Immortal I Speedrun Supernatural Game

Chapter 704 Forgotten Zone

The air in the ventilation ducts was as humid as ever.

Wu Wang returned to the place where he had previously outwitted and outmaneuvered Li Shuang, but now there was no sign of any living creature moving around.

The little hill on his head curled his tail into a question mark, and his nose twitched incessantly, showing a hint of helplessness.

"Meow~"

Boss, I'm a cat, not a dog...

Wu Wang looked up and gave him a thud on the head, saying irritably, "That's still better than a human's sense of smell. Li Shuang was only captured not long ago, and her lingering scent should be enough for you to trace back in the direction she came from."

In response, Xiao Qiu continued to act as a hunting dog with a long face.

As it turned out, Wu Wang was right.

Xiao Qiu was indeed able to clearly sense where Li Shuang had come from when she came to rescue Wu Wang.

As for why we had to go back in time to find the way she came.

That's because Wu Wang was certain that the fake Zhang Mingyuan was hiding nearby.

The other party couldn't possibly place the fake Zhang Mingyuan too far away from them, otherwise what if someone else discovered it?

Sure enough, not long after the person and the cat left, Xiao Qiu started meowing excitedly.

"Meow!"

[Boss! There's another person's scent up ahead!]

Wu Wang walked quickly in the direction Xiao Qiu had indicated.

The passage ahead widened slightly, somewhat resembling the maintenance platform from the first time he met Li Shuang, with a familiar figure huddled in a corner.

The other person was wearing the uniform of the Smiler, and the name tag on their chest reflected a series of numbers under the light shone from Wu Wang.

HR-2714.

Without a doubt, this is a fake Zhang Mingyuan!

He maintained the standard sitting posture of a smiling man, with his back straight and his hands folded on his knees, looking straight ahead as if he had not noticed Wu Wang's presence at all.

The determination I had never seen before was gone from those eyes; there was only an emptiness devoid of any expression.

I've seen this kind of emptiness before.

The product that Zhou Ping's wife, the one that returned from the dead, was like this when she stopped normal service and answered Zhou Ping's questions about debts and other issues.

Zhang Mingyuan is also a product of the factory!

"Hey buddy, still on standby? Your boss got arrested."

Wu Wang walked into the maintenance platform, dusted off his trousers, and swaggered over to the other person, even tapping the other person's face with his flashlight.

Faced with such provocation, the fake Zhang Mingyuan merely rolled his eyes slowly, focusing on Wu Wang's face before his lips moved slightly, uttering a mechanical sound:

"Hello employee #00000, how can I help you?"

He still sees himself as the one who smiles.

“I’m doing great, but you might not be so sure.” Wu Wang plopped down next to him, put his hand on his shoulder like a good buddy, and said cheerfully, “No need for formalities. Tell me, how does Li Shuang plan to use you as bait to get into the Talent Incubation Center?”

Since the bait plan was fabricated by Li Shuang, it was proposed by Zhang Mingyuan.

If it were actually carried out, it certainly wouldn't be Zhang Mingyuan helping Wu Wang attract the smiley ones.

It should be this counterfeit product that carries out the task when the time comes.

But he needs to get into the talent incubation center first, and that's what Wu Wang is concerned about right now.

The fake Zhang Mingyuan tilted his head, at the same angle as the real Zhang Mingyuan when he was thinking.

He said calmly, "Those who smile do not participate in unauthorized operations..."

"Keep pretending." A serrated blade appeared in Wu Wang's hand, and the tip of the blade pressed against the other's chin, slowly lifting it upwards.

He continued, only after the fake Zhang Mingyuan's face was almost parallel to the ceiling: "Li Shuang is about to execute the bait plan and needs your cooperation. You can't refuse, can you?"

After saying that, he began to open his heart again, taking out the USB drive from his abdomen.

Seeing the bloody USB drive dangling in front of him, the fake Zhang Mingyuan seemed to have triggered some kind of keyword.

His eyes suddenly became bright and energetic, as if he had become the Zhang Mingyuan he had seen in the ventilation duct.

"I will take you through the maintenance passage of the Wish Showroom to the location of the data center. At that time, I will go out in advance to lure away the other smileers, so that you will have plenty of time to insert the USB drive and start the external program."

"But please note that the time cannot exceed five minutes. The data center will force them to return if it detects that there are no Smilers patrolling. At that time, I will also be discovered and destroyed."

"Now we'll..."

Before he could finish speaking, Wu Wang interrupted him.

He said coldly, "Fine, then please go back to standby mode. I will notify you when the plan begins."

Upon hearing this order, the other person's eyes dimmed again.

