Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 29

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As soon as the two of them went inside, Atmore immediately pulled out a hood from his pocket and put it on, covering everything above his neck with black fabric, leaving only his eyes exposed.

Yan Xianchuan watched him climb up the drainpipe to the second floor like a gecko, she leaned against the wall outside, she couldn’t help but ask, “Isn’t there any surveillance outside?”

Lu Mingqiu glanced around, “Maybe he’s too confident, he thinks no one would dare to touch his bad luck.”

“So we’re not going to do anything?” Yan Xianchuan suddenly said.

Lu Mingqiu naturally understood her implication again, she understood her desire for killing.

How did she satisfy her high-frequency bloodlust before?

Her deep black pupils were like two small black holes, absorbing all the light. Ignoring Atmore’s real-time report in the earpiece, Lu Mingqiu said, “You heard him, he said he’s going to act alone.”

“Yeah, yeah, respect personal wishes.” Yan Xianchuan complained softly with a sullen face, “I’m just too well-behaved.”

“You’re actually the most morally upright person I know.” Lu Mingqiu said sincerely.

“Really?” Yan Xianchuan was suddenly happy.

“Really, do I look like someone who would lie to you?” Lu Mingqiu said.

“Um… yes.” Yan Xianchuan said, “You’re a very good liar, very good.” After saying this, she nodded in agreement.

Atmore’s voice continued to come through the communication channel, “That shameless doctor went to get the chip, I’m going to act!”

Amidst the sound of broken windows and processed gunshots, Lu Mingqiu turned around, staring into the other party’s eyes, “Then from today onwards, I hope we can make an agreement, to stop lying to each other.”

“I promise that every word I say will be true.” She said, “Our identities have destined us to be tied together, so getting along well is particularly important, how about it, do you want to agree?”

“Okay.” Yan Xianchuan blinked, “I love honesty the most.”

“I just have a question I want to ask you.”

“Done!” Atmore’s slightly panting voice continued to come through.

He first jumped out the window from the second floor, landing directly on someone, he clearly heard the sound of bones breaking, then he rolled on the ground to avoid the bullets, he retaliated, and finally shot the black doctor, the whole process was smooth and flowing, like a scene from a movie.

Xiaolin was lying on the operating table, he ran over in three strides, turned off the machine, pulled out all the connecting wires and tubes, and carried the unconscious woman out of there.

He was happy with his perfect performance, he had subtly shown his connections and overtly shown his combat skills, then he saw the organization’s senior members he had specially called over, they were chatting face to face, no one looked at him.

Atmore: …

Atmore: “Hello? The operation is over.”

His gaze shifted from one person to the other, he saw that the one who usually didn’t speak much looked at him, for some reason, Atmore felt a little uneasy, he took a step back.

The other person also turned her head at this time, she said in a gentle tone, “It went smoothly, we should go, she looks like she needs to rest.”

Atmore breathed a sigh of relief, huh? Why am I relieved… He thought for a while, he couldn’t figure it out, but time was pressing, the prosthetic doctor’s assistant would definitely report to the old man when he came back, the reinforcements would be here soon, the most important thing for them now was to leave.

“My car is up ahead.” He said, he carried Xiaolin and ran.

Yan Xianchuan and the others followed behind, they arrived at the place they had agreed on earlier. Atmore opened the door of a black van on the side of the road and put Xiaolin in the back seat.

There were only two rows of seats in the car, four seats, Lu Mingqiu went to the passenger seat, because Yan Xianchuan always liked to sit in the back when they rode in a car.

Xiaolin was a woman with delicate features, her hair was damp with sweat, strands of it stuck to her temples. Her face was fairly clean, but there was still blood on the edge of her nostrils, it must have been wiped clean, there were no visible injuries on her body, her face was as white as paper.

The car started, her body, leaning against the back of the seat, slumped down, she was pushed back by Yan Xianchuan’s hand just before she touched her, just as they hit a speed bump, the car jolted, Xiaolin’s head hit the glass, making a bang.

