This was a very strange big city.
Although the skyline of high-rise buildings and the brightly lit city was almost the same as Jiangnan City, and it was also stormy, lightning, and thunder as if the whole world was swallowed by floods and thunder, Li Yao still recognized from the humid and hot climate and the tropical plants on the roadside that this place was closer to the south than Jiangnan City. While he was unconscious, they had escaped at least nearly a thousand kilometers away.
Sure enough, Ms. Gray Fog told Li Yao that this was a provincial city in the southern hills and the transportation hub of four or five surrounding provinces. It was very convenient to take all kinds of transportation to all parts of the country and even abroad from here. More importantly, the geological structure of this area was very stable, and there had never been a large-scale natural disaster in history. Earthquakes, rainstorms, floods, and hailstorms were rare, and tsunamis and storms were even more rare.
According to Red Pole Star, if the Earth's Will was willing to pay a great price, it could, in theory, erase such an extremely stable big city that lived deep in the inland. However, forcibly creating a natural disaster that was impossible to happen was against the will of the heavens. It would consume too much of its power and might lead to its failure in the Great Cosmic War. Therefore, they were safe for the time being.
Sure enough, although there was a rainstorm here, and some low-lying streets had water accumulating, the normal functioning of the city was not affected. It was not to the point of complete paralysis.
Li Yao and the others' destination was the downtown area of the city, a secret office of the Ark Foundation.
Although it was called a "secret office," it had a public cover on the surface. It was a high-class psychological counseling club called "Mind Space."
Ms. Gray Mist told Li Yao that the Apocalypse Apocalypse was not necessarily unaware that "Mental Space" was a branch of the Ark Foundation. However, the downtown area was their best cover. If the Apocalypse Apocalypse Apocalypse attacked the place without bothering about anything, exposing the Awakened and their superpowers to the public, it would only stimulate the ignorant human society. Chances were that "cancer cells" would mutate, which was definitely not what the "will of Earth" wanted to see.
Moreover, most of the doctors and staff in "Mind Space" were ordinary people who knew nothing about the truth. Similar peripheral institutions were all over the world. Even if one of them was destroyed, it would not have much of an impact on the Ark Foundation's main body hidden in the deep sea.
"The Apocalypse suffered heavy casualties in this ambush. I estimate that the hunters will need at least twenty-four hours to gather enough manpower to launch the second wave of attacks."
The Gray Mist lady said to Li Yao, "We'll rest here for the night and wait for the awakening of the nearby provinces — the Prison Breakers — to come to our aid. We'll set off tomorrow morning and head south all the way across the border. Of course, there's also a batch of advanced equipment here that can conduct a preliminary test on you."
"How do you want to test it?"
Li Yao immediately became vigilant.
Although he was more inclined toward the Ark Foundation, and he was vaguely familiar with the Red Pole Planet, it did not mean that he liked to be 'examined' when the secrets deep inside his soul were unveiled.
"Don't worry."
"It won't be too difficult. We have a very special patient here. I hope you can treat him and relieve his troubles. That's all."
"Ah?"
Li Yao was stunned. "Wait, what do you mean? Wasn't it supposed to be a test? How did it become a treatment? Besides, I'm not a psychiatrist. Why would I treat your patients? What's going on? "
"Don't ask me. I don't know either. It's the Red Pole Planet's instruction," the Gray Mist lady said.
"The Red Pole Planet said, 'If you are really you, you must know how to treat the patient.'"
Li Yao was even more confused, but no matter how he asked, the Gray Mist lady was equally confused.
Everybody entered the building and took the elevator to the 'mind space' on the thirteenth floor.
It was not a professional mental treatment facility but a place for modern people to relieve their stress and vent their negative emotions. It looked more like an elegantly decorated house. On the two sides of a corridor that was brimming with bright green light, there were four or five 'decompression rooms' in different styles. At this moment, most of the rooms were empty. Only in the innermost room was a middle-aged man whose forehead was dark and whose eyes were swollen. He was both anxious and excited.
If it were not for the fact that he was in a trance and his eyes were blurred, the middle-aged man could be described as good-looking. There was no lack of solemnity and elegance in his gestures. According to Li Yao's speculation, he should be in an education profession, and he was quite successful in it.
As he expected, according to the information that the Gray Mist lady gave him, the middle-aged patient named 'Zhang Jiashu' was the discipline director of No.12 Middle School in the city. Before he became the discipline director, he had been a class teacher for many years. He was serious and responsible in his work, and he was strict with his students but never lacking in concern. His students' admission rate was very high, and he had won the title of the best educator in the city many times. He could be considered a good teacher who was upright, determined, and principled. His family was also very happy, and he was the envy of his colleagues and leaders. Logically speaking, he should not have any psychological problems.
