When I came back to that office today, everything was very different.

Distorted, broken, that's the only thing I remember about it.

If yesterday's room furnishings were still recognizable, today they are completely twisted: upside down, melted and deformed, and even growths like eyeballs or blood vessels, brains, civil wars, etc., and only a few inexplicable picture frames are still recognizable, but the faces on them are familiar and unfamiliar.

This time, the man in front of him was finally no longer the old man, but a much younger face. But this one was clearly worse than Abel's: not only was he disheveled, but he was also dirty, with a stubble at the corners of his mouth that was even more neglected than Gregory's, and his long hair grew disorderly on his head, looking like a blackened discarded cloth; His eyes were foggy, dull, depressed, and unresponsive, as if he hadn't laughed or spoken to anyone in a long time, and even the air around him seemed to be infected with such gloom that it smelled lifeless.

"............" At first, he didn't notice us, and it wasn't until he went further that he finally turned his yellow eyes, which seemed to have rusted in his eye sockets, lazily and tiredly, in front of us.

"Do you remember those days when we could still feel the warmth of the sun?" He hesitated, but finally opened his mouth.

"We're so cold now...... So cold that we forgot to cherish these precious memories......" The man's words were gloomy and sluggish: "No, or rather, warmth does not belong to us in the first place." ”

"You feel it, right?" He seemed to be asking questions, but he didn't put us in his sight at all: "From the moment you stepped into this room, I could already tell that you were craving something. He said hesitantly.

Then there was silence, and the man's expression looked at us from time to time, as if he was thinking, or struggling, but at the end, he seemed to realize that this was some kind of fate, so he sighed and opened his mouth again: "This is the story of two doors, the two doors that do not want to be opened, but have to be opened. ”

"Everything represents the end of [DATA EXPUNGED]." The man added in frustration: "On that fateful day, she knocked on the door of what could also be called 'our office.'" ”

"But to be honest, I know what she wants to say to me...... But I don't want to hear it...... I wanted to pretend I wasn't in the room......" said the man, looking tired, "and sometimes she became very reckless, and the impulsive actions she made frightened me. ”

Her eyes were moist, and her steps were unsteady telling us her assumptions—even though she had already realized and made up her mind. As he spoke, the man became rather stunned, "Even if you want to tell her that this assumption is ridiculous and unrealistic, but as always, in the end we were convinced by her." Reluctantly, you have to admit that there is only one jump left to go. ”

"And what really makes us uncomfortable is that she states her assumptions so calmly as if they have nothing to do with us." The man suddenly frowned: "And we have to endure this feeling." In those moments of near-despair, when the experiment was at a bottleneck, when everyone's expectations for breaking the game were focused on [DATA EXPUNGED]......" At this time, the man's voice was almost suffocated: "Until Enoch's death, until the attempt to break the game was again a tragic failure." She couldn't face Enoch's icy corpse, she couldn't face Lisa's sobs of simple anger. Even though the road was always in front of her, once she caught a glimpse of the darkness, she could no longer hold her head up. ”

There was silence again, and the man seemed to be mired in the painful memories of the past, unable to help himself for a long time.

The Director and I felt the same sense of loss at this time, and perhaps we have resonated deeply with such a tragedy.

After that, the story of the second door ......" After a long time, the man finally came to his senses and recounted again: "It is a door that will not open from within, no matter how much you call." In the air, there is only the sound of water flowing......"

"Even if we know what happened after that, I want that door to ...... Never able to open. The man's eyes hesitated, "But in the end we ...... I still tried my best to knock it off. Behind the door, her eyes were closed. ”

He rolled his orange eyes again and looked at us, as if to observe something: "Even so...... But painful feelings such as guilt don't make any sense...... So I tried to drive myself towards the blood-red bathtub...... Staring at her......" At this moment, the man's emotions were rapidly expanding, and he suddenly became more and more excited: "Although her consciousness has gone away, she is covered in blood...... But she's still alive...... But she's still alive!! ”

The excited words stopped suddenly, and his eyes regained their gloomy look again: "But in the end...... We chose to assault her body with our hands and bury her deep underground......"

The ............man was silent again, the scene in his mind had made his sensitive nerves almost collapse, he needed to release, he was indeed releasing it: "Why is she so cruel? Why are we so cruel?! In the toast of success in the midst of countless deaths, I asked this question, to which there is no answer and no answer to it......"