Seeing this, Xiao Qiu asked in surprise, "Meow?"

Wow! Boss! Can someone order him around? Can I try?

Suddenly, the figure of [White] on Wu Wang's bracelet appeared, rolled its eyes at Xiao Qiu, and said:

"Please, do you really think he was convinced by just a few words from the gentleman?"

"Besides seeing the USB drive, the more important thing is that I used the chip to make him mistakenly believe that Li Shuang was giving the order."

Wu Wang simply smiled at this.

This was within his expectations.

After all, if this fake Zhang Mingyuan was going to fool the factory and use his identity as the real Zhang Mingyuan to deceive other smileers, then Li Shuang certainly couldn't have purchased the goods from a legitimate and compliant wish shop.

Otherwise, his information would have been recorded long ago, so there would be no point in lying.

He was definitely a stolen body of Li Shuang, a privately sourced item that she secretly modified, and not part of the factory's official staff.

In that case, if Li Shuang wanted to control him, she would have to use a method that only she could control—issuing commands through a special chip.

In Li Shuang's mind, only she had one of these chips, so it should be a foolproof situation.

Little did they know, Wu Wang had already secretly copied the chip.

She never expected that her goods would be taken by Wu Wangniu.

Thinking of this, Wu Wang grabbed the fake Zhang Mingyuan by the back of his collar and lifted him up like a suitcase.

After maneuvering it through the ventilation ducts several times, I finally managed to lift it back into my room.

Looking at the fake Zhang Mingyuan and Zhou Ping's wife lying on the bed, Xiao Qiu said helplessly, "Meow..."

The room is getting more and more lively.

[Boss, won't you experience a "happy valley effect" if you sleep next to these two tonight?]

Wu Wang was too lazy to pay attention to this cat that had never attended nine years of compulsory education.

And the Happy Valley effect? ​​Why not the Happy Bean effect?

Besides, I won't let the fake Zhang Mingyuan lie down for too long.

He summoned the projection of [White] and said, "You remember to monitor the factory's computing power anomalies in real time, especially when there are large-scale mobilizations of the Smilers like before."

"We need to wait for the bullets to fly for a while..."

If I were to break into the talent incubation center now, and I were discovered, all the smiles in the entire factory would come to arrest me.

Wu Wang needs to wait until Dai Mao stirs up the water and causes chaos on each floor before he can go over.

However, his purpose was not to insert USB drives into the data center.

The place he actually wanted to go was the [Forgotten Zone].

Wu Wang wants to find the forgotten memories there, as well as the crystals that Li Shuang mentioned before.

He needs these things; they're very useful.

Time passed by, second by second.

Before this, Wu Wang started working like a normal employee.

From the factory's perspective, it seemed that he had toned down his behavior after the previous investigation.

However, this convergence only lasted until midnight.

The notification from [Bai] arrived as expected within the anticipated timeframe.

"Sir! The factory has started sending out Smile Agents to investigate employees on each floor!" "Everything is going as you predicted. Employees on higher floors are resorting to any means to climb the ranks, reporting each other and creating numerous abnormal signals. The factory is responding!"

A glint of light flashed in Wu Wang's eyes.

He grabbed the fake Zhang Mingyuan and threw him into the ventilation duct, then used the chip to wake him up and demanded that he carry out the decoy plan.

The two walked briskly through the ventilation duct, as if it were their own backyard.

He soon arrived at the maintenance passage of the Wish Exhibition Hall. This time, he finally continued climbing upwards and arrived at the talent incubation center on the 49th floor.

Looking at the maintenance door in front of me, marked "Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering."

The fake Zhang Mingyuan stepped forward and pulled out the Smiler access card that Li Shuang had shown to Wu Wang earlier. He swiped the card in front of the door and looked up at the peephole of the maintenance door.

"Beep... Permission granted."

"Beep... Iris scan has passed."

The next second, the door lock made a dull click.

The moment Wu Wang pushed open the door, a wave of cold air mixed with various complex smells rushed towards him.

These complex smells included the stench of blood, the smell of rusting metal, and even the smell of disinfectant.

This is a very central location within the talent incubation center. There is no glitz or pretense outside; only the harshest truth remains.

In front of me was a long corridor with many closed metal doors on both sides.

Various labels were written on the door—

[Remodeling Room A-02], [Memory Extraction Room-12], [Storage Area for Units to be Recycled]...

Countless rooms and labels proclaim the crimes committed here.

"The atmosphere is pretty good, all that's missing is some horror movie background music."

Wu Wang casually complained, then pushed the fake Zhang Mingyuan in front of him and said coldly, "Now it's your turn to do the work. When you encounter the Smilers, lure them away according to the instructions Li Shuang gave you."

