Chapter 2: Mask

This is not the first time Russell has come into contact with that cold and heavy texture.

He had seen these terrible things when he was working undercover in the Xiacheng District of Sogo Island.

Just by looking at it, you can tell that this is a shotgun that can be held with one hand.

"Darn it! How did he pass the security check?" Russell immediately realized that there must be a big problem with this person's identity.

What kind of person would evade the extremely stringent psychic security checks and bring deadly weapons onto a closed airship? Both Sogo Island and Happy Island are enforcing the "Lethal Weapons Prohibition Order." Unless they are elves... for people of other races, even just keeping and possessing thermal weapons is enough to be sentenced to more than twenty years in prison! Sweat immediately broke out on Russell's forehead.

He immediately locked the box and his voice became a little urgent: "I didn't see anything. There are no valuables in my luggage. You can browse through it at will. If you need my help with anything, you can also tell me."

"Don't be nervous...Russell." The dog's tail behind the young man swayed slightly, and he pushed the box over again with a smile: "There is no Sogo on Sogo Island, and there is no happiness on Happy Island. I hope you can be happy as soon as possible. Recognize this fact."

...wait. Russell realized something. When did I introduce myself?

"My suggestion is that you'd better accept it." The young man said slowly, "Because it will come in handy soon."

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Russell suddenly felt a sense of fatigue and sleepiness. The intense paralysis made him unable to even stand up, unable to speak even when he opened his mouth, and could only breathe rapidly. Russell's eyes widened, and he looked at the other party.

But he soon realized that this couldn't be the work of this person with a scary smile. Because there is no need.

At this moment, a strange voice suddenly came from the radio in the room. "Dear first-class passengers, I hope you can exercise restraint, don't panic, and listen clearly to what we are going to say next.

"We are the Tower of Babel and have now taken control of the captain's room. Simply put, you have been held hostage by us."

It was an unabashed, malicious, sharp voice that had been altered by some kind of device. But Russell realized one thing. Why... did they have to declare their identity? And in the feeling of numbness, that strange synthesized voice Still saying some long-winded words: "We released a non-lethal virus to temporarily take away your ability to move.

"Next, you will have a good sleep. Of course, you may also have a nightmare, but it will not leave any sequelae.

"You will recall forgotten and erased memories, but there is no need to panic. This is convenient. The settings for our retrieval. In this process, you will not see our faces or hear our voices, which is a good thing for us and for you. All the guests who hear the broadcast will not know which of your guests we have stolen the memory of, so you only need to remain silent and you will not be held accountable by the board of directors.

"Please rest assured that we will not leave any fingerprints or traces. The memories that are recalled by you are a gift to you.

"A... souvenir."

As the other party's sharp and weird voice disappeared, Russell's mind was racing rapidly. He vaguely noticed a sense of disobedience. But the more he thought about it, the more sleepy he felt. At this moment, the broadcast that had gone out It lights up again.

The voice has also been changed, but it can be heard that it is another person's voice again: "Of course, I personally suggest that none of you say that you have been hijacked, so as not to be suspected by your superiors. This is good for you all."

- There's another person? A gang?

"Wait..." Russell muttered. He realized the problem. This couldn't be a simple memory theft. He knew the name "Tower of Babel". That is a well-known memory theft group. But there is no need for the other party to explain their identity and purpose - knowing who they are, what's the use? "No one should mention that they were abducted" is completely redundant. The other party has no position to say this, and it has no value. Anyone with a little brain will realize...if any of these first-class guests did not conceal and told the truth, then all other attempts First-class passengers who concealed the truth were more likely to be suspected and suspected. He realized that he was involved in a conspiracy.

Russell tried to open his eyes and looked at the big white-haired dog. If he guessed correctly, this very dangerous guy is definitely not the same as the robbers. But he was not paralyzed by the virus. Was he prepared? Or...is he here just for this? Is he an agent of Xingfu Group? Or an executive? Or is it... the real "Tower of Babel"?

"Shh..." The young man showed a creepy smile and stretched out his hand to make a silent gesture to Russell. Immediately, he stood quietly behind the door, inserted a chip behind his ear, and disappeared in a wave of waves.

Russell felt increasingly sleepy and weak. His personal operating system did not prompt an error. The waste chip on the back of his head seemed to notice nothing... no warning that he had been invaded, no warning of poisoning, and no warning of abnormal health status. Just watch quietly as he gradually loses resistance. But he couldn't even send text messages or call for help. What immediately became unresponsive was the latest prosthetic limb "Aoi Lily Internal Trial Type" that he had installed on his left arm two years ago. Russell has lost his left arm as long as he can remember. This prosthetic hand was a gift from Russell's supervisor when she graduated from graduate school. It also serves as a souvenir that Russell's graduation thesis was published in the most prestigious journal.

This is not a combat prosthesis, but it has sixteen interfaces, can be connected to all types of machines, and is compatible with the most advanced disc systems. For a psychic hacker, it is like a magic weapon in the hands of a swordsman. But for Russell, who only plans to be a network security engineer... its only use is to replace his right arm that has not been repaired for seven or eight years, is always unresponsive, and is no longer consistent with the size of his right arm old prosthetic limb. If you sell it and replace it with an ordinary prosthetic hand, you can make a lot of money. But after all, this is the only gift left to him by his mentor, and it is one of the few colorful memories Russell has on Sogo Island.

