Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 59

Lu Mingqiu took two steps back before she could stand steady. Her brain felt a sharp pain, as if she had been stung by a scorpion.

She was in relatively good condition. The doctor, however, fell to the ground, his body convulsing as if he had been electrocuted. He made a gurgling sound in his throat, as if his brains were about to boil.

Gray Rabbit just rushed over to help him up, but the doctor stopped moving. His neck tilted, he died very quickly.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead. There was an endless buzzing in her ears. Lu Mingqiu took a while to regain her tongue, she said in a deep voice, “It’s a mental psionic ability.”

“What about the rest?” Gray Rabbit asked.

“Try connecting the brain machine.” Lu Mingqiu took a deep breath and said, “Did you send the chips taken from their bodies to the research department?”

“They’ve already been sent.” Gray Rabbit said.

Lu Mingqiu rubbed her temples, “Did you find out the Insect Master’s identity?”

“He has a criminal record, it was easy to find. I’ll send it to you.” Gray Rabbit said, taking off his mask, revealing a face of an unknown age.

He possessed a paradoxical blend of youth and age. His face was youthful, yet his eyes held the weight of centuries, hinting at countless joys and sorrows, loves and losses experienced over an unfathomable span of time. His past remained shrouded in mystery, only his deep gray eyes whispering tales of the life he’d lived.

“Go and rest, I can interrogate the Insect Master myself.” Gray Rabbit smiled, “You’re a young girl, don’t overwork yourself.”

Lu Mingqiu hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Then she pushed open the door of the interrogation room, she stood in the corridor and calmed down for a while, she replied to Yan Xianchuan’s message, then she went to White’s lounge.

“How is he?”

“He’s awake, he’s lying in bed.” Black replied.

When Lu Mingqiu entered the room, White didn’t move. His semi-long hair was messily stuck to his face, he was lying on the soft bed with his back to the door, his body hunched over, like a rebellious teenager who was introverted and gloomy.

He was silently expressing his protest.

“I know you’re awake.” Lu Mingqiu pulled up a chair and sat down, her voice was gentle, “Let’s talk.”

“Talk about what?” White’s tone was sarcastic, “Shouldn’t I be put in solitary confinement for disobeying orders?”

“Since you know you shouldn’t have done that, why did you do it?” Lu Mingqiu asked calmly.

“You know what I mean? You understand?”

This sentence somehow touched White’s heart, he jumped out of bed, his eyes were red with anger, the words he spat out were sharp as knives.

“You all say he’s still alive, but is he really? Can he breathe? Can he walk? He’s not my brother anymore!”

“Do you understand what it’s like to die once? Have you experienced it? You just put on a show, you’re hypocritical, you say comforting words, you don’t know anything, don’t bother me!”

He stiffened his neck, like an angry calf, but somehow, when he met Lu Mingqiu’s tolerant and calm gaze, White’s eyes gradually turned red.

“My brother is dead.” He pursed his lips, two tears dripped down his cheeks.

“I know.” Lu Mingqiu said, she repeated it again, “I know.”

She opened her arms, White charged towards her like a small cannonball, he crashed into her arms and sobbed.

Lu Mingqiu rubbed his head and said softly, “I remember, isn’t your fifteenth birthday in two weeks?”

“Yeah.” He mumbled.

“I’ll get you a birthday present then.” Lu Mingqiu said, “You’ll love it.”

White cried for a while, his sadness and anger subsided, embarrassment and shame took over.

He quickly retreated from Lu Mingqiu’s arms, he mumbled, “I’ll go to solitary confinement.”

“Don’t be so impulsive next time.” Lu Mingqiu handed him a tissue, she said lightly, “After I’m done interrogating these people, I’ll hand them over to you.”

“Thank you.” White lowered his head.

“Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone grows up.” Lu Mingqiu said softly, “Growing up isn’t a happy thing.”

“I have something else to deal with, I’ll go now.” She took out a piece of candy from her pocket and placed it on the table, “Rest well, eat something sweet.”

After she left, Black’s projection appeared silently, he said slowly, “……I don’t think I’m completely dead yet.”

White glared at him angrily, “What do you mean!”

Black suddenly laughed, it was the same face as him, but it felt different, “You….don’t be so reckless in the future.”

“I wasn’t.” White said stubbornly.

He walked to the bed and patted the edge, “Come and sit.”

“Do you remember when you first awakened your psionic ability?”

White was reluctant, but his legs obediently walked over, “I remember, I wanted to steal the cake in the shop window.”

“I had already blocked the surveillance cameras, you just had to walk in and take the food. Can you tell me what you were thinking at the time?”

