Chapter 5: Forest Prison (4) Game Settings…

On the way back to the solitary confinement cell, Yu Huan, walking alongside Shen Qin, kept trying to wipe her dirty hands on Shen Qin’s clothes. Shen Qin dodged her grimy hands with evident disgust.

The Heterochromatic Eye Prison Guard walking behind them coldly flicked open his baton and struck each of them once: Stop sticking together. Separate.

Yu Huan: Who’s sticking together? Don’t falsely accuse us.

The two separated.

When passing through the square, the escort team encountered Fan Gui.

What a coincidence, Warden Liang, Fan Gui glanced at the two prisoners and said with a smile, Solitary confinement again?

The Heterochromatic Eye Prison Guard nodded. Yu Huan and Shen Qin continued walking without stopping. Under the Black Mask Prison Guard’s orders, they wouldn’t pause until returning to their cells.

Fan Gui followed with interest, saying: Shen Qin, leader of Senluo, right? Wei An has always been very interested in you. How did you breach the Lin Group’s security system to assassinate the former CEO? That was a top-level security system designed by Wei An herself.

Shen Qin glanced at her but didn’t respond.

Undiscouraged, Fan Gui continued: I’ll be staying at Forest Prison for a while. If you’re interested, I’d like to schedule an exclusive interview. Don’t let my main job in cybersecurity fool you – I have journalist credentials too.

So sycophantic, Yu Huan mocked. You don’t talk to me like that.

Seeing Shen Qin remain silent, Fan Gui turned to Yu Huan, her tone noticeably colder: Wei An’s traitor expects pleasantries?

After throwing a cold glare, Fan Gui left.

Quite the actress, Yu Huan thought.

Turning a corner from the square into a corridor, Fan Gui arrived at an office door marked Forest Prison Security Team Captain.

After waiting a moment, the office door opened.

The furnishings here were far more luxurious compared to the warden’s office. The desk, bookshelves, sofa… all furniture was made of calm, heavy, and expensive imitation mahogany. Desk pads and sofa cushions were all brown soft cloth embroidered with golden patterns.

A desert under red sunset covered an entire wall. Against this backdrop of interwoven red and gold, Yu Buwan sat behind the desk reading documents, wearing a purple silk shirt.

She appeared completely focused, seemingly unaware of Fan Gui’s arrival.

Fan Gui remained silent, standing quietly with her head lowered.

After half an hour, Yu Buwan closed the documents, removed her gold-rimmed glasses, massaged her forehead, and said calmly: Speak.

Fan Gui looked up, meeting Yu Buwan’s eyes directly: Currently it’s confirmed that Yu Huan has lost her memory. The backdoor I left for her last night still hasn’t been triggered.

Yu Buwan’s tone remained even: How can you be sure she isn’t pretending to make you think so?

Fan Gui said: It’s a detection-type backdoor that triggers once she discovers it. If she had her memories, she couldn’t possibly remain completely unaware.

Yu Buwan looked at Fan Gui: What do you plan to do next?

Fan Gui said: I want to read her memories. I request your permission.

Instead of answering, Yu Buwan said: Fan Gui, you’ve been with the Yu family for ten years now.

Fan Gui said: Yes, I started working for the Yu family at fifteen. Exactly ten years now.

Yu Buwan: How long were you undercover in Senluo?

Fan Gui looked directly into Yu Buwan’s eyes, which had shifted to pale gold, and stated resolutely: Four years. But during those four years, I never once betrayed my loyalty to the Yu family.

Staring at Fan Gui for a moment, Yu Buwan lowered her gaze and suddenly smiled. I didn’t say anything, yet you’re already pledging loyalty. Fine, go ahead.

Remember your purpose for coming to the Forest. Don’t waste too much time on her—don’t lose the greater goal for a minor one.

Fan Gui bowed his head. I understand.

Meanwhile, back in the solitary confinement cell, Yu Huan sat leaning against the wall, reaching inside her clothes to touch a tiny bulge on her abdominal skin.

When Shen Qin had used her clothes to wipe his hands, she’d felt something land on her skin.

Yu Huan crushed the rice-sized protrusion, and a small piece of fluid clung coldly to her fingertip.

Text appeared before her eyes:

Shen Qin: …If you hadn’t hit me, we’d be talking back in the cell.

Yu Huan raised an eyebrow. The guilty party filing first? She retorted:

If you hadn’t used my clothes to wipe your hands, we’d be talking back in the cell.

Shen Qin hadn’t chosen to shake hands or pat her shoulder, and Yu Huan wasn’t about to yield either.

Shen Qin: Then we’re even, impostor pretending to be Yu Huan.

So, she’d been discovered. Yu Huan wasn’t surprised—having her player identity exposed by game characters was classic holographic game storytelling.

Yu Huan: I forgive you.

Shen Qin: Let’s get straight to the point. What do you want?

Yu Huan: I’m very interested in the mission to restore this world to nature.

Yu Huan believed this was the quest every Hengchan People player would actively seek upon entering this game.

Who could bear doing other missions in this wretched place?

Shen Qin: Who are you? Why are you doing this?

This question was important. After some thought, Yu Huan replied:

Yu Huan: I am a child of nature. This is what I should do.

Silence from the other side. Yu Huan thought this response might be too grandiose—the game character might find it abstract and incomprehensible.

She fell into contemplation, wishing the game developers had included dialogue prompts here.

Shen Qin: Never mind if you don’t want to say. But since we share the same objective, I can tell you something—this mission is nearly impossible to complete.

Nearly impossible = Epic-level achievement.

Yu Huan: Tell me. I’ll decide how to proceed.

