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Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 26

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  2. Mental Illness Evolution Manual
  3. Chapter 26 - Exploding Tomato Part 7
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"And there you have it, folks! Another chapter conquered...or at least, not completely butchered. Please forgive any egregious errors; I blame the coffee (or lack thereof).


The evacuation route was planned by Atmore, as a bounty hunter who had been hanging around Night City for years, he knew this city like the back of his hand.

He knew where the tunnels were, where the maintenance routes were, where there were no surveillance cameras, he knew it all.

They even switched cars halfway through, to make sure the license plates weren’t tracked.

There were several sets of clothes in the back seat of the new car, the partition rose, and the two of them changed into clean jackets, took off their wigs, and threw them in a bag with the dirty clothes, at least from the outside, they didn’t look like they had just rolled around in a pile of blood.

“Damn it, there’s a roadblock ahead.” Atmore hammered the steering wheel.

Going further ahead was the West District, known as the rat’s nest of the lower class, a gathering place for bounty hunters, vagrant families, and some small gangs. The Dongye family had set up a checkpoint here, it really felt like they were casting a net in a fish pond.

Yan Xianchuan looked out the window, the road was blocked, ten or so people were guarding the side, all holding weapons, every car was stopped and interrogated before being allowed to pass.

“Do they have the right to stop citizens? This should be illegal, right?” Yan Xianchuan asked in a puzzled tone, as if she were a law-abiding, friendly citizen.

“In Night City, the Dongye family *is* the law,” Atmore scoffed. “The government are just their puppets. Don’t even think about roadblocks; they could level the West District, and the search department wouldn’t dare to breathe a word.”

“We’ve been seen, if we reverse now, we’ll be considered suspicious, the surveillance didn’t catch us, they don’t know who did it, stay calm, don’t blow our cover.”

Atmore slowed down and slowly stopped, he rolled down the window, rested his elbow on it, and asked curiously, “Isn’t this Captain Hill? Long time no see, what are you doing blocking the road? What’s going on, something else happened?”

A woman with short black hair and a tight combat suit looked down, she was as efficient as a cheetah on the prowl, “Routine inspection.”

“Where were you just now? I need to see your driving record.”

“Delivering something, making some extra cash.” Atmore tapped the display screen a few times, pulled up the driving record, and showed it to her openly, his eyes were affectionate and teasing as he looked at her, he said softly, “Do you have time? Want to make a date? Just have a drink, I promise.”

Hill’s gaze swept over the other three people in the car, she gave him a warning look, “No.”

She straightened up, waved her hand to the people behind her, the barrier rose, “Do less illegal things.” She said, her hand moved away from the car, she took a step back and went to check the next car.

The cars in front and behind had their doors wide open, their trunks were also checked, they just took a quick look, it couldn’t even be described as letting them off easy, it was more like a floodgate opening.

Before they could ask, Atmore explained himself, “Connections, that’s what it’s all about!”

Harper snorted, her disdain was obvious.

The safe house was one of Atmore’s strongholds, a two-story building. The first floor was piled with all sorts of junk, overturned chairs, car engines, all sorts of messy repair tools were scattered everywhere, it was like a warehouse, Harper rolled her eyes, “Men.”

“Hey! I heard that.” Atmore said loudly from the front.

“We’re safe now, let’s talk about how this happened, didn’t you say it wouldn’t cause a big commotion?” Atmore moved a few chairs over, he sighed, “They’ve even set up roadblocks in the West District, the whole city must be on lockdown.”

“Dr. Serra’s chip in her head exploded.” Lu Mingqiu said.

“Originally, according to the plan, Harper would take you out, pretending nothing happened, now two people are missing, the Dongye family will definitely find out about her.” Atmore was about to continue, but Harper interrupted him.

“It doesn’t matter, I’ve made enough money anyway, I’ve been wanting to leave here for a while, I just haven’t made up my mind, now is a good time.” Harper shrugged, as if she didn’t care.

Atmore wanted to say something else, but he didn’t, he patted his clothes and stood up, “Anyway, you have your own ideas, I’ll go buy some food, stay here until the heat dies down, try not to wander around.”

“We’re going to take a bath.” Yan Xianchuan said.

Lu Mingqiu, like a wind chime swaying precariously under the eaves, walked into the bedroom with unsteady steps.

“You need treatment.” Yan Xianchuan reminded her, “Do you have any medicine?”