As bait, it has to be eaten eventually.

The other person nodded and walked steadily into the depths of the corridor.

Wu Wang followed behind him, keeping a distance of about ten meters, so that he could escape quickly in case of any unexpected situation.

His footsteps were as light as a cat's... no, even lighter than a cat's.

Even when Xiao Qiu walked next to him, his paws made a slight noise as they stepped on the floor, but Wu Wang seemed to flit by like a ghost without a physical form.

"Meow!"

The hill suddenly stopped, its ears standing up like two antennas.

[There are three sets of footsteps ahead; it's the Smiling One on patrol.]

Upon receiving the signal, the fake Zhang Mingyuan quickly walked to the corner ahead and stopped Wu Wang before the smiling men could encounter him.

"Suspicious target detected, support needed." The fake Zhang Mingyuan's voice was as flat as if he were reading a textbook: "The target has fled to the 40th floor area, please follow me there."

Without any hesitation, the three smiling people immediately turned around and headed towards the elevator.

Seeing this from behind, Wu Wang couldn't help but shake his head.

This is the downside of factories attributing everything to algorithms.

Such an obvious lie, if it happened between people, would still generate doubt and debate.

But in this place, a place that, theoretically, only those who smile can enter.

The three smiling individuals did not raise any doubts. In their eyes, since the fake Zhang Mingyuan could appear here, he must be someone just like them.

Information transmission will be executed efficiently without any interruption.

After leading the smiling man away, Wu Wang continued his search in the corridor.

Until they saw a metal door at the end of the corridor that was much thicker than the others.

A bronze plaque is embedded in the door, with four characters engraved on it—

[Forgotten Section]

The surface of the bronze plaque was covered with scratches, as if no one had cleaned it for a long time.

Wu Wang raised his hand to push it away and surprisingly felt a little bit of effort.

This thing is definitely not something an ordinary person can move.

Aside from the modified Smiler, ordinary employees can't activate it even if they come here.

creak-

The heavy metal door made a screeching sound as it was pushed.

After opening it completely, Wu Wang looked into the near-total darkness inside and lifted his leg, ready to step inside.

At that moment, Bai's voice suddenly rang out: "Sir! You can't go in!"

Wu Wang's feet remained suspended in mid-air, not falling.

He looked at his bracelet.

[Bai] immediately appeared and said seriously, "After you opened the door, I scanned this room and found a peculiar detection system."

"It will continuously monitor the information of people in the room 24 hours a day."

“We don’t have the identity of the Smilers, so if we are detected, it will definitely trigger an alarm immediately.”

"Moreover, this place is already located very deep inside the data center. If I activate Li Shuang's chip to stop it, the chip signal is likely to be detected by the factory, which will also trigger an alarm."

"This is likely a new defense mechanism that the factory added after Ke Ming broke in."

Upon hearing this, Wu Wang's face darkened.

It's true what they say: those who set fires suffer the consequences!

Now that things have come to this, we can't go back empty-handed, can we?

That fake Zhang Mingyuan is a truly disposable consumable; once the time limit is exceeded and he is exposed, he will definitely be destroyed.

You won't have such a good chance to sneak in next time.

Moreover, if the purge doesn't go smoothly, there's no guarantee there won't be a next one.

Wu Wang believed that the memories and crystals within the Forgotten Zone were the key to the Great Purge!

He took a deep breath and thought for a moment.

Then he slowly lowered his head to look at the small hill at his feet.

The black and white cat was washing its face with its paws when it froze after sensing Wu Wang's gaze.

He had a sense of familiarity.

I used to look at him with that same gaze when I was doing experiments by sticking bread and butter on his back.

Little Hill gets so angry he could grind his teeth whenever the topic of the butter experiment comes up.

Wu Wang had read it somewhere that when bread slips from your hand, the buttered side always lands first, and cats, no matter how they fall, always land on their limbs first.

If you stick a piece of bread with butter on a cat's back, which side will land first?

Wu Wang actually tried this kind of experiment, which looks like it was done by an idiot, on Xiao Qiu.

The result was that the side of the bread with butter on it landed first.

The reason is that this guy tied up Xiaoqiu's limbs to prevent him from resisting.

The desperate little hill had no chance to turn around in mid-air and fell face-first into the dirt.

"I choose you! Go, Pikachu!"

"Meow meow meow!?"

Before Xiao Qiu could agree, Wu Wang picked him up and threw him in like a sandbag.

As Xiao Qiu performed her familiar two-and-a-half-turn free spin in mid-air, tears welled up in her eyes, and only one thought occupied her mind—

We're doomed... (End of Chapter)