[Would you like to absorb Enkephalin and reclaim it for points?]
The prompt came so urgently that it felt as though not even a single second had passed before the chat group itself was pressing Carmen for an answer.
And at that moment, Carmen also realized that her time was limited.
"Yes."
So she responded almost without the slightest hesitation.
In the next instant, a tremendous pressure descended on top of her. Looking upward through the field of vision provided by her nervous system, she discovered that the level of Enkephalin above her head…
was dropping?
Oh. So it's this Enkephalin.
At once, Carmen understood.
She had been wondering why, without anything else happening, Enkephalin could suddenly be reclaimed just like that.
So that was what was going on.
Carmen knew perfectly well that her nervous system had already been turned into the "bucket." In fact, she had watched with her own eyes as Ayin carried out the whole process.
Then she had been immersed in Enkephalin. Perhaps because her nervous system had been preserved intact, once she was temporarily restored, her consciousness immediately latched back onto that nervous system.
And then, because she was completely submerged in Enkephalin, something deeply bizarre happened—
this Enkephalin was judged to be her property.
The code shouldn't have run, and yet somehow the code had compiled.
"But I can't reclaim too much…"
Watching the Enkephalin level plummet, Carmen found herself thinking that with a bit of a headache.
To be honest, she rather wanted to reclaim the entire tank.
After all, the more they reclaimed, the more points they would get, and the better her chances of eventually coming back to life would be…
But the problem was that she was acutely aware of something:
her resurrection would probably depend to a very large extent on the integrity of her nervous system.
She couldn't allow her nervous system to be damaged.
And right now, as the Enkephalin level dropped, Carmen could already faintly sense that nervous system beginning to shrivel…
If there were such a thing as a safe limit, then she had to stop right there—
So, in the next instant, as Carmen's thoughts moved, a line was drawn at a certain fluid level, and the chat group's reclamation process came to an abrupt halt.
Beeep—! Beeep—!
A shrill alarm rang through the laboratory.
As Carmen felt her consciousness beginning to peel away from the nervous system, she couldn't help but laugh softly.
"Looks like I judged the cutoff pretty well."
In the next moment, Carmen was forced out of the nervous system again. Nodding to herself in understanding, she calmly accepted it.
Time was up…
Still, this trip had more than paid for itself.
Looking at the text appearing in the chat group, Carmen smiled and forwarded the message to Lin Yuan.
[AAA Urban Female Ghost: [screenshot]]
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] A total of 1764 points. @Lord of the Pure White Throne, our group is rich now!
…
The sudden blare of the alarm echoed through the laboratory.
At his desk, Ayin—who had been bent over his work—jerked his head up, his eyes flashing.
"That's… the bucket's location?"
Without even a trace of hesitation, he pulled up the surveillance feed and at the same time picked up the communicator, issuing an order:
"Call Kali. There may have been some kind of danger. I'm checking now—"
But suddenly his voice stopped.
He stared fixedly at the monitor before him, saying nothing.
"Ayin?"
Only then did Daniel's puzzled voice come from the other end of the intercom.
"It's nothing."
Ayin let out a long breath. Then, all at once, he changed his instructions.
"No need to call Kali. I'll handle this myself."
"Ah? Oh, understood."
The communication on the intercom ended in a hurry.
Ayin, meanwhile, raised those golden eyes and stared at the footage on the monitor.
His knuckles tapped lightly against the console—once, twice—as he slowly rewound the recording.
Again and again, he reviewed roughly five minutes of footage before and after the alarm had gone off.
About ten seconds before the alarm sounded, the Enkephalin level in the tank shown on the monitor began dropping sharply.
Then, just as the alarm started blaring, the drop in Enkephalin suddenly stopped.
It was strange.
Ayin pulled up the access records for that room during the period in question.
For roughly three full days, the room had not been opened even once.
The last person to enter had in fact been Ayin himself, when he had gone there for an inspection…
There was absolutely no way anyone could have tampered with anything during that time.
And yet, faced with something this strange, how could it be possible that no one had tampered with anything?
