Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 4

Su Hong nodded, “I’ll go get the car.”

Lu Mingqiu went upstairs, walked into the bedroom, pressed a snake-shaped pattern on the blank wall opposite the bed, the wall retreated, revealing a small door. She pushed the door open, took a round button-shaped object from the drawer and stuck it behind her ear, her fingertips brushed over it, and she instantly changed her face, her appearance became ordinary, only her eyes remained sharp.

Then she picked up a black mask and put it on, before taking the elevator directly to the parking lot downstairs. She didn’t take the actress’s usual car, but walked to a corner and pulled open the door of a black sedan.

Su Hong was sitting in the driver’s seat, also disguised, not her original appearance.

The two didn’t talk much, the car started and sped away, the windows were covered with anti-peeping coating, from the outside, the interior was pitch black.

The car turned left and right, taking back roads, and it took about an hour before it stopped, stopping behind a folk souvenir shop.

The two entered through the back door, went straight to the warehouse, opened the hidden door, passed three security locks, and the originally smooth wall suddenly fluctuated, revealing its true form – a closed elevator door.

Lu Mingqiu extended her index finger, inserted it into a square hole on the wall, a slight stinging sensation appeared, then the green light came on, and the elevator opened.

They walked into the silver-white elevator car one after the other, without doing anything, the elevator started on its own, carrying them down rapidly, three seconds later the car door opened again, a long corridor appeared, several researchers in white coats pushed open the door, their eyes swept over, one of them said loudly, “Yellow Canary, over here.”

Lu Mingqiu followed him, without much greeting, the researcher took her to a laboratory, several people were inside adjusting the brain-computer parameters.

In the center of the room lay a man, his face was bloodless, his lips were chapped, his forehead was covered with fine sweat, when he saw her figure, his pupils instantly constricted, his jaw clenched, and he squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth.

“You can give up, I will never betray Mr. Dongye!”

Dongye Zhengqi personally selected him, cultivated him, allowed him to escape poverty, gave him the life he had always dreamed of, and taught him how to be a decent person.

Xu Qiao, although not a good person, at least knew how to be grateful, even though he was in the hands of this unknown organization, he would never reveal a single bit of information about his benefactor!

Xu Qiao glared, his expression resolute, full of fighting spirit.

However, Lu Mingqiu had no intention of interrogating him at all, Xu Qiao was about to shout out his will loudly, but his mouth was tightly shut, making his burning anger have nowhere to vent, his eyes were red with anger.

The sedative was injected through the veins in his arm, Xu Qiao’s eyelids uncontrollably wanted to close, Lu Mingqiu stared into his eyes, her mental power spread out, controlling his brain.

… Relax… Relax…

Xu Qiao fell asleep, dreaming of scenes from his childhood.

He had lived in a vagrant caravan since he was a child, his parents died in a scavenging accident when he was just learning to walk. Even though the family advocated mutual help and love, a helpless, suckling infant, relying on everyone’s help, finally survived.

The people in the family had taken good care of him, but after Xu Qiao came into contact with the Skynet, he inevitably became envious of a more comfortable living environment.

He had never been to school, he could only recognize a few characters thanks to a half-book of storybooks he picked up from the trash heap.

Xu Qiao was overjoyed, from then on, he could finally live in a house, sleep in a warm bed, have three meals a day, instead of squeezing into the car seat, wrapped in a cotton coat, often going hungry.

He learned to read, learned to fight, learned to use firearms, all thanks to Dongye Zhengqi.

The other party had given him a second life, and he should repay him with his life.

The scene flashed quickly, Dongye Zhengqi called him over and gave him an important task, to escort Dr. Serra.

The process went smoothly, Xu Qiao successfully met with the doctor, helped him transport experimental equipment to Night City, and finally arranged accommodation for the doctor, in the Warren Building.

A sharp pain exploded in his brain, every bone in Xu Qiao’s body trembled, wanting to break free from the confines of his body.

The restraints tightly secured his body, his hoarse roar was choked back, but screams still escaped from his throat.

Xu Qiao was sweating profusely, his eyes bulged, filled with bloodshot, as if they were about to burst open the next second. He stared fixedly at Lu Mingqiu, his hatred almost becoming tangible.

Lu Mingqiu took off the receiver she was wearing, her gaze swept lightly over him, and she said to the others beside her, “Found it, in the Warren Building.”

“Let Mirror go, try to find Dr. Serra’s exact whereabouts.”

“Yes.” The researcher responded, “What about him?”

“He’s useless.” Lu Mingqiu’s voice was cold, “Dispose of him.”

After saying that, she turned and walked out of the laboratory, Su Hong followed silently behind her.

The two changed routes to return to their residence, changed their disguises, Lu Mingqiu turned back into the delicate and weak actress, and even put on a face mask before going to bed.

In just two days, Yan Xianchuan had successfully become a night owl. She quickly integrated into this society, mastering the true meaning of life – the excitement all happens at night.

As for Lu Mingqiu, she had been thrown to the back of her mind after she woke up. She had watched a bunch of the other party’s videos last night, and had to admit that in a way, she was indeed very perfect.

She was well-spoken, gentle and considerate, she treated everyone equally, even the reporters who deliberately made things difficult for her, she didn’t get angry, instead, she appealed to her fans not to make things difficult for the person, saying that she could understand the difficulties of the other person’s work, she was a model moral figure.

This kind of person was clearly from a different world than Yan Xianchuan, she was like a princess who walked out of a fairy tale.

