They passed through a square that was separated by barbed wire and looked like a transparent maze. Many patients in blue-striped patient clothes were basking in the sun in the square. All the patients were wearing metal rings on their wrists, ankles, and necks. Many sensor patches were stuck to their heads, too, outputting the data of their brainwaves all the time.
Most of the patients were rather peaceful. Basking in the warm sunlight, they looked at the almost black ocean far away in silence.
There were also a small number of patients whose eye sockets were sunken, and their eyes were red and swollen. They chattered incessantly, walked around in circles, and looked at the people around them with bad intentions. Most of these patients were isolated by barbed wire and enjoyed the treatment of a single room.
Seeing that Li Yao and Long Yangjun passed through the channel in the middle of the transparent maze, some of the patients were unmoved and continued looking at the ocean in silence. Some of the patients were mumbling something to them. Some of the patients were even clinging to the barbed wire like animals, letting out weird laughter and low howls at them.
They seemed to have passed through a dilapidated zoo where the cages on both sides were filled with ferocious beasts that had been hungry for three days and three nights.
"Are they all from the Holy League?"
Li Yao asked Long Yangjun in a low voice.
"No, they are all common mental patients."
After saying that, Long Yangjun smiled herself. "However, the mental patients who have been sent to Director Zhuge's place are far from 'common'. They are mostly the most ferocious murderers, unpardonable maniacs, and inhumane beasts. Their crimes are not simple murders. Only serial murderers who have killed dozens of people in a row, or animals who slaughtered their entire family without batting an eyelid, or lunatics who poisoned all the children in a primary school without any mental burden are qualified to be locked in this place. They are the real scumbags, devils in human skin, and deformed apes on the level of humanity. All in all, you don't need to feel any mental burden. If you have read the files that record their crimes, you will certainly treat them ten times more cruelly than Director Zhuge.
"Speaking of which, sometimes, I quite like the mental patients. Normal people are restrained by society and morality, and they often hide or even distort their truest side. The Cultivators have the morality of the Cultivators, and the Immortal Cultivators have the morality of the Immortal Cultivators. Everybody wears a mask on their mind, except that the patterns on the mask are slightly different.
"Only the mental patients, the guys whose brains have been corrupted by the extraterrestrial devils and whose deepest heart has been liberated, can blossom without any reservation and show the purest, most fundamental side of human beings. If 'Cultivation' means searching for one's true self, those guys might've found the 'truth' that belongs to them a long time ago.
"Do you believe it? The solar storm raised by Wuying Qi savaged the entire Empyreal Terminus Sector. Most of the places on the capital planet were affected, but in the Third Research Institute, both the patients and the doctors were least affected. Many of the most serious patients were not affected at all even when they were directly exposed to the brainwashing waves.
"People can't die again after they die once, and the collapsed skyscrapers can't collapse again. The patients who have a complete mental breakdown can't be brainwashed again, right?
"It's the greatest feature of the Third Research Institute to compare such mental patients with the people of the Holy League. We often say that the people of the Holy League are a bunch of inhumane lunatics, but it's difficult to study them directly. So, we'll just find another group of inhumane lunatics who are easier to study. We'll put the two groups of lunatics together and study their subtle similarities and differences. Then, we'll explore the mysteries of the people of the Holy League with the mental patients as a reference. That's exactly what Director Zhuge is going to do."
Under Long Yangjun's guidance, Li Yao finally met Zhuge Jinglun, the mental specialist who had been living in seclusion on an isolated island.
Zhuge Jinglun fit the image of a lunatic in his imagination. His messy hair was even more unbearable than Li Yao's. His dirty white coat was smeared with suspicious stains and liquids. There was no telling how long it had been since he washed his face, and there was at least a couple of pens of different colors behind his ears. When he smiled, his mouth was so wide that it almost reached his ears. He was no different from the research subjects outside.
He was the most typical researcher who paid no attention to what was going on outside. No matter what happened outside, no matter who the leader was, and even the coronation ceremony that shocked the capital planet yesterday had nothing to do with him.
Vulture Li Yao, the Black Wind King, was a well-known name in the entire Imperium. However, when Long Yangjun introduced Li Yao to him, he simply greeted him as "Black Wind King" and rubbed his hands, not knowing what to say.
He was closer to Long Yangjun. Perhaps because Long Yangjun had given him incessant research funds and "samples" after she took over the Association of Demon Hunters for the second time, his eyes glowed the moment he saw Long Yangjun. He simply ignored Li Yao and said, "President Dongfang, you've come at the right time. We've just improved the latest version of the 'Ring-Tu Test'. Its accuracy has been improved by more than 2.5%. Do you want to take a look?"