In that instant, Ayin's throat bobbed slightly.
The hand tapping on the desk gradually stilled. Ayin lifted his head, and only after a very long while did he murmur, almost as though speaking in a dream:
"Could it be… was it really you, Carmen?"
He reached out, instinctively touching the edge of the screen.
But after a moment, he stopped, took a deep breath, and lowered his hand.
His pupils dropped unconsciously, and even his breathing began to quicken.
Carmen…
This was the sight he had dreamed of over and over again, and now it seemed as though it were unfolding right before him—like a miracle itself…
"Could it be that you're still alive?"
He muttered softly, withdrawing his gaze, his thoughts in turmoil.
He lowered his head and tried to deal with the paperwork in front of him.
But before even a minute had passed, Ayin felt a fierce restlessness, as though he were sitting on a searing hot pan.
At last, unable to endure it any longer, he slapped the desk and stood, striding straight out the door and heading once more for the laboratory where the bucket was housed.
No.
He had to go look.
No matter what, he had to find out what was happening.
That was what Ayin told himself.
Never before had he so desperately wished that somewhere in the City, there truly existed a god.
Because if one really did exist, then this would be the final chance that god had granted him—to rethink sin and virtue all over again.
He quickened his pace.
…
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] Holy shit, seventeen hundred plus points? We're rich!
Looking at the message Carmen had sent, Lin Yuan's eyes lit up, and joy spread across his face.
Good. Too good. Good enough to feel like putting on brand-new underwear on New Year's Day.
A rough calculation told him that, counting the remaining points still in the hands of the group members, they were only a little over one hundred points short of reaching 2,000 in total…
Those hundred-plus points? He could fish for a little while, and then everyone could do another synchronized check-in, and that would probably be enough.
As for the remaining 1,000 points…
That really was still troublesome, but Lin Yuan already had a few ideas.
Soon, his [Angler] ability would receive another round of improvement.
Once that happened, pulling in that missing 1,000 points might become much easier.
Things had suddenly started looking a whole lot better.
Lin Yuan smacked his lips and, somewhat reluctantly, typed out a question:
[Lord of the Pure White Throne:] @AAA Urban Female Ghost, any chance we can squeeze out a bit more? Can't the boss be more generous and just cover the rest of the missing points in one go?
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] I'd like to, but the problem is that there's only so much Enkephalin that can be reclaimed. If I reclaim any more, I'll start running into trouble on my side.
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] After reclaiming Enkephalin, my nervous system starts shrinking to a certain degree. I'm guessing I won't be able to play this trick again for quite a while.
A pity. Looks like once you shear a sheep clean, you still have to give the wool time to grow back.
Lin Yuan shook his head with some regret. Then he saw the new prompt from the chat group.
[AAA Urban Female Ghost has contributed 1000 points. Function unlocked: Resource Exchange.]
[Group members may now, by paying a logistics fee in points, transmit one item or object to one another.]
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] I unlocked this one first. Even if World Travel were open, it wouldn't do much for us—we're all souls, and most of us can't even see properly…
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] As for Enhancement, that thing looks like it burns points like crazy. We probably can't afford to play with it yet.**
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] This one looks more useful for now. If I remember right, someone had something to give Lin Yuan, didn't they? @The Great Yan Creator of Writing**
[AAA Urban Female Ghost:] That fishing rod that boosts fishing ability—since his fishing skill is currently the core of how we're operating and getting points, unlocking Resource Exchange first should be the highest priority right now.**
[The Great Yan Creator of Writing:] Mm, thank you. Let me see… it should work like this, I think…
[The Great Yan Creator of Writing:] Ah, alright.**
[The Great Yan Creator of Writing has contributed 10 points and transmitted the item Fiberglass Fishing Pole to Lord of the Pure White Throne.]
[You have obtained Fiberglass Fishing Pole.]
In the next instant, looking at the fiberglass fishing rod that had already appeared in his hands, Lin Yuan nearly burst into tears.
At last—
he had it!
The dream rod of every true fisherman!
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