Armed with the results of his weekend research and equipment, Li Haojun eagerly returned to his office on Monday. Yet his mind was elsewhere—he was determined to prove his own hypothesis. This pursuit brought him far greater satisfaction than the tedious work at hand.
带着一个周末研究的成果和设备,李皓珺兴冲冲地在星期一又坐到了自己的办公室里,但是他的心思却不在工作上,而是证明他自己的猜测,这比起这里无聊的工作成就感大多了,
After spending time together, Li Haojun noticed that Sienna seemed to have grown closer to him. She spoke much more frequently, often asking about his personal life choices after work discussions and seeking his opinions on other matters.
经过了之前的相处,李皓珺发现西耶娜似乎和自己更加亲近了,她的话明显多了,总会在工作交谈之后询问自己关于自己生活的一些选择,征询其他事情的看法,To avoid getting himself into trouble, Li Haojun checked local laws and company regulations for any provisions regarding office romances. He found none—not even a police station existed here.
为了避免给自己惹上麻烦,李皓珺查询了地方法律和公司规定中有没有办公室恋情方面的相应规定,依然没有,甚至这里连警局都没有.
Li Haojun also noticed how his colleagues reacted to the increasing amount of time he spent chatting with Sienna in the office. It seemed no one cared—a great workplace atmosphere where no one gossiped about anything. Everyone appeared to have good taste.
李皓珺也留意了其他同事对于自己和西耶娜在办公室交谈时间变长有什么反应,似乎没人在意,很好的职场氛围,没人八卦什么事情,似乎都很有品位的样子,
After arranging to visit Sienna's home after work to assess her living environment, the day dragged on. Now, with only the end of the workday left to wait for, Li Haojun gazed out the window at the tree shadows elongated by the setting sun and suddenly felt a pang of guilt over wasting his life. This rotten job had long since filled him with discontent. So he stepped out of his office, walked over to Sienna's workstation, and said,
约定了下班去西耶娜的家里测试她的居家环境,经过了大半天,现在只等下班了,望着窗外被斜阳拉长了的树影,李皓珺忽然感到了浪费生命的罪恶感,这个破工作早就让他心生不满了,于是走出办公室,来到西耶娜的工位前,说,
"Let's go," simple and straightforward.
"走,"干脆简单,
"Huh?" Sienna looked up at Li Haojun's eyes, initially confused, then a smile spread across her face.
"啊?"西耶娜开始没理解,抬头看着李皓珺的眼睛,紧接着笑容浮现在她的脸上,Despite struggling to stifle a laugh, he gathered his things, cautiously glanced at his colleague beside him, and timidly stepped away from his workstation.
尽管还在努力憋着不笑出声,然后收拾东西,小心翼翼地用眼睛瞟了一下旁边的同事,唯唯诺诺地走出了自己的工位,
Following the same route, this time it was smooth sailing. Upon reaching the destination, before entering the house in Sienna, Li Haojun pulled out a hood and handed it to her, saying,
同样的路线,这次就是轻车熟路了,到达地点,在进西耶娜房屋之前,李皓珺拿出了一个头套,递给她说,
"Put this on."
"戴上这个,"
"Oh," Sienna said, flipping through it as she asked,
"哦,"西耶娜拿在手里翻看了一下,一边问,
"What is this?" she muttered, trying to figure out how to put it on.
"这是什么,"一边试图理解怎么戴上它,
"Electromagnetic radiation protection hood," Li Haojun explained as he took it from her hand and personally helped her put it on, seemingly a bit impatient.
"防电磁辐射头套,"解释着,李皓珺便从她手里拿过来亲手给她佩戴好了,似乎有点急性子,
Sienna didn't resist either. After putting it on, she even patted it to make sure it fit snugly. She rolled her eyes at Li Haojun, as if seeking his opinion—does it fit? Does it look good? She looked like a baby afraid of the cold in winter, utterly adorable.
西耶娜也没有抗拒,戴好后还自己摸了摸是否贴合稳妥,翻着眼睛看着李皓珺,似乎在征询他的看法,合适吗?好看吗?好像冬天怕冷的宝宝,萌萌的可爱,
Li Haojun followed Sienna indoors, keeping a close eye on her behavior to note any differences from before.
李皓珺跟着西耶娜进入室内,一直注视着她的行为,比较与之前有什么差别,
As Sienna climbed the stairs, she suddenly stopped, turned around, and said with a look of surprise,
当西耶娜走上楼梯,忽然站住了,转回身,表情有点诧异地说,
What should I do? I feel like I want to take a shower, but I don't know why I should do that.