White looked at the translucent projection with a faint blue light, he looked at his twin brother, “I also wanted to be useful, I didn’t want to be a burden on my brother.”

Every winter in Holenka, there were always homeless people who froze to death on the streets. It was White’s tenth birthday, and it was also Black’s.

His brother said that birthdays should be celebrated with cake. He had already awakened his psionic ability at that time, but Black hadn’t gone to school, he just used it instinctively.

He went through the cake shop’s firewall, turned off the surveillance cameras, opened the door lock, and urged his brother, “Go ahead! Get a big one!”

Bai Ge (White) ran over excitedly, the snowflakes were blown into his face by the cold wind, but his face had already frozen, he couldn’t feel the cold.

He had already chosen one, a double-decker cake, it was covered in chocolate chips, it looked delicious.

But as he ran, Bai Ge couldn’t help but feel a little unhappy, a little disappointed.

His brother was only a few minutes older than him, why could he do everything, why was he omnipotent, they were the same age.

If he had a psionic ability, he could just suck everything he wanted. Whether it was cake, clothes, shoes…

Bai Ge looked at his hands, which were red from the cold but clean, then he thought of Black’s hands, which were covered in frostbite scars, he suddenly hated himself for being a useless, good-for-nothing drag.

“You know why I seem to know everything, why I seem so powerful.” Black said, “Actually, I don’t know either, a lot of the time, I’m just making it up. I don’t want you to be afraid, worried, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I want to protect you.” He said, pausing, “Yellow Canary said she would apply for the Cyber ​​Project for me, I agreed. Next time you come back to the base, I’ll be waiting for you in the room.”

“I understand that this is very different from before.” After all, an artificial body wouldn’t have telepathy, they wouldn’t be able to go back to the way they were, “But I hope this will make you feel better.”

“This is the birthday present.” Bai Ge suddenly realized.

“……Did I make you worry again?” He was both depressed and self-blaming, his head almost drooped to the ground.

“Isn’t it natural for a brother to worry about his brother?” Black raised his hand and gently rubbed his hair, “Don’t think too much.”

….

Yan Xianchuan finished her bizarrely mixed meal, unfazed by the curious glances of those around her.

Then she had nothing to do.

She sat on the chair in the cafeteria for a while, not knowing where to go or what to do. Lu Mingqiu was busy with work, and she couldn’t follow her.

Back in school, the teacher had said that people should have goals and ideals, so that their lives wouldn’t be empty and they would have motivation.

She understood now.

Without goals, she would be like she was now.

Yan Xianchuan pushed her plate forward and lay down on the table, tapping the cola cup with her hand, she felt like an abandoned child.

“Why aren’t you leaving?” The spicy rabbit head enthusiast at the next table leaned over again, “Want more?”

“I don’t know what to do.” Yan Xianchuan said expressionlessly.

“Do you know how to play mahjong?” He asked again.

“I do.” Yan Xianchuan had a hunch about what he was going to do.

“That’s perfect!” He slapped the table, “We’re missing one! Come on?”

“I’m waiting for someone.” Yan Xianchuan glanced at the rabbit head enthusiast who was still excited.

“Play while you wait!” He invited her with a flourish, he was about to move her and her chair, “You have nothing to do anyway, right? When the person comes, you can leave the table, it won’t take long.”

Anyway, no one cares about me. Yan Xianchuan muttered to herself, she got up from the chair and said, “Let’s go.”

When she sat down at the table and they were explaining the rules, she looked at the unfamiliar patterns on the tiles in her hand and said to the rabbit head enthusiast who was excited, “I don’t think I know how to play your mahjong.”

She had learned mahjong in middle school. There was a mahjong parlor in the neighborhood, it was specifically for old people, there was the sound of mahjong tiles clashing from morning till night.

She was curious, so she went in to watch for a while after school.

At that time, Yan Xianchuan was young, sometimes when she got angry, she didn’t want to pretend to be sociable, and because she was young, she was praised by a group of old people, they said that it was good for girls to be quiet.

She went there so often that they even brought food from home to feed her.

Later, Yan Xianchuan learned how to play mahjong, she sat down at the table and wiped them out. When her parents found out, they didn’t know what to say.

They took her to apologize to the old people, it was a bit of an overreaction, and it wasn’t good for the child’s mental health, although she wasn’t very healthy anyway.

The two parents could only tell her what it meant to leave a way out, what it meant to respect the elderly and love the young, what it meant to be humble, and what it meant to know when to stop.

Then they prepared a fruit plate for her and sent it to the old people at the mahjong parlor.

