Underground Building, 417th floor.
Long Yuehong glanced at his watch to confirm the time. Instead of going to his grandparents' house, he headed straight for the activity center.
As expected, he immediately spotted his grandfather, Long Yixuan, holding a thermos cup and chatting with a group of middle-aged and elderly employees. His grandmother, Zhong Zining, was a little further inside, playing cards with neighbors.
When he was in college, Long Yuehong was particularly envious of his grandparents' lives:
Their grandchildren were mostly grown up, they were approaching retirement age, and their health was still good. Except for not being able to go to the surface, they were free to arrange their daily lives.
Moreover, after so many years, they each had a certain rank, not very high, but enough for daily use without having to support their children, and they could even improve their diet from time to time.
Long Yuehong, carrying the bag of fruit, sat down next to his grandmother, Zhong Zining, and said with a smile:
"Are you winning?"
These retired and semi-retired employees played cards with small stakes, mainly for entertainment. They even split a contribution point into ten parts, recorded it first, and then settled the accounts later.
Zhong Zining complained:
"I haven't won a few rounds."
Despite the complaint, the old lady, whose hair had turned quite white, still had a smile on her face, muttering:
"Why bring fruit again? You're getting married soon, and you'll be having children soon. You have to save money, you know?"
As the saying goes, the youngest son and the eldest grandson are the apple of the old lady's eye. As the earliest born of the third generation of the Long family, Long Yuehong has always been loved by his grandparents, and his relationship with them is quite good.
Long Yuehong explained with a smile:
"Xiao Bai asked me to show filial piety to you two."
He had already told his grandparents that his wife, who hadn't registered yet, was called Bai Chen.
Of course, Bai Chen, who lost her parents early and was a wanderer at heart, didn't have this awareness. Long Yuehong himself had always freeloaded at his grandparents' house and didn't have the habit of bringing gifts either. Fortunately, the "Old Task Force" had Jiang Baimian, a researcher of old-world folk customs and a model child of "Pangu Biology," who would occasionally give the couple a few tips.
Long Yuehong was deeply inspired and associated this with a lyric from a song that Shang Jianyao sang:
"It never hurts to be polite!"
Zhong Zining exclaimed "Oh dear":
"Xiao Bai is too polite."
She said this, but the smile on her face became even brighter.
At the same time, she took out some fruit and distributed it to her card partners:
"Try it, try it, my grandson's wife gave it to me."
Her tone revealed an undisguised sense of pride.
So what if your grandsons and granddaughters are assigned partners as soon as they reach a certain age? My eldest grandson's wife has a high rank, many contribution points, and knows how to be filial to the elderly!
Grandma is really generous today... Long Yuehong muttered in his heart.
Within "Pangu Biology," fruit wasn't something ordinary families could eat often. Long Yuehong remembered that his grandparents would hide the fruit tightly every time they exchanged it. Not to mention outsiders, even his own parents rarely got any. Only when himself and other members of the younger generation went over would they find it, saying things like "Eat it quickly, or it will spoil."
Seeing that the neighbors around the card table had stopped and started eating fruit, Long Yuehong said casually:
"Before I got off work today, I talked to Xiao Bai about your and Grandpa's names. She feels that they are completely different from my dad's, my mom's, my brother's, and my sister's."
Zhong Zining smiled:
"You have to ask your great-grandfather, great-grandmother, maternal great-grandfather, and maternal great-grandmother.
"They were all educated in the Old World and probably liked to choose names like that.
"Alas, your great-grandfather and great-grandmother passed away before your father was born, so we could only make do with picking one."
Although he already knew that his great-grandparents had passed away early, Long Yuehong couldn't help but sigh every time he heard it—even after moving underground, "Pangu Biology" wasn't so easy to get through in the chaotic era and the early New Calendar.
After chatting about names, Long Yuehong followed the strategy he, Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and Jiang Baimian had discussed and took out the "Many Sons and Many Grandsons" talisman in front of everyone at the card table, asking with an expectant expression:
"Is this really useful? It looks relatively new. It doesn't seem like the one you asked for in your generation."
Zhong Zining replied nonchalantly:
"The one I used to wear was so tattered that it was beyond recognition. I specially asked someone to draw this after your father said you were getting married.
"It's very effective. I wore it back then, and I gave birth to five children, none of whom died young. Your mother didn't want it, so there were only three."
Long Yuehong immediately asked:
"Who did you ask to draw it?"
Seeing his grandmother give him a questioning look, he followed the plan and said with a smile:
"A colleague of mine said that if it's effective, he wants one too."