"我该做什么呢?我好像是想要去洗澡,但是又不知道为什么要做那件事,"
"Come on down. Let's sit in the living room on the first floor first," Li Haojun said, beckoning to Sienna as he gestured. He sat down on the sofa first, pulled out a commercial radio frequency detection device, connected it to his computer, and immediately moved the display window to the brainwave frequency band. He then pointed it out to Sienna, who had sat down beside him.
"来,下来,咱们先在一楼客厅坐下,"李皓珺边说着,边向西耶娜招手,自己先坐在了沙发上,掏出了一台商用射频检测设备,连接自己的电脑,并且首先把显示窗口移动到了脑波频段附近,然后指给坐到一边的西耶娜看,
Sienna still didn't quite understand, staring wide-eyed at Li Haojun as if waiting for him to elaborate.
西耶娜还不太理解,瞪着眼睛看着李皓珺,似乎在等他进一步的解释,
"There's electromagnetic interference with brainwave frequencies in this room, but I don't know why it doesn't affect me—maybe it's just not compatible."
"这个室内有脑波频率的电磁干扰,但是我也不知道为什么对我没有影响,也许是不匹配吧,"
"Oh," Sienna simply nodded in agreement.
"哦,"西耶娜只是点头答应着,
It seems she is either insensitive to the infringement of her rights, or perhaps she has never truly experienced what it means to live freely at home—hence her lack of concern.
似乎她对自己的权益受到侵害并不敏感,亦或是她根本未曾体会到回到家中自由的生活应该是什么样,所以才这样的无感?
While pondering, Li Haojun noticed repeated high-frequency signal alerts. He clicked into the signal properties details and discovered it was the same recurring high-frequency digital signal, repeating at regular intervals.
正思索着,李皓珺注意到有重复高频信号提示,他点击进入信号属性细节,发现这是相同的重复的高频数字信号,隔一段时间重复出现,
Could such a signal be an order? A repeated order—does that mean the previous one wasn't carried out? With that thought, Li Haojun shifted his gaze to Sienna. She hadn't bathed and gone to sleep as usual.
这样的信号莫非是指令?重复的指令,是否意味着之前的指令没有执行?想到这,李皓珺把视线移到了西耶娜,她确实没有如同往常一样洗澡然后去睡觉,
At that moment, Li Haojun suddenly realized his shielding hood relied on active phase-shifting to block electromagnetic waves. Could the signal he was receiving actually be from its counter-phase radio frequency? Seeing Sienna's blank expression, he couldn't be bothered to explain. Instead, he gradually reduced the amplitude of the electromagnetic shielding hood. The response on the screen confirmed it was indeed the hood.
这时李皓珺忽然意识到自己的屏蔽头套是靠主动相位差屏蔽电磁波的,那么自己接收到的信号是不是来自它的抵消相位射频呢?看着西耶娜木讷的样子,也懒得和她解释了,便逐渐降低了电磁屏蔽头套的波幅,屏幕上的响应证明是它,
But there are no other electromagnetic waves of the same frequency in the space that need neutralizing? Then, could it be coming from Sienna's head?
可是空间没有其它同频的电磁波需要中和啊?那么,莫非来自西耶娜头部?
At this thought, Li Haojun completely shut down the shielding hood and removed it from Sienna's head. At first, she watched these actions with curiosity, seeming quite amused.
想到这,李皓珺完全关闭了屏蔽头套,把它从西耶娜的头上摘了下来,开始她还好奇地看着这些操作,觉得很有趣的样子,
As Li Haojun prepared to bring the radio frequency detection device close to Sienna's head, he noticed the screen alert. That fleeting high-frequency signal had reappeared. He halted cautiously, watching Sienna's reaction.
当李皓珺准备把射频探测设备靠近西耶娜头部的时候,他留意到了屏幕的提示,又出现了那个短暂的高频信号,他很警觉地停了下来,观察着西耶娜的表现,
Sure enough, gradually, her eyes ceased to focus on him. She rose slowly and headed toward the second floor. Li Haojun quickly gathered all the equipment and followed closely behind her, determined not to miss a single detail.
果然,慢慢地,她的眼睛不再注视自己,缓慢起身,向二楼走去,李皓珺赶紧抱起所有设备紧跟在她身后,不想漏掉任何细节,
Just like last time, Sienna was showering in the bathroom with utter disregard for anyone else. Though the glass was transparent, Li Haojun stood directly opposite her, pressed against the glass outside the bathroom.
