Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 49

The faint, scraping sound of shoes on the stairs, as if a mouse were scurrying through the cabinet cracks.

The sound climbed the stairs, layer by layer, finally stopping at the door.

Silence. Yan Xianchuan didn’t make a sound, the person outside remained motionless. After a while, the person turned around, she heard the sound of the door to the left room opening.

The neighbor was back.

Yan Xianchuan didn’t rush to look. If it were her, she would have already joined the revelry downstairs, but she wasn’t alone now, she shouldn’t take unnecessary risks. All her actions were for the person in the bedroom.

So she just sat there, she heard the person outside close the door, and the entire building became quiet again.

But this silence didn’t last long, a new wave of commotion began.

Someone had set the building on fire, black smoke billowed out in all directions with the wind. It was a death knell, wherever the smoke blew, it brought chaos and carnage.

This commotion was clearly more intense than the last one. Most of the mindless ordinary people had died on the road. This time, the main players were the psionics. If Yan Xianchuan wasn’t mistaken, these people’s psionic abilities seemed to be stronger than before.

Higher lethality meant that the conflict was also escalating.

Car roofs were ripped off, trees were broken, these psionic abilities were varied, and the damage they caused was also diverse.

Yan Xianchuan even saw someone turn into a giant red chili pepper, making everyone around them cry from the spiciness, they couldn’t stop coughing, they coughed up blood, they coughed until they died.

Someone else conjured a spinning wheel, it whirred and spun, the edge was lined with sharp barbs, anyone who got close was cut with deep wounds, their flesh was torn, and blood spurted out.

This person laughed loudly, but someone else froze his head, he used the wheel to cut, but he ended up cutting his own head off.

This scene made her both surprised and want to laugh. It wasn’t like psionics fighting, it was more like a collection of funny and bizarre ways to die.

Yan Xianchuan was watching intently, but she noticed that the building that was on fire had somehow extinguished itself.

The fire had been very large, it was burning from top to bottom, the flames were gradually spreading towards the other buildings, but it was a distance from the resting point, so she didn’t pay much attention.

These psionics who were busy fighting wouldn’t go out of their way to put out the fire, even if there were people who were still conscious, they probably wouldn’t have the strength to do so. Even if they gathered all the psionics in the town who were related to water, they might be able to put out the fire.

It wasn’t the townspeople, it must have been the church.

That was why she was surprised, how did the fire go out, silently and without her noticing, when she noticed it again, only the charred and yellowed exterior walls of the building remained, the flames that had been climbing on them had all disappeared.

If it was done by a psionic, then the person’s level was at least B.

He was a threat, and Yan Xianchuan knew very well that such a large-scale test site would definitely not have only one high-level psionic in charge.

When the sun set, the second round of chaos ended.

There were more corpses left on the street, and most of them were mangled, there were few intact ones, the deaths were much more gruesome.

A faint smell of blood seeped through the window into the room, it wasn’t strong, it was like the fish that had just been taken out of the freezer, the skin was slightly softened, and it emitted a faint fishy smell.

Yan Xianchuan was used to this smell, she didn’t care about it, she only cared about dinner.

Missing a meal wouldn’t hurt a healthy person, but Lu Mingqiu was injured, injured people needed to be taken care of.

There was a water dispenser in the living room, it still had half a bucket of water, so they didn’t have to worry about drinking.

She got up from the sofa and walked to the kitchen, she opened the chipped refrigerator door, she was surprised to find that there was still something inside.

A bottle of unknown drink, it had no packaging, no date, but the cap was sealed, it was probably the church that had deliberately removed the outer packaging, pretending that it was their own production, to prevent the residents from being suspicious.

But there was no production date, no expiration date, just looking at the liquid inside, she couldn’t tell how long it had been there.

Yan Xianchuan thought about it and didn’t take it, there were two chocolate nut bars in the fresh food compartment, the production date was a year ago, it was exactly one month past its expiration date.

There were also a few shriveled potatoes, dry onions, and half a persimmon that had grown mold, the black mold had hollowed it out from the inside, leaving only a dark red shell, stuck to the glass plate.

