The Red-robed BOSS Says I Killed Him - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next day, we went back to the archives.

I was the one who suggested it this time.

Jiang Yichuan only asked me one thing: “Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“I’m sure.”

“Even if I can’t remember, I have to try.”

The archives were located on the east side of the fourth floor.

The walk there was quiet.

Whenever nurses or patients saw the black card in my pocket, they all backed away as if avoiding a plague.

Jiang Yichuan walked beside me and said in a low voice, “If you can’t handle it halfway through, stop.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’m actually in league with the boss?”

“I was.”

“And now?”

“Now, you don’t look like it.”

He was very direct.

“If you were really with him, we would have died last night.”

I gave a small smile. “Fair point.”

The archives were filled with old documents. Dust flew off the pages the moment they were touched.

Ji Qingyan pulled a rusted iron box from the bottom shelf, and Jiang Yichuan pried it open with his knife.

Inside were only a few photographs and an old videotape.

I recognized myself in the top photograph instantly.

I was wearing a white lab coat, my hair tied up high, holding a medical chart. My expression was as cold as if I hadn’t slept in years.

Behind a glass observation window stood a young boy.

He was thin and cold, his eyes like those of a wolf that had been caged for too long.

It was a younger Li Shuheng.

A line of text was written on the back of the photo:

“Deep Well Project, Third Batch Emotional Core Observation Group.”

When I saw the words “Deep Well Project,” my mind felt like it exploded. Many things came rushing back in an instant.

In a conference room, a screen displayed the words “Consciousness Preservation and Loop Instance Project.”

Someone said that as long as high-capacity samples were solidified into an Emotional Core, the System could run permanently.

Someone else said that necessary losses were acceptable.

I stood up and slammed my hands on the table.

I said that wasn’t preservation.

That was nailing living people into a machine.

The images that followed were even more chaotic.

Suspension.

Lockdown.

I stole copying permissions.

I charged all the way into the Experimental Layer.

Li Shuheng was locked in the innermost ward, his Contamination Level already redlined to the limit.

He was leaning against the bed, gasping for air, his wrists a bloody mess from the friction of the restraints.

When he saw me, his first words weren’t “save me.”

He smiled and said, “You actually dared to come back.”

I said, “Shut up and come with me.”

After that, there were fire alarms, sirens, and floor seals.

I ran with him toward the main control room. When we reached the final door, the System began to fight back.

His entire being began to collapse.

His eyes turned blood-red, and black patterns cracked across his back. He could barely recognize me anymore.

Yet, he still shoved a knife into my hand.

He said, “Tinglan.”

“Aim true.”

“Don’t let me go out there and eat people.”

My whole body swayed, and I nearly collapsed.

“Luo Tinglan!”

Jiang Yichuan caught me.

I gripped the photograph tightly, my hands shaking violently.

“I remember now.”

Ji Qingyan’s face turned pale. “Was it really a real-world experiment?”

I nodded, my voice trembling.

“The instances didn’t exist first.”

“They turned people into instances first.”

Applause suddenly echoed from the doorway.

Slow, rhythmic, and gratingly loud.

Lin Xizhe stood by the door, a smile still hanging on his lips.

“You finally remembered.”

I looked at him, and the disgust in my heart finally found its anchor. It wasn’t just instinct; it was memory.

I had seen him before.

He had stood outside the glass wall, watching the experimental subjects struggle while he wrote risk assessments on his record sheets.

“So it was you.”

Lin Xizhe adjusted his glasses.

“I’m glad you still remember. After all, back then, you were the one in the entire Maintenance Team who hated me the most.”

Jiang Yichuan tightened his grip on his knife. “What exactly are you?”

“A man who wants to keep the System running stably.”

“I was an Experiment Recorder first, then a Maintenance Officer, and later, the person who cleaned up the Deep Well’s messes.”

“Speak plain English.”

“In plain English,” Lin Xizhe looked at me, “I knew much earlier than any of you that once this thing starts, it can never be stopped cleanly.”

“My sister was part of the first batch whose consciousness fell into the Deep Well.”

“Her physical body died, but in the Deep Well, she at least showed a spark of reaction.”

“How can you expect me to believe that a total shutdown is the way to save people?”

“Luo Tinglan, only you can reset 0719.”