“…… However......" The man suddenly changed his words: "I have found a way...... A way to atone for oneself. As he spoke, he suddenly showed an extremely penetrating smile: "You have found the right path...... And this is where she sleeps...... But don't worry, we won't wake her up. He looked at us and said, "Do you think you'll ever see her again?" ”

"Come on." He extended an invitation to us: "Ask your question who has been watching you from the beginning: the one who has believed in us from beginning to end, whether it was an ordinary afternoon in college or on the verge of her dying life." She trusts you unreservedly, trusts that you can calmly face the cold darkness, and can stick to her path and ideals. ”

Suddenly, the image flashed, and a slightly terrifying scene appeared in front of us—it was an aquarium tank, soaked in a green nutrient solution, a slowly growing wing of flesh and blood connected by red nerves and spine like branches, and at the top of the central spine, a brain with countless small branches, which was silently submerged in it. Even without eyes, we can still feel a deep gaze that touches the soul, standing here, creepy.

"That's right, only I ......" At this time, the man suddenly opened his mouth with great sadness: "Only I can realize her ideals." Only I can fulfill her last wish. Only...... I ......"

"But ......" the man suddenly sobbed slightly, "But she didn't remind me that this road to the ideal is full of sharp thorns......" The man pointed to the culture tank in front of him, pointing to the slowly growing nerves and brains in it: "This is the 'bucket' in exchange for the sacrifice of [DATA EXPUNGED], the 'bucket' is the beginning of this place, and the end of this place, which continuously produces cogito, accompanied by the gushing of life and death." The man covered his face and said with a wry smile: "When we saw the blood spilling from the bathtub, we thought it was all over." ”

"And yet...... We made mistakes that could not be more outrageous. The man stared at the contents of the jar and said to himself, "She...... Alive, 'alive' like this, she watches every road we have trek......"

The scene snaps back to the twisted office again. In front of her is still the depressed man, "The ideal in her heart is really ...... It's too grandiose...... We can't achieve that ideal with our little ant-like strength......" he sighed aloud, "she sacrificed everything she had...... But I ......."

The man suddenly looked at us again, but his eyes were full of regret: "You, I, still remember, what atrocities we committed in order to become wings, in order to stay in wings—at first, it was a senseless rebellion with mantis arms as a car, and after that, what have we become?" Just like the other wings, we have done the violent, cruel, bloody tasks perfectly, and we have even evolved our own brutality, which cannot be found in the other wings—the story of sacrificing a small life to achieve her lofty ideals will continue......"

He sighed and continued, "So...... We must and can only be madmen who are fanatical about energy production and disregard for human life...... But do we all know in our hearts that we are really just pretending that we are not willing to face countless sacrifices? Just to join the wings, avoid the head and eyeliner, dig out the brain of a living person alive; Just to get energy, throw a living person into the mouths of those monsters. And all this is just to make him go through those pains repeatedly, and let him fall into a never-ending cycle......"

"Ordinary people can't do such a thing, right?!" He suddenly couldn't help but laugh. "But in the end, cowardly we chose to turn a deaf ear and choose to be ignorant of everything we have committed."

The man said, clearing his throat: "To remember these sins, to remember those innocent victims...... I named myself Abram. ”

"What am I doing all this for? I don't even know about that......" Abram suddenly grinned, "but it doesn't matter anymore, it doesn't make sense. ”

Suddenly, Abram's expression was extremely sad: "We...... Wrong from the start. You and I have the rest...... Only the atonement...... Photosynthesis is the privilege of plants alone, not for people like us, and we push DATA EXPUNGED to death, the only one who trusts us...... And now here it is...... No one will trust us anymore. ”

Between the words, Abram was completely hysterical: "No matter how determined you are, you can't make any changes: [DATA EXPUNGED] is here, she is neither alive nor dead!" He then questioned us three times:

"Can you bear to abandon her and go to an unknown future?"

"Being imprisoned in this eternal cycle is our inescapable atonement!"

"But you want to go to tomorrow and the future?! Do you want to run away from your remorse and sin? ”

“………”

There was also a long silence, and Abram eventually gave up.