She squatted down and pulled open the freezer door, it was packed full. The ice had grown all the way to the outside, making it impossible for her to pull out the drawer.

Yan Xianchuan had to use her hand to break the ice, she swept it onto the floor, then she pulled out the drawer, she wasn’t surprised to find some meat inside.

A forearm, a few ribs, and a piece of meat, probably from the thigh.

She pushed the drawer back in, she pulled out the next one, a neck, a few more ribs, a chopped calf… they were arranged quite neatly, making effective use of every space in the drawer, there was almost no gap.

Excellent.

It was said that human meat had seven times the protein of beef, it tasted like chicken when chewed, it was crispy, but Lu Mingqiu wouldn’t eat it.

Besides, this meat is all rotten, it’s been drugged, even if it’s edible, you shouldn’t eat this kind of thing.

Yan Xianchuan pushed the drawer back in, took two chocolate bars, closed the refrigerator door, and then continued to rummage around, trying to find something else.

The kitchen looked like it hadn’t been used for a long time, there was a layer of dust on the stovetop, and there wasn’t much in the cabinets, half a bag of salt, half a bottle of soy sauce, vinegar, moldy jam…

The plates and bowls were stacked one on top of the other, crookedly, even though they were in the cabinet, they were covered in dust.

Besides these, there was nothing else, Yan Xianchuan searched the entire kitchen, she couldn’t even find a piece of rock candy.

Maybe she should go and look in the bedroom.

That thought sparked immediate action; she moved to the diary owner’s room. The wardrobe was empty—she’d already checked. Two small drawers sat on the desk, locked. Yan Xianchuan effortlessly removed the locks with her bare hands, pulling them open to search meticulously. She only found a stack of paper covered in messy lines, indecipherable scribbles.

In the other drawer, there was a bag of cookies, they smelled of milk. Yan Xianchuan put it on the table, next to the chocolate bars, then she walked to the bed, she knelt on the floor, she lifted the bed curtain and looked under the bed.

Then, she met a pair of wide-open eyes.

It was a familiar face, it looked exactly like the girl in the photo, but her eyes were bloodshot, her lips were blue-purple, she was obviously dead.

She had died before they entered the room, otherwise, she would have been able to hear her breathing.

The dead girl was blocking the space under the bed, Yan Xianchuan was a little unhappy, she reached out and grabbed the other party’s arm, she pulled her out from under the bed, then she leaned over to look.

There were a few shoeboxes scattered under the bed, and that was it.

Nothing.

She went to the bathroom to wash her hands, she took the three things she had found and brought them to the master bedroom, she said gloomily, “I only found this much food. This chocolate is a month past its expiration date, but it’s still edible.”

“If this isn’t enough, there’s someone living next door,” Yan Xianchuan said seriously, “I can go to his house and get some.”

“No, not for now.” Lu Mingqiu quickly stopped her, she took a chocolate bar, “This is enough for me, you eat the rest.”

Yan Xianchuan shook her head, she piled the things on the bedside table, “You eat them all, I’m not hungry.”

As she spoke, she walked out of the bedroom, she went to the kitchen and took two bowls to wash them, she went to the living room and filled two bowls of water, she brought them back and said, “Drink some water.”

Sick people should drink more water, this was a big truth that she had firmly remembered.

“Thank you.” Lu Mingqiu took the water bowl and took two sips, “But I can’t eat that much, half each, okay?”

Yan Xianchuan was about to say something, but she was interrupted, “How can you protect me if you don’t eat something?”

She said this, so Yan Xianchuan had to take two round cookies and put them in her mouth.

The cookies were very hard, they only had a faint milky flavor, but somehow, they tasted sweet on her tongue.

After resting for an afternoon, the effects of the painkillers wore off, but Lu Mingqiu had recovered a little, she just had some lingering pain.

“How’s it going outside?” she asked.

“A lot of people died.” Yan Xianchuan briefly told her what had happened before, and finally said, “By the way, I saw the girl who wrote the diary.”

“Under the bed in the second bedroom.”

Lu Mingqiu suddenly sat up straight, she was about to be on guard, but she heard the person in front of her say, “She’s already dead.”

She frowned, “I’ll go and take a look.”

