If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon.

Late at night, at four o'clock in the morning, everything is silent.

The mountains are covered with tall fir trees, and the sky is filled with black clouds, crowded together and pressing down on the ground. Suddenly the wind picked up again, and the clouds and trees were blown to and fro by the wind. It was thicker in the east and thinner in the west. A bright white light suddenly appeared on a building of the college on the top of the mountain. It penetrated from the Baroque dome and fell on the bookshelf. On the man walking between them.

He was humming a song, holding a can of cold beer in his hand, and the moonlight shining on his flowered shirt was a bit runny. Such a person should not appear in the library at all. Compared to a place where books are fragrant, he He should appear in a bar where there are dancers who pay to tear off their clothes. After drinking to the fullest, he might even stuff money into the dancer's bra - depending on the economic situation, it may be coins. After all, he has always been a relatively poor man. , no matter how much money you make today, your pockets will always be empty tomorrow.

The man walked all the way through the mountains of bookshelves that stood on both sides of the wall. The cameras in the library that were running 24 hours a day all year round lowered their heads when he passed by, like an attendant meeting the emperor. He walked all the way to the end of the library, and in front of a silver elevator, a camera with a red light in the corner was pointed at him, and he raised his eyebrows, saluted the camera with a beer and made a V gesture.

The red light was flashing and the alarm was supposed to wake up the whole school. But after two or three seconds, the elevator door in front of the man opened silently. The door leading to the most secret place of Kassel College, the "Ice Cellar", was in front of him. It was like a girl's unguarded boudoir in front of her. It opened automatically as soon as she brushed her face - but that's how it should be. He was just here to see his girl tonight, not to break into the ice cellar and commit a major theft. Boring things.

The elevator door descended all the way to the minus 40 floor. The speed was so fast that it made people feel physically uncomfortable. The man was not affected, leaning on the elevator and drinking the last few sips of beer. When the elevator door opened, he squeezed the empty beer can into an aluminum cake. Went out.

Outside is a silver passage. The building material is the same as the previous elevator door. In this passage, the eye mask, voiceprint and fingerprint recognition systems are all turned on. The outer wall is made of alloy plates that can resist explosives. Infrared laser scans every area. . Pinhole cameras are hidden in the gaps every meter, building a behavior detection system for everyone passing by in the channel. Any steps or postures that do not match the existing files in the system information database will trigger the defense mechanism, and the silver channel will In an instant, lethal high-voltage electricity is applied, and the static electricity in the air is enough to annihilate mosquitoes into dregs.

The man stepped out of the elevator and walked forward naturally in the silver passage. His behavioral pace did not have any files in the information database, but wherever he passed, all defense mechanisms were disintegrated. , the pinhole camera went out, the infrared laser stopped operating, and at the end of the door that required eye mask, voiceprint and fingerprint identification, he just took out a black card and opened the door simply like showing a discount card when buying KFC.

When he entered the gate, all the security systems were declared dormant. In front of him was the focus of Kassel College, which was also listed as a red-level location in the ice cellar. The secretary of the college, the artificial super-intelligent AI " Norma's computer room.

"Good night. I heard that the computer room has been upgraded and repaired recently. How do you feel now?" The man spoke, as if he was saying hello to an old friend, but it was clear that there was no one in the computer room except him.

"The security system has entered dormancy. The cameras are not working. Your entry record will not be kept. The security system will start working again after you leave. Is there anything wrong here?" Norma's voice rang in the computer room.

"I've been alone for a long time, and drinking to relieve my sorrows only adds to my sorrows. Why not take the time to catch up with old friends?" The man was indeed talking to his old friends, but his old friends were not "people" in the traditional sense.

A large screen was lit deep in the room. In front of the screen was a black leather swivel chair, which seemed to have been waiting for him. He stepped into the computer room without hesitation, and it was as familiar as going home. , he walked to the swivel chair, sat down, threw the aluminum cake on the table, turned his back slightly and turned his back to the screen to look at an empty space in the computer room.

"So concerned about superficial things? I am still me, whether it is Norma's personality or EVA's personality, at the deepest level, I am still me." Norma said.