“The stronghold has some, I’ve already notified Gold Ring to send it over.” Lu Mingqiu sat on the ground, her back against the wall, her breathing was barely steady, “You go take a bath, I’ll be fine for a while.”

Fragile.

She was a fledgling fallen from its nest, its down damp with dew. Huddled together, she trembled, but forced herself to remain still, to conceal her fear from any lurking predator.

Yan Xianchuan looked at her for a while, then walked into the bathroom. Warm water flowed from the showerhead, pouring over her head, the dried blood scabs melted in the hot water, flowing down her body to the ground.

She closed her eyes, but her mind went back to the scene in the car, Lu Mingqiu’s body slammed into her arms, carrying the smell of blood, gunpowder, and gun oil.

She was thin and light, her acting career made her strictly control her figure, she didn’t even take a bite of the desserts she bought for Yan Xianchuan.

It was in this seemingly fragile body that a remarkable tenacity of belief burst forth, she was so focused when she aimed, her eyes had a faint murderous intent, and more than that, she had the confidence to hit her target with one shot.

Like a spider plant, it has a weak and harmless appearance, but its roots spread, occupying all the space in the pot.

She had been thinking about Lu Mingqiu for too long, Yan Xianchuan had suddenly woke up, she frowned.

What was she reminiscing about, that touch that wasn’t even half a hug? Only people with high emotional needs would like physical contact, would like to interact intimately with their peers. She didn’t like it, and she wasn’t interested in it.

Yan Xianchuan thought for a moment, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.

It was normal to feel strange and unconsciously think back after not touching another person’s body for too long.

It was like a person who never sunbathes, suddenly goes out for a walk at noon, and feels uncomfortable.

Having reached a conclusion, she continued to clean her body, she smiled at the mirror, and even hummed a song. The sound of water and the sound of singing passed through the soundproof frosted glass door, into Lu Mingqiu’s ears, the singer had perfect pitch, she could easily recognize that it was the tune of “Carmen”.

It seems like she’s very happy with today’s events.

Psychopaths easily get bored with a monotonous, peaceful life. Lu Mingqiu sometimes thought of Yan Xianchuan as a caged carnivore, she still had her wildness, a good meal would make her calm and docile, but no one knew how long this feeling of fullness would last.

What if she lost interest?

Yan Xianchuan finished washing herself, she changed into clean clothes and walked out of the bathroom, Lu Mingqiu was still sitting on the ground, her head lowered, as if she were asleep.

She walked to the person’s feet, squatted down, and tilted her head to look.

“Gold Ring has arrived, can you go get the medicine?” Lu Mingqiu suddenly spoke.

“Okay.” Yan Xianchuan said.

To avoid being discovered by people outside, she jumped out the window, landing lightly on the ground. The injury to her internal organs was nothing to her, with her superhuman healing ability, she only felt a dull discomfort now.

She walked to the intersection and took a small box from Gold Ring, who was wearing a hat.

“Is Yellow Canary okay?” Gold Ring said, his face full of worry.

“She should be fine.” Yan Xianchuan thought for a moment and said, “She’s still alive.”

Gold Ring’s expression twisted for a moment, then he suddenly remembered that Yellow Canary had given them a heads-up, saying that this new member, called Polite Biscuit, had a strange way of thinking, and that they shouldn’t take anything she said to heart. His face was complex, “You… forget it, let her rest well.”

“Thanks for your concern, you too.” Yan Xianchuan said.

Gold Ring turned and left, following the path he had come from.

Yan Xianchuan climbed up to the second floor along the drainpipe, she squeezed through the open window and went inside. Lu Mingqiu looked up at her, her face was incredibly pale, as if she had been frozen in the snow for three days and three nights.

The box contained a syringe, Yan Xianchuan went to wash her hands, “Where do I inject this?”

Lu Mingqiu stretched out her arm, her light words drifted from her lips, “Here.”

Her skin was very white, pale purple veins lay beneath the skin, like wisteria climbing on a wall.

Yan Xianchuan wiped the small patch of skin with alcohol, her left hand held her arm, her right hand held the syringe, she slowly inserted the needle into the vein.

The medicine was all pushed into her body, Yan Xianchuan put the empty syringe back in the box, she looked at the person who was breathing heavily, she said, “I can help you take a bath.”

The breathing stopped for a moment.

“Your blood is all dried,” Yan Xianchuan said.

