Yan Jingxing had a dream.

Very scary dreams.

What's even more terrifying is that both the picture and sound are very real, and the blood is not like words, the kind that children will have nightmares when they see it.

But Yan Jingxing's mentality is quite stable.

He was indeed startled at first, but soon noticed that he was looking from a third-person perspective.

With nothing else to distract him, he could only watch the unlucky bastard with his back to him being cut open, and after watching it for a long time, he got used to it.

If he could have felt the pain in real person, he should have screamed and rolled on the ground a long time ago.

But the person in front of him was different, although judging from various physiological reactions such as muscle tremors and dripping sweat, he was obviously still alive; But in the face of such torture, this guy has no intention of struggling at all, his head is lowered, as if he has lost the strength to resist, or-

Are you asleep? Hypnotized? Unconscious?

"Wait, wait......"

Yan Jingxing suddenly felt that this person's back was a little familiar, and his emotions fluctuated all of a sudden.

It looks like a young man.

- This man...... Could it be me?

The more Yan Jingxing looked at it, the more he felt as if it was really him, and he inevitably felt flustered, he didn't know if it was the illusion of fear that drove him to think so, or if he was really the victim.

No one admires their back all day long, so Yan Jingxing can't recognize it, and he can't make up his mind.

If this person who is being dissected is himself, then what is his current perspective, could it be an out-of-body soul?

After the "victim's" back was cut, the bloody operation did not stop there, but continued in an even more brutal way:

The white, lanky device, like a skeletal hand stripped of flesh, appeared from the side, and just like that, it reached into the body cavity little by little, and grabbed the man's entire spinal bone, and—

Pull out easily.

The unsupported human body spreads limply like an inflatable person who has been deflated, but soon, a brand new spinal bone is tucked back in, supporting the person again.

Every inch of the skeleton had a metallic, cold-gray sheen, more like it was used on some kind of mechanical creation.

With the dexterous cooperation of several devices such as chainsaws, tweezers, and bone hands, a reconstruction operation to replace the human spinal bone was completed in less than a few minutes.

"This ...... Is that all right......"

Yan Jingxing's eyes widened, watching as after the spine bone was stuffed back, the human muscles and skin that had been cut and opened began to heal automatically, and the huge wound quickly shrank, until in the end only a blood-colored suture remained.

"So, this person is really not me, right? I don't have that kind of skills......"

Just as he was thinking this, a strange and huge attraction came from the direction of "overhead".

The feeling is familiar. Yan Jingxing remembered that he had the same feeling when he was about to wake up from the pitcher plant device after the teleportation was over.

Yan Jingxing's conscious body involuntarily swept into the whirlpool, and finally surfaced in the warm sea water, the process was like a baby coming out of its mother's womb......

*

The boy opened his eyes and sat up sharply.

The closed pelvic apparatus opened automatically, and the light from the outside fell lightly on the surface of his eyeball.

When he came to his senses, he could feel that he was drenched in sweat and his clothes were soaked.

Yan Jingxing looked around, gradually recalling the memories before entering the device.

The man in the dream...... Is it really me?

Yan Jingxing hesitated, stretched out his hand to his back, and tentatively touched his back.

"Shhhh......h

There is no strong pain. But the slight bulge on the fingertips is obviously the touch of a scar.

The retracted finger twisted for a moment and then opened it, and a shallow blood mark could be seen, indicating that the wound on the back had not been long healed.

His face changed.

The speculation that had been hovering in my mind became a reality—

Yan Jingxing turned his head sharply and looked at the "chair" behind him.

So this is a surgical device?

But why? Why replace a person's vertebrae? What's the point?

"Bang!"

Before he could think about it, with a muffled sound, another pelvic device slowly opened.

The little girl with long, curly hair covered her left eye with her hand, let out a labored wheez, and slid off her chair.

Yan Jingxing hurriedly ran over and held her shoulder.

"Spring algae, spring algae! Are you okay? ”

He shouted anxiously.

"I didn't ...... ...... thing"

Ji Chunzao shook his head, leaned into his arms, and replied in a low voice:

"It's just one side...... One side of the eye hurts a little...... I feel like I can't open my ......."

Yan Jingxing grabbed the girl's slender shoulder, looking at her strange posture of covering her eyes with one hand, and her heart tightened.

Could it be, she's the same as herself......

"Bang!"

There was another muffled thud.

A third person emerges from the open pelvic device.

Xie Yuzhi held her knees and staggered to her feet.

She covered her right eye hard, her chest rose and fell violently, and the gaze of the remaining eye roamed back and forth, and finally landed on Yan Jingxing's body.

*

What exactly happened in the device?

He watched his spine implanted, and thought it was a bloody dream, but now it seems that it was a real operation that happened to him.

Yan Jingxing couldn't help but reach out again to touch the slightly raised blood marks on his back.

He didn't feel anything wrong with his body, no pain, no discomfort, but because everything was normal, it made him feel even more uneasy.

Yan Jingxing looked at his two companions.

Ji Chunzao covered his left eye, Xie Yuzhi covered his right eye, the two girls sat quietly side by side, and posed the same pose, looking like a pair of sisters playing tricks in front of people.

They're okay too...... The reassuring mood temporarily diluted the tension in his heart at the moment.

"I'll tell you about what happened to me in this device."

After Yan Jingxing finished talking about his own experience, he asked them again:

"Are you going through the same situation as me?"

“…… That's right. ”

Xie Yuzhi put her hand down, her right eye blinked slightly, as if she was afraid of the light of the outside world, but finally reluctantly opened it.

"I remember very well that the device inside surgically removed my eyeball, and then replaced it with a new eyeball that I got out of nowhere, and stuffed it in......"

Xie Yuzhi blinked her right eye twice, this "new eye" looked no different from her original eyes, it was naturally like she was born like this.