The two people in the front turned their heads at the same time, one was worried about Xiaolin, the other was worried that Yan Xianchuan would cause trouble.

Yan Xianchuan raised her eyebrows slightly, and the ends of her eyebrows drooped, she put on an innocent puppy-dog look, she even asked back, “Um? What’s wrong?”

Atmore’s eyes and eyebrows showed a slight, indescribable complexity, he had seen it all through the rearview mirror.

But Xiaolin had nothing to do with them, it was wrong to expect a stranger to take care of her friend. “The seat can be reclined, there’s a lever on the side, can you please help me recline it, let Xiaolin lie down, so that people outside won’t see her.”

“No problem.” Yan Xianchuan reached out and reclined the seat, Xiaolin lay down, her face no longer made close contact with the window.

Lu Mingqiu gave her an appreciative smile.

Yan Xianchuan returned her a candid smile.

The car finally stopped at the bottom of the two-story building they had been to before, Xiaolin was carried upstairs by Atmore, after a while, her eyelids fluttered, she slowly opened them, the double vision gradually faded, and she could see the environment she was in, and the person next to her who was looking at her with a worried expression.

Xiaolin opened her mouth, her voice was confused and weak, “Atmore?”

“Yes, it’s me, how are you feeling?” Atmore replied.

“How am I?” Xiaolin gave a tired smile, her voice was so light that it didn’t sound like a smile, but more like a sigh, the last breath of a dying person.

She closed her eyes, the room fell silent.

—A moment of silence, because Yan Xianchuan opened her mouth.

“And here I finally understand my love for you, I’ve seen it all, it’s as complete as this twilight.”

“You are the summons, and I will respond.

You are the wish, and I will fulfill it.

You are the night, and I will become the day.

What else is needed? Just you and me, it’s already perfect.”①

Finally, she let out a light, sarcastic, and gentle word from her throat, “Love.”

She wanted to continue, but she was stopped by Lu Mingqiu, who gave her a disapproving look.

Yan Xianchuan belatedly realized, “Oh… sorry.” She turned her head and whispered to Lu Mingqiu, “Not appropriate, right?”

Lu Mingqiu nodded.

Yan Xianchuan continued to whisper, “I don’t think she’s sad either.”

Lu Mingqiu put her index finger to her lips, making a shushing gesture.

“I really shouldn’t be sad.” Xiaolin opened her eyes, a tear rolled down her cheek and fell into her hair, her eyes were slightly red, her gaze was mocking, “My life isn’t worth being sad for a scumbag, three years, we’ve known each other for three years…”

“Thank you, Atmore, thank you for saving me.”

Atmore waved his hand, “Don’t mention it, we’re friends, aren’t we? What are your plans now?”

“…I don’t know.” Xiaolin took a light breath, she exhaled long and slow, “I need to think about it.”

“It’s okay. When you’ve decided, just tell me.” Atmore said, “In the meantime, just rest here and get your body back in shape, the rest can wait, there’s still a long time ahead.”

“But there’s one thing I have to do.” Xiaolin said, her eyes were cold, “I’m going to castrate Zhao Cong.”

Yan Xianchuan clapped her hands, the clear sound of clapping echoed through the entire bedroom.

Lu Mingqiu was both helpless and amused.

Atmore was almost bitten on the tongue by her interruption, “Good, good.”

“You rest well, I’m going now, just call me if you need anything.”

He stood up from the bedside, Lu Mingqiu followed him, Yan Xianchuan followed behind Lu Mingqiu, the three of them walked out of the bedroom and came to the first floor.

Atmore took off the relaxed and caring smile on his face, worry and difficulty climbed onto his face, making his face wrinkle like an orange peel.

He sighed deeply, “It’s so hard to live a good life.”

Yan Xianchuan stared at his face and said, “Why don’t you call the police, isn’t it illegal for them to just grab people?”

“Ah?”