” I can do it myself.” Lu Mingqiu stood up, leaning against the wall, as if there were a thousand words stuck in her throat, but she only uttered two words, “Thank you.”

She slowly moved to the bathroom, Yan Xianchuan silently stared at her back for a while, making sure that the other party really didn’t need her help, she then lay down on the bed.

She was in a generous mood today and didn’t mind the physical contact; however, she knew that such an opportunity might not present itself again if the other party wasn’t receptive.

Yan Xianchuan turned over and opened the light screen to go online. The sudden lockdown of Night City had already caused a stir, there were all sorts of rumors and wild guesses about the truth of the matter.

Some people said they saw someone performing a high-speed chase on Huanxi Road, maybe it was related to this, some people said it was the gangs in the West District who had messed up and got into trouble with the Dongye family, and some people said it was a follow-up to the attack at the banquet.

But no one raised any objections to the fact that the official search team was also helping the Dongye family find people, it seemed that their position as a local emperor had already become deeply ingrained in people’s minds.

Last time, the Mechanical Pure Land kidnapped Dr. Serra, the people who went in were all wiped out, they all had self-destructing bombs implanted in their bodies, they committed suicide when they saw that the situation was bad, they didn’t give the enemy a chance to capture them and interrogate them.

This operation failed, the responsibility couldn’t be attributed to Yan Xianchuan, Tail-End did send a few words of comfort, telling her not to take it to heart, Yan Xianchuan just hummed and hawed in response.

The Mechanical Pure Land people were quite concerned about her, their subordinate member, but they didn’t know what their reaction would be when they found out she was a double agent.

She scrolled down further, a line of text was hanging at the end of the hot search – Actor Xie Chuxiao’s reputation was ruined, he announced his retirement from the entertainment industry.

Yan Xianchuan: What a familiar name.

She clicked on it and remembered, this was the hypocritical man who participated in the reality show with her, although it hadn’t been a few days, Yan Xianchuan had already forgotten about him.

Besides that, there was nothing special, mostly gossip news, the news of Dr. Serra’s death hadn’t come out yet, it must have been covered up by the Dongye family.

They were thinking about making a fortune from the consciousness separation potion, Dr. Serra was the project leader, now that she was dead, it wasn’t good news for either Dongye father and son.

After a while, Lu Mingqiu came back from the bathroom, she looked much better, maybe the medicine was working, or maybe it was the hot steam, her face finally had a little color.

“Let’s have an online meeting, I’ll talk about the intelligence I got from this operation.” Lu Mingqiu said, “Don’t ignore me, you have to participate.”

The meeting was held at the branch base, they went there via holographic projection.

Not everyone was at this meeting, only those involved in this matter, the doctor, and a person whose identity was blurred, he looked like a human pillar, whether he was male or female, tall or short, fat or thin, it was unknown, even his voice was a processed fake voice.

“I searched Dr. Serra’s memories and got the production process and formula for the consciousness separation potion, I’ll send the details to the doctor later. It needs to be specially explained that the special material they mentioned earlier is a hormone extracted from the human body, it was named the Quiet Factor by Dr. Serra, it takes ten people to extract one dose, to make one potion.”

Lu Mingqiu’s voice was solemn, “And this hormone is only secreted when a person is subjected to extreme physical torture, so all the subjects died without exception after the experiment.”

“This is why the Dongye family wants to bring other small families on board, they don’t have enough raw materials, it’s hard to explain if too many people go missing in one area, so they want to expand the scope.”

“Another thing is that Dongye He is collaborating with Dr. Serra to secretly kill Dongye Zhengqi, but now that Dr. Serra is dead, his original plan should be adjusted.”

“The last thing is that Dongye Zhengqi is connected to the Holy Healing Church.”

After the three things were said, the meeting room fell silent, some were shocked, some were thinking, and Yan Xianchuan was spacing out, and she decided to give the unknown person opposite a nickname, she would call him Blurred Man.

For a moment, no one spoke, only Blurred Man said, “Monitor Dongye He’s movements, if he makes a move, we should take control of him. Yellow Canary, you go hypnotize him, wait until the situation stabilizes, then support a puppet to take over.”

Lu Mingqiu only lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded, “Okay, I’ll arrange it.”

“You handle the rest.” Blurred Man said this and went offline.

“Doctor, the production of the consciousness separation potion is up to you, I need a cost report. As for the perfect version of the potion, Dr. Serra’s lab must have samples left, I’ll find a way to see if I can get it.”

