Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 108

This night was like every other night. Those who wanted to sleep had already gone to bed early. Those who liked to stay up late and play outside were still enjoying their nightlife.

But suddenly, a strange sense of unease swept over everyone’s hearts. Those who were still eating late-night snacks stopped chewing. Those who were sleeping opened their eyes. Those who were walking unconsciously slowed down. The cars on the road all stopped.

Everyone, without exception, put down what they were doing and turned their heads, staring in the direction of the palace.

A strange feeling of anxiety and pain flowed through their bodies, stimulating their brains. The guests in the restaurants stood up abruptly, knocking over their bowls and chopsticks. No waiters came to clean up, but the owners didn’t scold them either. They were all doing the same thing, walking slowly, one after another, out of the store and towards the imperial city.

Destroy the Yan family… Destroy the Yan family… Destroy the Yan family…

The Yan family was in the imperial city.

Laya climbed out of bed, wearing her pajamas and slippers. Her mother was doing the same. The two of them opened the door and went downstairs.

There were other neighbors in the hallway, doing the same thing.

There was no conversation, no words, they just walked forward.

The weather outside was very cold. Snow was falling from the sky. Although Laya was wearing pajamas with fleece, she couldn’t withstand the low temperature. Soon, her hands and feet were stiff, and her eyelashes were frosted over.

Many people were like her, their bodies shivering uncontrollably, but their steps never stopped.

The strange behavior of the city residents was quickly reported. Yan Wen, the head of the Yan family, looked at the message sent by his assistant, then checked the surveillance cameras. He put on his robe and went to his study, “Close the city gates first.”

This wasn’t a simple riot.

Yan Wen believed that his reputation was well-managed. He wasn’t cruel enough to warrant a demonstration by the residents. Besides, a real demonstration wouldn’t be like this, like they were walking dead.

Almost everyone in the city had moved. It was such a large-scale operation. Yuecheng was the Yan family’s stronghold. Yan Wen had always been very controlling, he had kept the entire city in order. He hadn’t noticed any clues.

He could only consider the possibility of an ability, someone who could control so many people in such a short time.

“Go, let Xun Gui handle this. Catch a few people and investigate.”

Yan Xun Gui was his second son. After hearing his father’s orders, he immediately sent two people out of the city.

There were also shopping malls and squares near the imperial city. People had gathered there, piling up under the city gate. They were holding all sorts of things in their hands, chairs, bottles, notice boards, plates, etc., and throwing them at the city wall.

His subordinates directly grabbed two people and took them back to the palace.

These two people had been struggling, trying to break free from their restraints. But when they entered the palace, they suddenly quieted down and turned to look at them.

“You live in the palace, you are a member of the Yan family.”

They mumbled these nonsensical words, then they raised the things in their hands and hit the two subordinates.

“Stop.” Yan Xun Gui said.

The two of them were startled. They froze, holding their weapons high. After a while, a look of struggle appeared on their faces, and they muttered, “Yan family… Yan family…”

Yan Xun Gui’s eyes flickered slightly. He looked at them for a moment, then stood on top of the city wall and looked down at the crowd below. “I understand now.”

“Knock them out and tie them up. I’ll go report to Father.”

Yan Wen, the head of the Yan family, was a man who valued health. He had already fallen asleep when the unrest began. Now, he was disturbed. He brewed a cup of tea in his study to refresh himself.

He probably wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

Yan Xun Gui was very efficient. He quickly returned to the study and said respectfully, “Father, it’s most likely a mental ability. I can feel that those people are being controlled by the same will, influencing each other. Their target is the Yan family.”

“However, perhaps because of incorrect information, these people don’t know who is a member of the Yan family. They are attacking everyone in the imperial city, but they are not attacking anyone outside the imperial city.”

“I made the two captured people stop moving, but they soon showed signs of wanting to break free. The spirits of the others are influencing them, like a contagious plague.”

“Everyone is moving slowly, their intelligence is declining. They are acting only on simple instincts, they are not using hot weapons, so the damage is limited.”

“The walls of the imperial city can completely block people out, but there is a risk of trampling. We need to deal with this as soon as possible.”

The study was filled with the aroma of tea. Yan Wen held a delicate celadon teacup in his hand, the steam swirling around the cup. He was still calm and composed, he said unhurriedly, “Let Zhi Tang go. Use tranquilizer darts, try not to hurt anyone. Then organize a group of people to take them indoors. It’s snowing outside, don’t let them freeze to death.”

“You take people to find the source. Start by checking the newcomers who have entered the city recently.”

“Yes.” Yan Xun Gui nodded.

“Solve this quickly. I don’t want this to drag on until tomorrow morning.” Yan Wen said calmly.

“I understand, Father.”

Yan Xun Gui bowed respectfully and left the study. He first contacted his younger sister, Yan Zhi Tang. She was in charge of arms trading, and she had many capable people under her, most of whom were well-trained ordinary people.

This was a time-consuming task, but it didn’t require any special skills. It was perfect for Yan Zhi Tang to handle the rioting crowd.

