PDLP Chapter 165 Wukong smashes open the old fruit feeder box
Chapter 165 Wukong smashes open the old fruit feeder box
The warehouse manager had barely uttered the words, "You're only the tenth," when Sun Wukong had already moved.
He stopped listening.
With a horizontal thrust of his golden cudgel, he directly blocked the wrist that had emerged from the main warehouse door. The wrist was very hard, its bones like iron. But even so, the cudgel's pressure produced a muffled thud.
"I don't care which number you are," Sun Wukong sneered. "Open the door first."
He flipped his wrist, and the stick sank down.
boom!
The hand at the main warehouse entrance was forcefully pressed back, and a rapid rattling of chains immediately came from the crack in the door.
The warehouse manager's expression changed, and he raised his hand to form a hand seal.
Chen Fan reacted quickly, rushing forward and slapping the black ledger directly onto the back of his hand.
With a snap.
The warehouse manager's fingers went numb, and half of the hand seal dissipated.
"Don't rush." Chen Fan stared at him. "You just said I wasn't put into storage. That's perfect, let's open the box with you first."
The warehouse manager gritted his teeth, his shoulders twitched, and he shrank back as if trying to retreat into the main warehouse. But Sun Wukong wouldn't give him the chance.
"Retreat?" the monkey scoffed. "Where do you think you're going to retreat to?"
He swung his golden cudgel and struck the row of black boxes at the warehouse manager's feet.
boom!
The frontmost black box exploded open, scattering wood chips and shards of black paint everywhere. The lid was flung into the air before crashing heavily to the ground with a cracking sound.
The warehouse manager's eyes twitched, and his lips turned white.
"Stop!" His voice changed. "That's an old fruit feeder box; you can't touch anything inside!"
"Can't touch it?" Sun Wukong stomped his foot, stepping directly on the edge of the box. "The more you say that, the more I, Old Sun, want to see it."
He hoisted the stick onto his shoulder and kicked it again.
The second box then cracked open.
The third bite, the fourth bite.
Rows of black boxes were overturned. The lids slammed against the boxes, making a series of loud thuds, like someone was hammering the warehouse manager on the head.
Chen Fan stood to the side, staring at the things that had been taken out of the box, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
There were no corpses inside at all.
There was no blood, and no bones.
The first thing to roll out was a broken black ring.
The object was only the size of a palm, its surface engraved with fine lines, like a band around the outside of some round object. Its fracture was clean, as if it had been forcibly torn apart. There were also some grayish-white old marks on the broken surface, like powder from long-term grinding.
Sun Wukong picked it up and glanced at it, his eyes immediately darkening.
"This thing..." He tapped it with his knuckles, "It looks like a neck lock."
Chen Fan took it and rubbed his fingers on the broken edge.
cold.
That kind of coldness wasn't the coldness of iron, but the dead weight of something left out for too long. It was as if this thing shouldn't have been here at all, yet someone had forcibly shoved it back in.
There was also a paper strip at the bottom of the box.
The paper was yellowed, the edges were curled up, and it was so thin that it would crumble at the slightest touch. On it was written a string of old recitations in fine black characters, the characters overlapping each other neatly.
Chen Fan glanced at it and paused in his breathing.
That's not scripture.
It is a set of repetitive commands.
"Keep your mouth closed before waking up."
"Count the fruit pits."
"The first person to wake up will be recorded."
"Abnormal entity, to be recalled."
Sun Wukong picked up the paper strip and waved it in front of his eyes.
"Whom should we recycle?"
The warehouse manager's lips trembled, and his eyes kept darting to the ground.
"Don't read it," he said weakly. "That's not for you to see."
"Oh?" Sun Wukong shoved the paper strip in front of his face. "Who's that for?"
The warehouse manager did not answer.
Chen Fan had already squatted down and pulled out a stiffly folded piece of paper from the bottom of another box.
The paper was thick, with scorched edges from being baked. A table was printed on it. The table header was short, with only a few columns of text.
[Replace Record]
[Deployment Number]
[Previous state]
【Recycling Results】
Chen Fan's finger stopped on the watch face, and his heart sank.
He's very familiar with this format.
It follows the same pattern as the records of actions taken against those individuals in the black ledger.
He swept downwards.
The first few lines have turned black, as if soaked in ink. There are several blank spaces in the middle, as if they were deliberately left unfilled. But the bottom line is still fresh, the ink hasn't completely faded.
Sun Wukong also came over, tilting his staff to the side and pressing it against the paper.
"Read it out."
Chen Fan didn't say anything, but read the line of text aloud.
"[After the predecessor of Ninth was recovered, the deployment of Ninth will continue]."
As soon as he said that, the warehouse area seemed to fall silent.
Even the black boxes in the distance, still half-cracked, seemed to have stopped making a sound.
Chen Fan's fingertips slowly tightened, pinching a crease in the corner of the paper.
"The ninth predecessor?" He looked up at the warehouse manager. "Was the one that spoke just now the ninth one?"
The warehouse manager looked grim, and his Adam's apple bobbed twice.
"I have no idea."
"You don't know?" Sun Wukong laughed directly. "You're here guarding the granary, and you're telling me you don't know?"
He struck the warehouse manager on the shoulder with a stick.
The warehouse keeper rolled away, his back slamming into a box, making the lid clang loudly. But he didn't dare fight back; he just lay on the ground, his hands tightly covering his head, as if afraid of hearing anything more.
"I really don't know..." His voice was hoarse. "I was only responsible for receiving, releasing, and filing. What happened before that was not my concern."
"Then tell me, who is distributing it?" Chen Fan took a step forward.
The warehouse manager looked up and glanced at the main warehouse door.
The light was still on in the door. The hand that had been there earlier didn't reach out from under the door again, but there was a very soft knocking sound coming from behind it.
a bit.
Two times.
It sounds like someone is slowly tapping on a wooden board inside.
Chen Fan's heart tightened, and he looked down at the page of replacement records.
There are also words on the back of the paper.
When he turned over, Sun Wukong saw it too.
There was only one line of handwritten new words on the back, the ink was not yet dry, as if it had just been written.
[The predecessor of the Ninth has been cleared out; the current target is awaiting activation.]
"Whom should we wake up?" Sun Wukong asked in a low voice.
Just as Chen Fan was about to speak, the page in his hand suddenly trembled.
The corner of the paper slowly curled up, as if something else was pressing down underneath.
He lifted it up along the seam.
A small black card fell out.
The sign only has two characters.
Chen Fan
The warehouse manager looked up abruptly, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
"How did I get here..." he murmured. "This shouldn't be on this floor."
Sun Wukong stomped on the black card and pressed it down with his staff.
Explain yourself.
The warehouse manager stared at the sign, his lips twitching as if he had finally realized something. But just as he opened his mouth, a very faint sound came from inside the main warehouse.
Click.
It was like a lock that popped open by itself.
Immediately afterwards, a rolled-up piece of yellow paper slid out from under the door.
The yellow paper landed right at Chen Fan's feet.
He bent down to pick it up, and the paper unfolded on its own as soon as his fingertips touched the edge.
There is only half a line of text above.
[After the predecessor of Ninth was recovered, deployment of Ninth continues—]
The rest of the section was completely covered up with black ink.
And in the deepest part of that ink blot, there was a small character that had just begun to emerge.