“Black, you’re in charge of surveillance.”

“Gold Ring, Silver Ring, you go check the information on the Dongye family’s side branches, see if there are any suitable candidates for puppets.”

“Any other opinions or suggestions?” Lu Mingqiu said after looking around.

“Yes.” Gold Ring suddenly spoke, “We all want to know, how are you doing now?”

Lu Mingqiu’s expression softened, “I’ll be fine after two days of rest, don’t worry. How’s White doing?”

Black’s voice came from the speaker, “Not good, he won’t communicate with anyone, he won’t talk to me, he’s locked himself in his room.”

Even in a electronic voice you could hear the fatigue and worry in his tone.

“Do you need me to go see him?” Lu Mingqiu said, this was a way of using her psionic ability to comfort him.

Black thought for a moment before replying, “Not for now, he’ll be fine, he’s always been strong.”

“Let me know if you need anything.” Lu Mingqiu’s tone was gentle, “For now, let’s just wait and see, everyone be discreet, stay safe, the meeting is adjourned.”

Exiting the holographic projection, Lu Mingqiu rubbed her temples and sat on the other side of the bed.

“I suddenly realized that you seem to be in a very high position, you’ve been giving orders.” Yan Xianchuan turned her body, she looked up at her slightly, her eyes were filled with surprise.

“I’m in charge.” Lu Mingqiu said, she met the other party’s gaze, and added, “One of the heads.”

“Wow.” Yan Xianchuan exclaimed, “That’s amazing.”

“It’s nothing amazing, I just think more.” Lu Mingqiu said, she glanced at the person next to her, she was still thinking about how to deal with her, who was out of control.

Knock knock knock, the door was knocked on a few times, Atmore’s voice came from behind the door, “Come out to eat.”

“We were delayed on the road, I chatted with Hill for a while, are you hungry?” Atmore took out lunch boxes one after another from the insulated bag.

“She’s from the Dongye family.” Lu Mingqiu looked at the four dishes and one soup on the table, there was meat and vegetables, the ribs were covered in sauce, tomatoes were floating in the soup, the steaming buns were stacked together, it didn’t look like fast food.

Atmore handed out disposable chopsticks one by one, then sat down on the chair, he just raised his eyebrows when he heard this, “Hill is the security captain.”

No one asked, he just continued talking, “Speaking of how I met her, it was a super romantic story.”

“Yeah, the story of a thief getting caught.” Harper rolled her eyes, she said with a look of exasperation, “Do you have to tell everyone about this every time you see someone?”

“You don’t understand, it’s called romantic!” Atmore looked like he didn’t want to argue with her, he cleared his throat, “Once, I went to make some money to eat, I don’t know how, but I actually ended up robbing the company, the guy who gave out the mission didn’t say anything about it being related to the Dongye family, it made me get chased by a dozen people, I almost lost my head!”

“I could swallow that bitter pill, I sold the goods, and I got a commission for free, guess how much I made?”

Yan Xianchuan asked very enthusiastically, “How much?”

Atmore held up three fingers, “Thirty thousand! But that bastard really screwed me over, I was chased by the security team for a whole month before it stopped, everyone gave up except Hill, she was relentless in catching me.”

“I secretly followed her, I found out that she goes to the Children’s Heart Welfare Home to volunteer on weekends, and she also donates to these children. What are you guys looking at, aren’t you surprised? This is someone from the company, she actually has this kind of kindness, it’s as absurd as a cat living with a bunch of mice.”

“Then I came up with a plan, I pulled some strings, and made the money show up as going to the Children’s Heart Welfare Home, so when she caught me, she let me go.”

“So you didn’t donate.” Yan Xianchuan said.

“Children’s Heart Welfare Home is a money laundering place.” Atmore shrugged, “It just looks like a welfare home on the surface.”

His curly golden hair was like the harvested rice ears, Atmore’s handsome face, which could rival a movie star’s, had a complex expression of incomprehension, admiration, and pride mixed together, “I never thought there were still good people in this world, didn’t she know that even if she donated, the money wouldn’t reach those children?”

“If she knew all this, would she have let you go?” Harper exhaled a puff of smoke, “She would have shot you dead.”

“That’s true.” Atmore nodded in agreement.

After dinner, Harper stood up and patted her clothes, “I’m leaving, I have my own place, I’m not staying here.”

“Be careful on the road.”

Atmore followed her out, soon there were only two people left in the room.