She had already prepared. With such a big incident, no one could sleep peacefully. Such people didn’t deserve to stay in the Yan family.

After giving her the task, Yan Zhi Tang immediately gathered her people and set off to collect tranquilizers from various hospitals.

To reduce casualties from trampling, the tranquilizers had to be administered from the outside. They could only hope that the people in the inner city could hold on as long as possible during this process.

Yan Xun Gui ordered people to start searching for all the people who had entered Yuecheng in the past half month and check their locations.

This might be a difficult task for other organizations, but not for the Yan family.

They were the rulers of Yuecheng, they were the officials. Accessing residents’ information was as easy as taking a drink from their own refrigerator. They didn’t need anyone’s permission.

They gathered the intelligence, confirmed locations, and reviewed surveillance footage. They discovered hundreds of people weren’t simply wandering the streets; they were actively participating in this “operation.”

They then conducted a thorough search of these hundreds of people, looking at their past movements. Society was too dependent on the internet now, which meant that residents had no privacy.

After cross-referencing, they quickly found some suspicious people.

One person who only moved around in his home and in the marginal districts. These were controlled gray districts, not particularly chaotic, there were no deadly conflicts, but there were also a large number of bounty hunters.

Two teams of people from the aid zone. One of them had visited the imperial city twice. He had only been in Yuecheng for less than a week, and he hadn’t been anywhere else except the imperial city.

Another team of people had also just arrived in the aid zone. Their records were clean, but their movements were strange. They split up and then reunited like scattered flowers. They had all been to the water reservoir, which was very strange.

These three teams all had different suspicious points. Yan Xun Gui ordered his subordinates to capture them separately. The first two were single people, and each team was equipped with an ability user. The last one had more people, and he personally went out, he also picked an ability user to go with him.

The streets were full of people, the vehicles were all stopped on the road, traffic was paralyzed. They directly boarded airships and flew towards their respective targets.

They were flying in the sky, they could clearly see the situation on the ground. People were packed together, shoulder to shoulder, like a scene from a zombie apocalypse.

Suddenly, something happened. The people instantly broke their peaceful state. They became visibly agitated, they beat and smashed, venting their anger. They were no longer satisfied with walking slowly, they started pushing and shoving towards the imperial city. Someone slipped and fell. The people behind him stepped directly on him, without any intention of avoiding him.

His figure was quickly swallowed by the crowd.

The airships in the sky didn’t stop. They had to eliminate the culprits as quickly as possible to reduce casualties.

The airship flew all the way to the aid zone. This was the outer area, most of the people had left. The city was empty, only the lights were still on.

His subordinates jumped out of the airship first to clear the way. Yan Xun Gui followed behind, keeping a distance.

The other ability user walked in front, a silver electric whip hanging from her palm, crackling from time to time.

There was no such thing as a warning or trying to avoid a fight. The door was kicked open directly. The people inside were startled. They raised their guns and started firing.

The ability user who wielded the whip was called Ming Ri. In her words, she was the last tomorrow that the enemy would see.

Countless bullets flew. She sneered, she flicked her right hand, the electric light instantly forked and danced, sweeping away all the bullets, like snakes coiling and throwing them away.

She flicked her left hand down, another bright white electric whip, wrapping around the people who were firing. As long as it touched a corner, the high-voltage current would spread along the point of contact. With a sizzling sound, the air was filled with a burnt smell.

The others wouldn’t just stand there and watch. They raised their guns and aimed at their limbs, pulling the trigger.

Ordinary people facing ability users were like lambs to the slaughter. They couldn’t fight back at all, like toddlers wielding a twig against an adult.

Yan Xun Gui walked behind. Seeing that the enemy had lost their ability to act after just one encounter, he didn’t underestimate them or let his guard down.

“Search.”

The number of people here wasn’t right. There were some missing.

Ming Ri swung her two whips. When she encountered a closed door, she would directly break the lock with a whip and barge in.

The houses in the aid zone weren’t big. It didn’t take long to search a two-bedroom apartment. After breaking down the door to the second bedroom, the people hiding inside were revealed.

A strange device, and four people.

They didn’t attack first, and Yan Xun Gui didn’t let his people attack either. His gaze swept over the test tube surrounded by the four people, he looked at the liquid inside, which was violently churning and bubbling.

A clear mental fluctuation emanated from it. It seemed that this was the source of the riot among the residents of Yuecheng.

“You’re remarkably efficient, Yan family,” the deputy said, his tone calm, but his eyes betrayed a deep reluctance.

They were too fast. They hadn’t caused any damage to the Yan family at all.

Mind Stream was a powerful tool for transforming the minds of the lower classes, but it lacked many offensive methods when used for attacks.

If they could get the Yan family to fall for it, it would be fine. Even if they could delay it for a while, they could cause some damage.

But they were too fast. The Yan family’s control over Yuecheng was too tight.

Though it was impossible to catch them. A look of determination flashed in the deputy’s eyes. He said, “I have a question I want to ask you. It’s…”

The hand he had been holding on the test tube suddenly lifted.