Atmore looked back with a look of disbelief, “Call the police?”

Yan Xianchuan looked back confidently, “Yeah.”

It was unbelievable, of the three of them, she was the only one who was a good citizen who followed the law, thinking of calling the police to solve the problem.

Atmore’s expression was indescribable, “The search team won’t care. In their eyes, we people in the West District are all parasites, scum of society, affecting public order and the city’s appearance, they’d rather we all die. Even if you report it, they’ll just agree verbally, they won’t do anything.”

“Since that day, I don’t know how many times I’ve gone to the search team, they would only tell me they were investigating, they were investigating, then I gave up.” He said softly, “It’s useless, they only look at who they’re dealing with.”

His family was most likely taken by the Dongye family to be experimented on. Every moment in this world, people are dying, and the deaths of the vagrants are the least noticeable.

No one cares whether these scavengers live or die, whether there are more or fewer of them. And the search team is even less likely to cause trouble for the Dongye family.

If you asked Atmore to evaluate the search team, he could come up with dozens of insults, the first one would be “running dogs of the chaebols,” he would never trust the search team again.

As for the good reviews online? Look at who said them, who is enjoying the services of the Federation, it’s definitely not them, these fourth-class citizens.

“I’m going to buy some medicine for her.” Atmore said.

“Do you have any money?” Yan Xianchuan asked, whether it was finding someone to help or buying weapons, it wasn’t a small amount of money, he also had to pull some strings to arrange Xiaolin’s future, it would cost even more.

“I do.” Atmore smiled, his sparkling golden hair made him look like a star poster on the wall, “I’ve been around for so many years, I have some savings.”

The surveillance inside had been interfered with by a hacker he knew, and all the witnesses had been taken care of, the old man’s people wouldn’t know it was him.

Xiaolin ran a restaurant, she knew a lot of people, even if they pushed her connections, they wouldn’t find him, even if they suspected it was him, the old man wouldn’t make a big fuss.

They were all people in the gray area, they had to follow the rules, the old man wanted to retaliate against the Blood Pigeon Gang, he used Zhao Cong’s relationship to take Xiaolin away, it wasn’t against the rules, it was just unethical and unprincipled. But they didn’t care about their reputation, they were already rotten.

But without evidence, the old man wouldn’t make a big fuss about finding Atmore trouble, he wasn’t a small fry either.

The most troublesome thing was how to catch Zhao Cong, the doctor was dead, they would definitely hire a new one. The old man had suffered a loss, Xiaolin was rescued, this was bound to be covered up, Zhao Cong could guess with his feet that it must have been him, plus their unpleasant phone call.

If this fence-sitter didn’t hide like a winter mouse, he would twist his head off and use it as a ball.

Finding Zhao Cong’s rat hole through connections would cost another fortune.

Atmore could already see his wallet shrinking rapidly in the future, but he didn’t regret it at all. Money could be earned again, but friends wouldn’t be resurrected like game characters, this deal was a great bargain, there was no need to compare the two.

The two of them stood at the door and watched him drive away.

The sun was gradually setting in the west, but the heat didn’t abate in the slightest. The air seemed to be burning, rippling with rising heat waves. There were fewer pedestrians on the road, no one wanted to risk their shoes melting on the scorching hot pavement.

Yan Xianchuan stood in the narrow shade of the doorway, watching the car disappear into the distance, “We don’t have a car?”

Lu Mingqiu looked at the sky and said, “No, the car is parked where we came from.”

“It’s so hot.” Yan Xianchuan’s face slumped again, “It’s so boring.”

“You said you had a question to ask me earlier, what was it?” Lu Mingqiu asked.

“I forgot, it’s so hot, the sun has melted my brain, it’s stopped working.” Yan Xianchuan tilted her head, like a broken puppet, she was stiff and lifeless.

Lu Mingqiu tried to offer a solution, “Then I’ll go get the car back, you wait here for me?”

