nightmare exec

Chapter 135 The Moon and 6 Pennies

"Persian leopard?... That Persian leopard?!"

The sliced ​​lotus root that Song Yin held onto his chopsticks slipped into the hot pot. He scooped it up a few times, but finally gave up.

He wasn't too old to remember the person he met six months ago—the Persian leopard, the protagonist of the farewell party he bumped into when he was first led into the club by Shaffley.

"But how come..."

The man wearing the leopard hood appeared in his mind.Just half a year ago, this man was still sitting in the shade of the jacaranda, full of resentment for his comrades-in-arms, and the warm longing of returning to his wife and daughter soon... Why did something happen all of a sudden?

After that, Qi Zhengnan relayed some of his experiences in the dungeon intermittently.Generally speaking, although the Persian leopard did not die on the spot, it was indeed seriously infected, and there was basically no possibility of survival.

Listening to Qi Zhengnan's description of the details, even Song Yin, who had only met the Persian leopard once, felt heartbroken.

"Sisyphus and the others are targeting retired executives again?" He asked, "But how did Sisyphus track down these people? Could it be that the Aksha system's retirement list has been leaked?"

"A leak of the list is unlikely."

According to his own understanding of the system, Qi Zhengnan shook his head decisively: "Once selected as an executive officer, the files of the relevant personnel will be sealed and sealed. They will never be released through official channels. But if it is an on-site visit, specifically investigate those who have People who are in a vegetative state and suddenly become rich after waking up are somewhat more likely."

"But what is the purpose of doing this?"

Song Yin poked the dipping sauce in the bowl, suddenly recalling the previous conversation with Alexander: "Could it be because of ayahuasca? If the retired assistant officer infects the stowaway, will it produce More ayahuasca? Is Sisyphus using them for business?"

"This possibility has also been raised before, but it is not very feasible."

Qi Zhengnan refilled some wine for him and himself: "As I mentioned just now, the possibility of the official retirement list leaking out is almost zero. So Sisyphus can only find retired executives through visits and investigations. The cost of this behavior It's very high, and it's easy to expose yourself. Even if the executive officer can produce more ayahuasca, it's not cost-effective at all... But it doesn't rule out that they are using the executive officer to do experiments related to ayahuasca. In that case, just grab a few test items sporadically."

"That's right." Song Yin pouted the corners of her lips, a little frustrated because her assumption was invalid, "Then what is it for?"

Qi Zhengnan shook his head, expressing that he didn't want to understand this question either.Then there was another sigh.

"Do you know how we recognized the owner of the dream as a Persian leopard?"

"..." Of course Song Yin didn't know that the Persian leopard had been wearing an animal headgear when it was in purgatory, so it probably didn't recognize its face.

"We saw a familiar scene in the dungeon." Qi Zhengnan said the answer, "The rabbit and the Persian leopard played together. They recognized a part of the dream, which was exactly the same as the dungeon back then. I let Er Hu It was submitted to the system for investigation, and everyone was shocked."

"How?" Song Yin was stunned. "The dungeon is someone else's nightmare, right? How did it become part of the dream of the Persian leopard?"

"Things experienced will become memories; and fragmented memories are dreams." Qi Zhengnan gave a statement similar to that of Alexander before.

"But isn't the Persian leopard brainwashed?" Song Yin pointed out the most critical question, "Can the memories that have been washed away still appear in dreams?"

"I think that's where the problem is serious."

Before he was drunk, Qi Zhengnan revealed all the thoughts in his heart: "The 'brainwashing' when leaving purgatory, to put it bluntly, is to pack and lock all the memories of the executive officer's work into the door. Now, we are in the dream of the Persian leopard Seeing these fragments of memory means that the 'gate' of the Persian leopard has been breached by stowaways."

"The door is broken? What will happen then!"

Song Yin knew that this should be a very serious matter, but he had no idea how serious it was and what consequences it would have.

But it seems that Qi Zhengnan's reasoning has only stopped at this step for the time being.

"The most direct consequence should be that infected retired executive officers like the Persian Leopard will recall some memories of their time as executive officers. But how many people's 'doors' will be breached, and how complete are the restored memories? , these are not yet supported by exact data.”

"So if he masters these people, Sisyphus can take out more secrets about purgatory and the system from them?!" Song Yin took a breath.

"It should be like this..." As he said, Qi Zhengnan rubbed his temples, showing a little discomfort.

"I'll pour you a cup of tea."

Seeing that he seemed a little drunk, Song Yin got up immediately, but Qi Zhengnan grabbed his wrist.

"...No need." The man shook his head slowly, "At least let me get a little drunk tonight."

Song Yin prides himself on "both merchants are on the list", but the only difficulty is in comforting his sweetheart.He pondered over and over several times, and finally chose to stay silent with Qi Zhengnan.

The air suddenly became heavy, and only the soft sound of boiling soup in the hot pot could be heard.

Qi Zhengnan drank a little too much during this meal, and the two simply decided to stay overnight.Song Yin took the initiative to stay to clean up the cups and dishes, and Qi Zhengnan went upstairs to wash up.When Song Yin walked into the bedroom, she found that her lover had already fallen asleep with the help of alcohol.

Anyway, I hope that after waking up, his mood can recover a little bit.

Gently stroking her lover's head half sunken in the pillow, Song Yin lightened her steps and walked towards the bathroom.

----

After the alcohol faded away, Qi Zhengnan opened his eyes dimly.

He didn't know how long he had slept, but it shouldn't have exceeded eight hours—because it was still dark all around, obviously the long night hadn't passed yet.