"So far, I don't feel anything, I don't have any organ rejection or anything like that. But I think that's the weirdest part, at least with human medical technology. ”

"In this way, Jing Xing has been replaced with vertebrae."

Ji Chunzao whispered.

"Sounds scary, even more unlucky than me and Yuzhi."

"Hahaha, it's okay."

Yan Jingxing touched the back of his head, and when he saw that the little girl was looking at him worriedly, he hurriedly explained.

"There's nothing wrong with my body right now, so don't worry."

As he spoke, he took a punch stance and threw a few air strikes forward.

"Look, there's no problem at all, is it?"

Yan Jingxing said with a smile. But at the same time, some doubts suddenly appeared in his heart:

"Huh, weird...... I don't seem to be able to punch at the same speed as before......"

Delusion?

Yan Jingxing hesitantly withdrew his hand.

"Speaking of which, have you noticed the mural in the back?"

Miss Xie stood up abruptly and walked to the wall behind the device.

"Murals? Where is it...... Really, why didn't we notice when we arrived in this room? ”

"Looks like it only appeared after we got into the device."

Yan Jingxing and Ji Chunzao came to the mural. Unlike all the murals I've seen before, it's bright red, and the outline of the picture is still twisting slightly, like fresh blood flowing.

"This content seems to be a continuation of the mural in the hall. Wait, this is ......"

Yan Jingxing's words stopped in the middle of speaking, and a chill rose on his back.

The content of the mural tells the story of the alien inhabitants who took three organs from the flesh pillar and implanted them into their bodies in a cruel way.

And those three organs, which are the spine, the left eye, and the right eye—

“……”

“……”

“……”

The three young people looked at each other, and Yan Jingxing and Ji Chunzao's expressions were a little stiff.

After a long while, Xie Yuzhi opened his mouth to say that conclusion:

"In this way, what we experience in the installation is exactly the same as that on the mural, a continuation of ancient rituals."

There was even a faint smile on her face.

"We should be glad that, compared to the cruelty and gore shown above, it is clear that what we have experienced is a more civilized and advanced ritual that has been continuously evolved and improved by alien civilizations, and that has been achieved through surgery. There was no pain during the process, and there don't seem to be any excessive sequelae at the moment. ”

No, no, no, this is just a replacement! Are you reacting too calmly?

That being said......

Yan Jingxing sighed.

After all, everything has already happened, and there seems to be no other way than to accept it.

When he turned around, he suddenly noticed something.

"Look. There seems to be text on the device. ”

Yan Jingxing squatted down and found that there was a different symbol behind the three chairs, like earthworm-like words.

"It's a pity I can't understand it."

Miss Xie shook her head regretfully.

"Words and language are symbols of civilization, and if they can be understood and mastered, we can understand this alien civilization more deeply. But with the ability of a few of our junior high school students......"

"-Huh, but I understand?"

Ji Chunzao squatted down, and for some reason she began to cover her eyes again—only, this time, it was her right eye.

“…… What? Can you read these alien characters? ”

Xie Yuzhi was stunned for a moment.

"Hmm."

The little girl replied briefly.

The surgically implanted eye, clear and bright, was now staring intently at the symbols on the device.

"Let me see...... Here, it's written, uh, 'sorcerer'...... 'prophet'...... 'sacrifice'? That's pretty much what it means. ”

Yan Jingxing and Xie Yuzhi looked at each other, both feeling incredible.

Although Chunzao occasionally loses her childish temper, she never lies about her business. And she didn't act like she was joking at this time.

Of course Yan Jingxing believed her. The only problem is –

How did she do it?

Ji Chunzao stood up and walked to the device in the middle, which was the one that Yan Jingxing climbed out of.

"...... 'samurai' is written here?" Soldier'? ...... 'warrior'? Anyway, it's what it means to be a person who takes up arms to fight. ”

Finally, there is the device that operated on Xie Yuzhi.

"'Chief,' 'Chief,' ...... That's right, 'The King'! That's what the king meant. ”

Ji Chunzao put down his hand and smiled with satisfaction.

"Wait a minute, Harunzao, why did you suddenly recognize alien words?"

Yan Jingxing couldn't help but ask.

Xie Yuzhi's question was more direct. She stared into Ji Chunzao's eyes and asked seriously:

"—did you see it with your 'that eye'?"

"That's right."

Ji Chunzao nodded.

She covered one eye with her hand again, revealing only her "new left eye."

"Ever since I woke up, I felt something strange, like something else in my head, and I saw something I couldn't see before, floating in the air...... When I covered my other eye and focused, I gradually saw clearly. ”

"So, it's the words that come to your eyes?"

She shook her head.

"No, it's in my head, so I need to understand it myself and say it."

Xie Yuzhi showed a thoughtful expression.

She stood up again and walked over to the mural, staring silently at its contents. A moment later, a flash of surprise flashed in the girl's pupils.

"I see, so we can correspond......"

"What did you find?"

"Come and see."

The heads of the boys and girls came together again.

"See the end of these three?"

As Miss Xie's slender jade fingers slowly moved on the mural, they saw a clear story line, from which the strange epic that took place on another planet slowly unfolded.

"After the aliens got their new 'organs', they all became big people surrounded by everyone, but in fact, the fate of these three people was not the same."

"See? The person who gets the spine faces the battlefield alone, the person who gets the left eye stands in the temple to be worshiped by others, and the person who gets the right eye walks towards the throne in the palace, which undoubtedly symbolizes a different fate. ”

"And according to Haruzamo, we can now conclude that these three people are indeed not the same kind of people, and they each represent—"

"Warriors, priests, and kings."

Xie Yuzhi's fingers stopped.

"The symbols on the installation are the meanings behind the 'things' we have today."