Yan Xianchuan didn’t blink, it seemed like she was going to continue her act. “But didn’t you say we’re going to be inseparable, wherever you go, I go?”

Lu Mingqiu: “…Then you come with me.”

Yan Xianchuan: “But it’s so hot.”

Lu Mingqiu’s lips curled up, she said softly, “What do you think we should do?”

Yan Xianchuan stared at her intently, “I don’t know.”

Good, she was deliberately picking a fight. But if her way of expressing dissatisfaction was only through language, Lu Mingqiu even thought it was quite simple, and quite easy to deal with.

“Then listen to me, let’s go.” Lu Mingqiu said, she went to the convenience store across the street and bought two sun hats, they were printed with purple morning glories, they looked like the kind you’d wear for a countryside outing, then she put one on Yan Xianchuan’s head, and bought her an ice cream.

The ice cream was covered in a layer of ice, she took a bite, the ice shattered, and the cream ice cream filling inside fell into her mouth, it was like giving her tongue an ice pack.

Lu Mingqiu didn’t eat any, she was carrying a plastic bag with two bottles of chilled purified water.

Walking in the shade cast by the buildings, avoiding the direct sunlight, it did alleviate some of the summer heat.

And Yan Xianchuan, she maintained a listless state, like a dehydrated radish, she didn’t recover until they got on the motorcycle and returned to the air-conditioned safe house.

The problem wasn’t the high temperature, Lu Mingqiu secretly guessed in her heart, if she told her now that she was going to kill someone, even if she had to swim in a sauna, she probably wouldn’t hesitate for a second.

There was no way to keep randomly selecting fortunate individuals for execution; it was feasible but unnecessary. Did she really have to do it every time? Such randomness would eventually draw the attention of the search team, and endlessly indulging her desires, feeding into her pathology, would only raise the bar, making it increasingly difficult to find satisfaction.

“Do you want to play a game?” Lu Mingqiu asked, “Puzzle, want to try?”

“What puzzle?” Yan Xianchuan looked at her for a while, she answered slowly.

Then she saw the person in front of her take out a square box, she poured the packaged pieces onto the coffee table. Some were crab shell green, some were chrysanthemum yellow, the hollow windows were painted with gold patterns, a moon-white jade eye rolled to the edge of the coffee table, it was about to fall when Yan Xianchuan caught it in her hand.

The iris had a blue-green bird flying through it, leaving streaks of color.

Lu Mingqiu took out a small projector from the box, she pressed it, and a 3D projection of a ship appeared in the air.

The shape was smooth and streamlined like a shuttle, huge golden and silver woven wings were attached to the sides, a giant tree cast a shadow at the bow, a jade eye hung at the top, shining with silver light.

“Immortal Boat.” Lu Mingqiu said.

Yan Xianchuan sometimes felt that this person was carrying some kind of magic bag, or she could read minds, considering she had psionic abilities, the latter possibility suddenly increased a lot, otherwise, how could she always grasp her thoughts.

It was amazing, considering they had only known each other for a month.

“Have you finished looking?” Lu Mingqiu asked the person who had silently sat up straight.

“What?” Yan Xianchuan reacted, she realized she was asking about the model, so she scanned it a few more times, “I’m done.”

Lu Mingqiu reached out and turned off the projection, she pointed to the pile of parts on the table, “You can put it together, we’ll eat dinner when you’re done, I’ve booked a table at Tianhai Pavilion, I hope we don’t arrive too late.”

Yan Xianchuan picked up a curved part with a groove, she touched the silver paint on it, “Such a simple way to goad me.”

“Did it work?” Lu Mingqiu asked.

“It worked.” Yan Xianchuan replied.

She spread out all the parts, at a glance, there were almost a thousand of them, big and small, all different. This was a test of spatial imagination, and also a test of memory, especially since she didn’t know the internal structure at all, she could only guess. It was undoubtedly a difficult task to just look at the final product a few times and then assemble it.

