【——AD.1999.5.21——】

Xavier Academy for Gifted Teens.

When Anderson opened the main entrance of the college, he saw "himself".

"Is it fashionable to put a mirror at the door?"

He tilted his head in confusion, and "himself" also tilted his head, he tried to wave his hand, and "himself" also raised his hand and waved it at the same time, and finally he took out the scissors, and "himself" took out the cloth, and won.

"I've never seen anyone who can play guessing in the mirror, and you're either too smart or too stupid." "Anderson" on the opposite side turned into a blue-skinned little girl with a confused look after losing the guess.

"If you want to play like this next time, it's best to find a place where the inside and outside environment are not very different." Anderson sincerely advises.

"Hmph, eventful," the little girl scoffed, brushing shoulders with Anderson, and then changed into his appearance in front of Morpheus, "Hey, bald." ”

Morpheus grabbed the sunglasses on the bridge of her nose and ignored them, and the little girl turned back to her original form, kicked him in the shin, and ran away.

"I'm uneasy about what might happen next." Anderson couldn't see Morpheus's eyes and shrugged.

"You can't reason with children, especially those with 'superpowers.'" Morpheus replied lightly, then walked past Anderson to the front.

Next, Anderson and Morpheus do encounter some small children with strange abilities.

A strong boy with bronzed skin is playing hide and seek with a flashing girl, a little boy with red goggles and a child who looks like a dinosaur are shooting light waves at each other, and a white-haired girl with white eyes and a body covered in thunder and lightning is chasing a blonde boy with a hammer with thin lightning bolts.

Luckily, they didn't seem interested in Anderson, so he was relieved and made it to the reception room.

"Wait here for a while," said Morpheus, "and the Prophet will let you know when he wants to see you." ”

"But there doesn't seem to be a staff here, so how did the Prophet know we were coming?" Anderson looked around, and there were a few small children in the corner of the spacious living room, but they were playing with relatively quiet things, such as building block puzzles, cards, and cutlery.

"I know she knows," Morpheus sat down on a couch, "and she knows I know she knows." ”

“…… Oh. Anderson refused to join in the conversation, which could lead to an infinite loop if he wasn't careful, and he looked left and right as he walked over to the little kid who was fiddling with the dishes.

It was a cute little boy with blond hair and blue eyes, and there was a small mess of knives, forks and spoons on the small table in front of him, as if he had just knocked over a cutlery box.

Seeing Anderson approaching, he silently picked up a spoon and handed it over.

"Children don't play with utensils, they're dangerous." Anderson rejected the spoon and took all the knives and forks away.

"......" The little boy looked at him, his expression indescribable.

"Mr. Thomas Anderson, please take your utensils to the kitchen. An announcement rang out in the reception room.

————

"Hello, uh...... Prophet? Anderson's greeting was halfway through and straight to the shell.

In a fully equipped kitchen full of brand-new stainless steel appliances, a bald woman in a yellowish monk's costume is cooking, which is a little too visually stimulating.

"You can call me AncientOne, or Yao, Neo." She said to Anderson in a gentle, magnetic voice.

The Ancient One? It's a bit of a strange codename.

Anderson looked left and right, intending to put the knife and fork in the pantry before talking.

"They don't belong here." Gu Yi suddenly spoke.

"Uh, what?" Anderson opened the sideboard, and found that the cutlery and the knives and forks in his hand were completely different, and they looked like they had just been washed and should not have been put together with the ones in his hand.

"Those cutlery," the ancient one said, turning around, in a calm and unwavering tone, "this sideboard is not lacking anything, and these should be in Eric's hands." ”

"So," Anderson looked inside the sideboard and then at the ones in his hand, "shouldn't these knives and forks be here?" ”

"They don't belong in this box, but who can be sure they shouldn't be in it?" Gu Yi asked rhetorically: "It's you who are holding them now, and what do you think?" ”

"I want to ...... Maybe these utensils are usually enough, but maybe there will be a lot of guests on a certain day, so it's okay to put more utensils. Anderson replied.

"But for the sake of the aesthetics of the table, these unmatched cutlery may not be useful at all." The Ancient One continued to start the conversation about tableware.