Zhong Zining suddenly understood, expressed her understanding, and even seemed a little proud:
"The Mu family in Block B on this floor.
"Their ancestors were Taoists and knew how to make all kinds of talismans."
It doesn't sound like there's a problem... Long Yuehong breathed a sigh of relief.
He immediately remembered something else:
The Eternal Life Sect are also Taoists!
Zhong Zining continued:
"If that colleague of yours really wants one, bring him to this floor tomorrow, and I'll take him to ask for it.
"The effect is best when you ask for it yourself or with close blood relatives."
"Okay, okay!" Long Yuehong tried hard to remain calm.
This conversation was actually a routine designed by Jiang Baimian herself. The purpose was to push Shang Jianyao out and let him, as Long Yuehong's colleague, openly and legitimately meet the person who drew the "Many Sons and Many Grandsons" talisman and have a good "exchange."
If Long Yuehong's grandmother really had something strange about her and the "Many Sons and Many Grandsons" talisman originated directly from her, without anyone else involved, then with this groundwork laid, Shang Jianyao could also come to visit the old couple with confidence and ease, resolving the problem invisibly.
The biggest advantage of this approach was that Long Yuehong's every move was normal enough, without anything suspicious, and the follow-up would be taken over by Shang Jianyao, allowing him to be isolated from the trouble.
…………
495th floor, Block B, No. 196.
Shang Jianyao lay on the bed, pinched his temples, and entered the "Mind Corridor."
Urged by Jiang Baimian, he planned to pass the second psychological shadow in "Room 506" as soon as possible and become an Awakened who had explored the depths of the "Mind Corridor."
"Mind Corridor," inside "Room 506."
Shang Jianyao appeared at the door of a house.
All around were similar buildings, forming a large community.
The people coming and going were wearing various clothes of different colors, but they were all relatively old, some even patched up in many places.
Unlike the white coats in the first psychological shadow, the people here would greet each other and chat a few words whenever they met, seemingly knowing each other, similar to the situation on each floor of the "living area" in the "Pangu Biology" underground building.
The calm and rational Shang Jianyao observed for a while and walked towards a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who was passing by.
"Taking a break today?" He greeted familiarly.
The middle-aged man was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head and smiled:
"Just going home for a meal.
"Are you?"
Shang Jianyao wasn't at all shy:
"I just came back from out of town. The wind and rain have almost deformed me."
"Oh." The man with gold-rimmed glasses felt a pang of guilt, thinking that it was his fault for not recognizing the other person.
After planting a good thought, Shang Jianyao chatted casually:
"I was sent to the Third Research Institute."
"Isn't that very far south?" The man with gold-rimmed glasses was extremely surprised.
Clearly, he had heard of the Third Research Institute.
Shang Jianyao smiled:
"Yes, it's by the sea.
"You might not believe it, but the Third Research Institute is now called 'Mechanical Paradise.' Almost everyone I've met there is an intelligent robot."
"That's normal. They were originally researching artificial intelligence there." The man with gold-rimmed glasses didn't see anything wrong with it.
Shang Jianyao concealed the sinister look in his eyes and slightly raised the corners of his mouth:
"I heard people there say that the later the Research Institute number, the more high-end and valuable the research projects are."
"Meaningless speculation. We and the Second Research Institute are researching similar things, just with certain differences in direction. Who can say for sure that one is more high-end or valuable than the other?" The middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses scoffed at this statement.
"Yes!" Shang Jianyao responded with a tone of deep agreement.
After chatting for a while, he turned and walked towards an old woman who was cooling off outside a building.
The old woman had a lot of white hair, but she was very energetic. She was sitting on a bench under a tree, observing the surrounding pedestrians.
"Are you?" The old woman noticed Shang Jianyao approaching.
Shang Jianyao grinned:
"I'm from the Third Research Institute, here to visit your Research Institute.
"I want to know, are you really the First Research Institute established by the Old World?"
The old woman scrutinized this guy with a look as if he were an idiot:
"Are you sure you're not mistaken?
"We're the Fourth Research Institute here!"
"How could that be? Did the people above give me the wrong information?" Shang Jianyao performed the act with his emotions on full display.
In the process, the sinister and ruthless him chuckled:
"So it's the Fourth Research Institute."
He then frowned:
"Where's the danger here?
"The second psychological shadow described in the guide doesn't seem to be like this...
"Could it be that I used an unconventional method in the first psychological shadow, voluntarily accepting the anesthetic injection, and thus skipped directly to the third psychological shadow?"
The calm and rational Shang Jianyao looked around solemnly, searching for places where danger might be lurking.