“Does this count as a new form of IP linkage? No novel has ever had this kind of IP derivative method before.”
For a moment, everyone realized just how valuable this was.
“Of course, it does. Let me think… The offline haunted house pop-up should officially open in sync with the updates of ‘I Picked Up a Traveling Light Brain’ to maximize its popularity.”
The deputy chief editor was paying special attention to this project.
“Teacher Fish Soup Noodles’ updates are always reliable. I think it’ll be soon.”
Shaxs had no doubts about it.
In fact, the recent updates had been not only frequent but also so intense that many readers found themselves shivering in fear yet unable to stop reading.
In the story, after coming into contact with Al, one of the three surviving players, Si Yao used his NPC status to quickly obtain more information about Al and the mysterious light brain.
It turned out that this player, who had drawn the best starting hand and become a rare B-rank researcher, was actually the only child of the other two players.
Both of his parents had also drawn non-human identities: his mother was a doctor with a special position in the Nest, and his father was a robot overseer.
Thus, this stable team of three players, formed as a family unit, with Si Yao, a suspected “NPC”, cooperating deliberately under his supposed privileges, slowly and steadily uncovered more of the mysterious secrets of the “Nest.”
Throughout this journey, numerous terrifying and suspenseful near-death points had readers clutching their blankets so tightly they almost tore them apart, yet they couldn’t put down their light brains.
Finally, the mysterious director who ruled over the entire Nest Research Institute made his first appearance.
However, his arrival only made things worse. This crazed and radical scientist initiated a brutal purge with bloody and dictatorial means to hunt down the three “insects” at any cost.
Si Yao’s secret assistance in covering for them enraged the director, making him realize that there was a traitor within the Nest.
Even so, the three players ultimately managed to reach the heart of the Nest–the incubation base.
But when they came face-to-face with Experimental Subject 114, who was lying in deep sleep, the three players had their first major conflict with Si Yao.
Because under the director’s ruthless human experiments, Experimental Subject 114 had become a terrifying humanoid weapon. His once-strong arms had been replaced with finely crafted metallic weaponry.
The fusion of flesh and metal was so seamless that one could even see blood vessels pulsing between the silver mechanisms.
Under the prolonged exposure of the Nest’s high-pressure and eerie atmosphere, the players’ psychological endurance had reached its limit.
Now, seeing a living “human” seemingly transformed into such a monstrous creation, their last mental defenses were shattered and their instincts drove them to destroy 114.
Realizing that the players were losing control, Si Yao tried to stop them. He felt that 114’s true purpose had yet to be fully understood.
But his resistance only made the players suspect that he, too, was part of the dungeon’s grand trap.
Just as Si Yao groaned from his throat being strangled, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, the director slowly stepped out from behind the silver chamber door.
Mocking Si Yao’s foolishness, he declared that Experimental Subject 114 was his most perfect creation, and that these “insects” had no right to come near it.
Suddenly, 114 awakened and immediately killed the three players, whose minds had already spiraled into madness.
But as Si Yao looked at this version of Experimental Subject 114, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t the same person he had seen before.
He had definitely overlooked something, a crucial detail that even the director was unaware of.
But before he could investigate the consequences of the players’ deaths, a cold electronic voice emerged from the mysterious light brain at his side:
[No Survivors. Game over]
[Data Reset in Progress…]
The next second, a flash of red light engulfed everything.
When Si Yao opened his eyes again, he was gasping for breath, and back at the initial recruitment fair.
On stage, the senior was still giving his presentation with a mechanical voice.
He had returned?!
This time, Si Yao forced himself to remain calm. After a brief moment of thought, he attempted to decline the job offer, hoping to avoid entering the Nest again.
But he quickly realized something horrifying– everything in his life that he once thought was going smoothly was actually not subject to his personal will.
When he was once again bound and taken to the Nest alongside other scientists for transformation, and when he stepped into the familiar dormitory, an indescribable sense of unease surfaced in his mind.
He had once believed that his ability to secretly alter the chip’s surveillance made him the only “special” one in the Nest.
But how many times had this cycle of resets actually occurred?
But this time, when Si Yao opened the drawer, he found the light brain in the exact same spot, as if silently waiting for him. A suspicion began to take shape in his mind.
Sure enough, he fumbled in a hidden corner and retrieved a thick notebook.
Flipping through its pages, he saw that it was densely packed with records of every condition that had triggered the players’ deaths in the previous cycle.
All other data had been wiped clean. Only his memory and this physical notebook had inexplicably remained intact.
If the accident in the last cycle had caused this anomaly, then could he break free by actively participating in the process from this moment onward?
And in this new cycle, would Experimental Subject 114 appear again?]]
As soon as the first dungeon reset with a total player failure concluded, the reader community of “I Picked Up Traveling AI Brain” exploded.
Discussions about the Nest’s secrets, Experimental Subject 114, and the director, the ultimate boss, never stopped.
[This is terrifying. Was Si Yao’s world, his entire life, nothing more than a pre-programmed sequence? Is every person doomed to follow a predetermined path from birth to death?]
[This isn’t even as scary as the horror scenes in the novel, but the more I think about it, the creepier it gets… If I were Si Yao and discovered this nightmare truth, I’d probably lose my mind. TwT]
[Now that Si Yao has decided to intervene and escape the cycle, does that make him a player, too? Will he uncover 114’s secret and destroy the Nest once and for all?]
As the world of “I Picked Up A Traveling Light Brain” was gradually unveiled, the shock it brought to readers only grew stronger.
So much so that many fans who had initially been scared off by the horror elements couldn’t resist their curiosity. Seeing the heated discussions, they felt envious and reopened the first page to start reading again.
After all, suffering from book drought was truly unbearable.
So what if it was terrifying? Wasn’t it better than aimlessly scrolling through their light brains at night, watching others passionately discuss the plot while knowing absolutely nothing themselves?
And just as “I Picked Up A Traveling Light Brain” continued to soar in popularity, Huanyu finally seized the opportunity to release its latest event announcement:
[Huanyu Reading V: Still hesitating to dive into Teacher Fish Soup Noodles’ latest hit serialization, “I Picked Up A Traveling Light Brain”? The official offline pop-up haunted house experience is about to open for trial play!
Step into the mysterious world of the Nest, savor the thrill of a cybernetic life. Hurry up and bring your friends to experience it together~ [sunglasses.jpg]]
