Equally surprised was Xue Zhishi.
Entering the morgue, he carefully connected the deceased's brain chip using the data cable from Qin Xuezhong's badge, planning how to clean and disinfect afterward.
Then, he kindly sat down beside her, ready to select a couple of operas to pass the time in the morgue.
The first connection to a corpse can be quite uncomfortable; if the new recruit Qin had any questions or felt uneasy, he could take care of it right away.
This is how the Analysis Department he managed worked—everyone should help each other, finish their tasks quickly, and enjoy some leisure time together.
Qin Xuezhong was also learning earnestly. As soon as she pressed the chip, she clicked the prompt that appeared in front of her and re-entered her consciousness void.
However, this time, there was clearly a dead space next to her, unstable, with a dim sphere floating in it.
Unlike the original's hard, tomb-like sphere, this one was covered in chaotic threads.
She tried to touch it.
Her consciousness tentacles, like a ghost, ignored the chaotic threads' obstruction and passed straight through, reaching the core.
In the next moment, her environment transformed into a luxurious-looking conference room.
In front of her was a rugged man in cheap work clothes, appearing both timid and unable to hide his anger.
And "she" was unceremoniously poking the man's chest with her finger, scolding, "You're nothing but a piece of crap! How dare you argue with me?! Just having a job is good enough! Just do your work honestly! Got it?!"
After finishing, she slapped the man's face forcefully.
Qin Xuezhong realized that she was experiencing the deceased's final memories from his perspective.
In shame and anger, the man attempted to push her away with his mechanical arm.
Unexpectedly, sparks flew from the mechanical arm, and the joint's thruster activated, hitting the other man in the face.
A wave of intense pain hit her, and "she" was sent flying, the back of her head colliding with the table edge, and then the scene faded to black.
Before she could even feel scared, she was ejected from the consciousness void.
She abruptly opened her eyes, finding herself still in the morgue. She gasped for air, violently retching twice.
Xue Zhishi, who had just relaxed, was startled and rushed over, grabbing an empty trash bin nearby. "Don't panic; the first connection can cause nausea."
He glanced at the time—less than a minute had passed.
Because a corpse's consciousness is highly chaotic, extracting final memories requires a long time to clear away the disorganized data on the periphery. With such a short time, they likely hadn't even begun yet.
He asked, "What happened? Brainwave repulsion? Or did you click the wrong thing?"
Qin Xuezhong didn't understand Xue Zhishi's question.
She replied, "I've already accessed the final memories."
Xue Zhishi looked puzzled and surprised as he quickly extracted data from Qin Xuezhong's badge.
As he analyzed, he murmured to himself, "Base data, no issues, neural pulses are clean, perceptual signals are right… This… is really?!"
Seeing Xue Zhishi's astonished expression, Qin Xuezhong thought it was bad news.
She then remembered that others had said it took a long time to read final memories, while she had taken just one minute?
In an instant, she imagined that she had exposed her identity as a time traveler and what was in her head, and would be captured for experiments, locked away for life in some secret underground lab…
Xue Zhishi's face carried a look of pity, his tone somewhat heavy. "Qin, I didn't expect your brain domain development level to be so high… Do you really want to stay in our office?"
Qin Xuezhong was bewildered.
What brain domain development? Why couldn't she continue to stay in the office?
Seeing her confusion, Xue Zhishi explained.
The brain domain is a concept the federal government proposed internally in recent years.
It refers to how many unused areas of a person's brain have been activated, beyond basic brain function.
The more activated, the more agile a person's thinking, and the higher their efficiency in processing data and connecting devices.
Typically, people with a high level of brain domain development actively seek better departments, with higher salaries and promotion opportunities. With a higher rank, they can also have mainframe assistance for further brain domain development, becoming even more powerful.
That's why Xue Zhishi thought if Qin Xuezhong knew about her talent, why would she want to stay in a low-tier department like Analysis?
After listening to Xue Zhishi's explanation, Qin Xuezhong immediately understood.
Old Xue mistook the golden finger she got from being a time traveler as a high level of brain domain development, thinking it was an opportunity to rise up.
Any normal person would seize that chance.
But how could undercover Xiao Qin think like that? Her current life goal was just to survive well; climbing up the ranks? No way.
She seriously said, "Old Xue, you're overthinking it. What's the point of climbing up? A stable life is much better."
Xue Zhishi looked at her for a few seconds, seeming a bit excited while struggling to suppress his emotions. After a long while, he finally said, "Xiao Qin, a kindred spirit!"
---
At the same time, in the Technical Department upstairs.
In the corner by the window of the Technical Department's Ninth Section office sat an unremarkable technical officer. His nameplate read: Zhang Yuan.
Most people were unfamiliar with this quiet figure who sat in the corner, not good at socializing; they didn't even know his name. But Zhang Yuan was diligent and capable, consistently producing stable work quality, earning the trust of familiar colleagues.
However, today, Zhang Yuan made several glaring mistakes while processing some work data, appearing obviously distracted.
This caused his colleagues to express concern:
"Yuan Ge, are you okay? Did you break up? Or were you up late last night?"
