"I never knew you were such an impatient person." The shop owner rolled his eyes and stood up from his stool. "Let's go to the second floor to find that guy first."
It was about the tenant who lived in Room 207. Every time Su Xin delivered food, she could only see the tenant's tentacles sticking out of the room, and she had never seen his real appearance.
It would be a lie to say that she wasn't curious. But when she saw the shop owner knocking on the door with his foot, she felt a little more sympathy for the tenant besides being curious.
I don’t know how long the other party has been treated like this.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
"Open the door! Don't sleep anymore, I have something to tell you."
"Bang, bang, bang!
"Crack
As soon as the door opened a crack, the shop owner kicked it wide open, and at the same time skillfully raised his hand to turn on the main light, revealing the extremely tidy interior.
It's about the same size as Su Xin's room, but it has a single bed, so it looks more spacious.
From the single sofa, to the bed, to the wardrobe, and even the old-fashioned curtains, every place is clean and tidy, and even the placement angles are very straight. It is truly a paradise for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The temporary owner of the house was a woman with long straight black hair. She was sitting on the round carpet in the middle of the room, looking very polite.
The other person was wearing a pair of rimless glasses and a silk nightgown. He tilted his head slowly to look at me. Just as I was about to speak, the shop owner walked into the room and occupied the only single sofa.
"It's rare that I see you not sleeping, what are you doing?"
"...With all that noise just now, do you think I can sleep?"
"You didn't protest, did you? Besides, this is my house, I can do whatever I want with it."
The man stopped talking and turned to look at the commander. "... Have you joined us?"
At this point, Su Xin was not stupid, so she nodded calmly. The shop owner added, "Your skills are not bad."
"Well, let's get to know each other first. My name is Shanhu, and she is Yiliu." Shanhu, who was very well-mannered, glanced at the shop owner. "Well, I don't know why she gave herself such a name."
Yiliu rolled her eyes, "Of course that's because I used to hope to be that kind of person."
The flaws were really too obvious, but considering the important business, Su Xin hurriedly gave a smooth name, "...My name is Huanchao."
Coral paused and looked at the little commander, "It's a good name, but like her, it's a name that can never be realized."
Yiliu subconsciously took out a cigarette, but didn't light it. She just held it between her thumb and index finger and rolled it gently. "Just right. Didn't you say you wanted to know what I meant by what I said before?"
Seeing the commander nod, Yi Liu continued, "It's actually very simple, because we found out that the mayor lied to everyone."
Upon hearing this, Su Xin chose a method that would not easily expose her ignorance and followed up with the question.
"... deceived everyone? What do you mean?"
"Just like your name, you chose this name, so you must have seen the sea, right? On Dongbin Avenue, you can see the vast sea with no boundaries, right?"
Yiliu paused while rubbing her cigarette. "But if I tell you, it's just a small lake at best, and it ends at the so-called rescue fleet, do you believe it?"
Chapter 950 Full of loopholes
Capable people can get more resources, but also bear greater pressure. Those who are not outstanding in all aspects will have to find ways to live their short life well.
Each has its own duties, this is what they have learned since they were born.
Along with this are other good qualities such as abiding by laws and regulations, caring for the elderly and the young, being civil and polite, and valuing harmony, which are qualities that people in life possess.
Basic education ends when they leave that room, and they need to learn more on their own.
This is equivalent to providing everyone with different choices. Whatever kind of person you want to be, go to the library, borrow books, and become that person.
If you don't have any ideas and have low material desires, you can of course not learn anything and do some non-technical work when you need money.
No one will judge your choice, because everyone only has ten years to live, and everyone is busy making themselves happy, so who has time to find fault with others?
In fact, Coral and Yiliu did not know each other at the very beginning.
The former is a white-collar worker working in a downtown business group, while the latter is a migrant worker working in various snack bars. They are completely unrelated.
Although the income gap is large, they are well-educated and understand and are satisfied with their current situation.
Coral spent several years to enter the upper echelons of the industry, but one day after confirming her deposit, she suddenly didn't want to continue working anymore. She could totally enjoy the rest of her life.
She said goodbye to the manager and quit the job simply like those who had resigned before.
There is no need to worry about any handover procedures, because someone will take over her position soon, fill the company's staff gap, and just pick up their bags and leave. This is very common in the city.
