Three-stream detection simulator

Hercule has been busy researching his identity during this period. To be precise, it was the past that the game system had fabricated for the body he had after traveling through time.

Based on his experience in reading miscellaneous books, it is not unusual for a soul-travelling protagonist to discover that his body has parents, children, wives and enemies after time-traveling, but it is somewhat different for the bonus system to transform into a game character and come to a world different from the game background. different.

Hercule had to think about a question: Who was controlling the body of the detective 'Hercule Hugo' hired by Shania Fordham before he traveled through time?

Will player-controlled game characters have self-awareness? If not, how did ‘Hercule’ know Shania? If so, where is the consciousness of this body now?

He used the police bonus to find a short-term rental apartment in Gotham's old city. He also used the 'Sharp Senses' skill to make sure there were no cameras in the room that shouldn't be there. After that, he closed the doors and locked the windows and studied "Third-Rate Detective Simulator" system.

The system is quite rigid, cannot speak, has no redundant functions, and has a very low sense of presence. It is only active when it gives out rewards.

On the mission panel, the "Machine Heart" entry has been planned into the 'Completed' category. The mission introduction has disappeared, replaced by a rather detailed log record, which contains time, location, characters, event descriptions and a few bits and pieces. A key conversation.

Hercule took a cursory glance and found nothing of note, so he moved his eyes away and swiped down the interface casually. There is only one "Main Mission Completed" in the left column, and "Side Mission Completed" is still densely packed. Hercule didn't even know there were so many side missions in the game...

Wait a moment.

His eyes were fixed on the first item on the list of 'Completed Side Missions'.

The list is arranged in reverse order of completion time, which means that the first log record is theoretically the last task he completed before traveling through time.

However, Hercule had no impression of it. He even felt that the last time he looked at the mission panel, there was no such branch record at all!

[Side mission: ▇▇▇Fusion

Mission log: Due to ▇▇, Hercule Hugo ▇▇▇distorted ▇▇, mirror effect 021-SCT took effect immediately, and ▇▇’s consciousness was temporarily taken over by the system. While the code is running, error warning, error warning, system self-test, ▇▇▇…▇▇ are processed. The side task is being imported and the side task has been processed. The main task is being generated and the main task has been processed. ▇▇▇Formal integration, the system ▇▇▇ violated Article ▇▇▇ of the "▇▇▇Convention", and actively applied for forced hibernation before the special regulations were approved.

Mission reward record: I wish players a happy game. 】

Hercule finished reading. Let’s not talk about the block words that have been blacked out in the logs. What kind of enjoyable game is time travel? He didn't think he could encounter such a good thing as being resurrected in place after death, and he didn't want to risk it himself.

But these days, people are still relatively accepting of all kinds of strange reasons for time travel. Hercule read the mission log twice more and speculated that it translated to mean that for some reason, there was something wrong with the world where the game character Hercule Hugo lived or himself. The system might come from a higher dimension. Power, after dropping this body into Gotham City, it also stuffed the player's soul with it.

However, during this process, the system violated certain regulations and fell into a dormant state. The confused players who traveled through time received the processed identity certificate, as well as the game system including attributes, skills, and mission functions.

System hibernation has both advantages and disadvantages for Hercule. Generally speaking, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Coexistence with advanced intelligent life forms gives people a sense of danger. I don't know if the 'human supremacy' camp had an effect, but Hercule felt hairs creeping down his spine when he thought about controlling his body with a certain mechanical life.

As for the reasons for traveling and whether he could go back, Hercule thought about it all. Survival of the fittest. It is easy to lose confidence if you set a goal too long-term. It is better to solve tomorrow's rations first.

So ten minutes later, he sat on the single bed in the apartment, lost in thought over the 'mechanical heart' that seemed to be beating in his hand.

[Mechanical Heart: A special handicraft said to contain an artificial soul, a masterpiece used by humans in the future to steal the power of gods. It enlightens the mind, and after using it, you will get the opportunity to communicate with the spirits of nature, but it may also cause neurasthenia due to overactive brain.

——Can the technological products created by humans to fight nature really gain the favor of nature in turn? 】

This description is full of inscrutable and unnecessary adjectives, but if the system is not aimless, it implies at least two things: First, the mechanical heart is an artificial product born to fight against something in nature. Second, the mechanical heart is powerful, but it may have side effects.

Hercule thought it would be something like a chip, but when he got it he saw——

The first thing that catches the eye is a human heart specimen with a metallic luster. It is about the size of an adult male's hand, and its surface is made of unknown metal. The whole thing presents a dreamy silvery white color. It looks hard and cold, but it feels soft, smooth and delicate, and I don't know what to say or not. ...Hercule really felt that the touch felt a bit like human flesh.

