Chapter 221:
It is different from the former barren and dark, empty and empty, now the research building is full of people, researchers hurriedly shuttle, the flow of people between the research rooms is surging, the sound of discussion, quarrel, keyboard tapping and machine running The sound fills the space.
Tang Xiao rubbed his ears and followed the two researchers into the elevator.
The two researchers, a man and a woman, were both young, and they spoke very quickly, repeating what happened on the fifth floor in minutes.
To sum up, Tang Xiao understood the time background in this space.
The storage on the fifth floor is the most important data achievement of the entire fifth research building. Usually, the precautions are extremely strict, but just in time for a meeting today, someone sneaked in and stole a USB flash drive that carried important data.
According to the description of the female researcher, the intruder was a homeless man. The research building is full of 007 social animals who are addicted to research, and they don't dare to go up to the gang. When the manpower is gathered, the tramp has disappeared.
"Ding."
The elevator opened, and the fifth floor appeared in front of you.
"What day is it today?" Tang Xiao suddenly asked.
The researcher who was in a hurry to go out was stunned for a moment, as if she didn't understand why she suddenly asked this question, but she still answered casually: "Hopefully the 10th year, on April 7th."
…Do you want a calendar, 10 years?
Tang Xiao stepped out of the elevator, and a group of restless researchers gathered in the wide corridor. They were overjoyed when they saw the security guard: "Hurry up...wait, why are you the only one?"
What about the other security guards?
Tang Xiao nodded calmly: "They are behind, tell me something in advance."
"Okay." The researcher didn't think much, and immediately called up the video, "Look, this is the thief!"
In the video, a homeless man with tousled hair sneaks up from behind and knocks down a researcher. Then I worked in front of the computer for a few minutes and took away a data disk. When he was leaving, he was found by others. After pushing down the two, he ran into the stairwell in a panic.
"Now that the whole building is blocked, he will definitely not be able to escape. As long as he catches it in time, everything will be in time." Several researchers hurriedly spoke.
It can be seen that this data is really important to them, and even if it is lost, it cannot be repaired and replaced.
Under the anxious urging of everyone, Tang Xiao watched the video twice before asking, "Do you know this tramp?"
"I don't know, of course I don't know." Everyone looked at each other: "We work overtime 24 hours a day, and we can't even recognize our colleagues. How can we recognize a homeless man?"
But no matter how Tang Xiao looked at it, in the surveillance video, the homeless man was very skilled in the operation in front of the computer.
Be able to find data location skillfully, have unlock and transfer authority, and even break through firewalls... Besides being a programmer, who can do it so easily?
"So recently, or in your memory, have any of your colleagues ever resigned?"
Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, and it took a long time to say unsure, "Is there? No, who will leave for no reason."
"That is, I will quit my job if I'm crazy. Do I have to wait until I die? I still want to work here for the rest of my life."
There was a lot of discussion in the crowd for a while, and they didn't know the effect. Tang Xiao looked at them one by one, and everyone's expressions were dazed, not seeming to be fake.
No clues could be found here, Tang Xiao retracted his gaze, "I'll go to the stairwell to see."
The safety stairs are about 20 meters away from the office space. The interior of the stairwell is empty, there is no sound, only the green escape indicator is glowing.
Researchers seem to be very afraid of this place. Tang Xiao walked down with a flashlight, and when he turned back, they all disappeared from the door, not a single figure was left.
This grotesque town is full of weirdness in structure, space, time, and mission background.
From the beginning to the present, the entire copy can obviously be divided into two worlds.
The first layer is the "table world", which is the world where Tang Xiao is now. Looking from the window, the streets of the town are constantly crowded, the research buildings are open normally, countless huge computers and electronic screens run through the hall, a row of thriving busy scenes.
Between the two worlds, not only is the space dislocation, but also the time line is different. The outer world is the past of the inner world, and the inner world is the future of the outer world.
Perhaps because of the absence of the constraints of player identity, when Tang Xiao, Han Leilei and others entered the dungeon, what they came into contact with was the inner world, and the part of the dungeon that was closest to the truth.
As for the tasks of two children and researchers, the branches spread from the surface world, linking the clues of the two worlds.
