469: Oops, serious

At this moment, Shen Bei was a bit bewildered, and his molars ached terribly.

The last time he tried to capture the Sheepskin Assassin, he failed and was almost ambushed by Thunder King Ye Leng using the Blood-Colored Ancient Lamp.

Shen Bei thought the Blood-Colored Ancient Lamp wouldn't affect him.

Otherwise, he would have been swallowed by the dirty green light emanating from the Blood-Colored Ancient Lamp long ago, just like Thunder King Ye Leng.

But the truth was...

Shen Bei had thought too simply.

The influence of the Blood-Colored Ancient Lamp was still there!

Moreover, Shen Bei was absolutely certain that he had problems on some conscious levels.

He would occasionally experience 'Gestalt collapse' hallucinations, but in terms of symptom severity, it wasn't as intense as when Thunder King Ye Leng lit the lamp last night; at most, when looking at chopsticks, he couldn't immediately recognize them as chopsticks, or when picking up underwear, he would be momentarily confused about what this piece of cloth was for.

Perhaps simply describing it this way makes it difficult for people to vividly understand what was actually happening to Shen Bei.

For example: someone with poor English skills, upon seeing a common word, needs a few seconds to recall its meaning, but if someone has excellent English skills, as soon as they see a common word, the corresponding meaning reflexively appears in their mind, with almost no intermediate steps.

The old Shen Bei, as soon as he saw a refrigerator, knew it was a refrigerator, but the current Shen Bei, at certain times, only knew it was a large, square container, and it would take a moment before he remembered it was a refrigerator.

This caused some inconvenience in Shen Bei's daily life.

This morning, Jian Tong, who was going to class, asked Shen Bei to buy ingredients at the market because she wanted to eat hot pot tonight.

Anyway, Shen Bei didn't attend many classes, so it didn't take up his time.

And when Shen Bei arrived at the market...

He was momentarily bewildered again.

He wanted the vendor to cut the “carcass of a poultry animal” into pieces for him but didn't know how to express it for a moment.

Fortunately, the vendor was understanding; seeing Shen Bei point, he asked if he wanted to buy it and if he needed it cut into pieces.

Afterward, Shen Bei used this method to buy some “yellow plant roots,” “dark brown umbrella-shaped ingredients,” and “white flower-shaped ingredients.” It wasn't until he left the market that he finally managed to remember they were an old hen, ginger, shiitake mushrooms, and white fungus, respectively.

Then, he bought some broken internal organs, congealed blood, tangled tentacles, soulless eyeballs, twisted plants, shriveled limbs, incomplete brains, and crimson fruits.

Imagine these ingredients rolling in the opposition of red and white, and settling in the fusion of yellow and brown.

Although this symptom didn't appear frequently, whenever it did, it left Shen Bei feeling like a fishbone was stuck in his throat.

It was like intending to do something, but then getting a Divided Soul and suddenly forgetting what he wanted to do, trying to remember, but unable to.

Perhaps even if an egg and beef burger were placed in front of Shen Bei now, he would have to use two or three hundred words, with many twists and turns, to describe clearly what it was, and the person listening to Shen Bei's description might not even understand, and would instead blame Shen Bei: 'Isn't it just a burger? Why make it sound so scary?'

Shen Bei could only choose to adapt to this after-effect for now, hoping it was merely a temporary symptom that would fade with time.

But reality struck Shen Bei with another heavy blow.

A few days later...

The Gestalt collapse continued to appear a certain number of times.

It would appear about two to three times a day, at irregular times.

It depended on what Shen Bei was observing.

Shen Bei sniffed: “No, if this continues, there will definitely be problems.”

After some thought, Shen Bei decided to talk to his teacher, Professor Gu Xinrou.

Perhaps his teacher would know how to solve the Gestalt collapse.

Of course, Shen Bei did not tell Jian Tong about his abnormal state, fearing she would worry too much.

