Chapter 277 The Third and Fourth Floors
The Mengyu Planet is not worthy of its name now. In the past, Mengyu Planet was a humid and rainy planet with rich fertility. The continuous drizzle endowed the locals with the sentimental and poetic nature. However, Mengyu Planet suffered a series of large comet impacts a few decades ago, which deviated from its original orbit and caused a dramatic change in the planet's terrain and climate.
The comet impact brought continuous acid rain to the planet Mengyu. While the acid rain caused the extinction of a large number of species, the global temperature rose sharply. Most areas of this originally humid planet became hot and dry, the lakes dried up, and the forests turned into sand. This once rich planet has now become a dry desert. For Commander Page, who has important tasks to do, he has no time to study the chain reactions brought about by local climate change.
A heavy responsibility rests on its shoulders, and it needs to be extremely careful to avoid all possible mistakes.
Commander Page landed in a light landing craft at the air port near the local Liliu base. When he stepped out of the landing craft, the entire view was shrouded in a gray mist. In the thick fog, he could barely see some airships with searchlights flying in the air. The picturesque sky described in local poems had not appeared for decades.
Inspector Tims's residence was quite low-key among the local tall buildings. In the bureaucratic system of the Eye of Supervision, when one's position was promoted to section chief or above, one could set up his own office base and hire his own staff.
Commander Pei Ji and his loyal subordinates Lu Lun and Shu Ying stood at the door. The two armed guards stared at them unkindly.
"I am Inspector Page." Commander Page showed his ID code. The armed guards quickly scanned his ID, but they obviously didn't intend to stop there.
A complex rune pattern popped up on Page's retina. This was a codeword communication program within the Third Chamber of the Eye of Supervision. Commander Page turned his mind slightly and presented another complex rune pattern. The two runes overlapped on Page's retina, and a faint silver light overflowed, which meant that the codeword runes matched correctly. For others who did not understand the meaning, this rune was just a meaningless line in their eyes. Even senior agents of the Third Chamber could not unravel the mystery without authorization. Facing an enemy who was also the Eye of Supervision, even though Inspector Tims's rank was lower than his, Page recognized this kind of precautions among colleagues.
After the rune inspection was successful, the armed guard let the three of them go.
The inspector's house was very retro and low-key. Page and his men sat down in the front hall. A staggering little Teteta asked them to wait for a moment, and the master would come out soon. While waiting, a gauze-like mist was sprinkled in the front hall. This is a special way of entertaining guests on Mengyu Planet in recent decades, intended to let guests recall the sweet rain of Mengyu Planet in the past.
"Your Excellency Inspector Page." A voice came from the front hall door.
Inspector Timms walked out slowly . "I heard about your experience on this mission."
Peggy stared at her in silence. Inspector Tims was a Khazar Homo sapiens, and her appearance was very similar to the two Lola Homo sapiens it had captured. In the vast galaxy, Homo sapiens was a very common mainstream race, but even if they looked similar, their biological characteristics were very different. Inspector Tims was a female Homo sapiens with smooth skin and abundant flaxen hair. She had slightly thick lips, a broad forehead, and between her eyebrows was a scientist's wisdom and tranquility. She wore a blue bird-shaped hairpin in her hair, which indicated that she was a member of the "Clearance Society".
Peggy said aloud: "Our enemies are as numerous as the stars in the sky."
Timms responded: "But they will eventually turn to dust."
“Always be vigilant.”
“Perform your duties.”
Peggy and Tims looked at each other, knowing that their codewords were in sync. Someone knocked three times at the door, and the Teteta man came in, pushing tea and snacks.
"I noticed that there are no robots employed in your mansion," said Page.
"Robots are too easy to control. My job means I can't trust any robots." Tims smiled and said, "Let's get back to the topic. Those two Homo sapiens..."