Chapter 528 The Backdoor Left by the Predecessor
The yellow paper was spread out at Chen Fan's feet.
The small characters, hidden beneath the ink, are gradually being revealed.
It's not "dead" or "useless".
It is the character "校".
Chen Fan's eyelids twitched.
"The review and approval layer?"
The person in the first box who looked exactly like him suddenly smiled.
His laughter was strange.
It was as if they had been waiting for him to see this word.
"I finally recognized him."
Chen Fan looked up and stared at him.
"Who exactly are you?"
The man didn't answer immediately; he first glanced at the hand peeking through the crack in the main warehouse door.
The fruit pit button on her wrist gently bumped against the door frame.
One at a time.
It's like a death knell.
Who I am is not important.
"The important thing is that if you're even a fraction of a second slower, the proxy will really take over."
Inside the main warehouse, that hoarse voice rang out again.
"Chen Fan, the target of the operation, stop."
"Hand over the ledger."
"You may enter the secondary storage unit; please retain your identification number."
Upon hearing this, Pigsy cursed first.
"Damn it, you want to go into your spare compartment?"
"Do you think we're cops hanging around like meat?"
Sun Wukong was even more straightforward.
With a horizontal swing of his golden cudgel, he smashed it directly against the main warehouse door.
boom!
The door shook.
It's not open.
The words on the door jumped up even faster.
[In progress of warehouse return and correction]
[Under review and closed access]
The man in the first box frowned and shouted, "Stop smashing it! If you hit him with that, the review panel will lock up immediately!"
Sun Wukong turned his head, his eyes full of impatience.
You'd better explain yourself clearly in one sentence.
"If you keep going around in circles, I'll smash your box to pieces first."
The man stared at Sun Wukong, a smirk playing on his lips.
"The Monkey King, still the same old temper."
"Half of the fruit you ate at the foot of Wuzhi Mountain back then was handed to you by me."
Upon hearing this, even Sun Wukong was stunned for a moment.
Chen Fan was startled.
"What did you say?"
"There's more than one person feeding the fruit." The former in the box raised its hand, pointed to itself, then to Chen Fan, "You are the ninth projection. I am the former sample of the ninth. To be precise, I am the half that wasn't completely dead."
Pigsy's scalp tingled at the thought.
"What? Half of it?"
The former sneered.
"When deploying from the source warehouse, they don't just send out a single live sample. They keep records, make corrections, and retrieve data. Whenever there's a deviation, they archive the old sample and then deploy a new one."
"You think you're the tenth?"
"no."
"You're the one that grew out of shape after the ninth round of deployment."
Chen Fan stared at him without saying a word.
He knew that at times like this, the more nonsense he talked, the more likely he was to miss the real stuff.
The original owner didn't keep them in suspense, saying directly, "I didn't die back then. I deliberately got stuck between recycling and archiving, remaining in the source warehouse. That was so that the ninth delivery body could come back on its own."
"Why?" Sha Wujing asked in a deep voice.
"Because only the ninth entity that returns alive is considered to have returned to its rightful place. After returning, the old accountant's authority will briefly overlap. Those three breaths are enough to pry open the review layer."
At this point, he fixed his gaze on Chen Fan.
"You are not a substitute."
"You are the only one who turned that wrong path into the right one."
A cold snort suddenly came from inside the main warehouse.
"Fake sample, shut up."
"You are now scrap."
The hand that was peeking out from under the door suddenly lunged forward, its five fingers outstretched, and grabbed the yellow paper on the ground.
Chen Fan moved even faster.
He bent down and reached in; the yellow paper was already inside his sleeve.
The next instant, Sun Wukong's staff swept horizontally.
Snapped!
That hand was forcefully slammed back into the doorway.
A sound of bones cracking immediately came from inside the door.
Pigsy grinned as he watched.
"Brother Monkey, that was powerful!"
The voice from inside the door suddenly became shrill.
"act recklessly!"
"Activate the third school hearing—"
Before he could finish speaking, the original body suddenly roared, "Chen Fan, move closer to the edge of the box! Press the black ledger against the latch!"
Chen Fan did not hesitate and did as instructed.
The moment the black ledger touched the lock of the first box, the entire box lit up.
It's not golden light.
It has that grayish sheen that comes from old paper getting damp.
Inside the box lid, a line of small characters slowly emerged.
[Temporary password for the former account holder, usable only by the person returning to their original position]
Below is a very strange string of syllables.
It doesn't resemble Buddhist mantras, nor does it resemble Taoist talismans.
It sounds more like someone who was afraid of forgetting it back then, so they painstakingly memorized it using the most rustic methods.
The former grinned.
"remember."
"There's only one password."
"Rotten peaches don't go on the plate; before feeding fruit, knock on the fence first."
Chen Fan was taken aback.
This sounds like a vulgar street rant from the foot of Wuzhi Mountain.
Pigsy was dumbfounded.
"Is this what you call a password?"
The predecessor cursed, "Nonsense, the more rustic it is, the less people will guard against it."
"The reviewers aren't concerned with whether it sounds nice or not; they're concerned with the lingering verbal tics in the old delivery records. You used to say those things every day back then, it was so annoying it hurt my ears."
Chen Fan paused, his breath catching in his throat.
These words were like a needle, piercing his mind.
A very blurry image flashed by.
It's very windy.
A rattan basket hangs in front of the mountain wall.
Someone was banging on the stone railing while muttering, "Rotten peaches don't go on the plate. I have to bang on the railing before feeding the monkey, otherwise he'll say I'm trying to fool him with bad fruit..."
Not a present memory.
Like an old leather bag that has been unearthed from a long time ago.
The main warehouse door shook violently.
New characters on the door frantically jumped around.
[Testing Guarantee]
[Testing Guarantee]
[Accountant applies for forced seizure]
The predecessor's eyes flashed with a sharp look.
"Read it quickly!"
"Only three breaths left!"
Chen Fan looked up at the main warehouse door.
Black smoke was already seeping out from the crack in the door.
Even the chains on the ground began to tighten on their own.
If this drags on any longer, we'll really be dragged into the warehouse.
Without further hesitation, he read aloud the words from the black ledger, one by one.
Rotten peaches should not be served.
"Knock on the fence before feeding the fruit."
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire warehouse area felt as if it had been kicked hard.
boom!
Above the first box, a dark crack appeared.
It's not a door.
It is a gray-white interlayer sandwiched between the warehouse roof and the main warehouse.
It's as thin as paper.
Inside, however, were piled high with countless files and dominoes.
Each one had a name written on it.
Each piece is numbered.
On the black domino in the very center, only two characters were engraved.
Chen Fan.
Pigsy gasped.
"There really is a review panel!"
Sun Wukong's eyes lit up, and he raised his staff to stab at the target.
The original owner said urgently, "Don't touch anything! We only have three breaths left, get the authorization token first!"
"Which one?" Chen Fan shouted.
"Behind the dominoes!"
Chen Fan pushed off with his feet, leaping up and using the edge of the box to flip it over, reaching into the hidden compartment.
Just then, the hand with the golden fruit pit reached out from inside the main warehouse door once again.
This time it's faster and more ruthless.
Thin black threads were even wrapped around his five fingers, aiming straight for Chen Fan's back.
Sun Wukong sneered.
"Cheating on someone right in front of me?"
With a spin of his golden cudgel, he thrust it upwards from below.
With a loud bang, the hand was struck and bent backward, and a scream even came from inside the door.
