Chapter Thirty-Three: The Alarm

Zhou Yi paused. He hurried over to the door, waved the control panel in his hand toward it, and the door immediately slid open. A crowd had gathered outside, all looking uncertain, as if no one knew what had just happened.

At that moment, everyone’s control panels emitted a mechanical voice:

“Attention, all departments! Slave unit number 20150314 has been separated from its control panel. Please confirm whether personnel are present within the base. Please confirm whether personnel are present within the base! Relevant information has been sent to all terminal control panels!”

Zhou Yi quickly turned around and glanced at the bewildered Fatty. As expected, Fatty’s wrist was bare.

“Where’s your control panel?” Zhou Yi asked.

“In the bathroom. I was afraid it would get wet and malfunction while I showered, so I took it off. Who knew you’re not supposed to remove the thing?” Fatty gestured toward the bathroom, finally realizing the gravity of the situation. He dashed in, snatched up the control panel, and quickly strapped it on.

Instantly, the red lights in the room and the hallway vanished. After two beeps, everything seemed to return to normal. Zhou Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Fatty looked on, sheepish and innocent.

Zhou Yi opened the door again, raised his hand apologetically to the others, and forced a smile. “Sorry, that was just an accident.”

The others merely glanced at Zhou Yi with cold, indifferent expressions. No one spoke; after a quick look, they silently returned to their respective rooms.

Closing the door, Zhou Yi still wore a puzzled look. In this base, only Valdenay, Sophia, Carter, and Natasha had spoken; the rest never uttered a word. Was there some restriction in place?

Shaking his head, Zhou Yi returned to Fatty’s side to inspect the device. This was no ordinary watch; there was no visible clasp. When first worn, it had locked itself onto the wrist seamlessly.

“How did you take it off? There’s no latch,” Zhou Yi asked.

Fatty blinked, looking even more innocent. “I guess my wrist is at the upper limit for this design. I just squeezed and pulled, and it popped off. I thought it was valuable and didn’t want to ruin it with water. I had no idea it wasn’t supposed to leave the body.”

Zhou Yi waved him off. “Forget it, as long as it’s fine. Go to the left closet and change your clothes. Remember to unlock it with the control panel.”

Fatty mumbled his assent.

Zhou Yi grabbed a blue jumpsuit and headed into the bathroom. The space was large and, despite Fatty’s recent use, immaculately clean—clearly a result of the self-cleaning system.

He wasted no time changing clothes. Likely thanks to his slim build, the suit fit well—not as tight as Sophia’s, but comfortable enough, which pleased Zhou Yi.

Gazing into the mirror, Zhou Yi propped himself up on the sink and glanced at his control panel. It looked like a simple watch, yet it was essentially a tracker directly linked to the base’s systems. Any minor change would be instantly reported, meaning every move here was under constant surveillance. Caution was paramount.

At that moment, the control panel on his wrist transformed into a phone-like interface, and Natasha’s image appeared, beaming sweetly at him.

“Mr. Zhou Yi of Group Eight, please bring your slave, Fatty, to Mission Hall Three. Deputy Lord Sophia has assigned you a task.”

“Understood,” Zhou Yi replied, lowering his wrist as the control panel reverted to its watch form.

He shuddered to think how awkward it would be if Natasha popped up while he was showering or using the toilet. Shaking off the thought, he pushed open the door.

Fatty was already dressed in the black jumpsuit, which suited him surprisingly well—certainly more flattering than his own clothes.

In the base, rank was distinguished by clothing color: gold for the Lord, red for the Deputy Lord, blue for the Chosen, black for slaves, and white for servants.

Zhou Yi still couldn’t understand why he’d woken up naked on a stainless steel platform, while Fatty’s treatment was so different. Had he been an unclaimed slave, left at the mercy of experimentation?

He resolved to ask Sophia about it when the opportunity arose.

“Let’s go. We’re off to Mission Hall Three.”

Fatty nodded. The two exited, following the directions on their control panels to a sealed metal door. As their panels beeped twice, the door swung open.

Inside, the room matched Zhou Yi’s memory: shaped like an inverted egg, with two metal platforms in the center, various monitoring devices around, and two beds resembling space capsules.

Sophia stood within, Carter and others behind her. Zhou Yi entered and nodded to Sophia.

“Deputy Lord!”

Sophia nodded back. “Alright, both of you, take your places. I’ll brief you on the mission world and your cleaning task.”

Zhou Yi and Fatty each climbed into a capsule. Immediately, a large screen descended from the ceiling, its display dominated by bold characters:

“World 2000.”

Sophia, heels clicking, walked between them and pointed to the screen. “Given your abilities and characteristics, I’ve selected this world for you. Your duplicates already exist there. Carter will ensure your memories are retained. Your first task is to find each other as quickly as possible.

“As for the target, one has been identified. He’s highly alert; though his identity was once public, he’s now gone into hiding. The detection system hasn’t found him. A previous pair of Chosen were sent but failed and are now out of contact.

“From the moment you’re transmitted, you’ll have a maximum of 720 hours in the mission world. Time there doesn’t sync with the base; a month there is only a few hours here.

“If you face danger, you may contact the base once via the hidden control panel, but more than that will attract the attention of the Hunters, and then no one can save you. Should that happen, the mission world will be closed.

“Complete the mission and you’ll receive fifteen percent of the energy quota. Fail and you’ll lose your right to own a slave. Any questions?”

Zhou Yi shook his head. The screen now displayed the identities of their duplicates, matching their respective skills: Zhou Yi was a clinical medicine student, Fatty a computer science major, both twenty-two. Their duplicates looked similar to themselves, only younger.

The target’s information was a group photo labeled “Class of 2000, Computer Science Department, Shanda University.” The image was blurry, showing only that the target was a tall man in the back row.

Underneath was brief text: Name: Cheng Zhi, Male, 23, from Xinxiang, Henan, born to a farming family, no bad habits, three-time recipient of the scholarship for academic excellence.

Fatty blinked at the succinct summary, momentarily speechless.

Zhou Yi, however, seemed untroubled and refrained from asking questions.

“Will this information be stored in the control panel?” he asked.

Sophia nodded. “Yes. In the mission world, this information will be sent to your phones. If the control panel is revealed, the Hunters will quickly be alerted. But don’t worry—I’ll monitor your progress at all times. Succeed, and I’ll appear immediately.”

Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes. “You said only one target has been identified for now. Does that mean there may be more Awakened in that world?”

Sophia arched an eyebrow and smiled. “Exactly. If you find and eliminate any additional Awakened, you’ll receive extra rewards.”

“How do we identify them? Is there a standard, or does the base handle that?”

Sophia waved her control panel. “This device can detect Awakened within a one-kilometer radius. The closer they are, the stronger the signal.”

Zhou Yi scrutinized Sophia. In the previous two worlds, the only way to leave or finish the mission was to kill the implanted nemesis. This time, they were simply given a target—no storyline, no narrative. Did this mean the story could unfold differently?

“For this mission in World 2000, does the target, Cheng Zhi, have to be killed to complete the cleanup? There’s no prompt or story introduction this time?”