Later, she only played mahjong to vent her parents’ anger. Every family has a few extreme relatives. Some people were jealous that her family was now rich, they would sneer at them for not associating with their own family, but when they got together during the New Year, they couldn’t say these things to their faces, so they would just make sarcastic remarks behind their backs.

They liked to play mahjong, her parents didn’t, but they couldn’t resist a group of people surrounding them and persuading them, and they didn’t want to make a scene and hurt the old lady’s feelings, so they had to reluctantly play, they lost a lot of money every year during the New Year.

It wasn’t until Yan Xianchuan took over for her parents that they thought that children were easier to fool, they didn’t take her seriously, and in the end, they lost so much money that their faces turned green.

They played for two years, and no one asked her to play mahjong again.

Not only was she not criticized, but she also got two ice cream cones as a reward when she went home.

Her parents said that was called upholding justice.

Of course, she still remembered how to play mahjong. Yan Xianchuan had a good memory, she remembered everything.

It’s just… the stone pattern on her hand, the type of tile it resembled, completely baffled her. It was outside her area of expertise.

The rabbit head enthusiast’s face instantly froze, as if he was a wax figure. The dullness, confusion, and disbelief, through his wide eyes, were like tangible rays, they were bound to pierce through one’s guilty conscience.

“You can teach me now.” Yan Xianchuan said, without a guilty conscience, “I learn quickly.”

The rabbit head enthusiast was still in a daze, he muttered something like “newbie” and “won’t play” under his breath.

But he was willing to accept a newbie as long as he could get a game going. The rabbit head enthusiast cheered up, he regrouped, first teaching her to recognize the tiles, then teaching her the basic rules.

It was basically the same as the way she remembered it, it was just that the patterns on the tiles had changed, and some new ones had been added.

“I got it, let’s go.” Yan Xianchuan said, she skillfully arranged the tiles.

The three of them were mahjong enthusiasts, they didn’t want to use a mahjong machine, they felt that the tiles they arranged by hand had a soul, they could connect with their hearts.

The fourth person was on a business trip, they hadn’t played mahjong for a few days, they were so anxious that they couldn’t eat or sleep. Finally, they caught one, they were so excited that they were like they had been injected with chicken blood.

Then, they lost the first round.

Yan Xianchuan: “Self-drawn.”

Then came the second round.

Yan Xianchuan: “Flower bloom on a kong.”

Then came the third round.

Yan Xianchuan: “Three players with a clean hand, triple the score.”

The rabbit head enthusiast gasped, “This must be newbie luck, it must be!”

But Yan Xianchuan was an adult who knew when to stop, the three of them also had some skills, they won and lost, but overall, they lost more than they won.

As they were playing, a message suddenly came, from someone with the note “Assistant Zeng,” [Second Miss, the ancestral worship day is on the 27th of this month, please return to the mansion two days in advance.]

Ancestral worship day?

Yan Xianchuan: [Can I not go?]

Assistant Zeng: [Mr. Yan will be angry, Second Miss, it’s better if you come back, your wife is also asked to come along.]

So annoying.

Yan Xianchuan forwarded the message to Lu Mingqiu, the latter replied instantly: [Got it, we’ll talk about it when we get back.]

Then she sent an address, [This is the safe house, if you don’t know where to go, you can go back and wait for me.]

Yan Xianchuan: [But I want to be with you, can’t I go find you?]

After a while, Lu Mingqiu sent a location.

B District, No. 03… Yan Xianchuan immediately drew an eight of bamboo, she declared a win for the person before her, she said excitedly, “I’m not playing anymore, my person is here, goodbye!”

After saying that, she turned and ran, she didn’t even pay.

On the other side, Lu Mingqiu came out from White’s place, she went straight to the Insect Master’s interrogation room without stopping, because there was a major incident.

The so-called data he had handed over was completely fake, it was all junk viruses, as soon as it was read, it instantly invaded the base network, breaking through the firewall.

Had Black not been there, the virus would have spread unchecked, the extent of the damage is unknown, but it nearly resulted in a leak of the coordinates.

When Lu Mingqiu arrived, Gray Rabbit was standing with his arms crossed, listening to the Insect Master’s explanation. He was wearing that funny rabbit smile mask again, making it impossible to see his expression.

“I surrendered voluntarily, how could I be so stupid as to deliberately attack you with a virus?” The Insect Master said tremblingly, “Wouldn’t I be asking for death?”

“It must have been that old bastard, Doctor, who deliberately framed me! He gave me the chip, I don’t understand these things at all.”

“Psionics, it sounds nice, but in the church, they’re just high-level thugs. I don’t participate in these experiments! I asked him for a chip, and he gave it to me, really! You have to believe me!”