Yan Xianchuan had no choice but to follow her to the second bedroom, the girl was lying on the floor, her body was hunched over, showing an unnatural stiffness, her skin had the characteristic pallor of the dead.

Lu Mingqiu squatted down and carefully observed her. Her eyes were bloodshot, there were also blood beads oozing out of her eye sockets, there were no injuries on her face, but there were many scars on her arms, but these were old injuries, the wounds had long healed. She was still clutching a towel tightly in her hand, it felt damp to the touch.

“When the green smoke spread, she must have been hiding under the bed with the towel…” Lu Mingqiu said softly, “The church people released the green smoke, it might be a catalyst, the side effect is that people lose their minds and become extremely agitated. The successful ones awaken their psionic abilities, the unsuccessful ones die. It’s a selection. Each time there’s a conflict, the psionic abilities become a little stronger, the strong kill the weak, it’s also a selection.”

“The church is not only trying to artificially interfere with psionic awakening, they’re also using these people as puppets, as materials.”

Lu Mingqiu reached out and closed the girl’s eyes, she pulled the quilt over her.

“It’s been six hours since we lost contact, reinforcements will be here soon.”

Reinforcements were on their way.

Black could take over Lu Mingqiu’s shift, he was recognized by her, naturally, they had something in common, they both liked to be prepared.

This operation, just the three people from Nanjin City was far from enough, there was no organization base in Lipe’a, but they would pass through Yuecheng on the way, they could mobilize people from there.

Yuecheng was located in the north, the city was built in the middle of a crescent-shaped lake, the lake water surrounded it, like the moon hugging a star. It was also a famous tourist attraction.

The few of them took an airship there, they communicated with the airport and landed directly in Yuecheng.

Yuecheng was a city with a strong ancient charm, it retained many ancient buildings, with flying eaves, gray tiles, carved beams and painted rafters. The reason why this city hadn’t been destroyed by the Great Purge was because of the Yan family.

This was the Yan family’s stronghold.

The Yan Group, which made its fortune selling weapons, had made an unknown amount of money during the Great Purge era, the weapons they exported had also sparked countless wars.

It’s no exaggeration to say that nearly one-fifth of the weapons during the Great Purge era were supplied by the Yan family, and because of this, Yuecheng, this historical gem, was able to be preserved intact.

As soon as they got out of the airport, they could see many people wearing modified ancient clothes, this was also a unique cultural feature of the city. The locals were proud to live here, they actively promoted ancient culture to the outside world.

The modified ancient clothes retained the basic traditional style, but they also incorporated modern trends, adding many details that were in line with the current fashion trends, they didn’t affect their actions.

Bai Ge wasn’t interested in the beautiful men and women he saw everywhere on the street, he took the two of them and got straight into a taxi, they changed cars a few times along the way, before finally arriving at the branch base in Yuecheng, a food processing factory.

It was a factory that processed spicy strips.

The semi-automated factory didn’t have many people, the few of them went in from the parking lot, they twisted and turned, they scanned their identity verification three times before entering the underground base.

Black had already sent a notification to the base leader here, he also gave Bai Ge a few alternative psionics, he told him about their general abilities, letting him choose the right members.

This information was unknown to Gold Ring and Pepper, their permissions weren’t high enough.

Bai Ge’s selection process was very simple, he would fight, he wanted to observe who was the best in real combat.

Those who were slow to react, those who had poor control of their psionic abilities, those who were weak in martial arts, were all eliminated. In the end, he chose four people, Calamus, Butterfly, Fan, and Pea.

Fan could see through things, Butterfly could fly, and she was also a good sniper, Calamus could conjure throwing knives, and she could control them like using hidden weapons, she was a good match for Gold Ring, and Pea’s ability was the most amazing, simply put, she was like a bard, she could use singing to give people around her auxiliary buffs, so even though her martial arts were a little weak, she was still selected.

After choosing four people, Bai Ge didn’t stop to rest, he went back to the airport without stopping, he got on the airship and went straight to Walnut Town.

When the airship took off, the last rays of the setting sun were just disappearing, the deep night sky rose, the clouds blocked all the stars, but this night was not as dark as the undercurrent in Bai Ge’s eyes.