...I originally thought that the flagship product would definitely work, but I didn't expect that it would also be paralyzed. But... the personal firewalls used by first-class passengers are definitely more advanced than those used by Russell civilians. But even they are infected with the virus.

The thoughts in Russell's mind gradually became chaotic. His head dropped heavily, and his eyelids seemed to be stuck with honey, and he could not open them again after closing them. His consciousness gradually sank into the

 lightless sea and kept falling downwards. It's like returning to the mother's body, no longer breathing through the mouth and nose, and the consciousness gradually spreads. The forgotten memories of the past kept rising with his breathing. That's not a good feeling. It wasn't a good memory after all. It was like the feeling when you vomited in the bathroom after being drunk by your instructor.

At the end of these memories, Russell vaguely heard his mother's weak voice: "This is... a psychic reaction! Little Russell should be a born-knower..."

"The baby's body cannot bear this level of psychic energy."

A serious male voice that Russell had never heard before but felt inexplicably familiar sounded from behind: "When he reaches adulthood and is ready, I will unblock him - first help me block his memory, Nanliu Jing."

"Okay, teacher."

A young man's extremely respectful voice sounded. Russell opened his eyes with all his strength. He was held in someone's arms, and his pale mother lay on the bed. And standing at the end of the bed was a young man with short white hair. Vaguely, he saw the fluffy white dog ears on the boy's head.

I saw the somewhat familiar young man pull out a sword hilt from his arms. A blue blade of light stabbed out from it silently. He raised his sword and slashed at himself. After the blue light waved out, it looked like the sea. It instantly flooded his vision. The memories from the beginning of Russell's birth ended here. ——But Russell is still sinking. It's like a transparent film has been burned off. A large number of chaotic memories that Russell had no impression of, along with the knowledge of the other world, surged from the bottom of his heart: It was a world where everyone did not have spiritual characteristics such as animal ears and tails; everyone was a short-lived species, without those Elves and immortal dragons that are high above the world and can survive for more than a thousand years.

In that world, people lived down-to-earth on land instead of living on floating islands; people in that world lived in political entities called "countries" instead of being called "The Seven Giants" Corporate domination... He once came from a little-known game company and served as the public relations manager. In that world...his name is also pronounced "Russell". His last memory seemed to be working overtime writing an advertising project in an empty company. Then he fell asleep in front of the computer...

As the chaotic and hot memories continued to flow into his brain, the pure white light in Russell's pupils became brighter and brighter. And after all the memories were recalled, the deep sea that kept him sinking disappeared. Later, Russell had a new hallucination -

There seemed to be countless high and low white candles burning around him, and there were many photo frames of different sizes around him. The flame of the candle was a pale color reminiscent of bones, exuding a cold brilliance. The other photo frames were all surrounded by clouds of black energy. Only the two photo frames in front of him had the black energy surrounding them gradually dissipating and becoming clear.

The inside of the frame is blank. There is nothing inside.

Russell instinctively reached out his hand in the hallucination and wanted to touch one of the photo frames. But at that moment, his consciousness was completely sucked in. He saw a silent world in black and white with only outlines. His field of vision can penetrate all obstacles and become a 360-degree spherical field of vision.

The walls, floor, table, own body, and the guy hiding behind the door... are all outlined by white lines in the black world. But in this black and white world, there are some light spots of different colors shining.

The nearest light spot was Russell's chest. It seemed that something was reflecting a faint green light. Then came the back of Russell's own head, glowing as pale as a skeleton.

Not far from his side, the back of the invisible man's head was also burning with a blue fire. Its outer ring is also wrapped in a lavender halo that gradually disappears over time.

About thirty steps outside the door, there was a strong silhouette approaching, the back of his head flashing with bright yellow fire.

And among the only eight first-class cabins, five first-class cabins have lights burning. But all of them were glimmers that did not move. There was also a room burning with two balls - judging from the height, one of them was a dark purple glimmer lying on the table, and the other was a dark green flame standing beside him. There were two fires in the captain's cabin.

There seemed to be some sporadic light spots in the distance...but it was difficult for Russell to see their outlines clearly among the dense white lines.

The position of this light is the position of the personal chip implanted in the back of each person's head when he is born. There are two kinds of light, one is quiet and stable, and the other is dynamic.

The man hidden in Russell's room, the light emitted by his chip was the same as that of the robbers, dancing like a candle blown by the wind.

And if it was the closest...

Russell's consciousness instinctively touched the pendant on his chest. That's my mother's chip.

There is no damage to the crystal decoration on the outer shell. But the chip seemed to melt, melting into Russell's chest, flowing in, and integrating into one body.

And one of the two picture frames in front of Russell suddenly burst into a dark green light.

It's like the video of a photo set on fire, curled up and reduced to ashes, is played in reverse - among the ashes of nothingness, the mother's smiling face emerges from one of the photo frames.

Russell looked over subconsciously. The moment he "looked" at the frame. All the white candlelight around him turned into a faint green at the same time.

The next moment Russell's eyes were dazzled by the overflowing green light, he suddenly woke up from the hallucination.

A mask without features appeared on his face. Immediately, a green flame surged out from under the mask and swept through his body in the blink of an eye.

But the flame wasn't hot, it even made him feel warm. Reminds him of the warmth of his mother's arms. After the flames dissipated, Russell's body was reorganized into a familiar but unfamiliar posture -