Chapter 164: Red Cross

If this rumor is true.

Then, by that time, they might be able to leave the Asha Star System, so this question itself would be rendered moot.

But with loss comes gain.

During the Final Examination, the instructors and doctors’ monitoring of the trainees would definitely reach its peak.

What’s more, because the destination is uncertain, the Jump Node list Chicha gave him will most likely become useless.

Even if they manage to escape into space with a ship, they’ll still need to find a Jump Node while being hunted by the Battle Camp.

The difficulty is easy to imagine.

So should they run away before the Final Examination, or during the assessment and bring everyone with them?

Lin Zhen had been hesitating over this for days.

No matter how he weighed the pros and cons, he couldn’t find a method he was truly satisfied with.

And tonight seemed to be the same.

Lin Zhen tossed and turned, eventually falling asleep in a tangle of worries, with only one thought left in his mind.

“If only Chicha could give me a little advice.”

He kept in mind the rule not to contact Chicha for three months, but as the pressure mounted, the thought of reaching out for advice crept into his mind more than once.

After all, when it came down to it, he was still just a thirteen-year-old boy.

It was only natural to rely somewhat on the only “reliable adult” he’d known so far.

But what Lin Zhen never expected was—

At the same time, on the other side, a blue-haired girl just about to fall asleep inexplicably received a message from beyond the star system.

“Yun Ruoxi… hello… can you hear me?”

A cold, mechanical male voice rang out from the collar around her neck.

Yun Ruoxi, who had just finished watching Bilibili in System Space and was now getting ready for bed, suddenly opened her eyes wide, glancing down at her collar in shock and uncertainty.

What’s going on?

Why is Lin Zhen’s grandpa calling me?

Could it be he thinks Lin Zhen is hopeless, so he wants to make me the new main character?

Yun Ruoxi let her imagination run wild, then instinctively turned her head to look at the bunk opposite, only to realize that it was empty—Aili had already gone back to her own dorm to sleep.

With the Final Examination looming, the Battle Camp had once again tightened discipline over the trainees.

No matter how reluctant Aili was, she had no choice but to obediently sleep in her own room.

“Are you the one from the other day?” Yun Ruoxi sat up in bed, putting on a look of curiosity.

“Yes, you can call me… Chicha.”

“Chicha… Senior, did you need something from me?” Yun Ruoxi asked cautiously, her eyes drifting to the top right corner of the screen to make sure she wasn’t currently on camera.

No scene for me in this plot.

“No, it’s A Zhen who needs you. He has something important to tell you.” Chicha said slowly.

“A Zhen wants to see me?”

A trace of confusion appeared on Yun Ruoxi’s face, and her heart skipped a beat.

What does it mean that Lin Zhen wants to find her? Wasn’t he already asleep?

If she couldn’t see the anime playback screen herself, she might really have been fooled by Chicha’s words.

What on earth was this guy planning?

“That’s right. The surveillance blackout won’t last much longer, so you’d better hurry.” Chicha urged.

“Mm, okay.” Yun Ruoxi knew he was lying, but had no choice but to comply.

After all, knowing what Lin Zhen was doing at this moment was information unique to her in this world.

Still, come to think of it—

She was genuinely curious what the other party wanted, so following along was just going with the flow.

There’s no scene like this in the outline.

Could this be the butterfly effect from me replacing Lin Zhen in the brainwashing incident?

The corridor of the Base was empty in the deep night. Yun Ruoxi walked barefoot, moving forward under Chicha’s guidance.

She looked around.

She soon realized this wasn’t the way to Lin Zhen’s dorm—it was…the path leading deep into the Base, toward a restricted area!

So Chicha really did have some ulterior motive for contacting her at night!

She stopped, hesitated, and asked in character, “Senior Chicha, th-this isn’t the way to A Zhen’s dorm, is it?”

“A Zhen isn’t in the dorm right now. He’s inside the Base, plotting an escape, and he needs your help.”

“Escape?” Yun Ruoxi’s voice rose, a look of surprise perfectly timed on her face.

Then she clenched her fist, determination flashing in her eyes. “Alright, if A Zhen wants to escape, then I’ll help him.”

“Then you’d better hurry up!” Chicha said, voice echoing in the shadows.

“Understood!”

The girl nodded, her body slowly rising off the ground as her speed soared.

Under Chicha’s guidance, she soon arrived before the door of a room in the restricted zone.

“Is this the place?” The girl descended from the air, her fair feet lightly touching the floor as she asked softly.

Chicha didn’t answer right away. Instead, the door opened, and a tall figure stepped out.

“Yes, Miss Xiao Xi.”

Dr. Forefinger beamed. “It’s right here.”

“D-Doctor, why are you here?” Yun Ruoxi retreated half a step, her face going pale as a sheet.

So Chicha was actually Dr. Forefinger in disguise!

This time she really was startled.

Her body instantly floated into the air—without waiting for the doctor to speak, she tried to fly away.

But Dr. Forefinger snapped his fingers, and a wave of unseen force rippled out.

Yun Ruoxi froze in midair, unable to move, as if someone had hit the pause button.

“Come inside. We have plenty of time tonight.”

Dr. Forefinger waved at Yun Ruoxi, and she floated uncontrollably behind him into the room.

From the outside, this room looked perfectly ordinary, but inside it was an enormous laboratory.

Seeing this, Yun Ruoxi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as it wasn’t what she thought it was, it didn’t matter.

Otherwise, she really would have to try and burst out with six hundred thousand followers’ worth of power and force her way out.

“Sit there.”

The doctor pointed to an iron chair in the center of the lab, and Yun Ruoxi landed there without control, forced to watch as he picked up that all-too-familiar Brainwashing Mask from the table and approached her.

Was she going to be brainwashed again?

Yun Ruoxi was curious.

Since she was already under control, all she needed to do was show some fear in her eyes.

For her, this was a rare easy performance—a chance to simply enjoy the show from the inside.

“You must be very scared now, right?” The doctor smiled.

Well, I was a bit scared just now—afraid you were a bad guy about to do something I’d get executed for…

Yun Ruoxi nodded inwardly, but now she wasn’t scared anymore.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you. I just want you to remember your true self.”

As he spoke, the doctor gently pressed the mask onto Yun Ruoxi’s face. Her vision was blocked completely, replaced by the hideous images flashing from the mask’s eyeholes.

[Detected that the spiritual seal in the Isolated Brain Domain is starting to activate. Display it on stage?]

[Yes]

Yun Ruoxi thought for a moment, then switched her state to the brainwashed version inside her Isolated Brain Domain.

Alright.

Now she didn’t even have to act—she could just sit back and enjoy the show.