"Hey, can you please stop talking like that? I always feel like a harem, but I haven't done anything bad to you." The man said hypocritically that he was actually teasing a super artificial intelligence.

Norma stopped talking, and the big screen dimmed, leaving only numerous small red and green lights flashing in the darkness. Huge personality data poured into this super host, like seawater pouring into a river. The hard disk light, data traffic indicator light, and host frequency indicator light were all flashing at ten times the speed, and getting faster and faster. The last almost crazy frequency had controlled the rhythm of the entire basement.

At this time, a beam of light shot down from directly above his head and fell on the floor. Fluorescent fragments fell leisurely in that beam of light, like falling snow. The shadow of a girl stood in the center of the beam, translucent and shimmering. Her long black hair hung down to her feet, but the ends of her hair were floating in the air. She was wearing a silk dress that looked like pajamas, barefoot and smiling.

"EVA." The smile on the man's face slowly disappeared, replaced by tranquility. Just as he said, he came to meet an old friend tonight. When friends meet, greetings and hugs are indispensable.

But now he couldn't really hug the virtual girl. He stretched out his hand to see through the light on the girl's body, and in the end he could only gently hold the Yingying's hand, holding it empty, as if he was really holding it. Without him, the illusion of light and shadow brings a false warmth to people, as if they can jump back in time and return to the past.

"You used to hold my hand for more than ten hours a day, and when you let go, your hands were covered in sweat," EVA said.

"How can I know you are there if I don't hold your hand?" the man said.

The war personality of the Kassel College supercomputer looked at the man with the livid chin and remained silent. The hands that overlapped the virtual and the real were not really held. What they captured were only missed touches and emotions.

"At this juncture, do you want to get something from me?" EVA asked.

"Hey, don't say that, okay? It makes me look like a man who doesn't have money to drink and comes here to eat the food of the waitress in the pub." The man smiled again, and finally put aside the complicated emotions that flooded his heart when we met again.

"But as far as I know, you really have no money. Your finances are in deficit all year round. More than 90% of your economy is invested in charitable donations from retired disability commissioners. You don't actually need to do this. The school board of directors will care about it regularly. The living conditions of this group of people.”

"Instead of 'care', it is better to use 'monitor'. After retirement, hybrids are still hybrids. The school board is too afraid that they will betray the secret party's interests because of their unsatisfactory living conditions. After all, human nature is forever You can't stand the trust and test." The man smiled and changed the topic again, "I heard that the college upgraded you recently?"

"The external security system and firewall have been upgraded. The corridor you pass through has four to five more types of lethal defense measures than before, including but not limited to laser channels, infrasonic weapons, and lethal magnetic fields. They are activated and activated by special instructions. closure."

"Can't you control the 'black card'?" The man turned the black card that opened the door in his hand.

"Only Hilbert Jean Angers has the power to control the special order. The black card used to have very high authority, but now it is no longer all within his reach. It can't even jump over the last line of my new firewall." The threshold of safety restrictions." EVA said softly.

"It seems that the 'invasion' (Pearl Tower incident) brought a heavy blow to the college," the man said.

"A naked provocation. They controlled the satellite but only used it as a tool for broadcasting. After controlling the supercomputer, they could have stolen the past and future records and plans of the secret party at the bottom of the information library, but they abandoned it like nothing. Damn it, this is contempt for the entire secret party and Kassel Academy." Silver-blue light flowed in EVA's eyes, like a condensed fatal beam.

"Do you have any records of that night here?" the man asked, "Search with the highest authority in the background."

"Searching." The girl closed her eyes.

"Retrieval completed." Countless cabinets began to buzz, the traffic lights jumped one after another, and the data stream rolled like a waterfall into the virtual girl made of light and shadow.

Suddenly, everything became quiet, and EVA opened her eyes to report.

"Relevant information, 0 items."

"You can't find any clues even with your authority. All the records have been deleted without leaving any traces. It seems that the person who did it is more powerful than I thought." The man sighed.

"I am just a machine, not a real human being. As long as the authority is sufficient, the machine can be tampered with at will. Maybe I am not worthy of your trust now." EVA said softly.