Incomplete information, plus the intentional concealment of copies, any guesswork may lead to misplacement. Tang Xiao didn't rush to speculate on the current situation, but restrained his thoughts and continued to walk down the stairs while observing the surrounding environment and the introduction cards on each floor.
The fifth floor is the most important data center, where the top researchers gather.
The four-layer seal is strict, mainly responsible for testing the program, and it is also the most dangerous layer.
The third floor is a multi-functional living area, including the canteen, medical room, and even the reference room.
No one was on the first and second floors...but there was blood.
Tang Xiao remembered that in the surveillance video, a researcher smashed a homeless man with a keyboard, which should be blood from his body.
Blood was intermittent on the stairs, under the doors of the stairwell on the first and second floors. Tang Xiao illuminated the light of the flashlight for a moment, but stopped instead.
—There are obvious drag marks on the bloodstains, not like dripping down, but like being deliberately dragged out by clothes.
The other party is deliberately leading her to these two floors, so the real hiding place is probably not on these two floors.
Medical room... Tang Xiao thought of something and immediately raised his head.
The third floor!
***
"Tuk Tuk Tuk."
"Who?"
"Security rounds."
"Stop joking." The doctor opened the door lazily, "The bruises are in the next cabinet, and the broken arms and legs will not be cured. There is no medicine. Go to the rest area to fend for yourself."
Tang Xiao walked in, his eyes swept around the spacious medical room, "I'm here to find someone, someone stole data on the fifth floor, and it is suspected to have escaped to the third floor. You have seen suspicious people?"
The doctor did not look up: "There are no suspicious persons, but there are two patient numbers."
He didn't seem to care about what was going on outside, slumped back into his chair and fell asleep.
“…” Tang Xiao could only check it out by himself.
There are six beds in the room, each bed is separated by a curtain, and two of the beds can see the lying figure. One adult and one child. Both were motionless, as if asleep.
"What's wrong with these two?"
"What kind of disease could it be, the apocalyptic world is not filled with such people." The doctor said casually, "The radiation is too heavy, there is no way to save it, one day is less than one day."
"The luckiest, if you find it here, you won't be thrown out, at most you won't find a job and starve to death. What's the use, there's no future here, just a bunch of mad scientists That's it."
Tang Xiao turned his head to look at the doctor, who seemed to have fallen asleep, gradually snoring, and he didn't know whether what he just said was intentional or unintentional.
She opened the curtain of the hospital bed, a pale middle-aged man covered the quilt, next to a little girl with a head covered.
It doesn't look out of place.
But a sense of disobedience still lingered in Tang Xiao's heart, she took two steps back, and the moment she turned around, she suddenly remembered where this sense of disobedience came from—
On the fifth floor, the group of researchers said that the researcher who was knocked out by the homeless was also in the medical room.
But if there is only one father and daughter, where is the researcher?
At the same moment, Tang Xiao pulled out his baton, and the man with his eyes closed on the bed also jumped up and hit Tang Xiao!
"Boom!"
The baton knocked on the man's shoulder blades, Tang Xiao directly clasped the other's arms, the man's coat fell off, revealing a blood-stained sloppy dress - it was the tramp who took the data!
The quilt slipped off the little girl's body, revealing her cheeks. It was a child named Alita among the two children Tang Xiao met before.
And now, her face is pale, her lips are blue, and she has long been out of breath.
The homeless man's eyes were splitting: "Daughter, my daughter!"
Alita is his daughter?
People? How many more people do you want to kill... go to hell!"
After he finished speaking, he suddenly jumped, took the little girl through the aisle window, and fell!
Tang Xiao did not hesitate, immediately jumped after him, fell to the ground with the buffering force of his lightning ability, turned around twice and stood up, but there was no trace of the homeless on the street.
Gloomy, empty, and abandoned research buildings are lined up on both sides, and the road is empty.
This is the inner world.
Tang Xiao frowned, turned on the flashlight, and the light reflected several circles on the street.
The atmosphere of the inner world is much more depressing than the outer world. Although there is no substantial danger at present, it will still make people feel more anxious, but I don’t know where this anxiety comes from.
Tang Xiao said in a deep voice, "Who?"
Within two seconds, a small figure ran out, Alita covered her eyes and giggled: "Security sister, we are playing hide and seek, you found me!"