Of course, there was no reason to speak of psychological problems in the first place.
"What's wrong with this Mr. Zhang?"
Li Yao glanced at the door from afar and found that the discipline director, Zhang Jiashu, was craning his neck and looking at the ventilation duct above the "decompression room" attentively. His eyes were darting around, and he did not have the demeanor of a teacher at all. Instead, he looked like a thief who was trying to steal chickens and dogs.
This kind of very … wretched temperament felt very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
"Mr. Zhang has awakened, but his awakening is very strange. It's different from the conventional awakeners that we have discovered. It seems that he has been contaminated by something … external, and he has awakened memories and souls that do not belong to him."
The Gray Mist lady handed over a medical record and said, "As you can see, Mr. Zhang was originally a very upright, kind, and traditional person. He had a happy family and a successful career. He could be considered a winner in life in this life. Generally speaking, this kind of person rarely awakens.
"But according to Mr. Zhang's own account, one day, when he was patrolling the classroom, he confiscated a phone from a student. At that time, the student was secretly using his phone to read a novel in class. This kind of thing was naturally not allowed. Even if the phone was confiscated, there was nothing to say. After all, it would be returned to the student at the end of the semester.
"However, after Mr. Zhang confiscated the student's phone, he glanced at it. With just one glance, he was attracted by the novel on the phone. In his own words, it was as if he had entered a demon's lair. He used about a week to finish reading the novel that was millions of words long.
"The novel that the student was secretly reading was naturally not a world-class classic, but a web novel. Teacher Zhang himself graduated from the Chinese Department and taught Chinese, so he rarely read such things. In his own words, it was' crudely made to deceive gods and ghosts. 'But this time, for some reason, the novel seemed to have a terrifying magical power that caused him to work day and night, forgetting to eat and sleep. He was not even in the mood to deal with his own work.
"Of course, this alone was not enough for Mr. Zhang to seek help from psychiatrists and counselors.
"A few days after he finished reading this web novel, Mr. Zhang had a small fever and had nightmares for two or three days. Then, he gained many strange habits."
Li Yao was entranced by the story, and he could not help but ask, "What habits?"
"Going into the sewers and ventilation pipes," the Gray Mist lady said.
"According to Mr. Zhang's own account, after the fever, he seemed to have a problem with sleepwalking. He often sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night, opened the manhole covers in the residential area, and crawled into the sewers to run and explore. It was as if he only felt like a fish in water when he was in a narrow, dark, and suffocating space. He felt extremely comfortable.
"Later, it wasn't just at night. Even during the day, when he was very conscious, he could not help but think about the ventilation system of each building. He thought about how he could crawl in without anyone noticing, and he really put his plan into action.
"Mr. Zhang told us that he really crawled into the ventilation ducts of a few buildings in an attempt to sneak into the most secure space while avoiding everyone's eyes and ears. Every time he escaped unscathed, he would break out in cold sweat. With his identity as a teacher, if he was caught in the ventilation ducts, he would not be able to explain himself even if he was covered in mouths. There was a real possibility that his reputation would be ruined, but he could not resist the urge that came from the depths of his soul."
Li Yao said, "Uh …"
"Also, there's his temperament."
Ms. Gray Fog continued. "Mr. Zhang was originally very popular in the school. Even though he was the discipline director, which was a position that had to be strict, he still won over many students with his integrity and elegance. But according to his own account and our secret investigation, there were indeed many students who believed that Mr. Zhang had become … wretched, treacherous, and cunning. He used a lot of despicable and shameless tricks to deal with students. He knew the tricks of the bad students very well, and he was even worse than the bad students. Many students complained incessantly because of him.
"But sometimes, it was as if his brain was not enough. His IQ suddenly dropped, and he would blurt out some very childish words. It was as if he had turned from a high school discipline director to a brainless junior high student."
Li Yao said, "There's … there's such a thing?"
"There were also those nightmares. Although his fever had long subsided, they still haunted him, causing him to not be able to sleep well for several days. Often, when he closed his eyes and opened them, he would find himself in the ventilation ducts or the sewers. Mr. Zhang had no choice but to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said that he was middle-aged, and his married life was not harmonious. He could not vent his desires, so he subconsciously looked for the sewers and ventilation ducts as … a substitute for his wife.
You know, you can use them. "Ms. Gray Fog said," Mr. Zhang scoffed at this saying, but the problem did exist, and it had to be treated. After looking around, he found us. "
"Wait …"
Li Yao frowned and said, "Let me ask you first. What was the name of the web novel that Mr. Zhang read before his illness?"
"You should have guessed it."
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