Armed with the results of his weekend research and equipment, Li Haojun eagerly returned to his office on Monday. Yet his mind was elsewhere—not on work, but on proving his own hypothesis. This pursuit brought far greater satisfaction than the tedious tasks at hand.
After spending time together, Li Haojun noticed Sienna seemed closer to him. She spoke more freely, often asking about his personal choices after work discussions and seeking his opinions on other matters. To avoid trouble, he checked local laws and company policies for any regulations on office romances—but found none. There wasn’t even a police station around.
Li Haojun also observed how other colleagues reacted to the increasing length of his conversations with Siena in the office. No one seemed to mind. It was a great workplace atmosphere—no one gossiped about anything, and everyone appeared to have good taste.
They'd arranged to visit Siena's home after work to test her living environment. After a long day, he now waited only for the clock to strike quitting time. Gazing out the window at the tree shadows elongated by the slanting sunlight, Li Haojun suddenly felt a pang of guilt over wasting his life. This rotten job had long filled him with discontent. So he stepped out of his office, approached Siena's workstation, and said,
“Let's go.”
“Huh?” " Siena looked up, her eyes meeting Li Haojun's. A smile spread across her face, though she struggled to stifle the sound. Gathering her things, she glanced nervously at her coworkers before timidly leaving her station.
Following the same route, now well-trodden, they reached their destination. Before entering Siena's room, Li Haojun pulled out a hood and handed it to her, saying,
“Put this on.”
“Oh,” Siena took it, flipping it over in her hands as she asked,
“What is this?” She tried to figure out how to put it on.
“An electromagnetic radiation hood,” Li Haojun explained, taking it from her hands and helping her put it on himself, seemingly a bit impatient.
Sienna didn't resist. After putting it on, she even touched it herself to check if it fit snugly and securely. She rolled her eyes at Li Haojun, as if seeking his opinion—does it fit? Does it look okay? Like a baby afraid of the winter cold, adorably cute.
Li Haojun followed Xie Na indoors, observing her behavior closely, noting any differences from before.
As Xie Na climbed the stairs, she suddenly stopped, turned back, and said with a hint of surprise,
"What should I do? I think I wanted to take a shower, but I don't know why I'd do that."
“Come on, come down. Let's sit in the living room on the first floor first,” Li Haojun gestured to Xie Na while speaking, settling onto the sofa himself. He retrieved a commercial radio frequency detection device, connected it to his computer, and first shifted the display window to the brainwave frequency band. He then pointed it toward Xie Na, who had sat down beside him.
Xie Na didn't quite grasp it yet, staring wide-eyed at Li Haojun as if awaiting further explanation.
“There's electromagnetic interference from brainwave frequencies in this room. I don't know why it doesn't affect me—maybe it's not compatible.”
“Oh,” Sienna merely nodded in response.
Perhaps she wasn't sensitive to the infringement of her rights, or maybe she'd never truly experienced what it meant to live freely at home—hence her indifference?
Lost in thought, Li Haojun noticed repeated high-frequency signal alerts. He clicked into the signal properties details and discovered it was the same repetitive high-frequency digital signal, reappearing at regular intervals.
Could such a signal be a command? A repeated command—did that mean the previous one hadn't been executed? The thought made him glance at Sienna. She hadn't bathed and gone to sleep as usual.
Suddenly, Li Haojun realized his shielding hood relied on active phase-difference shielding to block electromagnetic waves. Could the signal he was receiving originate from its counter-phase radio frequency? Seeing Siena's dazed expression, he couldn't be bothered to explain. He gradually lowered the electromagnetic shielding helmet's amplitude. The screen's response confirmed it was the helmet.
But there were no other electromagnetic waves of the same frequency in the space that needed neutralizing. So, could it be coming from Siena's head?
At this thought, Li Haojun completely deactivated the shielding hood and removed it from Sienna's head. At first, she watched the process with curious fascination, seeming quite amused.
Just as Li Haojun prepared to bring the RF detection device close to Sienna's head, he noticed the screen alert—that fleeting high-frequency signal had reappeared. He halted cautiously, observing Sienna's reaction.
