Player Reload-Chapter 672 - 580: Living Brain Cells (Part 1)

Ssshhh--

The sharp and piercing sound of steam spurted as a series of dark gold-colored metal hoses disconnected themselves, and a figure, suspended three meters above the ground, wearing a bizarre outfit that combined features of an old diving suit and a spacesuit, crashed heavily onto the floor.

Pain, excruciating pain.

The figure lay on the ground, wearing clumsy, radish-like thick rubber gloves, grasping the metal grating floor, and through the empty grates, he could see a pool emitting a faint blue light below.

The walls of the pool were made of metal, the water about ten meters deep, with dozens of square metal plates slightly larger than a palm seemingly resting on the bottom.

The face of the figure in the red spacesuit was covered by a black mask, making it impossible to see the face inside. Only a faint, pained hiss could be heard from the communicator at the neck.

Where... am I?

Wait, who am I?

The head throbbed continuously with pain, eyes feeling raw and dazed, and the mouth dry from lack of water.

The figure slowly propped himself up with both hands, leaning on the railing, and inexplicably two memories emerged in his mind.

The world called him Pifu, but his real name was Li Cheng, and the latter must absolutely not be disclosed to outsiders.

As for who this "outsider" was...

Li Cheng looked around; the entire circular hall was under a hemispherical dome, incredibly spacious, and besides himself, there were nine other figures, each wearing the same style but different colored spacesuits,

with opaque helmets, neck communicators, large backpacks resembling life support systems, a clumsy brass metal ring on the left forearm, and a watch on the right wrist—

which was more like an old LCD panel equipped with retro metal buttons than a watch.

A broken copper wire extended from the fabric-wrapped corner of the panel, making it look rather unreliable.

The ten spacesuit-wearing figures in black, white, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and pink noticed each other and struggled to stand, leaning on the railing, watching each other warily.

"What the hell is this place?"

From the ten o’clock direction diagonally opposite to Li Cheng, the figure in the black spacesuit shouted with an angry, musical rap-like accent: "Who the Moxxxx-Fxker are you all?"

No one answered his question; among the immense space, only the dull breathing of the crowd and the faint hissing of the hanging metal hoses from the ceiling could be heard.

Those metal hoses seemed to be connected to the life support systems on their backs, stopping their hissing after a while, hanging limply like withered vines.

Seeing no one replying, the figure in the black spacesuit snorted discontentedly, leaning on the railing, and awkwardly moved his heavy steps towards the corner of the circular hall.

There was a brass oval explosion-proof door on each side of the hall, appearing highly secure with no keyhole, and a revolving wheel handle in the center.

The oval hatch structure could more evenly distribute pressure, reducing the risk of local overload, and effectively resist deformation in high-pressure environments.

So is this a submarine? Or some underwater mining base?

Li Cheng instinctively raised his hand, wanting to scratch his faintly aching skull, but the rubber glove collided with the metal helmet, producing a dull thud.

His memory was incomplete, aside from his name, he couldn’t recall more information—only some common sense necessary for a modern person’s survival life.

Like washing hands before meals and after the toilet; stopping at red lights and going at green lights; playing with fire would cause bedwetting; solving a class-fourth-order completely nonlinear elliptic equation would prove the existence of constant scalar curvature metrics;

Wait, among these common senses, isn’t there something with an abnormal style?!

Why is it after the toilet and before meals, not before meals and after the toilet?

Li Cheng touched his chin, vaguely feeling a sense of confusion.

Sense of confusion? Does this mean, in a physiological sense, I am a male with XY chromosomes? Another question solved.

Thud, thud, thud!

The figure in the black spacesuit forcefully turned the revolving door handle, finding it immovable, punching and kicking it to no avail.

"Alright, stop it."

The figure in the pink spacesuit commanded in a deep voice, strong and powerful, "This place is not right, haven’t you noticed?"

In this atmosphere where everyone couldn’t figure out the situation, the figure in the pink spacesuit took the lead and said, "Let me introduce myself, the memory in my brain tells me I am called Blood Lion Roar."

The description "memory in the brain" was quite intriguing, as the black spacesuit figure, who was kicking the door, paused in his movements, and the standing postures of the others shifted as they all realized almost simultaneously the fact that they were all missing memories.

Blood Lion Roar in the pink spacesuit looked around calmly and said, "And you?"

The orange spacesuit figure next to Blood Lion Roar softly said, "...Edith."

Out of some mutual understanding, the white spacesuit figure in the clockwise direction next shrugged nonchalantly against the railing, his voice sounding male, "Laughing God."

After a moment of silence, the cyan spacesuit figure spoke hoarsely in a mature, smoking voice, "Hydra."

"Valkyrie," the blue spacesuit figure subconsciously clenched his fist, and the voice was mature and magnetic, which seemed solid, fitting the name of a valkyrie.

The yellow spacesuit figure spoke with a cheerful girl’s voice, "Dir."

Following the flow, Li Cheng, in the red spacesuit, introduced himself nonchalantly, "Pifu."

In a brief moment, he had considered making up a name,

like "East Victory Divine Continent Ao Lai Country Huaguo Mountain Water Curtain Cave Beauty Monkey King Heaven-defying Great Sage Sun Liukong", adding a level of difficulty for these teammates, but a premonition made him decide to tell the truth.

Hmm... somehow, such a scene of everyone circled around introducing themselves felt oddly familiar and comforting. Could it be that when I wasn’t amnesiac, I did this often?

The voice of the yellow spacesuit figure, younger in tone, said, "Out of Control."

The purple spacesuit figure with a female voice said concisely, "Su Nisheng."

The green spacesuit figure turned his neck, "Zhongli Mieing."

Everyone’s gaze focused on the black spacesuit figure, who was kicking the door, and he smacked his lips in annoyance, turning to say, "Midnight Dad."

And so, all ten of them introduced themselves, and the scene once again plunged into eerie silence.

After a short silence, Blood Lion Roar spoke first again, "So, is everyone suffering from amnesia?"

"Yeah, aside from the name, the only memory in my head is here..."

Before Out of Control could finish speaking, a cold mechanical electronic voice sounded from the loudspeaker in the corner of the circular hall.

[First phase task objective: Turn on each of your noisy boy watches to get the next directive]

[Task time limit: 5 minutes]

[Task failure penalty: Eradication]

An intense déjà vu surged in their hearts, and everyone exchanged glances with only one thought in mind—a killing field in the grooves.