Pigsy stared wide-eyed.
"Well played!"
Sha Wujing also swung his crescent-shaped shovel and wedged it into the door crack.
"Chen Fan, hurry!"
Chen Fan's hand had already touched the black domino.
It feels cool to the touch.
It looks like it's just been pulled out of the bottom of a well.
He yanked it open, and sure enough, there was a thin card underneath, half black and half white.
There are no words on it.
There is only one gap.
The shape was exactly the same as the missing one in the middle of the string of fruit pit buttons around his waist.
Upon seeing this thing, the original owner of the body showed a genuine expression of relief for the first time.
"Got it."
"This is the backdoor."
"With it, you can revise the proofreading without having to follow their pre-written procedures."
The moment Chen Fan landed, the review process began to close.
The gray-white interlayer quickly closed.
Only one line left.
But right there in that line, Chen Fan suddenly saw something move in the third place.
It's not a case file.
It's not a domino.
It is a vertical bronze ear at the deepest part of the interlayer.
Like a listening device mounted on a door.
It trembled three times gently after Chen Fan read out the command.
Immediately afterwards, a line of tiny red characters lit up behind the bronze ear.
[The third one has been heard.]
Chen Fan's pupils contracted.
The former's expression also changed.
"Oh no!"
Pigsy hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
He stared at the nearly closed mezzanine, his voice low.
"The source warehouse has more than one layer of review."
"The first two pipes are archived."
"The third course..."
He hadn't finished speaking.
At the far end of the warehouse area, the row of black boxes that had remained motionless suddenly made a sound at the same time.
It wasn't the sound of a lock being opened.
Like the people inside, they all turned over at once.
Immediately afterwards, three blood-red characters slowly lit up on the third black box on the far right.
[The eavesdropper]
Chapter 529 The First Case File for Overturning the Verdict
As soon as the three bloody characters on the black box finished lighting up, the entire row of boxes shook again.
It looked like someone inside was scratching the box with their fingernails.
The sound wasn't loud.
It's annoying to hear.
Pigsy was terrified. He grabbed his rake and yelled, "Who's playing tricks? Show yourself if you dare!"
No one replied to him.
The person in front of him raised their hand first and pressed down on Chen Fan's shoulder.
Don't look at the box.
"The third reviewer likes to use actions to lure people in."
"As soon as you turn around, it follows your breath."
Chen Fan did not turn around.
He stared at the closing seam in the interlayer, his mind racing.
As mentioned earlier.
The first two pipes are archived.
The third monitoring channel.
That means this place is not just a warehouse, but more like a series of screening gates for people.
Anyone who says or takes a wrong step will be remembered.
Sun Wukong slammed his golden cudgel into the ground.
"Speak human language. How do I open the door?"
The original body glanced at him, and the corner of its mouth twitched.
If someone else asked him the same question, he would probably keep them in suspense.
Once the monkey presses down with his stick, the mystery is solved.
"Use the old password."
"The old password for the ninth batch of fruit feeders."
Pigsy was taken aback: "Aren't you the ninth one?"
The front part shook its head.
"I was the ninth person to leave a back door."
"He wasn't the ninth one to survive to the end."
Upon hearing this, Chen Fan's eyes immediately turned cold.
The wording in this place is indeed riddled with pitfalls.
Those who survive to the end are not necessarily the original humans.
Those who left records may not still exist.
Chen Fan squatted down and placed his hand on the edge of the interlayer.
Wood is not wood.
Iron is not iron.
It feels warm to the touch, like touching a piece of living skin.
Pigsy shrank his neck: "This thing is really weird."
The original body ignored him and lowered its voice to utter a string of words.
"Fruit trough number nine, three airdrops, one person on duty."
As soon as he finished speaking...
There was no reaction in the interlayer at first.
The next instant, the skin beneath Chen Fan's palm tightened sharply, as if biting his hand.
Pigsy almost shouted, "Holy crap, it recognizes people!"
Chen Fan did not withdraw his hand.
He pressed down with his hand and stared at the thin line that was shining through the crack.
The thin lines climbed upwards one by one.
Finally, a line of gray text was spelled out.
[Old post verification in progress]
[Feeding records are being compared]
The former's expression changed.
"It's investigating you."
Chen Fan sneered: "You should be investigating me."
"If it doesn't check, then it means this layer is fake."
Sun Wukong stood next to him, held his staff horizontally, and directly blocked the opening of the interlayer.
"Hurry up and investigate."
"If you keep dawdling, I, Old Sun, will tear it apart."
The voice just fell.
The gray text jerked slightly.
It looks like he was really scared.
Then, a second line appeared.
[Integration of Abnormal Existing Account Holders]
[Allow the review layer to be enabled]
Click.
Instead of shrinking further inward, the interlayer suddenly sprang to both sides.
There's no road inside.
It is a row of thin cabinets that are angled and embedded into the wall.
The cabinet wasn't big; it looked like it was specifically for storing case files.
Old labels were pasted on each cabinet door.
Some wrote "mistake in returning to the granary".
Some write "sample offset".
The middle square has four characters pasted on it.
[Correction and Replacement]
Chen Fan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately reached out his hand.
He had just touched the cabinet door when another loud thud came from the black box next to him.
boom.
It looked like someone had slammed into the box.
Pigsy immediately turned around, holding his rake horizontally in front of his chest.
"Old Chen, you take yours, I'll keep an eye on things from behind."
Sun Wukong is more direct.
Without even turning his head, he swung his stick and smashed it onto the third black box on the far right.
boom.
The box panel was smashed, leaving a deep dent.
The blood-written words shattered in half on the spot.
A muffled groan came from inside.
It looked like it had actually hit something.
Pigsy's eyes widened: "There are really people inside?"
"Not human."
The man stared at the box, his throat dry.
"It was left by the proofreader."
"They dare not come out; they can only remember and listen."
Sun Wukong grinned.
"Then make it deaf."
After saying that, he struck again.
This time, the entire row of black boxes fell silent.
Chen Fan had already opened the cabinet door.
As soon as the door opened, a musty smell of stale fruit pulp wafted out.
It's not fragrant.
It has that sticky, bitter smell that comes from fruit that has been stored for a long time.
He frowned, raised his hand, and pulled out the first yellowish-brown scroll.
The label at the top of the scroll was written very straight.
[Fruit Feeding Calibrator Replacement Log]
It became.
The first case file for overturning the verdict has been found.
Upon hearing the name, Pigsy perked up.
"Is this it?"
The man stared at the rolled-up thing, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"If I remember correctly, this thing only records one thing."
"Who should be replaced, and who shouldn't be moved."
Chen Fan didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.
The paper was very thick, and the edges were stiff.
The words on it were packed tightly together, not like an account book, but more like a repair order.
At the very beginning are three columns of old serial numbers.
Sample ID: Core 1
[Operational Node: Wuzhishan Period]
[Corrector code name: Fruit Feeder]
Pigsy blinked: "The Fruit Feeder... is it a calibrator?"
The original body whispered, "I told you so."
"The fruit feeders aren't there to care for the fruit; they're there to calibrate the samples."
"The fruit is not for feeding monkeys."
"It's for the process team to see."
Upon hearing this, Pigsy felt a chill run down his spine.
"So, the fact that Old Chen was fed at the foot of the mountain for a hundred years wasn't an accident, but something deliberately arranged by someone?"