"In any case, they should not be worthless and folded into strange shapes by the child, so that their value as utensils in themselves would be lost." Anderson stood by his opinion.

"But who's to say for sure that their value isn't reflected in the fact that they allow Eric to better grasp his abilities?" Gu Yi smiled slightly: "It's you who is holding them now, so you should decide where they are." ”

Anderson nodded, turned on the faucet, flushed the dishes in his hand, and put them all in the sideboard.

"In any case, remember your choices." Gu nodded, but did not comment on Anderson's behavior.

I always felt that this "prophet" was playing some dumb riddle with herself just now, but because I didn't know what she was referring to, I could only express my true thoughts.

Anderson pondered for a while, but couldn't get the point, so he tried to shift the topic to the right track: "Master Ancient One, about me, ......"

"Savior, yes, you [can be]," the ancient one replied, "every child out there [can be], and anyone who recognizes the truth can become a savior, the difference is only in which of them will succeed." ”

It seems that this prophet was not going to speak normally at all? Anderson began to think about how to phrase it so that she could give herself a clear answer.

"Even if I give you a clear answer, you won't take it seriously, will you?" Gu Yi rushed before Anderson could speak: "You don't believe in fate, you hope that you can make your own choices in everything, and only the results of your own choices will be recognized by you." ”

"Uh......" Anderson, who had really intended to do so, scratched his face.

"It's okay, it's human nature," Gu Yi took out a bag of cookies: "When you step out of this door, you will face your choices and fate, and I think these snacks will bring you a little luck." ”

"Well, thank you." Anderson took the bag and turned to leave the kitchen.

————

"Morpheus, I-"

"Don't tell me anything."

Upon returning to the drawing room, Anderson was about to relay the prophet's words to Morpheus, but he raised his hand to stop him.

"That is your choice and your destiny, and it should not be interfered with by other people's opinions," Morpheus looked at Anderson in a firm tone, "just as it is my destiny to believe that you are the 'savior'." ”

So no matter what he says, will this captain firmly believe that he is the "savior"?

It feels a little troublesome, but also a little bit of the pleasure of being trusted.

"Hmm...... So, is this a cookie given by the Prophet to eat? As they walked out, Anderson took out the bag of cookies and shared them with Morpheus.

"Looks like she likes you very much," Morpheus pinched a few pieces, "I haven't been treated like this a few times I've been here." ”

"Has anyone else asked the Prophet about the future?" Anderson asked, slightly curious.

"Everyone on the ship who had access to the matrix tried, some willing to make it public, some wanted to keep it secret, but it basically all came true," Morpheus responded, "As for the things that can be made public, you can when you go back-"

Smack!

"Woo-ah-ah-ah——!"

The conversation between the two was interrupted by the sudden sound of shattering and the crying of children, and when they looked over, they saw that the flower pot in front of a girl with many tiny flowers and plants growing in her hair had been shattered by the large, metal-skinned boy.

Although the boy was mistakenly pinched by the girl who could flash around, the little girl with flowers and plants on her head kept sobbing.

"Come, here are the cookies made by the Prophet."

Under Anderson's astonished gaze, Morpheus walked over and began to draw the girl's attention with the bag of cookies, and the scene was ...... If the difference in size is a little bigger, you can stage "King Kong".

"I'll wait for you outside......" Anderson couldn't bear to look at him, and opened the door himself and walked out of the academy.

The view outside the door was the same as before they entered, but there seemed to be something wrong.

After Anderson looked around twice, he finally realized that Trinity and the switch were driving, where did the car responsible for answering go?

"Neo, great, I've finally got in touch with you! The tank's anxious voice came from Anderson's headset: "[Listen, our landing site has been attacked by agents, you must go to the villa where we first met to make an emergency exit!] 】”

"How's the pager and the password? What about Trinity and the switch? Anderson was slightly taken aback and immediately asked.

"They're running away! I can't help them! The tank's voice sounded anxious: "Oh! Oh, my God! Morpheus got caught! No! 】”

"Who do you say got caught?" Morpheus, in a trench coat in sunglasses, walked out of the door and raised his hand to press the headset.

Uh...... Morpheus? You're ...... Why? This is also true here...... There are two? The tank was so surprised that his voice became incoherent.