He was so confident that he looked like a big kid who had invented a new game.
"The new version of the 'Ring-Tu Test'? Of course I want to take a look."
Long Yangjun coughed and glanced at Li Yao, before she said awkwardly, "However, Director Zhuge, as I told you last time, 'Dongfang Mingyue' is a fake name that I used to infiltrate the rebels. My real name is Long Yangjun. You may call me 'President Long'.
"Alright, President Dongfang. Long Yangjun, right? I'll keep your name in mind, President Dongfang."
Zhuge Jinglun rubbed his hands in excitement. "This way, please, President Dongfang and Black Wind King!"
Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other and followed Zhuge Jinglun into the Ring-Tu Test Zone on the third floor below ground.
The people of the Holy League were bound by the Path of Ultimate Benevolence and did not have any feelings. However, in order to infiltrate the Imperium, they could simulate feelings vividly when they lurked in the society of normal people.
The Ring-Tu Test, on the other hand, was a way to distinguish "real feelings" from "virtual feelings". It was also the last defense line of the Imperium against the infiltration of the Holy League's spies.
For hundreds of years, the Holy League had improved their technology to simulate feelings time and time again, successfully deceiving generations of Ring-Tu Tests.
The Imperium had been upgrading the methods and contents of the Ring-Tu Tests too, trying to make them keener, more complicated, and more precise so that the spies of the Holy League who were hiding among normal people could be found.
This was the saying, "When the devil is one foot tall, the Dao is ten feet tall."
Zhuge Jinglun led Li Yao and Long Yangjun to a one-way, transparent mirror. Inside the mirror was a narrow test room where researchers and test-takers were sitting on the two sides of the wide metal table.
The researcher was a cultured and refined young man with a smile on his face, giving people a good impression at first glance.
The test-taker, on the other hand, was a middle-aged man who had a rosacea and a beer belly. He was obviously not a nice guy.
The researcher tapped on his mini crystal processor wholeheartedly and grinned at the test-taker now and then. He seemed both well-trained and humane.
The test-taker, on the other hand, was tied to his seat by a metal bar. He looked anxious and uneasy, and beast-like brilliance beamed out of his hollowed eyes now and then. He was even grunting from his throat.
The metal table between the two of them, on the other hand, turned out to be an enormous light beam on which colorful, abstract patterns that looked like swirls were flowing. They were changing all the time in the most glamorous and ever-changing forms.
The colorful light and shadows were projected onto the researcher and the test-taker, as well as the cold walls and the white ceiling, turning the small test room into the brain of a mental patient.
The colorful light and shadows were exactly the so-called "Ring-Tu".
"I'm sorry, but I can't cancel the … messy spots of light."
The researcher finally tapped the last rune on his mini crystal processor. Rubbing his neck, he smiled at the test-taker apologetically. "You're not dazzled, are you? Tell me, what do you think they look like?"
"What the f * ck is that supposed to mean?"
Like a beast that had been trapped in a trap, the test-taker shrank his neck and said warily, "Has the test begun? This is part of the test, too. I have to say it, huh?"
"No, no, no. Don't be nervous. Relax. Relax. This is just —"
The researcher opened his hands and said, "This is just a routine test. You know that this is the best sanatorium in the entire Imperium. With the crimes that you committed, you shouldn't have been transferred here. You're lucky. However, we have to make sure that you won't cause harm to other people.
"Look, I don't know what the spots of light and patterns are exactly. They're all made by the people above who think they're smart. Their only purpose is to prove that they are smart. My job, on the other hand, is to sit here every day and face all kinds of people. I'll turn on the switch and ask you some questions. Then, you'll enjoy the sun and the ocean, and I'll go home after work. That's it. It's just a routine. So, let's settle this quickly and go our separate ways, alright? Relax. Take a deep breath. Relax. Let's begin the official answer, alright? "
The test-taker mumbled again and nodded unwillingly.
The researcher smiled and turned on a piece of mini magical equipment on the table. It looked like a combination of a magnifying glass and a scope. Through it, the test-taker's rapidly shivering eyeballs, as well as the blood streaks on the eyeballs and the reflections in the pupils, could be clearly seen.
"What is this? What the f * ck is this?"
The test-taker grew anxious again.
"Relax. Relax. It's just … an unimportant gadget. I've been sitting in this room for three years, and I've never cared what it was. Just leave it be. Let's begin, shall we?"
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