Before she finished her words, Paige suddenly pulled out her gun and fired three shots at Tims. The laser beam penetrated Tims' body, and the wall made a sharp hissing sound. Tims was still standing there, apparently unharmed and calm. This was a simulated phantom. What appeared in front of Paige was just a real-time optical projection, not Tims herself.
"You've proven your vigilance with your actions," Page said.
"It is my duty to be on guard against the enemy at all times." Tims replied softly, her voice like a rhythmic song. "Then please follow me to the inner room to discuss in detail."
Leaving his followers in the front hall, Page followed Tims' projection through the corridors of the mansion. "Before you came, I had received three visitors who claimed to be Inspector Page. I had to be cautious."
"Same here." Page said, "Before I approached the orbit of Mengyu Star, I also met three consecutive requests from my colleagues to pick me up."
"oh?"
"They all claimed to be Inspector Timms."
"So how do you tell the real from the fake?" Tims's projected face had a subtle smile.
"We in the Third Court have a complete confidential review process," Page said frankly, "and it is with this method that I can confirm the authenticity of the inspector in front of me."
Tims's projection said nothing more. She led it to the corner of the corridor, where there seemed to be a smooth wall. When Paige stood in front of the wall, a light swept across its body. Tims's projection nodded slightly to him, and Paige stepped towards the wall. After a moment of darkness, he stood in a secret room.
There was a soft light flowing through the dark room. Page immediately realized that he was not the only guest allowed into the secret room. There was already a visitor standing there, and it was obviously not Inspector Timms. When it turned around and looked at it, Page was speechless.
Because, that's another Peggy.
"Yes, among the three visitors who claimed to be Inspector Page, one passed all the code checks and authorizations. So I invited it into the secret room." Tims said behind it, "Just like you said, you have confirmed my authenticity, but at this moment, I can't confirm your authenticity."
Peggy stared at another Peggy. Whether it was his clothes or his appearance, or even the subtlest expression on his face, Peggy felt as if he was staring at himself in the mirror.
"It's a fake." Another Page said unkindly, "It's a fake sent by the enemy faction."
"When the enemy feels guilty, they often deliberately create chaos." Peggy glared at him, "No, you are the impostor."
"You liar!" cried the other Page, "Don't be fooled by him!"
"You are the impostor with ulterior motives!" Page turned to Tims and said, "Check the code again!"
"I have reviewed it several times according to the confidentiality procedures, and there is no problem with your authorization and authentication." Tims replied, "Now I am afraid that only you know your authenticity."
"I am real!"
"Only those with guilty consciences will bark loudly." Peggy stared at Tims. He noticed that the door of the secret room had closed tightly at some point. "Are you going to lock us up here regardless of whether it's true or not?"
"This is unavoidable." Tims replied apologetically, "For now, we can only place you here temporarily."
Another Page said anxiously, "Stupid! This is giving the enemy an opportunity to take advantage!!"
"You've fallen into the enemy's trap!" After Page blurted out, he slowly said, "You just said that there was no problem with the identity check of this impostor and me?"
Timms said, “Yes.”
Page took a few steps on the spot and stared at Tims. "Now I can't be sure whether you are true or not, Inspector."
"What do you mean?" Inspector Timms asked in surprise.
"I have every reason to doubt it." Page said word by word, "You and the other Page in front of me are both fake. This is a trap to trap me."
The other Page also glared at Tims: "That's what I wanted to say. It's also possible that you two fakes teamed up to trap me."
The three of them looked at each other, their eyes full of suspicion and doubt.
After a dead silence, Tims's expression wavered again, and she said, "Inspector General Mars is here."
Page and another Page shouted, "Check his identity!!!"
…
…
Inspector General Mars appeared in front of Page and the others with a gloomy face.
He didn't say anything, but the powerful and cold oppression from this adult caused the temperature in the entire secret room to drop sharply.
"Explain the situation, Page," his superior said coldly.
"As you can see, there is me and there is an imposter."