和上次一样,西耶娜还是目中无人地在浴室中冲淋浴,尽管玻璃是透明的,李皓珺就站在她对面,在浴室外紧靠玻璃,
This time, Li Haojun didn't sit far away on the sofa. Instead, he pressed the antenna of the radio frequency receiver module against the bathroom glass, attempting to record Sienna's brainwave activity.
这次李皓珺没有远远地坐在沙发上,而是把射频接收模块的天线怼在了浴室玻璃上,试图记录下西耶娜的脑电波活动,
The computer sat at her feet, occasionally picking up brief high-frequency signals. Li Haojun observed Sienna's behavioral patterns, which seemed to be shifting in response, yet he couldn't detect her brainwaves—they were completely drowned out by background noise.
电脑就放在脚下,时而有接收到短促的高频信号,李皓珺观察西耶娜的行为模式,似乎在相应改变,但是无法测到她的脑波,全被淹没在背景杂波里了,
Before long, Li Haojun grew tired of the waterfall image with its distracting background noise. Instead, he turned his attention to Sienna before him—her large eyes, her fair skin. Yet the vibrant energy she'd radiated in the office was gone, as if she'd been taken over by another entity, a machine running on fixed protocols. Even her movements seemed stiff and unnatural.
没一会儿李皓珺就看腻了背景杂波的瀑布图,转而欣赏面前的西耶娜,她大大的眼睛,白皙的皮肤,只是再也没了办公室里那种灵气,似乎她被接管了,被另一个执行着固定程序的机器接管了,就连肢体的动作都显得有些僵硬,
After Sienna bathed following the same routine as last time and returned to her bedroom to lie down on the bed, Li Haojun finally had the chance to place the monitoring device on her forehead. Sleep brainwaves, right? But the amplitude was unusually large. Noticing this anomaly, Li Haojun kept changing angles, taking readings from different directions on her forehead. It seemed the readings were slightly smaller from other angles.
随着西耶娜依照上次一样的程序,洗过澡,回到卧室躺在床上,李皓珺终于有机会把探测设备放在她的前额,睡眠的脑波,只是?这波幅有些出奇地大,李皓珺注意到了这个疑点,于是又不断变换角度,从她额头不同方向读取数值,似乎其它方向小了一些,
Li Haojun stared at the screen with some surprise. He then noticed faint signals flickering at the bottom. After checking the phase, it seemed like residual traces being canceled out by this strong signal. Could it be...? Another transmission source?
凝视屏幕有些诧异的李皓珺这时留意到了屏幕底端,时隐时现还有一些信号,检测了一下相位,似乎是被这个强信号抵消的残余,难道是?还有一个发射源?
Li Haojun went downstairs, retrieved an industrial-grade implant chip detection device from his bag, and slowly moved it toward Sienna's forehead. Sure enough, readings began to appear.
李皓珺下楼从自己的包里取回了一个工业标准的植入芯片探测设备,慢慢移动到西耶娜的额头,果然,有了读数回应,
Gazing at her serene, sleeping face, she resembled a Sleeping Beauty under a spell—only this enchantment stemmed from modern technology. Whoever controlled the console or backdoor was her prince. Li Haojun now understood why the town felt so desolate and lifeless: its inhabitants possessed no free will after work hours. Freedom was permitted only during working hours. This explained the absence of government or police—some distant server must control everything here.
看着她安详沉睡的脸庞,她就是被施了魔咒的睡美人,只不过这个魔咒是来自于现代科技,那个掌握控制台或者后门的人就是她的王子,李皓珺也明白了为什么这个城镇看起来那么萧条冷清,因为这里的人在下班后没有自由意志,他们只有在工作的时候才允许有自由意志,这也是为什么这里没有政府,没有警察,应该是存在于哪里的服务器控制了这里的一切,
Li Haojun promptly proceeded to examine every inch of her skin. Sure enough, chips were embedded beneath the skin on her arms and calves—standard commercial models of mature products used for identity verification.
李皓珺赶紧又接着检测了她每一寸的皮肤,果然在她的手臂和小腿皮下还有芯片,是普通的成熟产品商用型号,用于身份识别使用的,
Gazing at the sleeping Sienna, Li Haojun couldn't help but think: he could do anything to her, just as he could do anything to anyone else in this town. Anyone who entered the house while retaining their free will could do the same—they too possessed this privilege. Could it be that these very privileges granted to certain individuals were what gave rise to the SM whips and toys tucked away in the office piano bench?