Coral wants to use the salary she saves to make her life fulfilling and satisfying in the remaining years.
So she went bungee jumping, visited all the shops in the downtown area, tried countless snacks with different flavors, and naturally met Yiliu working in different snack shops.
The Yiliu people at that time were as their name indicated, with gentle personalities, simple clothes, and even a little timid. Politeness seemed to be engraved in their bones.
Coral was of similar age to the other party, and they quickly became good friends. She often appeared in the snack bar where the other party worked, and when there were fewer people around, they would chat and pass the time.
She had read more than Yiliu, so she was the one doing most of the talking.
Documentaries, paper books, gossip, although most of them disappeared inexplicably, she still remembered them.
What impressed Coral the most was a documentary from a long time ago about the ocean. She only watched a few episodes and couldn't find it later.
But the visually impactful picture, the colorful fish and corals of various shapes shocked her greatly.
Corals in particular are mysterious and diverse, hiding countless surprises, which made her choose this name without hesitation and she still uses it today.
Yiliu had never seen corals in the sea, and Shanhu had never seen corals in the sea either. The two hit it off immediately, signed up for swimming classes, and prepared to go to the beach to look for them.
However, although shells were occasionally washed ashore near the coast, the corals they were looking for were still nowhere to be found.
Maybe it's too close?
Shanhu had some money in his pocket, so he hired a sightseeing boat, hoping to see the sea farther away. However, he didn't expect the boat to just sail back and forth nearby.
When asked the reason, they said it would be dangerous if we went any further, and in order to ensure safety, we could only move within the area designated by the rescue fleet.
Although Shanhu and Yiliu felt regretful, there was nothing they could do because the dangers of water had been emphasized many times. They quickly accepted the explanation and gave up exploring.
Since then, neither of them mentioned the matter for fear of disappointing the other, and they just thought about what else they could do.
Until one day, they met a man who looked much younger than them.
The man seemed to be suffering from some kind of paranoia. He kept muttering that someone had taken his life away and that he should have lived longer.
Seeing that the other party had no money, Shanhu simply helped to order a few things to fill his stomach.
The man was extremely moved. He stretched his neck and leaned closer before saying those words.
"You... have all been deceived..."
"...Just because of this?" Su Xin frowned after hearing the past, "There is still no evidence, right?"
Coral shook her head. "Of course it's not just because of this. In fact, we haven't seen him since then. But as the time left is getting shorter and shorter, we have to try to investigate."
"If I tell you the conclusions I have reached directly, you will definitely not believe it. Why don't I ask you the questions and let you think about them yourself to see if you can come up with the answers?"
Su Xin glanced at Yi Liu who was rolling a cigarette in silence, and nodded in agreement.
Shanhu slowly asked the first question, "Why does everyone's appearance remain unchanged until death, but there are those gray-haired images on TV?"
This is really not an easy question to answer. Even the previous ten-year lifespan theory is clearly wrong. How could a tentacle monster only live for ten years?
Besides, Su Xin didn’t even know what kind of education the tentacle monsters had received or what kind of cognition they had acquired. She couldn’t empathize with them at all, nor could she give an explanation from a corresponding perspective.
Seeing the young commander frowning and remaining silent, Shanhu asked the second question, "Are the father and mother images created by art, or are they characters who once really existed?"
The tentacle monsters are born from tumors, live for themselves after becoming independent, and live alone until they die. They are alone throughout the whole process and there is indeed no blood relationship between them.
"Why do we have to strictly restrict the use of our own bodies? It can obviously improve work efficiency and increase labor output, and at most lose some beauty, but why do we have to suppress ourselves and then regulate everyone else?"
"Is there no more accurate pattern for the time unit 'year'? How should the so-called '24 solar terms' correspond to the short-lived changes of the four seasons?"
"And one—"
"...That's enough. I can't answer that." Su Xin looked up at Shan Hu, who showed no joy. "Can you tell me the conclusion now?"
Shanhu adjusted her glasses. "It's simple. We were indeed deceived in every aspect."
Su Xin asked her again, "So what are you going to do now?"
Yi Liu took over the conversation and sighed, "We don't have much time. We want to find the truth before we are summoned or forcibly taken away. At the very least, we have to leave the problem behind."
"...How long is a short time?"
"One year."