"Xiao Zhang, if you can't manage, take a break; I can help with the rest."
"How about going out for drinks tonight? Relax a bit?"
"Whoa, isn't that the new beauty from Section Five? I saw you two flirting last time."
Zhang Yuan forced a smile, explaining, "Just had a bit of insomnia last night, didn't sleep well; it's fine."
He indeed hadn't slept well last night, because he was an undercover agent, part of Qin Xuezhong's undercover team.
Previously, he had been living under constant tension.
The workload in the Technical Department was considerable, and he also had to discreetly handle a lot of dirty work to exchange for the life-extending data epilepsy inhibitors.
However, with Qin Xuezhong taking office, they were no longer forced to work, and the inhibitors were provided regularly for free.
Zhang Yuan's previously tense life suddenly felt like a dream, and he found himself a bit at a loss, his expression dazed.
In his mind, he self-PUA'd: it's better to stay busy, busy is good.
So when the order system popped up a commission from the amputation clinic, he instinctively clicked to accept, then selected to retrieve the evidence himself in the internal police system.
Final memories extracted by the Analysis Department had to be personally verified by a technical officer at the scene before uploading to the judgment system as evidence for the case.
But this time, he belatedly realized that it didn't matter anymore!
He now received a set quota of inhibitors every week; why rush to be an accomplice?
After hesitating for a while and contemplating, he decided to try canceling the order.
However, before he could hit the confirm button, the internal police system popped up a notification:
[Technical Officer Zhang Yuan from Ninth Section, please proceed to B3 level morgue to verify the final memory data provided by the Analysis Department.]
[The deceased approximately died 60 minutes ago, the body was entered into the morgue 3 minutes ago, identified as the head of XX clinic, Liu XX, male, can be used as a reference for inspection.]
Zhang Yuan: ???
What the heck, the body just entered the morgue 3 minutes ago, and the Analysis Department people already extracted the final memories?!
Weren't those guys supposed to be playing games next to the corpse until the end of their shift?
He hurried downstairs to see what was going on.
Zhang Yuan appeared honest, but after long-term exposure to the environment in the bureau, he still maintained a cold attitude toward Xue Zhishi and Qin Xuezhong.
He glanced at the data, finding no issues, then looked at the badge number recorded in the memory and asked, "Your brain domain development level is quite high?"
"Should be."
Qin Xuezhong's simple three words sounded like thunder to Zhang Yuan's ears.
As a technical officer, his most common job involved analyzing data signals, postures, characteristics, voiceprints, and speech patterns from crime scenes.
After all, this was a cyberpunk world where cosmetic surgery, voice modulation, and body part replacements were commonplace. To catch a suspect, one needed to understand deeper, intrinsic features of a person.
No matter how much a person's voice changes, their tone is hard to alter; just like how a person can replace all their limbs, but the way they walk deep in their mind remains their own.
Qin Xuezhong's "should be," in the ears of the insightful Zhang Yuan, had minute pauses and inflections that were strikingly similar to what the new team leader had said last night: "I'm willing!"
Having worked as a technical officer for so long, he had never encountered two people with such similar voiceprints!
Recalling Qin Xuezhong's posture in the meeting space last night, he felt… it was also the same…
At this thought, his body stiffened.
A person who holds his life in their hands, capable of causing such a big stir in the undercover system, and who could evade any reaction from the upper echelons, was right behind him?!
Xue Zhishi noticed this and asked curiously, "Officer Zhang, is there a problem?"
"No… no," Zhang Yuan dared not turn around, fearing Qin Xuezhong might see something amiss on his face. "I've checked everything; there are no problems. This is solid evidence. The worker should be acquitted. I'll upload this to the judgment system directly."
"Ah? Oh… okay, thank you, Officer Zhang," Xue Zhishi replied.
He found it a bit strange; usually, these technical officers would take the data back for secondary verification to avoid issues.
What was going on today?
What Xue Zhishi didn't know was that Zhang Yuan wouldn't dare to!
Zhang Yuan had no idea what problems lay within this small case involving the amputation clinic and the slum workers.
However, this final memory was personally created by a big shot; how could he dare to take the data back for examination in front of Qin Xuezhong?!
His mind raced.
What was Qin Xuezhong planning?
First, she provided them with free inhibitors, then told them not to take orders, and even personally entered the Public Security Bureau to participate in a small case.
He wouldn't naively believe that Qin Xuezhong was truly here to work.
Could it be that this woman was plotting something significant that required their full, undistracted involvement?
That must be it.
Zhang Yuan steadied himself and quickly said, "Then I'm done here. Thank you both for your hard work."
Then he lowered his head and hurried away.
If he stayed any longer, the cold sweat soaking through his clothes would surely get him caught, and that would be troublesome!
Xue Zhishi muttered, "How strange; the technical department personnel are being so polite?"
Qin Xuezhong smiled, "I don't understand either."
She didn't care because she was very happy.
Her first day on the job went smoothly; she helped the disadvantaged workers, and her golden finger allowed her to spend less time on future tasks.
Everything was moving in a beautiful direction.