"In that case...... he sneered coldly, "and this is something that doesn't appear in those stories...... The last door, I can't open it. This door is only open to those who have no regrets, and do you really think you can open this door? ”

With a slight click, a flickering white light shrouded my eyes again, and my scattered spirit finally returned to the familiar room.

Stand, silent.

"Is that man really unaware of my existence?" Later, I spoke to the other end of the communicator.

"That's not a big deal." The supervisor confirmed it categorically.

"Hmm......" There was a silence in my heart, as if Abram was not only asking questions of the supervisor at the moment, but also tormenting the cruelty of my past - not only the memories of the Brain Lobe Company, but also the regrets and regrets of my childhood, when I was a student. Forgetting is not the only way to face the past, let alone the way it should be, and when my supervisor has to face the shackles of my own, I also need to be aware.

"This is also your inner demon." I asked.

"He represents my remorse and hesitation." "He made me look at the past, reflect on what I had done, and be reminded of what I was always striving for," the director admitted. The director sighed: "At the same time, it will also make me meaninglessly indulge in the past, timid and afraid, no longer afraid to move forward and complete her ideals." Therefore, I must overcome it here. ”

"Overcome ......" I licked my lips: "Is it also by inhibiting the core?" ”

"After all...... Those imaginary images are also extracted from the heart of the self. The supervisor explained: "The real ministers are not here, and most of the staff work is entrusted to you, isn't it?" ”

"I see," I nodded...... slightly.

"Did you surprise what we did?" Just as I thought the conversation was coming to an end, the supervisor suddenly asked me a question.

"If you don't know the reason for all this, I guess I would. Such stories can be called sensational, even in the city. I whispered, "But, at least our sacrifice is not meaningless." At this point, if we stagnate here, maybe the previous efforts will be truly in vain. ”

When the director heard this, his mood seemed to be heavy: "Hmm...... Is that so? He said.

"Either way, at least for the moment, your work can make a real difference for us, and that's enough." I said sincerely.

"Well, thank you." The director sighed, "Please work hard today, too." ”

As soon as the voice fell, the communicator was cut off immediately, and the quiet room was once again reserved for a moment of emptiness and loneliness.

At the time of the morning meeting, all departments received a unified work arrangement: today's Indicator Requirement - the Fourth Degree Meltdown of the Supreme Kabbalah, and the defeat of the Fantasy Geburah, the Void of the Test (hence the name Fantasy) of our Corrections Minister at the time of the core suppression.

At this time, the organization also began to make a unified arrangement: based on the chip and other information that Minister Geburah had given us, Marx dispersed the information that had been completely screened in advance to each returnee, and then distributed it to the employees of their respective departments; There is also a tiered battle plan: I will still be in charge of the lead in the face of the fantasy Geburah, the returnees will be reinforced, and the rest of the containment team will be responsible for the security of most civilian personnel.

Obviously, I was still the one to play the battle today, so I was given the most intelligence support - in just a few dozen minutes, I learned almost all of the battles that Minister Geburah had experienced during his lifetime, especially the most glorious moment: the defeat of two minions in the [DATA EXPUNGED] Institute, and the defeat of the commander Galion to the near death. At this moment, her strength, her skill, her experience, the crimson glimpse are all engraved in my mind all the time.

"It's risky, so be cautious." Marx admonished me.

And I naturally know this truth.

However, the fantasy Geburah is not the only challenge today, we have to face at least one Dawn test before the Level 4 Meltdown Alert - a fully armed finisher, and when the colleagues of the containment team arrive at the work area one by one, the sudden increase in the sense of oppression in their minds is a sign of another terrible fact: the virtual image of Minister Chesed also appears here, the reverse Kabbalah suppressor is malfunctioning, and all colleagues present will be exposed to the original terrifying power of all the anomalies who have escaped the pressure, At the same time, the task of suppressing the test will become more dangerous and uncertain. As a result, I couldn't help but sweat deeply.

As a result, Marx made the decision to have a containment team with a higher rank and more combat experience to take charge of the fight as much as possible, and to evacuate the civilians as far away as possible during this period; When fighting, focus on evasion, appropriately block the enemy's advance, and attack as best possible...... All in all, it's all about safety.

Fortunately, the pain caused the nerves of the colleagues present to an unprecedented height, and naturally they also believed in and implemented the guidance given by the training department as Bong Gui. And they should rejoice that these measures are working.