She didn’t like making friends, she hated fake interpersonal relationships, and she hated watching low-IQ peers make stupid remarks in front of her, so she spent most of her childhood at home.

Puzzles were definitely a part of the games suitable for children to pass the time.

But Yan Xianchuan did like to play puzzles, she enjoyed the feeling of thinking for herself, and she also liked to do things that were challenging.

—Although she didn’t use her brain much now, after all, she had a smart person by her side.

The sense of accomplishment and pleasure that came from solving a problem, completing a challenge, was irreplaceable, especially since she could also get praise and admiration from her parents.

It was a win-win.

Lu Mingqiu sat on the single sofa next to her, she quietly watched the other party assemble the parts for a while. Before she started, she had obviously thought about it in her head, then she started assembling, she hardly made any mistakes.

But after assembling the bottom shell, the cabin inside made her fall into long thought, at this rate, she would be able to keep her quiet for a few hours.

During this time, Lu Mingqiu wasn’t idle either, she pulled out the light screen and continued to watch the criminal psychology course she hadn’t finished.

As the sun gradually dimmed, Lu Mingqiu received a video, it was from Black, and there was a sentence attached, [Dongye He is going to make a move.]

She clicked on the video, the image was clearly taken from the living room TV camera.

Dongye He was sitting on the sofa, two people were standing opposite him, one was wearing a suit, the other had undergone prosthetic modifications, both arms were fitted with many weapons, the muzzles were shining brightly.

“Have you controlled all the shareholders?” he asked, holding a cigar in his hand, the smoke rose in wisps.

The man in the suit nodded and replied, “They’ve all been taken care of, but Zhu Ming has been disagreeing, don’t worry, Boss, he had a car accident recently, he won’t be able to attend the shareholders’ meeting in a few days.”

“I’ve always been confident in your work.” Dongye He said, then he looked at the prosthetic man, “The success or failure of this depends on you.”

“My father originally had a psionic who was always by his side, but he died with that old woman Serra, we haven’t recruited a second one yet.”

“Even if he finds someone before that day, there’s nothing to be afraid of, he won’t trust a newcomer, he definitely won’t bring him to private occasions, when we talk, he’ll make this person avoid us, so there will only be one bodyguard left, who is also a modified person.”

Dongye He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “Are you confident? Oliel.”

The blue light in the prosthetic man Oliel’s mechanical eye lit up, “The weapons on these arms are all the most advanced military models, Boss, I’ve never been so confident in my life.”

His voice was a mixture of human voice and electronic sound, very strange.

“Very good.” Dongye He raised a smile, he reached out and tapped him, “Keep it up, you won’t be short of anything after this is done.”

The video ended there, Black sent a few more messages.

[The man in the suit is Dongye’s assistant secretary, his name is Jin Zaishun, he’s been following Dongye He for over ten years, he trusts him a lot.]

[The modified person Oliel, a fifth-class citizen, was imprisoned for killing thirteen people, he was released by Dongye He before his sentence was served, on the grounds of good behavior, he handles some shady business for him.]

[The time Dongye He mentioned, I’m not sure yet, his network signal is encrypted, it’s not the same port as the one used by the building, I can only infer that he has made a private appointment with Dongye Zhengqi.]

Lu Mingqiu thought for a moment, [Keep an eye on him. Has Dongye Zhengqi been acting strange lately? Has he contacted anyone from the Holy Healing Church?]

[No, but someone from the Mechanical Pure Land found him, asking if he was willing to cooperate on the perfect consciousness separation potion. Dongye Zhengqi agreed, he’s been worried about not having enough experimental materials.]

Black continued, [Without Dr. Serra, he was very angry, he smashed most of the things in the room, none of the experimental assistants in Serra’s team have her skills, they’re clumsy when they’re making the potion, I heard him scolding them for a long time, saying that the material waste is going to increase again.]

Hearing this, Lu Mingqiu just wanted to sneer, countless human lives, in his eyes, were just consumable materials, costs that would increase, not living people.

 

 

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