Especially, it was gently beating in Hercule's hand, as if simulating the beating of a heart. With each movement, the protrusions on the surface of the heart, like strong tree roots or blood vessels, were stretched flat, disappeared like water waves, and reappeared after a while. Two thick arteries connected to the 'myocardium' extended from the inside of the heart, forming a caliber covered with a brass-colored circular cover. Hercule held it and observed it for a long time before seeing traces of artificial welding at several connection points.

To be honest, if this weird, precise, beautiful and disgusting thing was not a reward for his hard work in the task, Hercule would have the urge to throw it into the trash can and never see it again.

Now he could only take a deep breath and prepare himself mentally for practice.

How to use the task reward props?

When this thought came to his mind, the mechanical heart changed. It was beating faster and faster. When it reached a certain point, the brass cover covering the arterial opening slowly closed, revealing the dark passage inside the blood vessel. Before Hercule could see what the heart looked like, a stream of asphalt-like viscous black liquid gushed out of the pipe.

Again, if it wasn't a mission reward, Hercule would have thrown it to the ground immediately.

Now he could only let the unknown liquid pouring out of the heart flow into his hands with a tense face. Then the liquid did not fall to the ground in accordance with gravity, but climbed up Hercule's arms to his shoulders like a living thing. It was smoother than expected. If you close your eyes, you can imagine it as water or slime just taken out of the refrigerator...

The more you think about it, the more disgusting it is, and Hercule stops thinking.

The whole process is actually very fast, but because of the strong visual impact, he has the illusion that every second is like a year. Hercule blinked again, and suddenly felt that he was falling down.

His soul seemed to be separated from his body, and he fell backwards on his back, passing through the invisible barrier and finally came to a dark and lightless space.

But he did not lose his vision. Hercule opened the game attribute panel and took a look. His pitiful 15 points of inspiration had now tripled.

[Inspiration: 45 (It is better not to understand the vastness of this world)]

The skill panel also automatically opened two level 1 basic skills on the inspiration line, namely the passive "analogy" and the active "heavenly induction".

"Analogy" is used to increase the number of puzzle hints in the game. The effect is not very obvious in reality. Hercule roughly felt it and thought that it could speed up the learning of new skills. For example, if there is an art course that teaches painting now, Hercule with inspiration +200% and activated "analogy" skill can quickly get started.

"Heavenly induction" is more complicated. Hercule is not sure what the game effect of "random clues" will become in reality.

The duration of the mechanical heart is only five minutes, but the cooldown time is 24 hours. Hercule has spent almost a minute studying the attributes and skills. He urgently brainstormed for ten seconds and finally decided to give it a try.

I can't just leave the skill I finally activated there and ignore it!

Thinking of this, the words "Heaven and Man Induction" on the skill panel suddenly lit up.

Hercule felt his feet go empty, and when he opened his eyes again, the surroundings were no longer dark, but a Gotham without sun or moon and covered by dark clouds. He was still standing in his rental house, but the feeling was completely different. For some reason, the edge of his vision was emitting a faint blue light. The room was even older than in reality, with peeling wall paint flying everywhere, and the carpet was full of holes and tissue fluid of unknown color.

There was no air flow around his hands, but the curtains were floating quietly in the air. Hercule looked around and walked tentatively to the window, but the moment he saw the street scene, his pupils suddenly dilated because of nervousness.

Lying one after another on the street... were all human corpses.

Some of them were intact, while others were fragmented, with only heads or limbs left, piled alone on the broken flesh. The asphalt road looked like it had been plowed by a monster. Some places arched upwards, like the tusks of a wild elephant, revealing the broken sand and stones inside. Neon lights flickered intermittently, the ancient buildings were jagged and undulating, the debris after the flames burned out was flying everywhere, the Gotham Tower stood in the center of the city, the pointers were spinning wildly, making a shocking sound.

When Hercule saw this hellish scene, countless low or sharp whispers suddenly rose in his ears. They spoke in languages ​​he could understand or had never come into contact with, with great resentment or fear, and rushed into his mind with a huge amount of information. He felt like he was hit on the back of his head by a shovel. He didn't feel any pain for a while, but he staggered forward and barely stood firm by holding the windowsill.

His ears were buzzing, and his vision became blurred. The bloody and miserable images gradually faded away, and there were mosquito-like things spinning in front of his eyes, and then condensed into two lines of short English letters:

[Hello, detective. ]

[I am Gotham. 】

Hercules suddenly opened his eyes.

He returned to reality, and the mechanical heart stopped beating and lay quietly in his hand.

The sun was shining outside the window, and the temperature was just right. The second hand of the wall clock ticked forward happily, indicating that exactly five minutes had passed.

Hercules tried to hold back, but he couldn't hold it back anymore, so he rushed into the bathroom and vomited into the toilet.