Following this exchange, Yu Huan confirmed the mission parameters based on the other party’s information.

Shen Qin said escaping the Forest Prison was impossible first—humans have vulnerabilities, but Gou Tu doesn’t. Its authority level is too high; no one can shut it down.

Yu Huan thought: First mission—shut down Gou Tu, escape the Forest Prison.

Shen Qin said: Secondly, the primary enemy of returning to nature is the Federal Government. They’ve recruited ninety percent of Awakened, control vast numbers of Androids, Modified Humans, and Mechanical Lifeforms. Direct confrontation is impossible, and our guerrilla tactics have failed.

Yu Huan thought: Second mission—complete side quests to find allies, overthrow the Federal Government.

As for where to find these side quests and allies… weren’t there plenty of prisoners with complex backgrounds right here in the Forest Prison?

Shen Qin: Finally, there’s the environmental issue. Even if we control the Federal Government, we currently lack the technology to restore nature to its original state.

Yu Huan: That’s the least of our concerns. Nature will find its own way.

Having accepted the main storyline missions from Shen Qin, Yu Huan began gathering other information, such as Fan Gui’s identity.

Fan Gui was a mole planted by the Yu family in Senluo, but she voluntarily confessed to us and became a double agent. Later, we sent Yu Huan to infiltrate Wei An, coordinating with Fan Gui’s activities.

To penetrate their inner circle, we had Fan Gui reveal Yu Huan’s identity to Wei An. Wei An then bribed Yu Huan to act as a double agent, but in reality, Yu Huan was still working for us.

Such a complicated background. Yu Huan pondered for a moment, sensing there was much room for manipulation.

What exactly was this so-called experiment?

Are you referring to the experiment from the night before last? That was the organization’s new attempt to awaken self-awareness and abilities in androids. Right after the experiment ended, Yu Huan showed no noticeable changes. She went back to rest, preparing for work the next day, and then you appeared. So, who are you really?

An android? Ignoring the other party’s question, Yu Huan pressed further, asking what abilities androids possessed.

An android is essentially a mobile server, a localized network, a natural-born hacker.

The brain of an android is actually a complex system storing vast amounts of data and governing the five senses.

This type of data storage felt somewhat similar to the psychic energy Yu Huan was familiar with, and she quickly unlocked the data stored in her mind.

It was like having a formless library in her mind—ethereal yet clear.

Yu Huan scanned the library and noticed a strange area in the corner. She cautiously approached it.

The shadow vanished.

Shen Qin explained that it was a detection-based trigger mechanism, mainly used to monitor whether someone was a hacker and to test awakened abilities.

Shen Qin: It was probably left by Fan Gui. Once she arrives at the Forest Prison, she’ll have to follow Yu Buwan’s orders. Our communication is limited, so she has to figure out on her own what to do and what not to do. Yu Buwan should already know you’ve lost your memory.

Yu? Yu Huan pressed for more details and learned that Yu Buwan was a collateral relative of the Yu Group’s leader and also the nephew of Wei An’s CEO.

What does it matter if I’ve lost my memory? They all know I’m not the real Yu Huan anymore, so memory loss is only natural, right?

Shen Qin: Losing your memory means you can’t infiltrate data. If Yu Buwan misunderstands you this way, it’s actually good for you. Without Yu Huan’s memories and abilities, she’ll likely stop paying attention to you for now.

Then what is she focusing on? Yu Huan asked what Fan Gui’s main purpose was in coming to the Forest Prison.

Shen Qin: We’re not that familiar yet. Let’s end our conversation here for today.

The text in front of her disappeared. Having familiarized herself with the data in her mind, Yu Huan could sense the moment the words vanished, a connection was severed.

Yu Huan sorted through the information. For now, what she had obtained was mainly about Yu Huan herself. Even so, she had gained quite a bit.

She forgave Shen Qin for wiping his hands on her clothes and added him to her Friendly Game Characters Who Can Provide Information list.

Next, Yu Huan explored her abilities. She could connect to nearby networks, but that risked alerting Gou Tu, the super AI controlling the Forest Prison.

To avoid triggering a bad ending where she’d be captured for a craniotomy, Yu Huan refrained from aggressively expanding outward and instead focused on mastering her abilities.

While rummaging through the local server, she discovered a compressed file.

Upon extracting it, data on the major city factions, terrain, and other details of the Rainbow Ruin World flooded her mind, filling her thoughts.

The familiar sensation of information overload reminded Yu Huan of her first experience unleashing her psychic energy.

For a moment, she lost focus, then brought her attention back to this Game Setting Collection.

As Yu Huan browsed the game settings, she marveled at the genius design of having players act as androids—how self-consistent it was.

Growing tired, she initiated a search and found information on the Yu Corporation.

Yu Corporation, one of the four major conglomerates based in Centrifugal City, primarily operates in biotechnology, network technology, and security… They also have industrial presence in Central City and Floating Wave City… and operate a care facility in Centrifugal City…

What the Yu Corporation was most widely recognized for was its anti-hacker Network Shield technology.

However, this impenetrable reputation was damaged two years ago.

The underground organization Senluo breached Yu Corporation’s top-tier protection system and assassinated the head of the Lin Corporation.

Although the Lin Corporation issued a statement blaming an insider, Yu Corporation’s credibility was exploited by competitors and never fully recovered.

The data included a photo and profile of the Lin Corporation insider. Yu Huan glanced at it and paused for a moment.

Lin Yiwang, sentenced to life imprisonment, entered the Forest Prison.

Recalling the prisoners she had encountered, Yu Huan was certain she had never seen this person.

Dead?

Author’s Note:

———————-

Revised Fan Gui’s undercover duration to four years.

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