Chen Fan continued reading, pressing his fingers tighter and tighter.
The following content is even more ruthless.
Each point is written clearly.
[Initial processing error; sample refused to comply. Action: Replace the feeder. Retain the master core.]
[Second processing delay caused spontaneous adversarial behavior in the samples. Action taken: Replace the feeder. Retain the master core.]
[Third cycle failed; external contact error. Solution: Replace the fruit feeder. Retain the main core.]
[Fourth operational interruption raises suspicion regarding the previous staff member. Action taken: Retrieve the fruit feeder. Retain the main core.]
More than a dozen in a row.
They all said the same thing.
Replace the fruit feeder.
Retain the main core.
Pigsy's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Damn it."
"Every time they have a problem, they change the fruit feeder first, but don't touch Monkey King?"
Sun Wukong, who had initially been somewhat amused, turned somber upon seeing this.
"It's not that I'm not going to be moved."
"They can't bear to touch me."
He spoke slowly and deliberately, his laughter chilling.
"They're afraid that if the main core is changed, the show won't be able to continue."
Chen Fan flipped to the next few pages and read them faster and faster.
The records begin to include personal names and codes.
Number 9, Number 9 continued work, Number 9 recycling, Number 9 re-investment.
And then—
[Number 10 pending]
Chen Fan stopped.
Pigsy leaned closer to take a look and gasped in shock.
"Isn't that you?"
The person in question stood to one side, their face extremely pale.
"After the ninth recovery, the ninth deployment will continue."
"The part that was blacked out was actually what this sentence was supposed to be."
"They don't care whether the previous one is dead or not. As long as the main core is still there, they will continue to throw the next fruit feeder into the pit."
Chen Fan's eyes gradually turned cold.
At this point, everything has fallen into place.
Why is it that someone always takes over his position at the foot of Wuzhi Mountain?
Why does he have more than one "predecessor"?
Why is he listed as pending filing in the general ledger?
Because in the eyes of the General Headquarters, Chen Fan is not a human being.
It's a part.
Replace it if it's broken.
If it dies, just replace it.
Sun Wukong stared at the logbook, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.
"it is good."
"Very good."
"They used me as a sample, and you were treated like trash."
Pigsy (Zhu Bajie) also exploded: "This isn't correction, this is just using people to fill a hole!"
The predecessor gave a bitter laugh.
"Now you understand, right?"
"The fruit feeder box never contains just one person."
"They are batches of replacement parts."
Chen Fan continued flipping through the pages.
The further along you go, the messier the handwriting becomes.
Even the person recording it started to panic.
[The ninth batch exhibited unusual behavior, showing a tendency to claim responsibility for past wrongdoings. Removal is recommended.]
[Erase failed. Switch to tiered recycling.]
If the situation spirals out of control again, replace the corrector first, without touching the core samples.
The last page had a curled corner.
It's like it's been turned over and over again.
Chen Fan pressed the corner of the paper flat.
The last two lines of text are just tally marks.
[General Office Principle: If operations fail, prioritize replacing the person feeding the fruit, but do not touch the core samples.]
[The black ring must remain intact before further deployment can proceed.]
Pigsy couldn't help but curse, "What kind of bastard is that Black Ring?"
The predecessor didn't speak.
He stared intently at the last line of text.
There was also a line of tiny handwritten words there.
It's not a correct character.
It looks more like someone in a hurry scraped it on with their fingernail dipped in ink.
Chen Fan lifted the file closer.
I can finally see it clearly.
Don't believe the complete black ring.
Six characters.
It's very shallow.
It's urgent.
But it was like a needle, piercing straight into everyone's brain.
Pigsy opened his mouth: "Who wrote this?"
His breathing became disordered.
"It wasn't me."
"I've never seen this sentence before."
Sun Wukong narrowed his eyes: "That's a message left by the person who wrote this document."
Chen Fan did not answer immediately.
He stared at those words, running through them in his mind several times.
The black ring must be kept intact.
Some people told them not to believe in the complete black ring.
These two sentences are exactly the opposite.
Those who can leave their mark at the end of a document are unlikely to hold a low position.
But why doesn't he write it out clearly?
Why only leave this one sentence?
Just then, a red line suddenly lit up deep within the review layer.
Not one.
It's a circle.
The red line slowly emerged from the bottom of the cabinet, crawled along the ground, and in the blink of an eye, it surrounded them all.
Pigsy's face paled: "What is this now?"
The person in front of them suddenly looked up and gazed at the innermost, unopened, thin cabinet.
The cabinet door label was originally blurry.
It's becoming clearer little by little.
There are three words written on it.
[Black Ring Map]
Chen Fan was about to take a step.
Suddenly, with a snap, a palm-sized black card popped out from the middle of the red line.
The black plate has only one groove on the front.
The groove shape is exactly the same as the corner of the black ledger in Chen Fan's sleeve.
next second.
The black ledger itself started shaking.
It's like something is trying to squeeze out from the inside.
Chapter 530 You are the Ninth Generation Fruit Feeder
The black ledger was shoved hard into Chen Fan's sleeve.
Like a living creature turning over.
The black plaque also trembled.
A thin line slowly cracks around the edge of the groove.
Sun Wukong raised his staff first, placing it in front of Chen Fan.
"Step back."
Pigsy swallowed hard and held his nine-toothed rake horizontally at his feet.
"Old Chen, this old account book of yours is up to its old tricks again."
The original owner didn't reply, his eyes fixed on the black card, his face darkening inch by inch.
"I'm not trying to cause trouble."
"It's open for business."
Chen Fan pressed down on his sleeve.
It wasn't suppressed.
The black ledger sprang out with a "snap," as if someone had given it a hard push from inside. It flew above the black plaque, hovering there, its corner directly facing the groove.
next moment.
Click.
Perfectly fitted.
The black sign is like a lock, and the black ledger is like a key.
As soon as the two things touched, the surrounding red lines lit up simultaneously, and the ground sank down.
Pigsy nearly lost his footing, cursing, "Damn it, this lousy warehouse even has layers?"
The original owner said coldly, "Don't move. Whoever moves gets logged in first."
No one stepped on it anymore.
The three characters "Black Ring Diagram" on the thin cabinet became clearer and clearer. The cabinet doors slid open to the sides by themselves, revealing no treasures inside, only a black bronze mirror.
No one was reflected in the mirror.
A line of text first appeared in the mirror.
[Reading proxy file]
Next is the second line.
[Deployment sequence verification in progress]
Chen Fan's eyelids twitched.
Just as he was about to step forward, the mirror suddenly rippled, and page after page of paper shadows flipped upwards at an alarming speed.
With each page turned, a voice emerged from the mirror.
"First generation, out of control, retrieved."
"Second generation, defected, destroyed."
"Third generation, replacement failed, archived."
"The fourth generation..."
The sound was dry and cold, like scraping the bottom of a pot with an iron nail.
Pigsy felt a chill run down his spine.
"What does this mean? Were those the ones in front also fed fruit?"
The former's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't deny it.
Sun Wukong's grip on the staff tightened slowly.
He stared at the mirror, and the fire in his eyes slowly ignited.
"I knew it, the fruit from down the mountain tastes different after a hundred years."
"So, it turns out, more than one person came here."
Chen Fan's heart sank.
The paper shadows in the mirror were still turning.
"Fifth generation, lost."