Chief Inspector Mars' eyes slid between the two Pages, and finally his gaze stopped on one of them. "I'm not interested in your tricks, Page. Where is the person you promised to bring?"
Page replied: "Dear sir, I really want to complete the task immediately and get out of this troublesome situation, but..."
“But what!!”
Page stared at Tims behind Inspector Mars and said, "Did you notice that the person who accompanied you in was Inspector Tims, but there is another Tims in this room now." It was talking about the current reality. There are two living Tims in the room. One is the Tims who appeared in the room at the beginning, and the other is the Tims who accompanied Inspector Mars in.
Another Page echoed, "Yes, now there are not only two of me, but also two Tims."
Chief Inspector Mars said, "After I stepped out of the landing craft, Inspector Tims appeared in front of me immediately. She passed all security inspections."
Tims, who was originally in the room, shouted, "Impossible!! She's fake!! The real me never received any message from Mars that Inspector General would come today!!"
The second Tims glared at her: "Because you are an imposter, you naturally did not receive the secret communication from your superiors."
"You are the fake one!"
Page said, "It's possible that both this Tims and this Inspector General Mars are fake."
Inspector General Mars said angrily: "Peiji! What are you talking about!!"
Peggy whispered, "This is the conclusion I came to after considering the various situations I've experienced before."
The second Tims shouted: "I think you are the one with the problem!! How dare you question the Inspector General!!"
Another communication came in.
The first Tims was stunned for a moment, and then she announced in a helpless tone that another Inspector Mars had arrived and was about to enter the mansion. The second Inspector Mars was still accompanied by an Inspector Tims.
…
…
Peggy stood in the secret room, and the scene before her had a sense of absurd comedy.
There are two identical Mars Inspectors in the secret room, two Pages who are like reflections in the mirror, and three genuine Inspectors Tims. These three Tims are not projections, but real entities. The second Mars Inspector General appeared in the secret room and caused chaos. The two Mars Inspectors almost drew their guns on each other.
In this chaotic scene, a Tims rushed to the door and shouted to activate the defense system in the mansion to eliminate all these strange and identical visitors.
After knocking Tims unconscious, Page raised his head, cleared his throat and said, "Actually, I can see how the situation has developed to this point. I think we need to be frank with each other."
"Openly speaking about what?"
Page said: "I have to say that your professionalism is commendable, but I think there is no need to argue over this issue now."
The first Mars Inspector General asked, "What do you want to say?"
"Oh, stop pretending." Peggy said , "You are Ahei from the Iwaya clan. You disguised yourself well, but I can smell a faint sour smell on you." It turned to the second Inspector General Mars and said, "You are also from the Iwaya clan. You are Yinbi. And you, you are Nobi from the Iwaya clan. And you are Kokolon." It pointed at each other and called out their names one by one.
The second Tims said, "…What, you're Kokoron? Didn't you say you were going to Hope Township?"
The third Timus, or Bogachi whose real name is Kokoron, replied: "The boat ticket is too expensive. The Overseer's Eye recruited me to do a short-term job, so I came here."
The second Mars Inspector General, whose real name is Yinbi Bogachi, asked Page: "You can tell us apart. Are you the real Lord Page?"
Peggy replied, "Well, actually I was recruited as well. My name is Vince."
All the other Pocacci shouted, "Chief Vince? You're here too!"
The first Mars Inspector General said softly, "So there's not a single real one here, they're all our Pocachis?"
"It looks like that," said Page.
The second Mars Inspector General asked, "So, where are the two all-important Homo sapiens?"
"Peiji" shook his head and said, "The two Homo sapiens I brought with me were also disguised by Pokachi. After a few rounds, no one knows who has the real ones now. Anyway, our mission is over."
The second Tims said, "That's fine with us, but why did you come to work for the Eye of Overseer, Chief?"
"It's a damn financial scam." "Page" said listlessly, "An unscrupulous company sold stocks of a barren planet with nothing in it as a shining sand mine. My savings were all swindled away."