Yan Xianchuan was not interested in Lu Mingqiu at all, but she wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for her either, if she needed to cooperate, she would cooperate, just as an experience of a different life.

But as for actively contacting this delicate princess, forget it.

Yesterday, when Yan Xianchuan was out and about, she found a bar, it wasn’t in a conspicuous location, but it was surprisingly lively, there were quite a few people standing just at the entrance, she planned to check it out today.

The bar had no name, only a circular tail-eating snake lamp illuminating a green light.

Yan Xianchuan passed through the alley, where people were standing or sitting, and pushed open the silver door of the bar. The sound of music and people mixed together, a wave of sound hit her.

But it wasn’t as crowded as she imagined, there were a few people dancing on the dance floor, most people were sitting in groups of two or three, with glasses in front of them.

She looked around and found the bar, she had just sat down when the music changed style, the sound of the electric guitar ignited the air.

Yan Xianchuan turned her head and saw a woman with black lipstick pick up the microphone, her abdominal muscles were particularly obvious, “Hey! Let’s have a classic song for everyone.”

This was a guest, not a resident singer, she was still holding half a bottle of wine.

The bartender was a woman, she didn’t have the smell of pheromones on her. People who could work in this kind of place were either alphas or betas.

As for omegas, they were like beautiful dolls raised in a greenhouse, the places they went to, besides home and school, were only some clubs, beauty salons, etc. that were exclusive to omegas.

A bar? Too scary, that’s not a place where a normal omega should go.

In the past few days, Yan Xianchuan had met people, except for Lu Mingqiu, none of them were omegas, it was as if they had become rare animals, she couldn’t see them at all.

“First time here?” The bartender spoke, interrupting her thoughts, “What would you like to drink? Do you need a recommendation?”

Yan Xianchuan nodded, “Yes, do you have a signature drink, the best one?”

The bartender smiled, she leaned against the bar, her cross earrings peeking out from her short hair, “We do have a signature drink, it’s called Aftertaste, but it’s not the best one.”

“The best, the most potent one we have here is called Grape Juice.”

This name probably tricked a lot of new customers.

As for which one to have, do I even need to choose?

Yan Xianchuan, an adult, “One of each.”

“Good eye.” The bartender snapped her fingers, turned around and took five bottles of wine from the shelf, and started mixing drinks.

She didn’t do any fancy moves when mixing the drinks, she was serious and casual, and soon she mixed a drink and put it on the counter.

“This is Aftertaste.”

Yan Xianchuan stared at the drink for a while, which looked colorful for some reason, she suddenly had a bad feeling.

The strongest drink is called Grape Juice, how likely is it that the signature drink has a trap.

Yan Xianchuan picked up the glass and cautiously took a sip. In an instant, sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, all kinds of flavors exploded on her tongue, bringing an indescribable wonderful experience.

Her eyebrows immediately furrowed tightly, at this time the bartender put another mixed drink on the counter, the deep purple wine swayed in the glass, falling into Yan Xianchuan’s eyes, it seemed like a savior, emitting a tempting glow.

She picked up the glass and took a big gulp, the spicy wine went straight down her tongue, instantly washing away the strange taste in her mouth, after the spiciness, only a sweet grape aroma lingered in her mouth.

Compared to the taste just now, this grape sweetness was so wonderful.

“Hahaha.” The bartender laughed, raised an eyebrow, “How is it? Isn’t it the best?”

Yan Xianchuan: “Are you the bartender with the highest commission in the whole bar?”

The bartender stretched, “You’re wrong about that, I’m not the bartender, I’m the owner of this bar, Zhu En.”

Yan Xianchuan pushed the colorful Aftertaste away a little, and said, “What’s the bar called? I didn’t see a sign.”

“It’s called Reincarnation.” Zhu En beckoned to a passing waiter, took a plate of snacks from him and put it in front of Yan Xianchuan, “For you, consider it compensation.”

“Thank you.”

Yan Xianchuan took the snacks, watched the owner chat with other guests for a while, then looked around, and suddenly saw someone who was frowning among a group of people laughing and making noise.

Observing everywhere she went, looking for anomalies, was like Yan Xianchuan’s bottom-level logic, it was already one of her components.

She unconsciously stared at the other person for a while before she realized it and withdrew her gaze. Fortunately, the person was drinking alone and didn’t notice her offensive behavior.

The bar had many small private rooms and compartments, as well as various games, darts, mahjong, etc., and there was no one smoking here, which was simply bizarre.

In this world where organs could be freely replaced with mechanical ones, most people had the habit of smoking, including the alley she came from, six out of ten people were puffing away.

It seemed that this bar was not simple either.

But none of this was her business. Yan Xianchuan drank while eavesdropping on the couple arguing at the next table, they were already arguing about their ex-ex-ex-boyfriend, so exciting.

She spent a good amount of time relaxing in the bar, on the way back she planned to find some grilled skewers to eat, she was following the navigation when she suddenly heard a fight.

Yan Xianchuan: I’m not a person who goes looking for trouble.

Then she turned the corner and saw the frowning man being surrounded and beaten by four people, he was barely holding his own, but judging from the way he was getting punched every now and then, he probably wouldn’t be able to hold on for long.

She watched for a while, a man with hair like a hedgehog turned his head and glared coldly at Yan Xianchuan, “Don’t meddle, get lost!”

Yan Xianchuan put down the caramel apple she was carrying, and said seriously, “I didn’t intend to meddle.”