Absolute Death Game-Chapter 322 - 91 Heart of the Dragon
"What exactly happened between you and Ancestral Dragon during this game thirty years ago?"
The old man looked at the line of text on the computer, and a trace of memory, a trace of pain, seemed to break through his usually impassive facade.
"Thirty years, thirty years ago..." he muttered to himself, as some memories he found hard to revisit gradually resurfaced in his mind.
Thirty years earlier:
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! A piercing ringtone startled Luo Sen awake from his sleep, his mind still in a fog. He lay on his platform bed for a while before realizing that he was no longer in the labor reform farm but lying in the narrow bed in a basement.
The negative effects of yesterday’s experiment still troubled him, but he dared not lie in any longer. Supporting his tired brain, he climbed out of bed, aware that this was not a place that brooked any reasoning.
Quickly jumping out of bed and getting dressed, Luo Sen tried to clear his head, looked at the bunk above, and saw that Bi Huaxuan seemed a bit off, mumbling something to himself. The guy had been a martial master, running a martial arts school and was reputed to know techniques like Five Elements Boxing and Bagua Palm, seemingly a formidable character. But in front of the Red Revolutionary Guards, even the strongest martial arts were worthless; he was sent to the farm for re-education and ended up here with Luo Sen.
"Hey," he called out. The youngster turned his head, staring blankly at him, his expression somewhat unfamiliar.
"Get up quickly, unless you’re looking to be punished," Luo Sen reminded, feeling a sense of obligation to look out for someone from the labor camp.
But that was all he could do; thereafter, Luo Sen hurried out.
Luo Sen was not the first one up. In the washroom, Liu Xuan Zhen was wiping his body with cold water. He looked utterly relaxed, giving off an unexpectedly leisurely vibe. His skinny body was unusually pale, not at all resembling someone who had spent three years at a labor camp. Previously, he was said to be a Taoist priest, the head of a Taoist temple, which made him a prime target during the campaign to destroy the old customs. However, he took it in stride, eating, sleeping, working, and performing self-criticism at the camp, not at all like the others who were sent there.
Luo Sen disliked his demeanor.
After quickly finishing his washing up, Luo Sen felt much more alert.
By the time he arrived at the dining hall, breakfast was already served on the long wooden table, with several tin buckets filled with food.
The only good thing about this place was the food; breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, spicy cabbage, salted cucumbers, all-you-can-drink rice porridge, and two big steamed buns per person. Compared to the farm where he could not get enough to eat even with coarse grain buns, it was paradise. In an era of scarcity, such a breakfast was truly lavish. Yet facing the food before him, Luo Sen found he had little appetite, especially when every time he closed his eyes, he could see that machine.
As time moved on, the closer the experiment approached, his stomach convulsed, but he forced himself to eat some food.
Several people sitting nearby were quietly chatting, "Have you heard? Wang Luobin from Group Two went mad yesterday and was taken away," said a big man named Lei Zhengang. This guy was a bandit who was supposed to have been executed by gun but somehow ended up here.
Luo Sen perked up his ears upon hearing this, having spent so much time in this place, he was most concerned about what his own end might be.
"Where was he taken?" asked Wang Wenbo who wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses and looked frail. Wang Wenbo was the one that Luo Sen admired the most among these people, for he was somewhat of an intellectual. Even though in these times people said the more culture one had, the more reactionary one was, Luo Sen did not agree.
"Who knows, probably sent back to the farm, I guess," Lei Zhengang said dismissively, slurping down his rice porridge audibly.
The farm was where Luo Sen and others had initially been recruited from, and it was far from a good place, toiling all day long to near death. Yet, at this very moment, Luo Sen almost wished that were true. Your next read awaits at novelbuddy
Liu Xuan Zhen, who had been listening to the two men’s conversation with a grin, suddenly interjected, "Come on, do you really think after all he’s seen, he’d actually be sent back to the farm? What if he leaks information?"
Lei Zhengang glared at Liu Xuan Zhen with his bell-like eyes, his voice as deep as a pot’s, "Then you tell us where he was taken." Liu Xuan Zhen, seeming to know something, scoffed, "Where was he taken? Heh, I might scare you if I told you."
Luo Sen thought to himself (Scare us? Why would it scare us?) and as he pondered, watching the sly smile on Liu Xuan Zhen’s lips, he faintly sensed something ominous.
Breakfast, in the end, was finished.