The people surrounding him saw this and immediately reached for their waists. Their movements were fast and uniform, without any eye contact or verbal cues.

Ming Ri sensed something was wrong. She raised her hands. Before she could act, in a flash, she only heard a word, “Stop.”

Everyone present stopped their movements and froze in place.

The deputy’s eyes widened in shock.

“Put away your whip,” Yan Xun Gui said, “We need live prisoners.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his subordinates regained their ability to act. They grabbed the four people. They searched them and found that they were all strapped with explosives. They could blow this place up with the press of a button.

Not only would they be blown up, but Yan Xun Gui and the others wouldn’t be able to escape either.

The explosives were removed. The group of people were searched from head to toe. All their suicide methods were dismantled. Yan Xun Gui took the test tube and briefly examined it. He discovered that this thing actually had its own consciousness, it had simple mental fluctuations. He covered it with his own spirit and easily altered its thoughts.

Stay quiet.

Yan Xun Gui transmitted this instruction. The churning, agitated blood gradually calmed down. It lay in the test tube, motionless.

The next second, Yan Zhi Tang sent him a message.

【The people on the street have all stopped moving. Did you solve it over there?】

Yan Xun Gui: 【I guess so. You go ahead and move the people indoors, treat the injured. Father and I will discuss how to handle the aftermath.】

Yan Zhi Tang had no objections. She obeyed and continued her actions.

The airship carried the group of prisoners back to the imperial city. There were almost ten times as many people outside the city wall than when they left. They were packed together, shoulder to shoulder.

Yan Xun Gui reported the course of the operation to the head of the family on the way, emphasizing the strange blood he had obtained.

The casualties were not a small number. They couldn’t be covered up. But to tell the truth, it was also a blow to the Yan family’s prestige.

If the controlled people didn’t have memories of this period, then there would be a lot of room for manipulation.

It just so happened that there were two people in the imperial city who had been captured earlier. They could be used to conduct an experiment.

He wouldn’t know how to do brainwashing. Besides, even if he could, he couldn’t brainwash the entire city. No ability user had that kind of power.

The two people were taken to the study. Yan Xun Gui tried to control the consciousness of this blood, to remove its influence on them.

Its owner, or rather, in its previous life, should have been an A-level ability user. But now it was only a small amount, it was clearly weaker than Yan Xun Gui in terms of strength. It was easily controlled by him.

The two people who were tied up were startled. They were like people who had just woken up from a dream, “I… how did I get here?”

“Mayor! This is… where is this?”

The two of them looked around in panic. They saw that they were tied up. They subconsciously started to defend themselves, “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Neither did I! I’m innocent!”

Yan Wen: “Quiet.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but the two of them closed their mouths at the same time.

“You two are suspected of colluding with rebel fugitives. You need to be temporarily detained for investigation. If the intelligence is wrong, you will be released and compensated.” He said.

“Take them away.”

Two bodyguards came over and dragged them away.

Mayor Yan Wen didn’t say what would happen if the intelligence was correct, but with a little thought, you could tell that they wouldn’t survive. Although they were a little panicked, they were indeed innocent. They didn’t despair or shout.

Yan Wen had cultivated a good image for a long time. They still had some trust in the mayor, believing that they would be cleared.

Besides, they were innocent. Mayor Yan had just made it up, he just needed a reason to take them away.

You could tell from their performance that the people who had their control removed wouldn’t have memories of this period.

Now they just had to wait for the casualty statistics.

“Can you make everyone return to their place before the riot started?” Yan Wen asked.

“Yes.” Yan Xun Gui said.

“Do this after all the injured have been treated. Now we need to interrogate these people to find out who they are.” Yan Wen tapped the table lightly, his eyes narrowed.

The deputy and his group weren’t afraid of interrogation. They were fearless when they were caught. But he didn’t expect that the interrogation he would face would be completely skillless.

Yan Xun Gui just came up to him and said, “Tell me your origin.”

The deputy couldn’t control himself. He opened his mouth and told him everything, his name, his identity, like he was spilling the beans.

His expression was pained and shocked, full of reluctance, but his mouth was very honest, he couldn’t stop it.

He was sweating profusely, his eyes filled with hatred.

Yan Xun Gui felt nothing for this hateful gaze. He continued to ask, “What is that blood?”

The deputy was miserable, but he still told him everything he knew.

Azberto Polov, he was truly a persistent ghost. Even after he died, he could still cause so much trouble.

Yan Xun Gui: “Tell me in detail about what happened after Azberto’s death, and your plan.”

The deputy was heartbroken, but his mouth was still very quick.

He spilled his heart out, his thoughts, his plans, everything. The most noteworthy thing wasn’t the method of this group’s attack, but Inola, or Lu Mingqiu.

She was also an ability user.

The Polov family didn’t have many descendants, but they had quite a few capable people.

Yan Xun Gui collected the intelligence and left the side room. The guards, without being told, dragged the few people away to be dealt with.

He reported all the information he had obtained to his father. The latter took off his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose, and showed a hint of annoyance.

“Find an excuse to call Yan Xianchuan back. As for the rest of the Polov family, kill them.”