看着沉睡的西耶娜,李皓珺不禁想到,自己可以对她做任何事情,自己也可以对这个城镇的其他人做任何事情,任何进入房屋还能保持自由意志的人也可以这么做,也有这份特权.是否,就是这些某些人可以得到的特权滋生了办公室琴凳里那些sm皮鞭和玩具呢?
Pausing his thoughts to return to reality, Li Haojun gently lifted her head and placed the shielding hood over it. During the gradual synchronization process, he detected that brief high-frequency digital signal again. This confirmed his suspicions—no need to ask, it was the command signal sent to Sienna's head chip. Her condition was being monitored by the environment.暂时停下思绪回到现实,李皓珺轻轻扶起她的头,给她戴上屏蔽头套,在逐步匹配的过程中,发现那个简短的高频数字信号又出现了,这抵消了他的怀疑,不用问这个就是发给西耶娜头部芯片的指令信号,她的状态被环境监视着,
Li Haojun had no choice but to abandon the idea of helping her gain her freedom, for the matter was not so simple—a system was at work here.
李皓珺只好打消了帮助她获得自由的想法,因为事情没有那么简单,这里是一个体系在运作,
Quietly stowing away his gear, Li Haojun knelt on one knee beside Sienna's bedside. Gazing at her handsome features, he longed for her to have a vibrant personal life—even if it meant simply returning home after work to sit and daydream.默默地收好了自己的装备,单膝跪在西耶娜的床头前,看着她俊俏的面容,李皓珺的内心是多么希望她有自己多彩的业余生活,哪怕只是结束了一天的工作,回到家里发呆,
On the return flight, Li Haojun kept pondering: perhaps only this blunt, forceful method—sending everyone home to hibernate—could absolutely eradicate nighttime urban crime and prevent drugs and sexually transmitted diseases. This system addressed every individual shortcoming within the town's collective. Should another pandemic strike, the efforts to quarantine everyone wouldn't be squandered by a few self-indulgent fools.
回程的飞行中,李皓珺依然在想,或许只有这样简单粗暴让所有人回家就休眠的方式才能绝对杜绝夜晚的城市犯罪,也能避免毒品,性传播疾病,这个系统补齐了这个城镇团体的所有个体的短板,如果再遇到大流行,不会再因为几个不能自制的蠢货让所有人隔离的努力付之东流,
But what if couples like me and Qin Wenjing lived here? Would the management system cut us some slack? Li Haojun chuckled at the thought. What was he thinking? History had seen its share of thieves who worked as lovers—there'd be no exceptions for ordinary folks. He counted himself lucky to live in a place where freedom still existed.
可是如果我和覃文静这样的情侣如果生活在这里呢?会不会管理系统会对情侣网开一面?想到这李皓珺自己也笑了,想什么呢,历史上鸳鸯大盗又不是没有过,不会对任何普通人有例外的,想想自己生活在一个自由的地方,也算是幸运了.
But am I truly free? Clearly not—I still must follow work orders to make a living. When faced with Sienna being deprived of her freedom, why did I quietly walk away? Because I didn't want to get myself into trouble.
可是,自己真的自由吗?显然不是,也要接受工作指令,为了生活.当面对西耶娜被剥夺自由,而自己只能悄然离开,为什么?因为不想惹火上身.
Am I really such a coward? Li Haojun tried to justify himself, recalling that before this coma, he had fought alongside Lily too. It was only now, in his old age, that he had become more hesitant.
我真的是个懦夫吗?李皓珺想给自己开脱,因为在这次昏迷之前,听说也和莉莉一起战斗过,只不过现在年纪大了,才会变得顾虑多些,
If I once cared nothing for my own safety, what am I hesitating about now? Qin Wenjing—I cannot abandon her. No matter what, I simply cannot.
如果自己的安危都曾经不在乎,那么现在又是在顾虑什么呢?覃文静,自己无法抛下她,无论如何都不能.
If Sleeping Beauty Sienna fell under a technological spell that plunged her into slumber, then might I, the hopeless romantic Li Haojun, have fallen under a spell of love from which I cannot extricate myself?
如果说睡美人西耶娜是中了科技的魔咒而沉睡,那么,大情种李皓珺我,是不是中了爱情的魔咒而不能自拔.