95: Chapter 95 Temporary Worker Becomes a Regular Employee

That throb felt like some kind of omen, or perhaps the instinctive excitement of a beast before catching the scent of prey.

Shen Xiao did not respond immediately.

He slowly leaned back, his spine pressing against a broken stone stele.

The surface of the stele was covered in thick moss, damp and cold; through his tattered clothing, it exuded a musty, earthy smell mixed with something more ancient—a mineral scent that felt as if it had been pickled by time.

The sensation wasn't comfortable, but it was better than standing.

At least his legs didn't have to bear the weight that felt like it could fall apart at any moment.

He closed his eyes, gauging the true state of his injuries. His internal organs felt as if they had been repeatedly beaten with a blunt object, and the flow of spiritual energy through his Meridians was arduous. The System Silver Pattern in his Dantian flickered on and off, emitting a faint but persistent heat, as if reminding him that it, too, was reaching its limit.

In this state, his brain was indeed turning slowly.

It was like an old computer trying to run a large program; the fan whirred loudly, but the progress bar was stuck at 37 percent, refusing to move no matter what.

But some things had to be said now.

While the memory fragments in Xia Lengbai's mind were still churning and hadn't settled into something more dangerous; while that Consciousness Entity was still trapped in fear and regret, temporarily unable to scheme;

While all three parties were weak and unable to consume one another—this fragile window of balance would be fleeting.

He spoke, his voice sounding like a rusty iron gate being forced open, so coarse it could scrape off a layer of skin:

"Cooperation is possible."

Xia Lengbai's gaze instantly focused, like two ice-blue searchlights, precisely locking onto his face.

Shen Xiao did not avoid it. He met her gaze and continued, speaking slowly, each word seemingly dragged with difficulty from the depths of his lungs:

"But here, information is asymmetrical, and power is asymmetrical.

You need the puzzle pieces," he gestured with his chin toward the Light Cocoon, "and it needs you to interpret them.

And I need to get out alive."

He paused for a breath, letting these words fully ferment in the viscous air.

"The foundation of this cooperation is to temporarily set aside the thought of taking action against each other.

Share information, but only non-lethal information."

"Whoever dares to cross the line, we all rot here together."

This was said with such bluntness it bordered on rudeness, without the slightest veil of rhetoric.

But at this moment, bluntness was the most effective language.

Beating around the bush would only make the already fragile trust even more precarious.

"Share?"

Xia Lengbai repeated the word, her tone carrying a hint of imperceptible mockery.

She tilted her head, a movement that gave her frozen face a strange, eerie vividness, like an ice sculpture suddenly cracking open to reveal something more elusive underneath.

"The scent of the 'Protocol' on you is stronger than I imagined."

Her ice-blue pupils shifted slightly, focusing on the direction of Shen Xiao's Dantian, where the System Silver Pattern was struggling to hide itself, yet still leaking a faint glimmer of light.

"How much can you share?"

She drifted half a step closer, the distance closing enough for him to see the tiny ice crystals condensed on her eyelashes and to smell the scent of rust mixed with old paper ash on her.

"Or are you saying that once you recover, the first thing you'll clear out is me, this 'unstable lesion'?"

Shen Xiao didn't even twitch an eyebrow.

This woman really didn't leave anyone any room to maneuver when she spoke.

That was fine, too.

It saved them from wasting time with hypocritical probing.

Just as he was about to speak, the Consciousness Entity made a move.

The light of the Light Cocoon dimmed for a moment, and then a weak thought was transmitted, intermittent, like a candle in the wind:

"...Agree... to share..."

"...But... interpretation... takes priority..."

It was too desperate.

It longed to piece together its complete memories, longed to understand what had happened back then, and longed to know what that "cruelest place" truly meant.

This longing overcame its fear and guardedness, causing it to stand on Shen Xiao's side at this moment.

At least, on the surface.

Shen Xiao's thoughts raced, and he immediately followed up on its words.

He looked at Xia Lengbai, his gaze calm but carrying an unquestionable certainty:

"It is more anxious than we are."

"The fragments in your mind need time to integrate; forced interpretation might cause damage.

And I," he raised a finger to point at his own temple, which was throbbing with a dull pain, though the gears of his mind were meshing with extraordinary tightness at this moment, "might have a way to help you accelerate this process while lowering the risk."

He paused, his tone shifting to carry a sharpness that brooked no negotiation:

"But there are two prerequisites."

"First, during the exploration, I must remain conscious and maintain a certain level of mobility.

I cannot be in a state where I am at your mercy."

"Second..."

He said each word clearly, every one of them like a nail being driven into the air:

"I will lead the first attempt at a 'safe connection'."

