hall, come as soon as possible'."