"Sixth generation, disguise exposed, execution."
"Seventh generation, refused correction, destroyed."
"The eighth generation failed to be recycled and re-entered."
Upon turning to this point, the mirror suddenly pauses.
A yellowed piece of paper was clearly placed at the very top.
There are two words written on it.
Chen Fan
It was followed by a long string of smaller characters.
Chen Fan squinted and looked closely, growing colder the more he looked.
[Ninth Generation Fruit Feeding Corrector Dispenser]
[Deployment Location: Wuzhishan]
[Main Task: Stabilize the target Sun Wukong, correct derailed variables, and await relocation]
[Status: Unarchived, Abnormal Self-Awakening]
Pigsy was slow on the uptake; it took him two breaths to explode.
"Your mother!"
"You're really not the first one?"
He turned his head to look at the front of him again.
"Then who are you?"
The person in front stared at the mirror, their voice hoarse.
"I am the prototype of the ninth generation."
"He was in the latter part of the continued deployment."
"To put it bluntly, I am the old shell that wasn't used up. He is the new segment that continues the journey."
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong's face darkened completely.
"Are you treating me like a monkey in a well, feeding me in turns and watching me in turns?"
The cold voice in the mirror was still reporting.
[Target: Chen Fan; possesses remnants of a former account holder's information.]
[Full file read allowed]
Chen Fan ignored the others, stepped forward, and placed his hand on the bronze mirror.
ice.
It was as cold as if it had just been pulled out of stagnant water.
The next second, a large amount of debris rushed into his brain.
At the foot of the mountain.
Fruit pit.
Different hands.
Different voices.
Some people were feeding fruit while muttering curses under their breath.
Some people disappear halfway through feeding.
Some people broke the fruit in half and secretly slipped strips of paper into the cracks in the rocks.
There was another person who, on the last day, looked back at the outside of the mountain for a long time and only said one sentence.
"This is the ninth time, and it's still not enough."
Chen Fan felt a jolt in his chest.
That's none other than someone else.
That face looked about seven or eight parts like his.
He was just thinner, with a fiercer look in his eyes, and a torn black thread wrapped around his wrist.
The "he" in the mirror suddenly turned his head.
It's like looking through an old file and truly seeing the Chen Fan of today.
"You've finally arrived."
Chen Fan's breath hitched.
Pigsy was dumbfounded.
"Who is he talking to?"
He took a half step back, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"It's not an afterimage."
"It's on file."
"He's stuck to this spot."
As soon as he finished speaking, the person in the mirror raised his hand.
A slender black nail was pressed in the palm of his hand.
The nail was small, as thin as a needle.
The nail itself was covered with tiny, densely packed characters.
Chen Fan glanced at it once, and four words popped into his mind.
Review and approval authority.
The person in the mirror smiled.
The laugh was brief.
"I tried eight times."
"The first eight times, it either failed during retrieval or failed during archiving."
"They are most afraid of two things. One is that the monkeys wake up. The other is that the fruit feeder remembers everything."
"You have both now."
When Sun Wukong heard the word "monkey," his eyebrows shot up.
"Spit it out."
The person in the mirror looked at him and actually nodded.
"Great Sage Equal to Heaven, don't rush to smash it this time."
"Let him get the key first."
After saying that, he flicked his hand.
The black nail flew directly out of the mirror.
laugh.
It pierced into the back of Chen Fan's right hand.
Pigsy trembled in fright.
"Old Chen!"
Chen Fan didn't even utter a sound.
It's not that it doesn't hurt.
It hurt so much that I couldn't make a sound.
The nail, like a live fish, pierced through the blood and drilled upwards, heading straight for the wrist, then burning its way into the shoulder.
The black ledger opened itself at the same time.
The first page was originally blank.
Now an extra line of black text has appeared.
[Obtained the first proofreading permission pin]
[Some permissions to the source repository have been transferred]
[Available actions: file retrieval, ticket rescheduling, and postponement of return to warehouse]
[Not executable: Total sales, total sealing, main order rewriting]
Pigsy's eyes almost popped out.
"Did you really get it?"
The original body also saw it, its eyes filled with shock and tears.
"I really gave it to you."
"I didn't even get to touch it back then."
Chen Fan raised his hand; the black mark on the back of his hand was still burning hot.
But he could sense that things were different.
The entire warehouse area seemed to have suddenly opened a crack for him.
He looked around at the black boxes, and a thought struck him.
The third black box on the far right opened by itself with a snap.
The former's expression changed drastically.
Don't try it randomly!
"Inside—"
He said it was too late.
The moment the box burst open, a gaunt figure suddenly sat up inside.
His face was covered with a black cloth, and a number tag was tied around his neck.
The sign only had three characters written on it.
Listening to people.
The moment the creature raised its head, Sun Wukong slammed it down with his staff.
boom!
The box, along with the figure, was smashed flat.
Black slag flew all over the ground.
Pigsy opened his mouth, but it took him a long time to finally utter a sentence.
"Brother Monkey's skills are still quite proficient."
Sun Wukong flicked his staff without even lifting his eyelids.
"If another one comes out, I'll go and file it too."
That felt really good.
Another string of words appeared in the black ledger.
The listening node has been compromised.
[Improved compatibility of review permissions]
[Obtain a temporary proxy token]
Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly.
Cool.
That felt great.
Even the predecessor was stunned by what he saw.
It was as if he was confirming for the first time that the door he had been so stubbornly ramming into had actually been kicked open by Chen Fan.
Just then.
Suddenly, a series of rapid locking sounds rang out from deep within the main warehouse.
Not one.
It's a row.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
It was as if someone inside had flipped a dozen switches in one go.
Above the thin cabinet, the black mirror also trembled.
Suddenly, a corner of the yellowed Chen Fan file in the mirror caught fire.
The person in the mirror looked up, and their expression changed for the first time.
"They came really fast."
He stared at Chen Fan, speaking much faster.
"Listen. You are not the only fruit feeder, nor are you the end."
"The ninth generation is a correction."
"They originally wanted to be the tenth."
"You're awake now, you won't be able to throw the tenth one."
"Use the authorization token to grab the port's rankings first. If the rankings change, the recovery threshold will change—"
He hadn't finished speaking.
The mirror cracked open with a "snap".
A pale hand reached out from the crack and grabbed directly at the shadow that had been left behind.
Chen Fan raised his hand to block, but half of his body disintegrated on the spot.
He was still staring at Chen Fan outside, only managing to squeeze out the last sentence.
"Don't let them go first—"
Click!
The mirror was completely shattered.
The shadow dissipated into a patch of black ash.
Pigsy felt a chill run down his spine.
"They actually chased after them and killed them?"
He gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead.
"The third round of review has begun."
Before he could finish speaking...
A loud noise suddenly came from outside the warehouse area.
It wasn't the door that opened.
It's like the whole port is moving.
The ground shook, and the old notices on the wall fell off all at once, only to be slapped back in mid-air by a force.
Chen Fan suddenly turned around.
The outermost port sign originally displayed the recycling regulations.
The writing is peeling away line by line, and it's being rewritten.
Blood-red ink flowed down from top to bottom.
Everyone saw it clearly.
[Temporary General Order for Zero Port Recapture]
[Priority targets for recovery: Chen Fan, Sun Wukong, and their accomplices]
The words paused for only half a breath.
Immediately afterwards, the word "recycling" was heavily crossed out.