Su Xin nodded subconsciously, "More than three hundred days is indeed too short..."
"More than 300 days?" Shanhu looked at the little commander in confusion, "Haven't you learned basic arithmetic? A quarter has 45 days, and four seasons have 180 days. After this winter, we will die."
Su Xin:?
Chapter 951 Docking
At the end of the discussion, Su Xin found that the two had problems grasping even the basic concepts, so she stopped the three-person meeting first.
From her perspective as an outsider, things are actually easy to understand.
Using specially selected qualities as preschool education lays the foundation for people's character of being content with the status quo and loving peace.
People are encouraged to pursue the life they dream of, but the time limit is very strict, even reducing ten years to five years, just to prevent them from understanding too much.
The lack of kinship makes it easier for them to deal with individuals with ideological problems. Even if they suddenly disappear, others will unconditionally trust the mayor who brings them happiness.
The disappearance of some films and books may be a patch on the past, clearing out those that originally belonged to humans but are not suitable for tentacle monsters, to prevent the awakening of consciousness.
In a specially constructed society with no physiological needs and indifference to material needs, the tentacle monsters living here have an easy life every day and don't have to worry about the future at all.
Blocking gender education can also reduce many troubles. Even the act of "keeping a mistress" becomes pure, becoming a simple supply and demand relationship of "paying to find someone to chat with."
Directly or indirectly restricting the use of tentacles can reduce the failure rate of law enforcement and reduce the resistance of the arrested party.
This whole set of combined skills involving thoughts and behaviors turned the tentacle monsters into weak and obedient lambs. On the surface, they were ordinary creatures in the city, but in fact they were at the mercy of others.
The only thing that is still unclear is the mayor's motive for doing this.
Is it an experiment? Is it to pursue an ideal? Is it to enjoy rights? Or is it just a bad taste?
The answer can only be known when Su Xin meets the mayor. As for now? Let's go offline and discuss it with the members of the strategy team first.
As always, after a slight trance, Su Xin fluttered her eyelashes and opened her eyes.
Befa, who was standing by the bed, extended his hand promptly, allowing the young commander to stand up. At the same time, he took out a wrung wet towel and wiped the other's face.
"Hmm... Thank you, Sister Beifa. Where are they?"
"We're waiting outside for you to wake up." The head maid half-knelt down and put the slippers under the little commander's feet. "Do you need me to invite them in for you?"
Su Xin thanked him again, shook her head and got out of bed, "No, let's talk outside. I'm a little hungry. What time is it now?"
"It's around 8 o'clock in the evening. What would you like to eat? If it's still a fruit and vegetable salad, it will be ready for you in about five minutes."
"Well... can I have some noodles? The spicy kind... well, I'll ask Yixian to make it." The little commander said as he trotted to open the door.
Beifa was very pleased to hear this, and replied softly, "I understand. There is another thing I need to remind you. When you go out, you should be careful..."
"click"
"Hmm? Susu, you're awake! Hurry up, I'm going to complain!" The Purifier, who had just returned from searching for someone, came closer angrily and pointed at Helena who was standing there stupidly, "She smashed my things!"
Su Xin didn't react for a while, until the other party called her "sister", she breathed a sigh of relief, "...Ah, [Nana], you're back."
"...Um, sorry for making my sister and everyone worried..."
"It's okay. Let's... let's go downstairs and talk." Su Xin patted the Purifier's back soothingly. "Don't worry. You've worked hard. Go downstairs and take a rest."
The easy-to-appease Purification Aunt is very generous. After a few soft words, she will not hold on to the matter. Although she still has to pay compensation, she knows what is important and what is not, and will not make trouble.
The others were relieved after confirming that the young commander was in good health. They went to the first floor one by one and sat down, waiting for today's meeting to begin.
Su Xin did have a lot of discoveries waiting to be shared, but now that Helena was back, she had to figure out the pollution problem first.
So she briefly explained the situation to Helena and asked the observer to make a careful judgment, hoping to get the answer from their interaction.
The observer stared at the other person for a long time, then asked in a cold voice, "...Have you found that your will has become weak recently?"
[Helena] wanted to turn her head to look at Su Xin, but she held back, "No, I'm fine."
The octopus girl sneered, "If your personal subjective feelings can be submitted as conclusions, then what do we need doctors for?"
