Possession (Conclusion) Part 3

Liu Xi lay on the bed in a daze, then screamed, "Do you guys know something? I... you..." He clearly thought his secret had been discovered and that he was destined to be a pitiful guinea pig. He said in despair, "How could you know..."

"Please make a wish," the voice ignored all of Liu Xi's questions, coldly repeating its request.

"I, I wish I could leave this place," Liu Xi said with a trembling voice.

There was no reaction. The room was quiet. Liu Xi's wish was not granted.

"Turn off B32," the cold voice commanded. A few lights beside Liu Xi went out, creating a small to medium-sized shadow in front of him.

"Please make a wish," the voice continued.

Liu Xi didn't know what was happening. He trembled, "I already did..."

"Please make another one," the voice said coldly.

Liu Xi broke down and cried. He didn't know what these people were trying to do, but he felt as if countless eyes were staring at him, and if he didn't obey, he would be killed like a lab rat. He was just an ordinary recent college graduate; how could he withstand something like this? So, under the voice's urging, he repeated his wish with a sob, "Let me out."

As the wish was spoken, the shadow of Liu Xi that had been created began to change. It gradually solidified, turning into a person identical to Liu Xi.

"Begin recording," the cold voice sounded. "Six point seven three seconds, restraints damaged. Twenty-six point eight seconds, door lock opened—"

A series of data points were continuously recorded. Liu Xi felt the restraints on his body loosen. Before he could react, he felt several pairs of hands on him, forcibly pinning him back onto the bed and re-strapping the restraints. The extinguished lights in the room turned on again, destroying the shadow's existence.

"Wish fulfillment failed. Wish priority is Class C," the cold voice said. "Now beginning electronic device observation—"

Liu Xi let out a terrified scream. He thought they were going to do something to him, but nothing happened. Then, a robotic arm placed a mobile phone in his room.

"Is it transmitted through electronic devices?" the cold voice said. "Observation period, tentatively, four hundred and eighty hours."

Liu Xi said blankly, "What... are you doing..."

No one answered his question.

However, Lin Banxia understood. These people were observing the shadow's presence on Liu Xi and collecting precise data. This must be the containment that Song Qingluo had mentioned before, only the process was much more complicated than Lin Banxia had imagined.

Being observed like this would obviously cause a normal human like Liu Xi to break down, but the suit he was wearing seemed to have a special function. In the fast-forwarded video, Lin Banxia noticed that he was awake for no more than an hour each day, spending the rest of the time asleep. Moreover, he wasn't eating and seemed to have no physiological needs.

The video continued to record. Lin Banxia watched, engrossed, until a soft voice suddenly whispered beside his ear, "Go sit on the sofa and watch."

Lin Banxia reflexively replied politely, "No, no, I'm fine like this." After saying that, he realized something. He turned his head and saw Song Qingluo standing next to him, arms crossed, looking at him with amusement.

"Ah..." Lin Banxia was instantly embarrassed. Wasn't Song Qingluo just sitting on the sofa? How did he suddenly appear in front of him? He straightened up and said sheepishly, "I... I woke up. I didn't mean to... eavesdrop."

Song Qingluo said, "It's fine. Since I dared to watch it in your living room, I wasn't worried about you seeing it." He thought for a moment. "But Liu Xi is your friend, after all. You might feel a bit uncomfortable watching this."

Lin Banxia said in a small voice, "When is this video from?"

Song Qingluo said, "From over ten days ago."

Lin Banxia: "So where is Liu Xi now?"

Song Qingluo: "He's already back. I thought he would have contacted you."

Lin Banxia said "oh," and then asked, "Is he alright?"

Song Qingluo said, "He's fine now."

"It's good that he's fine. I was worried he would end up like Cheng Yuliu..." Lin Banxia sighed. "Hey, what are they doing?"

Just as he was talking to Song Qingluo, the situation in the video changed. After continuously asking Liu Xi to make a wish, the shape of Liu Xi's shadow became stranger and stranger, and it got closer and closer to him. However, after Liu Xi made a wish one particular time, the voice didn't ask for the lights in the room to be turned on as before, but instead waited quietly for the shadow to solidify.

The moment the shadow solidified into a physical form, a robotic arm grabbed a piece of skin-like material and slammed it onto the shadow.

The shadow let out a piercing shriek. No, it was less of a shriek and more like the sound of icy water being poured onto a red-hot iron plate, sizzling and emitting white smoke. Then, a person in a white protective suit slowly walked into the room and carefully rolled up the piece of skin-like material with force. From Lin Banxia's angle, he could clearly see that the skin seemed to contain a black object inside, one without a physical form, just a shadow. The person carefully rolled up the skin, placed it in a box they had brought in at the same time, and then fastened a white lock on the box.

Liu Xi still didn't know what had happened and soon fell into a deep sleep. The lights that had been shining in the room finally went out.

The cold voice sounded at the same time: "Number 37421, no Stress Release required, containment complete. Involved personnel will now be repatriated."

The video went black, and everything fell silent.

Lin Banxia stared at the screen, silent for a long time. Song Qingluo also said nothing, standing quietly beside him.

"Is this your job?" Lin Banxia asked.

Song Qingluo nodded.

"It seems so amazing," Lin Banxia remarked.

Song Qingluo said, "Anything else you want to ask?"

Lin Banxia asked cautiously, "Does your company provide insurance? Are there social security and housing funds? Is there annual leave? How are the year-end bonuses? Are there any educational requirements?"

Song Qingluo: "...Are you applying for a job?"

Lin Banxia was a bit embarrassed. "Well... didn't you ask if I had any questions?"

Song Qingluo thought for a moment and said, "There's insurance, social security and housing funds, annual leave, and year-end bonuses. No educational requirements."

Lin Banxia exclaimed, "That's too good."

Song Qingluo gave him a suspicious look, suspecting that Lin Banxia was being sarcastic. Lin Banxia said innocently, "I'm serious. Good jobs are hard to find these days. Go try if you don't believe me."

Song Qingluo: "Really?"

Lin Banxia: "Really." He patted his chest. "If you can find a decent job in three days, I'll treat you to a meal."

A day later, Li Su, who was having a meal with Song Qingluo, found that Song Qingluo was actually submitting his resume on his phone. He said in alarm, "Damn, Song Qingluo, you couldn't recruit the person you were supposed to, and now you're planning to job-hop?"

Song Qingluo calmly said no.

"Then what are you doing?" Li Su was baffled.

Song Qingluo said, "I want Lin Banxia to treat me to a meal."

Li Su: "..." Song Qingluo, are you an animal? You'd even take advantage of a poor guy like Lin Banxia.

The author has something to say:

Lin Banxia: I can't die now. If I die, I'll become the kind of ghost they look down on the most—

Song Qingluo: What kind of ghost?

Lin Banxia: A poor ghost.

Song Qingluo fell silent.

Li Su: But that's what you are right now, dears.

Lin Banxia & Song Qingluo: Please shut up.