[2: The Fourth Hospital recently opened prefrontal lobotomy surgery. Currently, the surgery is at queue number 1756664. Would you like to make an appointment? (Best choice, 51% selection rate, suitable for high economic choice.)]
There are a total of four options: best choice, lesser choice, middle choice, worst choice.
Wen Xishu didn't look at the other two options. His first reaction was that something felt off...
Especially when he saw option 2, Wen Xishu felt a sense of foreboding—is it possible to detect dreams? Can my thoughts be detected as well?
Wen Xishu felt uneasy, but couldn't pinpoint what exactly was wrong. It seemed that going to the hospital for a prefrontal lobotomy was on the same level as visiting a psychologist for therapy.
It did make sense.
But he still felt something was off, a sense of eeriness deep inside. Fortunately, this thought did not trigger any strange reactions.
Wen Xishu shook his head:
"No, I can't waste any more time here."
He stood up, ready to contact Horn.
After a brief recollection, Wen Xishu realized this time, it didn't seem like there was any concept missing that altered his memories.
"Judy is a woman, Horn is a man, among the people I killed, there were elderly and black people..."
Reflecting on various human concepts, Wen Xishu thought about it: elderly, women, children, patients, men, women, bad people, good people... there was no problem.
"So... what is this island missing this time?"
Wen Xishu stood up.
But at this moment, that eerie prompt sounded.
[Incorrect order of getting up, current butterfly effect variable is 0.014.]
Folding the quilt.
Wen Xishu was startled, but soon found everything reasonable.
I got up, shouldn't I fold the quilt?
So he began to fold the quilt.
Wen Xishu didn't understand what the butterfly effect variable count was, but after folding the quilt, he felt everything made much more sense.
He also had an inexplicable feeling of joy inside.
Although Wen Xishu thought cleanliness and tidiness were good things, he felt that in a race against time, one shouldn't over-obsess over minor matters.
However, at that moment, the immense joy that arose made Wen Xishu feel, for the first time, what physiological pleasure was like.
[Please keep up the good work.]
To enjoy the earlier sensation, Wen Xishu subconsciously forgot about his agreement with Horn and began to think about putting everything in the room in perfect order.
He started to clean the room.
At the same time, in this building of thirty-two floors, all one hundred and sixty households were cleaning their rooms almost in unison.
Wen Xishu suddenly stopped.
"No... Something's wrong. Under the reward mechanism just now, I actually tried to give up what I originally intended to do. I should find Horn."
His hands didn't stop because once he stopped, the so-called butterfly effect variable would increase.
Undoubtedly, as this variable rose, danger would follow.
And Wen Xishu had just tested:
"I've tested this thing; it seems to monitor behavior but can't control my thoughts… as for how it can detect dreams... maybe they are not dreams at all, or rather, not natural dreams."
"It might be an implanted dream achieved through some external force during sleep, as a detection method."
"It detects... maybe the thing I am missing."
In the dream, out of curiosity, Wen Xishu chose the red arrow, and upon waking, received a dream violation alert with a subsequent resolution plan.
Was it curiosity?
No, Wen Xishu noticed, the sky didn't darken. It wasn't curiosity, and if it was, monsters would have appeared around, and the sky should have darkened.
"What exactly is it?"
A sense of fear emerged within, Wen Xishu felt that this time's missing concept was very important, so important that... if he lost this concept, he might cease to be himself.
"No, I can't imagine the missing thing from nothing, it's different from men and women, Judy and Mia were women, the intense feeling of dissonance allowed me to anchor the missing thing."
"But this time, I can't find it..."
"I need to increase the feeling of dissonance."
To increase the feeling of dissonance, he needs to recognize the deformity of this world, Wen Xishu must thoroughly experience this world to find that feeling of dissonance.
But the contradiction is here, he feels now that he shouldn't be doing anything else, that's not his task.
He should just clean the room, making everything tidy and orderly.
This idea, as if it were a forcibly implanted notion, began to take over his other thoughts.
The lost concept, its corresponding imagery...
Ironically, these thoughts caused Wen Xishu to feel fear and danger.
Wen Xishu tried to stop cleaning, and at this moment, a pathological obsession almost like severe OCD developed.
I have to clean, I have to follow the plan, I have already wasted a few seconds! I've made everyone's actions in the building disorganized! I'm a sinner!
Wen Xishu's breathing became rapid.
"No... This isn't me, there must be something disrupting my thoughts."
"Although I can still maintain my thoughts, under external interference, my efficiency might drop..."
Wen Xishu began to think about whether he could break the current predicament through some sequence.
As his hand movement hesitated slightly, the annoying prompt quickly reappeared.
[Incorrect order of actions, current butterfly effect variable is 0.016.]
[Incorrect order of actions, current butterfly effect variable is 0.018.]
[Incorrect order of actions, current butterfly effect variable is 0.02.]
[Butterfly effect variable exceeding two percent, your current progression has been forcefully interrupted, your company management has approved your leave for today, please proceed to the community clinic for treatment within one hour.]