There was some thirst in his throat, he half-closed his eyes and stretched out his hand, trying to fumble for something on the bedside table.

In the next second, the bed beside him rose and fell a few times, and then a bottle of mineral water that was still slightly cool was gently pressed against his cheek.

He took the bottle, turned around, and saw his beautiful and lovely lover lying on the other half of the bed, reading a book with a night light he bought at some time.

"Did I quarrel with you?" Song Yin asked in a low voice.

"No." Qi Zhengnan unscrewed the lid and took a few sips, then asked, "Have you been sleeping?"

"Woke up." Song Yin shook his head, "You know I'm used to it."

In fact, since sharing the same bed with Qi Zhengnan, he has basically given up the habit of polyphasic sleep.But tonight was an exception, he opened his eyes after only two hours of sleep, and then couldn't fall asleep anyway.

Qi Zhengnan also didn't feel sleepy at the moment, he turned his head to look at the book in Song Yin's hand.

""The Birth of a Prison"? How did you think of watching this kind of thing?"

"This is not my book." Song Yin smiled, "I really don't understand it, I just wonder if it can be hypnotized."

Qi Zhengnan didn't say anything more.He reached out and took the book, looked it inside and out, and frowned slightly: "The owner of this book is Alexander?"

"You can see this?" Song Yin didn't deliberately hide it, "Is there a name on it?"

"No, it just looks familiar." Qi Zhengnan returned the book to Song Yin: "The paper is yellow, which means it is an old book. The pages of the book are all curled up, which means that its real owner is completely different from you .Search your circle of friends, and there is only one weird guy named Alexander."

"Hmph, what do you mean I'm not the same person as me? Nonsense!" Song Yin said dissatisfiedly that he was also a quasi-artist who had received advanced aesthetic education.

"I was wrong." Qi Zhengnan paused, and suddenly gave Song Yin an unexpected twist: "The owner of this book is not only the same kind of person as you, but also gave you half a set of genetics."

"Huh?!" Now Song Yin couldn't sleep more and more, "You said it belonged to my parents?"

"Well. It seems to be." Qi Zhengnan nodded, "For a while, Alexander was very poor, and his food and clothing were all supported by your parents. Sometimes he even lived directly in your father's safe house. If I remember If you're right, this book should have been bought by your father at that time, and theoretically it should be your family's property."

"It's true." Song Yin had an unbelievable expression on his face, "Isn't this book older than me? Disrespect and disrespect."

"Did you go to see Alexander today?" Qi Zhengnan cut to the point, "He took the initiative to find you?"

"I told you, I went to his safe house."

Song Yin did not blame Qi Zhengnan for forgetting things, nor did he intend to conceal anything, "His safe house is too weird, there is a sea in it, and a lighthouse. It is said that there are many assistant officers who do not want to be brainwashed in the sea. .”

Even he felt that what he said was absurd, but Qi Zheng South Africa did not question it, but instead showed a worried expression.

"Be careful, Alexander is an unfathomable guy. Remember what I told you last time? Although he said that he has achieved nothing, he has a very deep way behind the scenes. I even doubt that he and Sisyphus Si also has contact. You can communicate with him if you want, but you must be careful not to follow his way."

Song Yin nodded to show that he knew, but then he smiled sourly: "Are you two professionally admiring each other? You said he was unfathomable, and he said you were cold and cold. I dare you two to be in the sky and the other in the earth, it's pretty cool." Deng is right."

"Cold weather and moon?" Qi Zhengnan frowned in confusion, "What the hell?"

"It's Alexander's evaluation of you. He said that you are the moon in the sky, far away, but yearning for the fireworks in the world. He thinks you are unreasonable. It's like the moon shining in the ditch."

Song Yin's retelling brought back a bit of Qi Zhengnan's memory: "...In this way, he seems to have said similar crazy things before. He also said that although he is a penny stuck in the mud, he also has a personality that is different from ordinary humans. High ambitions. At that time, his real age seemed to be no more than sixteen or seventeen, and he was a veritable middle school patient."

"Penny? Penny..."

Song Yin chewed on this special word, as if he had heard it somewhere before, "Pence is a foreign currency, right? He is an original native, why use these strange metaphors?"

"The penny is the smallest unit of currency in the UK, and it symbolizes worthless mundane things. As for the source, it is Maugham's novel - "The Moon and Sixpence."

Qi Zhengnan gave his own speculation: "That is also a novel that Alexander read repeatedly. The hero in the story abandoned his secular family life and wandered alone to achieve spiritual and artistic pursuits. He gained a lot from this role. sense of recognition."

Recalling Alexander's high-spirited talk about "ring prison" and "darkness ruled light" during the day, Song Yin fully believed Qi Zhengnan's explanation.It's just... tsk... Why is the name of the book "The Moon and Sixpence" so familiar?

"You asked me not long ago." Now Qi Zhengnan's memory is online, "The reason is the live video broadcast in your ward. Someone called Mr. Lin came to see you and read this to you at the bedside. Here comes the book."

"Ms. Lin? By the way, it's her..." Song Yin suddenly remembered.

The book Mr. Lin read subtly intersects with what Alexander said. Is this a coincidence, or is there another mystery?

Sleeping is definitely not going to be able to sleep, Song Yin simply planned to tell Qi Zhengnan all the corners and corners of his doubts.

But at this moment, Qi Zhengnan's cell phone next to his pillow vibrated.

If you call late at night, nothing good will happen no matter in the world or in purgatory.Qi Zhengnan answered with a frown, and his face became obviously gloomy after a while.

"Persian leopard, let's go."