173: Ye Yi's special hobby

“Could it be?”

Lu Chuan’s expression turned a little strange. Combining the omens from his dream, the unknown viscous liquid in the door crack, and his medical knowledge, it was clear to him where the problem lay.

He Jingrui had been cursed because he killed that merman.

If nothing was done and the curse’s green light was allowed to proliferate and spread, eventually surpassing the golden light, then visible abnormalities would appear in his body.

And once the red light was also suppressed, he would completely transform into a merman.

“But according to medical knowledge, killing an ordinary merman doesn’t result in this kind of curse… It seems that merman wasn’t simple…”

Lu Chuan had already determined the cause of He Jingrui’s mutation, so there was no need for him to stay there any longer.

With a thought, he reopened his eyes and found himself back in reality, his hand still resting on He Jingrui’s arm.

“It’s quite serious!”

Lu Chuan released He Jingrui and murmured.

“What’s serious?”

He Jingrui watched Lu Chuan close his eyes and space out for a while, then suddenly open them and say something inexplicable, so he couldn’t help but ask.

Lu Chuan looked at He Jingrui, who was still bewildered and unaware of what had happened, feeling a bit complicated.

Isn’t that why they say fools have good fortune?

Without lifting a finger, someone else took care of everything.

“It’s nothing, it’s just that we’ll have to change our ingredients from now on.”

Based on He Jingrui’s condition, Lu Chuan currently had two treatment methods.

One was to accelerate the evolution of the Gourmet Cells, preventing the golden light, which represented the awakening rate, from being overtaken by the green light, which represented the curse. This way, his body would not undergo mutation.

The second was to find an ability or medicine that could eliminate the curse.

However, the first method was a temporary solution and only existed in theory.

If the evolution speed of the Gourmet Cells couldn’t keep up with the spread of the curse, He Jingrui would cease to be human.

Therefore, Lu Chuan wouldn’t place all his hopes on it.

The second method was the proper solution, but it was also very difficult.

Nevertheless, it was still possible to achieve.

Lu Chuan looked towards Yinhua Mountain, where there was a rift leading to another world.

Since the other world had the miraculous White Lotus that could awaken Gourmet Cells, it must also have medicinal herbs or ingredients that could accelerate the evolution of Gourmet Cells, or even directly resolve curses.

And in the search for medicinal herbs or ingredients, he also had the enhancement of his “Mind Bug” talent ability.

After this period of exploration, his understanding of this ability had deepened.

According to the system’s original words:

“After the host masters the Mind Bug ability, on one hand, he can understand the voices of ingredients, and on the other hand, he has a unique advantage when searching for ingredients with special effects.”

The sub-ability of “understanding the voices of ingredients” had been experienced before; it provided a bonus in cooking and allowed him to understand the general effects of ingredients.

As for “searching for ingredients with special effects,” this generally manifested as being able to sense the location of certain special ingredients within a range.

In Lu Chuan’s opinion, the talent ability he awakened was truly abnormal, worthy of having the word “bug” in its name.

Fortunately, with the “Mind Bug” talent ability, as long as he didn’t give up, He Jingrui could eventually be cured. The only thing to consider was the time it would take.

Lu Chuan came back to his senses, looked at He Jingrui, and smiled:

“Alright, no time like the present. It’s been a few days since we went to the rift. Let’s look for ingredients and consider it a relaxing outing.”

...Ever since Hu Xuan escaped, the entire underground research institute immediately became extremely tense.

Various large and small meetings were held non-stop, and the security system was directly maxed out, without any concern for exaggeration.

Many researchers who used to gather in the recreation room to relax after work also became much more low-key, even wishing they had no presence at all in front of their superiors.

Of course, the worst off were the official high-ranking security personnel, who were directly demoted.

As for Ye Yi, who was supervising the escort at the time, he was unharmed due to his connection with Ye Chen and his own position as a director-level senior staff member.

But despite this, several days later, he was still incredibly frustrated.

“How did this death row inmate named Hu Xuan manage it? Not only was he immune to the new anesthetic strong enough to knock out Gao Lingfeng, but he also escaped from a heavily guarded research institute located one hundred thirty meters underground!”

Ye Yi, who couldn’t figure it out, suddenly froze.

“Could there be an inside man?”

But after saying that, he couldn’t help but laugh at himself.

For any staff member to enter this research institute, their family history for eighteen generations would be thoroughly screened multiple times, and they would also undergo regular hypnotic examinations by highly skilled psychology professors.

This fundamentally eliminated the possibility of enemy infiltration and internal betrayal.

Furthermore, even if someone truly betrayed them.

That person would also need immense authority to secretly bypass everyone and open the door for Hu Xuan’s escape.

As far as Ye Yi knew, the number of people in the entire underground research institute with such authority could be counted on one hand.

And these few people, including him, would absolutely not be able to pass the hypnotic examination by the psychology professor.

“So, Hu Xuan, how did he do it?”

Ye Yi racked his brain but couldn’t figure it out, so he could only shake his head and temporarily stop thinking about it.

After a busy period of experiments, Ye Yi relaxed and began to indulge his special little hobby – finding small websites.

They say you can tell if a man is smart by whether he can quickly find small websites when his mind is clouded by desire.

Undoubtedly, Ye Yi was smart.

As one of Ye Chen’s clones, his IQ score could rank among the highest in the history of Blue Star’s PK circles.

A mere small website naturally couldn’t stump him.

His purpose in finding small websites wasn’t for anything explicit; it was merely to relieve stress during the search process.

After spending half an hour and finding hundreds of small websites consecutively, Ye Yi let out a satisfied breath, then used a small software he developed to permanently block the websites with one click.

“I’ve also contributed to the healthy growth of the nation’s youth! Great, another day full of positive energy.”

After feeling self-satisfied, Ye Yi was about to return to his scientific research work.

Just then, he inadvertently saw a mirror on the table and, through the mirror, saw his own reflection.

Then, a flash of inspiration, like a bolt of lightning, violently intruded into his mind.

“Could it be?!”

“Impossible, how could it be!”

“But besides him, it seems no one else could have done it!”

“But what is his purpose?”

“Or rather, what can he gain from it?”

“And when did he reach an agreement with Hu Xuan?”

Ye Yi’s expression first showed shock at the astonishing discovery, then excitement at solving the riddle, but when he thought of the terrifying nature of that man, he couldn’t help but become terrified.

Thinking that the person might harbor an unspeakable purpose, and that he had accidentally stumbled upon it, potentially leading to a decision to deal with him, Ye Yi’s heart couldn’t help but pound rapidly.

“He must have a very terrifying idea, and he knows that the higher-ups will definitely not support him, so he did something like this!”

“No, no, I must act as if I know nothing, just like before!”

Despite saying this, Ye Yi’s body still couldn’t help but tremble.

“But I can’t hide anything from him! What should I do… 嗚嗚嗚…What should I do!”

Just then, footsteps came from outside the door.

Then, a cold voice rang out.