“Aren’t we going back to the stronghold?” Yan Xianchuan asked.

“We’ll rest for a day, we’ll leave tomorrow.”

It was much easier for the two of them to leave, they just had to change their faces, but Lu Mingqiu was already struggling to stay awake just eating, if she had to leave, she would probably fall asleep after walking a few steps, it was better to just stay here for the night.

“Okay, I’ll do whatever you say. There are two rooms, one for each of us.” Yan Xianchuan said, she went to the empty room on the left, leaving the one she had been in for Lu Mingqiu.

Because the bed was already made, she didn’t have to do it herself.

Yan Xianchuan was very considerate at this time, Lu Mingqiu could guarantee that this person, although she had mental problems, was definitely more polite than most normal people.

She even threw her trash in the trash can.

A peaceful night passed, for many people, tonight was a sleepless night, but the few who had caused all this slept soundly.

Early the next morning, the two of them were about to leave when Atmore came over, he was carrying two bags of breakfast. He was so kind and hospitable that they couldn’t refuse, so the two of them sat down and had breakfast.

Finally, Lu Mingqiu said, “Thank you, you’ve been a great help.”

“You’re leaving?” Atmore asked back.

“Yes, we also have a safe house in the West District, if we stay here, it’s easy to implicate you if something happens.” Lu Mingqiu said.

“You guys aren’t ordinary mercenaries, are you?” Atmore blurted out, he stared at the two of them, their gazes converging on him. He resisted the urge to turn around and run, his scalp tingling, “Ordinary mercenaries wouldn’t dare to cause trouble for the company, and they wouldn’t have an intelligence network like yours.”

“Don’t attack, I’m not trying to provoke you.” He raised both hands above his head, signaling that he was harmless, “I want to join you.”

“I know that if I’m right, if I make it clear, I might lose my life here, but I have a reason to do this.” Atmore looked pleading, “Please, give me a chance?”

“Then tell us, what’s your reason.” Lu Mingqiu sat back down in her chair.

“I’m from a vagrant family, not a big one, only ten or so people, in Qutang Town next to Night City. One day, I followed the adults to scavenge, when we came back, the gathering place was empty, my brother was lying on the ground, covered in blood, he was the only one left.”

Atmore spoke slowly, as if he was reminiscing as he spoke, as if he was tearing open a past wound and couldn’t bear to speak, “I asked him what happened, he said a team of people wearing security uniforms took everyone away, he injured one of them, so they beat him up and left him there to die.”

For a moment, it seemed like he couldn’t go on, “One of them said, you killed someone, how are you going to make up for it? The other said, just grab another one, right?”

“I know, I know the chaebol people never treat us lower class people like humans.” Atmore’s eyes flickered with a cruel hatred, “In their eyes, we’re livestock, objects, garbage that can be used! If they’re annoyed, they drive us away, if they find us useful, they grab a few of us, they don’t care if we live or die.”

“I hate them, I hate every single one of them. But what good am I? I can’t even get into the company’s gate, no one wants me to be a cleaner, wanting to retaliate against the Dongye family, even dreaming about it is unrealistic.”

Atmore pulled the corner of his mouth and smiled bitterly, his tone was resolute, “So no matter who you are, as long as you’re against the chaebols, that’s enough! I want to join, really, I’ll do anything, except for you guys, I can’t think of any other chance.”

Yan Xianchuan had been staring at Lu Mingqiu, the latter didn’t seem to have any expression, but she knew that the other party must be very moved.

Most of the Resistance members had similar pasts, she wouldn’t refuse Atmore.

Thinking about this, Yan Xianchuan’s thoughts began to wander, she didn’t have a tragic past, why did Lu Mingqiu agree back then?

Huh…?

“The reason is quite compelling.” Lu Mingqiu said, her expression calm and composed, “So the first thing you need to know is what our organization is called.”

“What?”

It was so easy? Atmore repeated in disbelief.

“The Resistance.” Lu Mingqiu said.

Atmore’s eyes widened, “Really? No, why did you say it so easily, you don’t need to ask anything else, you don’t need to test me? What if I’m a spy!”

Lu Mingqiu’s smile softened her tone. “It’s alright,” she said, “If you try anything now, you’re dead.”


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Storyteller Alexiss100's Words

"And there you have it, folks! Another chapter conquered...or at least, not completely butchered. Please forgive any egregious errors; I blame the coffee (or lack thereof).

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