"Where's Trinity and the switch?" Morpheus looked serious: "I said that after entering the territory of the Prophet, all means of communication will fail, and unless they are attacked, they must wait for me to come out before they can act, why don't you stop them?" ”

"But you did come out? The tank organized the language slightly: "[You said that the prophet asked Neo to guess the fist with the mirror, and you can't leave if you don't win, so go back to the landing site first to see how the code and the materials prepared by the pager are......]"

"......" Anderson and Morpheus looked at each other, thinking of the same person, that strange little girl who could transform into someone else.

"Tank," Morpheus said solemnly, "call the bulldozer and mouse, prepare the weapon, and control it as soon as the pager and the code return to Normandy, although it is not known which of them has a problem, but be prepared." ”

"[Uh, okay,]" the tank seemed to weigh what was already known: "[Hey! Bulldozer! Go get my plasma gun out! 】”

"It looks like you have an inner ghost in your people," Anderson looked at Morpheus, who was frowning, "but what about surrendering to the Matrix?" His body is still on board. ”

"This only proves ...... He's ready to reconnect himself into the Matrix," Morpheus raised an eyebrow and repressed the headset, "Tank, activate the stealth device, try to cruise as far as you can keep the Matrix connected, I suspect those pioneers are about to attack." ”

"[Okay, Morpheus, but you need to get back as soon as possible, but the connection range is so large that our stealth device can't last long under high-intensity scanning.] 】”

"Okay." Morpheus lowered his hand and looked at Anderson, "Let's go." ”

――――

When Morpheus and Anderson took a taxi to the old villa, Trinity and the others hadn't yet arrived, and judging by the tank's shouting voice, they hadn't been able to escape the pursuit.

The quick-witted operator unilaterally relays the contact from the pursuing party to Anderson and Morpheus, and then shows the anger, chagrin and strength of the loss of the captain, which makes people want to give him the actor award.

"Morpheus, I can guarantee that the pager isn't that traitor." After the mouse was a little funny because it was fully armed, it took the initiative to vouch for the pager.

"I'll figure this out, mouse," Morpheus nodded, "What gear did you bring us?" ”

The mouse smiled and opened a door on the side of the hall: "Guns, lots of guns." ”

Rows of silver weapon racks and murderous jet-black guns shimmered with icy reflections.

Anderson was lamenting this magical behavior when he heard Morpheus say coldly, "When you go back, copy 'Do not copy and paste the contents of the link program directly into the matrix' a hundred times." ”

“……”

Dada! Bang bang!

Half an hour later, Mr. Anderson's familiar black sedan slammed into the yard, followed by three police heavy SUVs.

Although several crew members fired back from time to time, it didn't do much.

"Looks like the agents caught 'Morpheus' and retreated, hehe." The mouse lifted a pair of miniguns and kicked open the door of the villa.

Da Da!!

Half-meter-long gunfire and a metal storm managed to keep the three SUVs out of the villa's gates.

"Neo, great, you're okay, Morpheus has been captured, we must return to Normandy immediately to prepare countermeasures!" Trinity rushed into the main hall with a mess of pagers, passwords, and switches.

"Yes, I heard the tank's explanation," Anderson wore a pair of sunglasses and a pair of submachine guns in his hands to avoid revealing information in his eyes: "The exit is in the small living room, you go first, and the mouse and I cover you." ”

"I'm not hurt, I can wait." Trinity looked at the pile of guns around Anderson and picked out a light machine gun.

"If I don't pull the mouse, this stupid boy will kill himself." The pager ripped the mouse back from the doorway.

The switch didn't speak, just picked up a sniper shot and took aim outside the door.

"Okay, okay, I don't think there's anything to be humbled about." The password wiped the dusty bald head, walked to the phone and picked up the receiver.

Squeak - Wow -

――AD.2156.5.21――

After the password woke up, he suddenly pushed open the glass cover, jumped out of the basket and went straight to the console not far away.

"Are you looking for me?" The tank held the plasma gun, pointed at the code, and smiled evilly.

"Uh, tank, no kidding......" Halfway through the quibble, he watched Morpheus walk out from behind the tank.

"You betrayed us." He pronounced the sentence.