Some people think this word is too mild.
The next instant, the character "新" (new) appeared on top.
[Priority Destruction]
Pigsy's legs twitched when he saw this.
"Damn, it's completely full."
His face turned pale.
"There's still a chance for recycling to be stored in the warehouse."
"Destruction means leaving no record, no shell, just erasing it completely."
Sun Wukong laughed instead.
The laughter was low and tinged with anger.
"it is good."
"They've finally started speaking like human beings."
The black ledger shook again.
This time, it's not a hint.
It's an alarm.
[Hostility Rises in the Zero Port Main Storyline]
[The holder of master sales authority is approaching.]
[Distance: Sancang]
[Distance: Two warehouses]
[Distance: Warehouse 1]
A footstep sounded outside the warehouse door.
It's very light.
It's like someone wearing cloth shoes stepping on an old wooden plank.
But with each step he took, the black boxes around him trembled.
Chen Fan slowly raised his head; the permission pin on the back of his hand was still hot.
The shadow outside the door had already pressed against the crack in the door.
Immediately afterwards, a man's voice came through the door.
"The ninth generation".
"Hand over the nails."
"I'll make sure you die quickly."
Chapter 531 The people from the port have arrived
The words spoken outside the door were spoken.
There was a moment of silence in the warehouse.
The next second, Sun Wukong swung his staff and smashed it.
"I'll hand over your ancestors."
The golden cudgel slammed horizontally into the warehouse door.
With a loud bang.
The door bulged outwards, and the shadow in the crack took a half step back. But the door didn't break. The old nails around the door panel gleamed, like a row of dead eyes, all staring at the access nail on the back of Chen Fan's hand.
The person outside the door laughed.
"They still dare to smash it."
"Ninth Generation, do you really think this place is some kind of paradise?"
He spoke slowly.
The voice was not loud.
But with each word he uttered, the black boxes in the warehouse would tremble.
His face darkened considerably, and he took half a step forward, blocking Chen Fan's side.
"Master Sales Authority Holder".
"Not the port owner."
"He's one of the port master's men."
Pigsy swallowed.
"Are all your subordinates this pretentious?"
Chen Fan did not respond.
He stared at the door.
After the nails on the door were completely exposed, a second set of footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
It wasn't just one person.
It is a piece.
The wooden planks, the rails, the old warehouse bridge—all reverberated.
It's like everyone in the entire port area is crowding this way.
Immediately afterwards, the sky above the source warehouse trembled violently.
A black notice hung down directly from the top of the warehouse.
不是纸。
Like a layer of shiny skin.
A line of text appears first.
[Seventh Parking Zone Closure Order]
Then the second line.
[All recovery ships, immediately surround the source warehouse]
Immediately, the sound of oars echoed from outside.
wrong.
It's not a paddle.
It was the sound of the stern scraping against the ground.
Chen Fan rushed to the side window and pushed it open.
The window was just opened slightly.
A damp, cold, fishy smell wafted in.
The sight outside made Pigsy gasp in shock.
The entire circle of recovery boats in the seventh berth area was in motion.
Large boats and small boats, black boats and gray boats—the dilapidated boats that usually sat stagnant at the entrances of the holds—now seemed to come alive. They didn't go into the water, but instead rolled forward along the old slipways outside the hold area. Black lights hung from the bows of all the boats. The lights didn't emit fire, but rather the shadowy figures of people huddled together.
Every bow of the boat is aligned with the source warehouse.
a circle.
Two laps.
Three laps.
The entire source warehouse was completely surrounded, leaving no room for leakage.
Even more ruthless is what happens in mid-air.
The old nameplates that were originally hanging on the beams of each warehouse have all been turned over.
There is one character written on the front.
[Catch]
Pigsy's face turned green.
"Damn, did they just call down the entire port administration system?"
The predecessor gritted his teeth.
"Once the source repository is removed from the default archive, the docking area must take over."
"They wouldn't let anything leave the port, nor would they allow tents to stay overnight."
The person outside the door heard this and chuckled softly.
"You know quite a lot."
"Too bad, you should have died in the main warehouse long ago."
As soon as he finished speaking, a gong suddenly sounded outside the door.
when--
This message traveled extremely far.
It was like waking up the entire seventh parking area.
The third line of the notice slowly lit up.
[Revealing Old Identity]
Chen Fan's heart sank.
broken.
Sure enough, the next moment, words began to scroll down the blacklist.
It's not just an empty reputation.
It's not a code name.
It's their old secret that they've been hiding all along.
[Chen Fan, old ID: Ninth Generation Fruit Feeder, not yet entered into the database, holds abnormal privileges]
[Sun Wukong, former ID: sealed sample, has broken free and exhibited destructive behavior.]
[Zhu Ganglie, former ID: Temporary Transporter, three times evaded signing, two times swallowed the account]
[Ao Lie, former ID: Abandoned Traveling Boat, previously deregistered, now abnormally reactivated]
[Tang Sanzang, old number: Buddhist record transfer sample, signal disconnected]
[Niu Youdao, old code: Black Ring Candidate External Part, whereabouts unknown]
It rolls down line by line.
The entire port area was blown up.
Cursing sounds came from afar first.
"Damn it, are they those outsiders?"
"Is the ninth-generation fruit feeder still alive?"
"If we catch them, the port authorities can exempt us from a quarterly inventory check!"
"It's not about getting a free season, it's about getting a spot on the main campus!"
"Surround them!"
Chen Fan's face darkened.
That's a really vicious move.
The notice wasn't for them to see; it was for the port authorities to see as a model.
These people, living a miserable existence in Hong Kong, desperately need to renounce their citizenship, go ashore, and avoid being counted. Now the port authorities are offering a few of their lives as a reward—who wouldn't go crazy?
really.
Soon, groups of people emerged from behind the recovery boat.
Some were wearing old work clothes.
Some were dragging chains.
Some of them still had numbered tags stuck on half of their faces.
They had been hiding in the gaps between warehouses, under bridges, and beside overhead rails. Now they all popped out, their eyes gleaming red, staring at the notice board and the source warehouse.
Like a pack of wild dogs that have caught the smell of meat.
Pigsy cursed, "A bunch of dogs! They usually hide like cowards, but now they all dare to show their faces!"
Sun Wukong slammed his golden cudgel into the ground.
"No matter how many come, I, Old Sun, will knock on them all."
He had barely finished speaking.
The first dozen or so recovery boats turned on their lights at the same time.
When the light is turned on.
Seals were displayed on the outer wall of the warehouse.
The seal wasn't pasted on; it grew out of the cracks in the wall on its own, like black veins, and in the blink of an eye, it sealed all four warehouse entrances.
The face of the previous body has changed.
"The Hong Kong lockdown order has taken effect."
"They don't even plan to leave any ventilation openings."
Chen Fan looked down at the back of his hand.
The permission pin is still heating up.
The system panel also popped up.
[Full intervention by port authorities detected]
[Hostile sentiment rises in the main storyline regarding zero-recovery ports]
Current area: Seventh parking area
[Temporary objective updated: Defend the outer perimeter of the source warehouse and seize control of the port authority rankings]
[Reward: Page 2 of the Black Ring Map]
Upon seeing the last sentence, Chen Fan's eyes narrowed.
Black ring diagram, page 2.
nice one.