Sure enough, her eyes gradually drifted away from him. She rose slowly and headed upstairs. Li Haojun quickly gathered all the equipment and followed closely behind, determined not to miss any details.
Just like last time, Siena showered 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.
This time, Li Haojun didn't sit far away on the sofa. Instead, he pressed the antenna of the RF receiver module against the bathroom glass, attempting to record Xie Na's brainwave activity.
The computer sat at his feet. Occasionally, it picked up brief high-frequency signals. Li Haojun observed Xie Na's behavioral patterns, which seemed to be changing in response, but he couldn't detect her brainwaves. They were completely drowned out by background noise.
Soon, Li Haojun grew tired of the waterfall chart of background noise and turned his attention to Siena herself. Her large eyes and fair skin remained, but the vibrant energy she'd possessed in the office was gone. It was as if she had been taken over—taken over by another machine running a fixed program. Even her bodily movements seemed stiff and unnatural.
As Siena followed the same routine as last time—bathing, returning to the bedroom, and lying on the bed—Li Haojun finally had the chance to place the monitoring device on her forehead. Sleep brainwaves, but...? The amplitude was unusually high. Noticing this anomaly, Li Haojun repeatedly adjusted angles, reading values from different directions on her forehead. The readings seemed slightly lower from other angles.
Staring at the screen with some surprise, Li Haojun then noticed faint, intermittent signals at the bottom. Checking the phase, they appeared to be residual traces canceled out by this strong signal. Could it be...? Another source?
Li Haojun descended the stairs, retrieved an industrial-grade implant chip detection device from her bag, and slowly moved it toward Siena's forehead. Sure enough, readings began to appear.
Gazing at her peaceful, sleeping face, she was indeed 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 labor. This explained the absence of government or police—some distant server likely governed everything here.
Li Haojun quickly scanned every inch of her skin. Sure enough, chips lay beneath the skin on her arms and calves—standard commercial models used for identity verification.
Gazing at the sleeping Sienna, Li Haojun couldn't help but think: He could do anything to her. He could do anything to anyone else in this town. Anyone who entered a house while retaining free will could do the same—they too held that privilege. Could it be that these privileges granted to certain individuals had spawned the SM whips and toys hidden in the office piano bench?
Pausing his thoughts to return to reality, Li Haojun gently lifted her head and placed the shielding hood over it. During the gradual pairing process, he detected that brief, high-frequency digital signal again. This dispelled his doubts—no need to ask, it was the command signal sent to the chip in Sienna's head. Her state was being monitored by the environment.
Li Haojun had to abandon the idea of helping her gain freedom, for things were not that simple. A system was at work here.
Silently stowing his equipment, he knelt on one knee beside Siena's bedside. Gazing at her handsome features, Li Haojun's heart yearned for her to have a vibrant personal life—even if it meant simply returning home after work to zone out.
During the return flight, Li Haojun pondered: perhaps only this blunt, forceful method—sending everyone home to sleep—could absolutely eradicate nighttime urban crime, prevent drugs, and curb sexually transmitted diseases. This system compensated for every individual shortcoming within the town's collective. Should another pandemic strike, the efforts to isolate everyone wouldn't be squandered by a few reckless fools.
But what if couples like me and Qin Wenjing lived here? Would the system make exceptions for lovers? Li Haojun chuckled at the thought. What was he imagining? History had seen its share of thieves who worked as lovers. There would be no exceptions for ordinary people. He counted himself lucky to live in a place that offered freedom.
But was he truly free? Clearly not. He still had to accept work assignments to make a living. When faced with Sienna’s loss of liberty, why had he quietly walked away? Because he didn’t want to get burned.
Was he truly a coward? Li Haojun tried to justify himself. Before this coma, he’d fought alongside Lily too. Perhaps age had simply made him more cautious.
If he’d once cared little for his own safety, what was he hesitating about now? Qin Wenjing—he couldn’t abandon her, no matter what.
If Sleeping Beauty Xie'na fell under a technological spell, then what about me, Li Haojun, the hopeless romantic? Have I been ensnared by a spell of love, unable to break free?
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