Chapter 9: The Real and Fake Principal Gao

Chapter 9: The Real and Fake Principal Gao

I don’t know how long I was out.

When I came to, I found myself in a pitch-black room.

Whether it was the chamber I hadn’t entered before, I had no way of knowing. Too dark to tell.

I felt my way to my feet and groped along the wall for a door. No door. Instead, I touched a person and nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Who’s there?”

My voice came out tight.

Muffled sounds. The person was trying to speak, but something was stuffed in his mouth.

I found his mouth and pulled the cloth free.

He gasped. “Who—who are you? How did you get in?”

Gao Minjun?

That voice. It was actually Gao Minjun.

I could vaguely sense he’d been tied hand and foot to a chair.

Anger flared. “Principal Gao? Didn’t you bring me in here?”

He sounded almost innocent. “Me? I’ve been locked up for over two months. Why would I bring you in?”

“Principal Gao, what’s that supposed to mean? I’m not blind.”

“You saw him, didn’t you?”

“Saw who?”

“The person who looks exactly like me.” He’d clearly guessed what happened.

I frowned. “You mean there’s someone who looks like you, impersonating you and doing things he doesn’t want anyone to know about?”

“I don’t know what he’s been doing. All I remember is, a few days before the prelims, I was in my office. Ms. Mei called—something had happened to Vice Principal Bi. I was heading out to deal with it when someone appeared behind me. Looked exactly like me. Shocked me, injected me with anesthetic. Been locked in here ever since.”

Wait.

If he wasn’t acting, if this was real, then someone else knocked me out. Which meant Principal Gao had been replaced long ago. No wonder the Gao Minjun who kept coming after me never gave off any information I could sense. Maybe he was a fake all along.

Right now, though, getting out was what mattered. “If you’ve been locked up this whole time, haven’t you thought about escaping?”

His voice was weak. “Don’t bother. Sealed room. One iron door. Shouting won’t help. No one can hear you.”

“If you can’t escape and shouting doesn’t work, why did they tie you up and gag you? What’s the point?”

“At first, I didn’t know. Later I figured maybe I’m not the only one nearby. Now it’s more than two of us. They tied me up so I wouldn’t wreck the equipment. Early on, I fought back. Realized I couldn’t beat them, so I pulled wires out of the equipment, tried to shock them. They sensed it ahead of time. Tied me up after that.”

“That doesn’t add up. They threw me in here but didn’t tie me up. Isn’t it obvious I’d do what you did—or at least untie you?”

“You’d have to ask them. My guess? They didn’t expect you to wake up this fast. The anesthetic should’ve kept you out for a day or two. But here you are, awake in less than half a day.”

“So what’s their goal? Locking us up like this?”

“You’re one of my students, right? Which class? Hurry up and untie me. Their goal? Simple. You’ll find out tomorrow.” He was desperate to get free, struggling with the ropes as he spoke.

I helped him while I talked. “Gu Beichen. Graduating Class Two. You might not know me. Principal Gao, when you say it’s simple, what do you mean? I’m curious.”

“Copying. Harvesting.”

He let out a long breath. “They want to copy and harvest what they think is useful from our brains. Mine. Yours. Maybe others. How they use it afterward, I don’t know.”

“How do they harvest? Surgery, or some kind of electronic extraction?”

“Electronic, for now. Of course, if you don’t cooperate, who knows. Once they’re done harvesting, you and I might end up like Meng Ran and Bi Songjian. These people are brutal.” His voice shook.

“How many of them are there?” I was already thinking about whether we could fight back.

“Don’t know. I’ve only seen two. One does the harvesting and copying. One brings food. And don’t think about fighting. You can’t beat them. They’re not human. You’re young. You didn’t live through the Human–Machine War. You don’t know how terrifying AI products are.”

He’d probably tried already. No will to resist left. I could sense that. Living through the war had something to do with it too.

Were AI beings really that terrifying? Then how had humanity won?

“Principal Gao, you’re saying they’re residual AI beings? Weren’t AI beings and AI-related products all destroyed after they lost the war?”

“Hard to say. Don’t know. No idea.”

He sighed, sounding resigned but also thoughtful. “Maybe… ah.”

Maybe what?

He didn’t continue. I didn’t push. All I cared about was getting out. If I ended up like Meng Ran, that’d be too damn unfair.

I adjusted to the darkness. There were quite a few electrical devices in the room. “Principal Gao, what are these for? Where’d you pull the wires from?”

“Those are terminals for the human-brain harvester. That chair—tomorrow they’ll tie you to it, put the helmet on your head. Stings a little. As for the electricity, turn on the switch and you’ll see.”

“No. If I turn it on now, they’ll know I’m awake.”

After saying that, I felt like this old guy might not have good intentions. Maybe two months sealed in here had broken him.

I wasn’t in a hurry. If he was right about the anesthetic, I still had at least a day. That fake Gao wouldn’t show up so soon.

Harvesting wouldn’t happen while someone was unconscious. Brain’s too inactive. They’d get nothing.

Then it hit me. He’d just said harvesting required wearing the helmet on that chair. Could it be the same helmet the fake Gao had me wear when he took me to the metaverse?

A month ago, fake Gao said he wanted to talk, then brought me on a metaverse tour. I’d worn the helmet behind the chair. He said it was to broaden my horizons. His real goal must’ve been to harvest my brain information through the metaverse.

Good thing I ran fast that day. Only went in briefly before I bolted. Was that why he kidnapped me? Failed last time?

But that didn’t fit. In the metaverse, my head didn’t sting. I felt fine after getting home. If that counted as harvesting, it was nothing. Wouldn’t have turned me into Meng Ran.

Honestly, I didn’t have much goodwill toward Gao Minjun. Mainly because of how he’d treated Grandma and me. Plus, I still wasn’t sure whether this whole thing was a performance he’d staged to trick secrets out of my head.

Maybe he was trying to manipulate me. I wasn’t that stupid.

Forget it. Priority: getting out.

If this was real, if the real and fake Gao had actually been switched, I needed a plan.

I felt around twice. This room wasn’t very big. Probably not the chamber I’d wanted to investigate. The door size was different.

If there were other prisoners nearby, this whole area might be a complex. Maybe that large door I’d seen before was the base entrance. Inside could be far bigger than I’d imagined.

But if AI beings built a secret base like this, even if Principal Gao was posted here later and didn’t know, what about the other teachers? The older town residents should know, right? And the Public Security Bureau?

I picked up a bolt from the floor and tapped lightly along the wall. Concrete. Not too thick.

Then, when I knocked on the right wall, someone knocked back from the other side.

Who?

Someone was there.

Another prisoner, or a guard?

I tapped rhythmically. The other side responded with the same rhythm.

Someone was definitely on the other side.

Probably another prisoner. If it were a guard, he’d have way too much free time, just toying with me. In a bit, he’d probably come open the door. If it was a prisoner, no one would come.

I waited. No one came.

Better. I definitely couldn’t beat an AI being in a fight.

But I had my own advantage. I suddenly realized—I had my sensing power. That was my strongest weapon.

Worth a try.

I didn’t know if it’d work through concrete, but I had to try.

I focused on the wall from which the knocking had come, imagining my will passing through, reaching the thoughts of whoever was on the other side.

Gradually, my consciousness seemed to pass through the wall and enter the other person’s mind. Slowly, I could actually sense their thoughts.

“Zhu Zhaojie?”

The person on the other side was Zhu Zhaojie.