The first page immediately reveals the wiretapper and the case files. What could the second page possibly hold? It's definitely not small.
The group of people outside have already started pressing forward.
Someone was holding a dismantling hook.
Someone was dragging a recycling net.
On several other boats, nail guns were set up directly, their dark muzzles pointed at the side windows and door cracks.
Pigsy took a step back.
"Chen Fan, are we really going to end up like salted fish in a warehouse this time?"
Chen Fan raised his hand and pushed the window all the way down.
"What's there to be afraid of?"
He reached out and ripped off the corner of the black list.
The notice, as if alive, instantly turned on him, its edges curling into jagged teeth, trying to cut his hand. Chen Fan felt a burning sensation on the back of his hand, and the black ledger flew out on its own, slamming onto the notice with a thud.
The saw teeth paused.
Chen Fan simply tore off a section of the notice.
The samples outside, which were rushing forward, all suddenly stopped in their tracks.
An old man with half an ear hanging down stared wide-eyed.
"He...he dares to tear up the port authority's ranking list?"
Another skinny guy with a face full of stickers stared wide-eyed.
"Isn't this a capital offense?"
"Why didn't he explode?"
Chen Fan gripped the notice and shook his hand.
The black characters trembled violently.
The words "former identity" were forcibly erased in half.
Sun Wukong burst into laughter.
"good!"
"Tear it again!"
The person outside the door finally stopped laughing.
"You're going to tamper with the rankings?"
"Ninth generation, do you really want to leave not even ashes behind?"
Chen Fan replied directly to the door.
"Come in and take it if you dare."
There was a brief silence outside.
The third gong suddenly sounded.
This time, it's not a warning.
It seems like they've changed the person in charge.
The recovery boats surrounding the area suddenly parted to both sides.
Those samples in the port that were about to rush in seemed to have heard something, and they all stopped and backed away.
They retreated very quickly.
The fiercest shouters just moments before instantly lost their menacing look, replaced by an unconcealable sense of apprehension.
Pigsy was stunned.
"What's wrong?"
His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and he kept his voice extremely low.
"It can make way for the seventh parking area."
"It's not a warehouse inspection."
"That is the registrar."
Upon hearing those two words, even Sun Wukong narrowed his eyes.
The sound of cloth shoes stepping on wooden planks could be heard from outside.
step.
step.
not heavy.
With each step they took, the black lights on the outer ring of recovery boats lowered by an inch.
It's like bowing.
The open space in front of the warehouse was quickly cleared into a straight line.
A person slowly walked out.
He is not tall.
He was wearing an old black robe.
The hem of the robe was badly worn, as if it had been rubbed against the corner of the warehouse for years.
He carried a thin, unlit lamp. On his right wrist were three black rings, each engraved with characters. Too far away to see clearly.
What's most striking is his face.
Not old.
Not young either.
But the corners of his mouth were always turned down, as if he was born with no intention of giving anyone a kind look.
He stopped in front of the red line on the outer edge of the source warehouse, not in a hurry to go in.
He first looked up and glanced at the torn-off notice in Chen Fan's hand.
He glanced again at the dent that Sun Wukong had made on the door panel.
Finally, their gaze fell on the permission pin on the back of Chen Fan's hand.
He stared at it for a long time.
So long that the people in the warehouse stopped talking.
Then, he raised his left hand, pinched out a black note with two fingers, and flicked it into the air.
The negative post hasn't gone far.
It was nailed directly to the source warehouse door.
The post contains only one line of text.
[The clerk of the seventh parking area arrived to inspect the goods.]
Inspection of goods.
The moment those two words were uttered, Pigsy felt a chill run down his spine.
Sun Wukong held his staff horizontally and gritted his teeth.
"Are you treating us like merchandise?"
The man in black robes didn't seem to hear.
He finally looked up and glanced at the crack in the door.
The voice was not loud.
It's even lower than the previous holder of the total sales authority.
"Listen up, you inside!"
My surname is Gu.
"Registrar of the Seventh Naval Station"
"According to Hong Kong regulations, if the source warehouse is out of control, I will take over."
He paused for a moment after saying this.
Then, he slowly took out a golden fruit pit button from his sleeve.
It was exactly the same as the one his predecessor had.
The expressions on the faces of the people in the warehouse changed instantly.
Clerk Gu looked down at the button and casually remarked.
"The ninth generation".
"The eight ahead of you."
"There are three of them, which I personally delivered."
After saying that, he lifted his foot and stepped across the red line.
Chapter 532 The Flaw in the Third Path
Registrar Gu stepped across the red line.
The line didn't stop him.
Instead, it shrank to the sides by an inch, as if to make way for him.
Pigsy's eyelids twitched, and he immediately cursed, "Damn it, does this thread discriminate based on who it's used to?"
Registrar Gu smiled and walked slowly.
He gently turned the button on the golden fruit pit in his hand, and the several black boxes in the warehouse trembled as if they had seen their old master.
"Ninth generation, stop delaying."
Give me the nail.
"Of the eight fruit feeders before you, three also like to be stubborn."
"Later, the bones all went into the ash trough."
His face was tense.
He stared intently at the button, his throat dry. "That's an old button from the berth area. Even a clerk wouldn't get one. Where did you get it?"
Clerk Gu looked up at him, a cold glint in his eyes.
"Someone as worthless as you dares to ask me?"
He had barely finished speaking when he raised his hand and flicked it.
The button hit the ground.
A ding sound.
All four black boxes in the warehouse were opened simultaneously, each about an inch wide.
No one jumped out; only a wisp of black smoke drifted out.
The black smoke lingered and crawled along the ground towards Chen Fan's feet.
Sun Wukong pressed down with his staff.
boom!
The smoke was instantly dispersed.
Registrar Gu raised an eyebrow, his smile fading slightly: "Great Sage Equal to Heaven, do you really think this is still Flower Fruit Mountain?"
"This is the harbor."
"In the harbor, they're talking about recycling."
Wukong grinned, revealing his teeth.
"Old Sun only knows one thing."
"Smash it."
He stepped forward and tapped the ground with the tip of his stick.
A crack appeared in the floor tile, pointing directly towards the feet of Registrar Gu.
Registrar Gu flicked his sleeve and slid back half a step, avoiding a direct hit.
Just then, Yang Jian suddenly turned his head to the side.
He wasn't targeting Clerk Gu.
It was the third one standing silently on the side.
The third person's face was even paler than the first, like it was made of ashen paper. There was an extremely fine crack in the black ring around his neck. Within the crack, a glint of cold light had just flashed.
It's too thin.
If you weren't looking closely with your clairvoyant eye, you wouldn't be able to see it at all.
Yang Jian's eyes darkened, and his three-pointed double-edged sword appeared in a flash.
"Don't move!"
The third person instinctively took a half step back.
It's too late.
With a "whoosh," the tip of the knife flicked out.
A black needle, thinner than a hair, was pulled out from the black ring around his neck. The end of the needle still had a wisp of transparent thread attached to it, and the thread retracted directly into the depths of the crack in the black ring without breaking.
After Pigsy saw it clearly, a chill ran down his spine.
"Holy crap, what is this thing?"
Its predecessor suddenly changed color: "Retrieval Needle!"
"This isn't about locking someone up, it's about stealing footage!"
Chen Fan's eyes turned cold instantly.
He was just looking at Clerk Gu.
At this moment, all eyes were on the third person.
The warehouse fell silent.