The tableware didn’t need to be washed by themselves; someone would naturally come to collect it. In this respect, their current life was pretty much like that of a young master in a landlord’s family. Moreover, there was no work to do during the day, nor were there any self-criticisms to write or struggles to endure. However, Luo Sen didn’t feel any happiness, because they were facing a task far more terrifying than those.
Just like on previous experimental days, Luo Sen and his group were brought into the laboratory.
The lab was a huge, chilling cement room devoid of any aesthetics. In the middle of the room stood a gigantic machine, as big as four large cabinets combined. Luo Sen now knew that this device was called the ’Heart of the Dragon,’ which was said to be a supercomputer. However, he still didn’t understand what a supercomputer meant; he only knew that it was capable of sending them into a strange dream.
Wang Wenbo had once explained to him what a computer was, describing it as an ’electrically driven brain’. Luo Sen was highly skeptical about this.
Luo Sen didn’t have a clue about how to operate a computer, but that was alright. The overseers would handle it for them. Just thinking about the overseers made Luo Sen shiver involuntarily. Despite facing them daily, he still couldn’t get used to the chilling sensation they imparted.
With a grating noise, a metal door on the opposite wall started rising, revealing several people in white lab coats behind a glass window. They were the scientists and the commanders of the experiment. Luo Sen was used to the presence of these white coats, but today seemed different, with a middle-aged man in military uniform standing among them. His authoritative look was like that of a god overseeing his subjects.
A few people dressed in black entered through a side door, their expressions cold. They were the overseers. Their arrival instantly stiffened the atmosphere in the room.
No one dared to breathe heavily. They all stood obediently in front of the computer.
"The second experiment is officially starting. Everyone, please take your positions and get ready," a scientist said through a microphone.
Around the supercomputer, there was a circle of chair-like objects connected to the computer, which in turn was connected to the Brainwave Instrument, resembling a metallic helmet liner strung with many metal wires and giving off a cold metallic sheen.
Liu Xuanzhen was the first to lie down on the chair. He moved so quickly that it seemed as if he couldn’t wait to start.
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Luo Sen went to the fifth machine and lay down on the cold, metallic bed. The Brainwave Instrument was heavy and cold. Wearing it on his shaved head felt both hard and icy, highly uncomfortable, but he knew this sensation would soon disappear.
As he lay there, he braced himself for the looming dizziness, but it didn’t come as expected. Instead, the overseer’s cold, emotionless voice rang out, "Comrade Bi Huaxuan, please put on your Brainwave Instrument."
Was someone actually brave enough to anger the overseer? Luo Sen turned to look behind him. Bi Huaxuan stared blankly at the Brainwave Instrument in his hand, seemingly lost in thought.
"I, I don’t feel very well. Can I please be excused from the experiment today and wait until I feel a bit better tomorrow..." "Comrade Bi Huaxuan, please put on your Brainwave Instrument." The overseer’s voice was already showing signs of impatience. Behind the glass wall, several scientists were sweating profusely, frantically gesturing to the overseers below while warily observing the middle-aged man’s expression.
Bi Huaxuan shivered and had no choice but to don the Brainwave Instrument. He closed his eyes, and a pained expression crossed his face. Luo Sen exhaled in relief. He was genuinely afraid the man would resist, and the consequences of that were unthinkable.
He closed his eyes and lay back down, hoping that the sensation would not last too long.
"All personnel in position, initiate Heart of the Dragon!"
The massive supercomputer started humming fiercely. The chairs trembled along with it, causing people’s heads to swell, but the humming quickly faded away. Luo Sen felt himself falling into an endless abyss as if there would never be an end. Although this was not his first time undergoing brainwave transference, he still harbored a deep-seated fear of the sensation.
Clenching his teeth, he endured until finally, the feeling passed. A blinding white light flashed before his eyes, and when the light dispersed, he found himself standing on a slope in a small mountain village, facing a dark green expanse of overgrown grass.
He touched his head, no longer wearing the Brainwave Instrument, and his hair had grown black. He patted his face, feeling numbness. Luo Sen always regarded this transformation with deep wariness, but regretfully, he had no possibility of resistance.
"Looks like we’re back again," a voice came from behind him. Without turning around, he knew it had to be Liu Xuan Zhen.
One by one, everyone arrived.
"All right, today’s task is wilderness hunting. Let’s see if we can catch anything and utilize all the skills you’ve learned. This time we’ll need to work as a team..."
Wang Wenge was issuing commands to the group. He was the only overseer and the team leader, responsible for directing the actions of the third team in this world. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