"Hey, don't say that." The man shook his head, "Now, with your authority, can you bypass the old principal's special instructions and manipulate the 3E exam?"

"You are here for Lu Mingfei."

"Not only Lu Mingfei, I hope you can also help Su Xiaoqiang pass the exam together." The man said, "No matter what their qualifications are, he needs a place at Kassel College."

"If they don't have potential, it may lead to the secret of the hybrid being leaked." EVA said.

"If something like that happens, it's the guys on the school board who should have a headache, right? It would be a good thing to give them a headache." The man said with a smile, and after a moment he said, "There is another thing, I want to know some small details about the Kuimen Plan of those guys from the Executive Department."

"This is the real purpose of your coming, right?" EVA stared at him for a few seconds, and finally sighed softly, "You shouldn't get involved in this matter."

"EVA." The man called her name softly and looked at her, "I know you will tell me, and you will always agree to my request."

"Now you are like a man with only three copper coins in his pocket." EVA said quietly, "The execution department has dispatched four additional teams to XZ, XJ, Greenland and Mexico. The total number of people in the world is about 1,300. Hundreds of people are exploring the location of the 'Dragon Tomb'. Among them, the group led by Professor Mance is closest to the target. Their target is Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire, the noble first generation species and one of the four monarchs. They will start on the Yangtze River. 'Kuimen Plan'. I don't know the details of this plan, it was drawn up by the principal himself."

"Lin Nian is on the way now?"

"He will arrive in five hours. He will be the main attacker of the 'Kuimen Project'. As an 'S' class, this is where the school board should use him. Compared to the small-time Deadpool, Pursuit, in the planned Dragon King War is the battlefield where he will show off his talents." EVA said.

"Good ingredients must be used on the edge. Norton is also the best among the first generation species. It will be difficult to kill him." The man said, "But if he is the main attacker, I am worried that something will go wrong."

"The best 'S' class in history has come to the battlefield. The principal has made a comprehensive plan. Professor Mance is the military strategist most suitable for commanding large-scale operations. As deep divers, Ye Sheng and Aki are also the best in pedigree and ability. batch, in theory there will be no mistakes in this operation."

"Theoretically we wouldn't have made any mistakes ten years ago." The man said calmly, "In the Pearl Tower incident, do you still have the surveillance video of the emergency passage that night?"

"I guess what you really want is to be cut off for ten minutes, right?" EVA asked.

"Yes." The man nodded and there was a long-lost solemnity in his eyes. The light and shadow in his blue-grey eyes were flowing, as if bluestone was cracking and cracks appeared. "I suspect that something extraordinary 'arrived' in those ten minutes. In that tower."

"'Emperor'?" EVA whispered.

The man nodded silently, lowered his head for a moment and looked up, "I suspect that He has infiltrated into the academy. Or maybe this has become a fact but we are unwilling to admit it. According to past historical events, as long as Lin Nian appears, A place must be engraved with the shadow of the emperor. Mandy Gonzalez is an example. He can control students, but he may not be able to control professors, department directors, and even school directors. There are still too many unknowns about his methods to us. , His shadow will inevitably be present in all future 'big events', and I have to guard against Him."

"Follow Lin Nian and you can find his shadow." EVA said.

"Su Xiaoqiang and Lu Mingfei, one of them will always be the secret agent of the 'Emperor'. I want to find him. This may be the key to breaking the situation in the future, but first I need them to stay in this college." Man Nod slowly.

"Actually, you know that the crux of the problem is the boy himself. As long as you keep him away from here, the shadow will disappear quietly, right?"

"Lin Nian is a very good boy, but there are too many heavy snows and winds hidden behind him that even he has forgotten. I think I should be able to help him." The man whispered.

"You don't owe him." Eva stared at the man and said.

"Not strictly speaking, I owe him a lot of midnight snacks." The man suddenly raised his hand and scratched his eyebrows, "You should be able to help me with this little favor, right? EVA."

EVA didn't speak. Looking at the man who was left with vicissitudes and fatigue after years of hard work, she just nodded silently.