Standing outside the red line, Clerk Gu was in no hurry, as if he had been waiting for this scene. He crossed his arms and watched the third line like a spectator.
"So you guys are only just realizing this now."
"Okay, not too stupid."
Pigsy charged forward, raising his nine-toothed rake: "Damn it, I knew this thing wasn't clean! Chen Fan, have Old Pig nail him to the wall first before questioning him!"
He didn't dodge the third one.
His shoulders were tense, and his lips were trembling.
"I didn't know it was still there."
"I really don't know."
"Before I came out, I had only done half of the work."
As soon as he said that, his face turned pale.
"Half returned to the granary?"
"Are you crazy? Anyone who's done that has at least three teleportation links. Whatever you see or hear in the cell, even what you dream about, can be sent back!"
The third person gritted his teeth, his forehead covered in sweat.
"If I don't do it, I won't even be able to escape."
"That time I was sent to the third review gate. First they checked my files, then they stripped me of my privileges. Halfway through, chaos broke out outside; someone smashed the transfer gate. I took advantage of the chaos to jump out."
"I thought it was just the shell left, but I didn't expect the needle to still be buried in the suture."
As he said this, he raised his hand to scratch his neck.
Yang Jian swung the back of his sword and pressed his hand down.
"Don't touch it."
"This needle isn't inserted; it's kept inside a ring. If you pull it, the entire black ring will explode, disrupting the signal in the storage compartment."
Pigsy was so angry he was practically spitting out gasps: "Then what's the point of keeping him around? Just to have him keep an eye out for us?"
Clerk Gu clapped softly outside.
"That's right."
"Now that we know, killing them is the easiest way."
"You unorthodox types have finally learned a bit about Hong Kong rules."
Sun Wukong turned to look at Chen Fan.
The predecessor of Chen Fan was also mentioned.
Even the third one looked up, his eyes filled with even more despair. He clearly understood that if Chen Fan nodded, he would be done for today.
Chen Fan remained silent.
He walked up to the third gate, reached out and pinched the black ring, the authority pin on the back of his hand slightly warm.
The heat seemed to be a reminder to him.
This is not concrete evidence of betrayal.
This is the listening point.
The timing of Clerk Gu's appearance was too perfect, and his actions too deliberate, indicating that the port had been watching this place for a long time. The third needle on his body is most likely that eye.
After killing the third one, his eye was gone.
Registrar Gu would immediately know that they had already noticed.
Instead of killing them, we can use their eyes to send a message.
Chen Fan suddenly smiled.
The laughter made Clerk Gu frown.
"Old Gu, what you just said is wrong."
"I really don't want to learn Hong Kong regulations."
Clerk Gu narrowed his eyes: "You have another trick up your sleeve?"
Chen Fan ignored him and turned to look at the third path.
"You mentioned partial closure; which links are out of control?"
The third person was taken aback, not expecting Chen Fan to ask this first.
He swallowed hard and quickly said, "Visual feedback is working. Voice feedback is working. Location feedback is intermittent. The access gate should be broken, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get into this compartment."
The original user added in a low voice, "Visual and voiceprint recognition are the most troublesome. Whatever you say now, they can pick it up on the other end."
"it is good."
Chen Fan nodded.
"Then let's not waste it."
Even Pigsy was stunned: "What do you mean?"
Chen Fan raised his hand and pointed at Registrar Gu.
"It means, from now on, we'll start talking to him."
For the first time, the smile on Clerk Gu's face froze.
Yang Jian reacted first, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "You want to feed a fake file?"
"right."
Chen Fan stared at the third crack on the neck, his tone steady.
"The needle will not be removed."
"The ring will not be removed."
"Keep standing there, keep letting it watch."
"From now on, you're still the vent."
The third person was stunned.
"You're not going to kill me?"
Pigsy grew anxious: "You're not going to kill them?"
Chen Fan turned to look at him: "Kill him, and Clerk Gu will immediately back off. Doesn't he know where we're headed next?"
"Keep it; let him guess what you want him to guess."
Pigsy opened his mouth, wanting to curse, but then swallowed it back.
"Okay, you've got a lot of brains, so tell me what to do."
Chen Fan took two steps back and deliberately raised his voice.
"Listen up, everyone."
"We can't stay at the source warehouse for long."
"Half a quarter of an hour later, they went through the secret passage from the west second cabinet. The former carried the black ledger, Yang Jian brought up the rear, and Wukong and Bajie protected the authority nail."
"Leave the third dish for the time it takes to burn an incense stick."
These words were spoken quickly and forcefully.
It's like deciding on an escape route at the last minute.
The original owner was taken aback at first, but understood in the next instant and immediately continued the act: "That path to the West Second Cabinet is long gone, is it still passable?"
Chen Fan said coldly, "Even if we're crippled, we have to leave. If we don't leave now, Chief Clerk Gu will seal off the warehouses, and we'll all become canned food."
Yang Jian chimed in, "What about the access token? If it's not stored in the central warehouse, keeping it will only bring trouble."
Chen Fan raised his hand and slammed the nail onto the black ledger with a snap.
"Once they leave West Second, throw them straight into the furnace."
"Don't touch it."
When Clerk Gu heard the words "West Second Cabinet" and "Burning Station," his eyes visibly flickered.
Very fine.
Chen Fan still managed to catch him.
It became.
They definitely knew the way.
The third man stood rooted to the spot, his breathing ragged. He knew Chen Fan was setting a trap for him, but he hadn't expected Chen Fan to dare to act like this in front of Registrar Gu.
To everyone's surprise, Clerk Gu was actually listening.
Clerk Gu suddenly smiled.
"The ninth generation".
"You think I'd believe that?"
Chen Fan turned to look at him, his tone even softer than Chen Fan's.
"Whether you believe it or not is none of my business."
"I'll just keep running."
"Just keep gambling."
One sentence was enough to make Clerk Gu's eyes twitch.
Wukong, carrying his staff, deliberately took two steps westward, muttering under his breath, "What are you dawdling for? Let's go. If we're any later, that Gu fellow will really lock the door and beat us up."
Pigsy's act was even more ruthless; he dragged the third one over, cursing incessantly: "You leaky thing, stand at the front! If you dare leak even a little more, I'll shove your head into the box!"
The third one stumbled, his eyes glazing over.
He suddenly felt the needle in his neck vibrate slightly.
It's not an illusion.
It is indeed sending data back.
Within the crack, that glint of cold light shone for a fleeting moment, like a fish's eye.
next second.
The golden fruit pit button in Clerk Gu's sleeve suddenly jumped by itself.
He glanced down, and the smile on his face slowly faded.
"west Er Bo Cabinet..."
He repeated it in a low voice.
Then he raised his head and looked into the darkness behind him, as if listening to someone's echo.
Chen Fan's heart tightened when he saw this.
Something has been connected.
And it wasn't just Registrar Gu.
Sure enough, a second set of footsteps soon came from the deserted warehouse passage behind Clerk Gu.
Lighter than him.
Even slower.
Step by step, it was as if someone was dragging a wet wooden box, approaching this way.
Registrar Gu stepped aside, actually making way for half a step.
The disdain on his face disappeared, and even his voice became lower.
"It seems that the higher-ups are taking the third shipment back very seriously."
"The ninth generation".
"You've caught a big fish this time."
At the end of the passageway, a pale hand pressed against the door frame.