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Xia Lengbai did not speak, she just watched him quietly.

That gaze was too complex to interpret—it held scrutiny, evaluation, and a certain kind of dangerous, almost playful glimmer.

Shen Xiao could feel her breathing become extremely light and shallow; deep within her ice-blue pupils, that frantic stream of data began to flicker again, as if she were rapidly running some complex algorithm of pros and cons.

Her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the edge of the Tomb Guardian Seal on her brow; the movement was extremely light, yet it sent tiny ripples across the faint blue light.

"Lead..."

She finally spoke, her voice as low as a whisper, yet as clear as an icicle scraping across bone.

"It can be attempted."

Shen Xiao felt a slight relief in his heart, but his face remained unmoved.

As expected, this woman didn't close off all possibilities.

Because her needs were as urgent as his—she needed to stably integrate the fragments, and even more so, she needed to probe the depth of the "Protocol" on him.

The struggle for dominance was the core of the negotiation.

As long as the needs remained, there was room for negotiation.

"But the definition of 'lead' is..."

Xia Lengbai changed the subject, her tone suddenly cold and sharp:

"I can interrupt at any time."

"The core information discovered regarding the 'experiment' must be shared and cannot be concealed."

"As for you..."

Her gaze swept from Shen Xiao's face, over his posture leaning against the stele, over the traces of bandages vaguely visible beneath his tattered clothing, and finally settled back on his eyes.

That look was cold, precise, and as sharp as a scalpel, as if she were performing a silent physical examination on him.

"Your injuries—how long can they support you 'leading'?"

Shen Xiao did not avoid this question.

He even smiled.

The smile was somewhat pale, but it carried a sense of devil-may-care recklessness, like a gambler pushed to the edge of an abyss who had, in turn, shed all burdens.

"It won't take long."

He raised his hand, made a "three" gesture, then retracted it, changing it to a more precise statement:

"One stick of incense's time is enough."

Xia Lengbai raised an eyebrow, the meaning clearly being, "Are you sure?"

Shen Xiao ignored her skepticism and continued:

"The memory shock you suffered before stemmed from it unilaterally instilling information—passive and violent." He gestured with his eyes toward the Light Cocoon. "Like forcing things into your brain; how could it not explode?"

"We need to turn passive into active."

His tone carried a hint of imperceptible certainty, typical of a science-minded man:

"I will use my 'method'."

He didn't mention the System at all.

"To establish an extremely short, controllable buffer channel between you and it."

"The channel will be maintained by me; through it, you will actively 'touch' the memories, rather than 'accept' them."

"The difference is that touching is controllable; you can withdraw at any time.

Accepting is passive; once it starts, you can only endure it."

He paused, his gaze turning to the Light Cocoon:

"The risk is that if the channel is unstable, or if its consciousness recoils, the three of us might suffer the impact together."

The Light Cocoon visibly fluctuated upon hearing this.

The dark golden light filaments contracted, the curled-up humanoid silhouette trembled slightly, and it emitted a wave of thought filled with resistance and unease.

But the fluctuation only lasted for a few breaths before gradually calming down.

It was too desperate for complete memories.

Desperate enough to be willing to trust a stranger they had known for less than half a quarter of an hour—a stranger of unknown origin, exuding the scent of the "Protocol".

Shen Xiao sneered inwardly.

As expected, desire is the best tool for persuasion.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Xia Lengbai:

"Do you dare?"

These three words, light as they were, weighed more than a thousand catties.

It was not a challenge, not a provocation, but the most simple confirmation regarding life and death.

Xia Lengbai did not answer immediately.

She stared at Shen Xiao for a full three breaths.

Those three breaths were drawn out extremely long in the viscous air, long enough for Shen Xiao to hear his own heartbeat, to "hear" the faint crackling sound of the Tomb Guardian Seal inside her clashing with an unknown force, and to feel the eerie light emitted by the Light Cocoon of the Consciousness Entity behind him, mixed with anxiety and anticipation.

Then, she slowly nodded.

The movement was extremely light, the amplitude extremely small, yet it was like an invisible key turning a lock cylinder.

A temporary alliance was quietly reached at this moment, amidst the weakness, suspicion, and ulterior motives of all three parties.

Shen Xiao slightly raised his hand, making a gesture of invitation.

The gesture pointed to an open space in front of the Light Cocoon—relatively flat, without gravel or moss, and most importantly, close enough to that restless Consciousness Entity without being directly affected by its sudden outburst of consciousness.

He said nothing, just looked at her.

In Xia Lengbai's ice-blue pupils, his pale face and those bottomless, pitch-black eyes were reflected.

The air solidified.

Time seemed to press the pause button at this moment.