Xiu followed his vague memory and arrived at an unmanned convenience store. Compared to the previous uniform blue, the warm-colored light here made him slightly relaxed, and his stomach also growled. He had been here many times before when he was on a mission.
Xiu scanned the shelves with his eyes, picked up his favorite sugar chestnut pine cake and took a big bite. The sweet taste gave him a feeling of being home. Although he could not remember where he came from, he understood the meaning of 'home'.
He ate the sugar chestnut pine cake in big bites and sipped a cup of rich latte from the coffee machine one sip at a time. This was just the memory sending taste signals to his taste buds. However, the countdown above reminded him that time for completing tasks was passing bit by bit.
"The sugar chestnut pine cake is really delicious",Xiu savored the lingering taste in his mouth and threw away the coffee cup with one hand like shooting a ball into a basket.
"Damn it! I don't know when I'll eat sugar chestnut pine cakes again if I'm stuck in this place." Xiu complained angrily as he used to be greedy for food.
"Bioscan passed, visitor-'Ideation wanderers 001', Cloud Metalas Biosystem Engineer, please hurry to 'Z2' area to complete tasks assigned by Cloud Metalas System." A mechanical female voice sounded as soon as he left. The accompanying image was that of an adorable cosplay maid which did not match well with her voice causing discomfort for Xiu.
After walking through several corridors again, Xiu arrived at Ante Twin Towers' lobby. Only Ante's logo emitting blue light shone quietly inside this building while swimming twin-eyed fish and flowing water surrounded that huge logo making it look romantic yet mysterious. The symmetrical and harmonious visual effect made everything completely peaceful.
This is one of Cloud Metalas System's most outstanding designs - based on psychological experiments conducted by engineers who designed this system so that different people would see different colors around Ante's logo resulting in different visual experiences but all aimed towards making awakened Ideation wanderers voluntarily remove dangerous labels they have attached onto this building from their deep memories.
"It's just hallucinogens; although these memory bodies do not directly control people they can affect their visual centers guiding their consciousness towards certain directions...it’s really scary..."
As current biological systems engineer Xiu understands how implanted memory bodies influence vision perception but retains rationality outside its influence due to long-term scientific intuition."
Curiously observing Twin Towers tens of meters high whose ancient yet modern textures extended between marble walls without distinguishing reality or illusion caused Xiu some unease about how to leave this huge hall or enter Z2 area located within Ante Biomedical Laboratory...
Bang!
The elevators on both sides of Twin Towers simultaneously reached either side of lobby opening heavy titanium alloy doors illuminating elevator interiors instantly under strong lights until logos hanging high above disappeared under intense glare.
Memory forced Xiu straight toward right-hand elevator where footsteps echoed crisply against marble floors resonating repeatedly throughout empty halls until young man vanished far away
"Bioscan passed; permission level meets requirements; proceeding directly towards 102nd floor destination: ‘Z2’ Biological Ante Laboratory.”
As giant door closed behind them suffocating sensation surged over Xiu who suddenly felt breathing become somewhat constrained while rapidly rotating motor drove enclosed cage upward quickly accelerating everything around into straight lines resembling time travel.
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Memories are engines driven by time however Ante Corporation seems controlling time itself unknown even existence let alone recalling exterior appearance beyond Twin Tower nor remembering family living outside Red Kingdom nor blurry girl appearing within memories.
Vaguely hearing sounds emanating from mining operations outside tower radar turning friction sound along indescribable liquid converging overhead caused Xiu trying hard imagining possible scenarios because unable recall how entered strange Twin Tower nor last task completed for company since brain only stores memories lasting no more than one day.
Thoughtfully touched back head sensing no presence there despite knowing implanted memory body influences vision processing evidenced clearly via countdown timer reminding what seen already underwent such processing.
With a jingle,elevator doors opened revealing gray-white-dark green color scheme everywhere indicating mystery surrounding Z2 area located within Ante Biomedical Laboratory Carefully stepping out into glass-wrapped cabin.
Bang! Elevator closed heavily separating cabin from massive wall structure.
At this moment, Xiu was standing in a small room surrounded by green glass. Looking into the distance, the octagonal platform and the cylindrical laboratory in the center were particularly prominent. Electronic screens like petals unfolded from inside to outside around the octagonal platform, converging visual attention on the central cylindrical laboratory.
Vaguely, Xiu saw white gas spraying out from between gaps in the floorboards, just like the flashing white lights inside surrounding rooms on all sides, indicating that something dark had been going on here.
He shifted his gaze to the cockpit in front of him which stood out prominently. Just as he wondered how to operate this glass cabin suspended in mid-air, his feet moved involuntarily and with skilled manipulation he began controlling it.
It seemed that all skills had already been transferred to his brain through memory.
"I should go down and explore."
Xiu pressed the descent button. As the cabin slowly descended, various indicators of current biomedical research at this stage played brightly on electronic screens visible everywhere. Xiu's vision locked onto one screen ——
「Rebapart Biological Reagent: Activates temporary storage area of test subject's brain; briefly inhibits brain activity...」
Xiu wanted to continue reading but found himself descending straight down until landing on a deep floor.
With the glass door of the cabin opened, he carefully put on protective clothing hanging nearby so as not expose any part of his body within this lab where many unknown biological reagents might be encountered during completion of Ante Company’s assigned task.
As a former student genius at New Bridge High School, biology was one of his most familiar fields.
18:43:26
18:43:25
The countdown still kept him tense.
Opening up door panels directly ahead allowed him an unobstructed view previously centered visually above ground level - an eight-sided columnar laboratory structure floating high above ground level . Above its walls hung electronic screens introducing functionality , biological levels , stored materials and internal layout plans for this independent experimental facility . Xiu wanted to enter but when pressing access control beside it only received a red 'X'.
Below the red cross stating "Access restricted due to non-compliance with task sequence".
Temporarily setting aside exploration desires for this columnar independent experimental facility , Xiu instead focused more upon medical descriptions regarding 'Rebapart Biological Reagent' seen while flying within cabin earlier ; This reagent never appeared along educational paths nor existed within Ante Company’s memory bank making him feel extremely strange.
Following memories back up steel stairs brought him back towards flower-like embedded electronic screens resembling petal buds wrapped around eight-sided platforms encircling them while scanning contents displayed across these eight surfaces .
「Protein Recombination , Prokaryotic Expression , Neural Transcription..」 But there was no relevant information about 'Rebapart Biological Reagent'. A strange feeling surged up.
"Could it be an illusion?" He murmured before suddenly returning again mentally towards time just leaving own room . The girl remembered shouting at Xiu:
"My Brother I've been waiting here for you! Go find out what is true; don't forget!"
Once again pulled back from memories into reality,Xiu looked at pure white gas seeping through cracks between aluminum plates beneath their feet gradually disappearing upwards via convection currents ; Suddenly enlightened as if having thought about something important ran quickly back towards glass cabin controls used during descent .
Relying solely upon intuition,he opened up cruise function developed by Ante Company located deep within memory banks allowing display once again related description concerning ‘Rebapart Biological Reagent’ appearing momentarily before eyes followed by pressing pause key located upon control panel.