Sometimes a woman's concern can make a man lose his composure.

At the same time, Shen Bei also didn't go to Principal Qin.

His mission was not yet complete; if such a situation arose, and Principal Qin asked him to withdraw, wouldn't the mission reward be for naught?

Considering all of the above, Professor Gu Xinrou was still the best choice.

Because Professor Gu Xinrou was organizing a team to research the odd object mask, and with abundant resources in the capital, the research institute was located in the capital under the arrangement of the state.

He made a phone call to inquire about the address.

Shen Bei then rushed over.

The journey was not far.

Half an hour later, he arrived at a secluded compound.

The compound was hidden among lush trees.

Or rather, the surrounding trees enveloped the compound, using natural vegetation to block the view of the courtyard.

“Come.”

Professor Gu Xinrou was already waiting at the entrance.

Today, she wore an outfit of goose yellow paired with plain white, with a narrow-sleeved, fitted top for ease of movement, and a slightly short skirt for both beauty and practicality.

Under the watchful eyes of the Military guards, Shen Bei completed his registration and was then permitted to enter.

“The security is quite strict,” Shen Bei remarked.

Professor Gu Xinrou smiled gracefully: “You also see what we are researching.”

Shen Bei asked curiously: “How is it? Almost done, right?”

“Thanks to your contribution, I can also publish a paper,” Professor Gu Xinrou said with a slight hint of pride.

Shen Bei replied with certainty: “You definitely wouldn't dare. If this thing were released, the world would explode.”

Professor Gu Xinrou nodded naturally: “That's right, it's the most classified of secrets.”

Under Professor Gu Xinrou's guidance, Shen Bei also visited their research institute.

Various forging furnaces, molds, Materials, and so on, were dazzling; Shen Bei, in any case, couldn't understand them.

He just felt that the prestige was quite high and the scale was not small.

Of course, Shen Bei also saw several replicated odd object masks displayed in glass rooms.

At the same time, there were several male Military personnel, aged fifty or above, wearing masks in a laboratory.

There were many people in white coats observing, questioning, and recording data around them.

In Shen Bei's eyes, these Military personnel wearing masks had already transformed into Stranger (Yi Ren).

However, there were still some differences.

They looked like Yi Ren, but upon closer inspection, there were still some subtle differences; they were not as realistic as the original mask.

“Still a bit short,” Jian Tong introduced.

Shen Bei nodded: “Not bad. What about the backlash effect?”

“There is some, but it's not too severe. It might also be related to the Yi Ren transformation not being completely realistic.”

“Are these test subjects all volunteers?”

“Yes.” Professor Gu Xinrou's eyes sparkled with admiration: “The national requirement was that they must have both sons and daughters, and having grandchildren was a bonus. They were selected through layers of screening.”

Shen Bei took a deep breath: “Much stronger than Zhuang Bifan.”

“Ah?”

“That guy Zhuang Bifan acts like it's the end of the world if you ask him to wear the odd object mask,” Shen Bei shrugged.

Professor Gu Xinrou didn't say anything.

The two arrived at an office.

Professor Gu Xinrou poured Shen Bei a glass of iced cola.

As soon as Shen Bei picked it up, the Gestalt collapse returned.

The black liquid in Shen Bei's eyes turned into surging blood.

And the constantly rising bubbles became individual eyeballs.

Shen Bei closed his eyes, shook his head hard, and it took a while for him to return to normal.

“Shen Bei?”

“Hey? Are you alright?”

Professor Gu Xinrou called out several times from the side, only to see Shen Bei's face somewhat contorted, shaking his head vigorously, as if having an epileptic seizure.

Shen Bei didn't react to her shouts.

Shen Bei took a deep breath, pulled himself out of the distorted world, and took a gulp of cola: “Something is definitely wrong, otherwise I wouldn't have come to find you.”

Professor Gu Xinrou's expression instantly became serious, and she asked with an urgent tone: “Tell me, what happened?”