598: Chapter 598 I'm Not Crazy, Mimicry Memory

Chen Bingzhong sat in the shadows, holding a steaming thermos in his hand.

The fragrance of tea from the cup diffused into the chilly room, yet it failed to dispel that faint stench of decay.

Scenes of hardships inevitably surfaced in his mind: back then, Director Li Guizhen led all colleagues of the Special Investigation Team, working day and night without sleep, to guard the sacrificial pit.

At the very beginning, this oddity under Seal was truly elusive.

Not to mention utilizing its power, even getting slightly close to it would cause mental breakdown or even madness.

It wasn't until Director Li accidentally figured out a method of consciousness projection that he became the first person to venture into the different world.

That was an experience so bizarre it was hard to put into words.

According to Director Li's own account, when he first entered that world, it was as if he had amnesia, completely unable to remember his original identity.

Moreover, that world seemed to possess a certain "immune consciousness".

As an outsider, Director Li quickly encountered phenomena of rejection.

The surrounding walls, floors, and even the air always emitted a malice whose source could not be found.

Twisted and terrifying dark shadows constantly flashed at the edge of his vision.

Even more bizarrely, starting from the first day he entered, black rain began to fall in that world.

That rain was not transparent, but rather like pitch-black ink, carrying a strong stench.

If it accidentally touched the skin and caused an infection, there was a high probability of Physical Body tissue mutation.

Prolonged contact with the black rain might even directly turn one into a monster.

Director Li had witnessed with his own eyes familiar faces being eroded into bloodthirsty monsters.

He wanted to save them, but due to his weakness, he was almost killed by the monsters instead.

As time passed in that world, similar things happened again and again, becoming more and more frequent.

Several times he was pushed to the brink of desperation, yet he was utterly unable to wield the extraordinary power he once controlled.

Suppressed by the strange Law of this world, he even found it extremely strenuous to defeat an ordinary person.

He could only rely on a willpower far exceeding that of ordinary people to bitterly struggle for survival for more than ten days.

Finally, after the parasitic body died, his consciousness was forcibly rejected by the world Law, and he returned to reality.

After waking up, the first thing Director Li did was to order the sacrificial pit to be sealed off, and named it the "Black Rain World".

The intention behind doing so was not just to prevent the spread of contamination hazards.

Rather, he already realized that this passage connecting to the different world had immeasurable value for the Special Investigation Team and the country.

However, over the past thirty years, because the contamination phenomenon of the object under Seal was too intense and uncontrollable.

Apart from Director Li, no one else was allowed to easily step foot into that Forbidden Ground.

Until recent years, the massive object under Seal suppressed deep underground seemed to be disturbed by the Law of a higher plane, causing the frequency of the contamination it emitted to drop significantly.

Only then did the Special Investigation Team have the opportunity to approach it once again and restart research.

However, although multiple batches of personnel had been dispatched to enter successively, there was never any substantive progress.

Because in that independent world, there existed a set of extremely overbearing underlying Laws.

It would completely strip away all memories of outsiders from the real world.

To be precise, the world Law would randomly project transmigrators into the bodies of the aborigines who matched them best based on similarities in name, gender, and appearance.

This Fusion was at the level of the Soul, and the outsider's consciousness would completely accept the original owner's social relationships, producing almost no anomalies.

Whether it was a Martial Artist with a formidable Physical Body or those S-class extraordinary individuals standing at the top of the pyramid, once they entered, they would completely lose their true selves.

All extraordinary powers would be completely suppressed, turning them into ordinary people with no strength to truss a chicken.

Even Director Li back then was no exception.

The Special Investigation Team testing candidates' Foundation was built upon this Law.

Only when a person was completely stripped of power and faced a life-or-death desperate situation would their truest inner nature be completely exposed.

In that absolutely real sense of powerlessness, even those deep-scheming mental ability experts from the outside world could no longer disguise themselves.

The most hidden dark sides deep in their subconscious would be vividly displayed at the moment the monster pounced.

Chen Bingzhong slowly put the thermos back onto the desktop.

The stainless steel cup bottom collided with the wooden desktop, making a muffled sound.

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly penetrating the thick radiation-proof walls.

At the exact center of this circular building was the monitoring center for the object under Seal.

Chen Bingzhong was well aware that Ling Shaofeng and other senior executives of the Special Investigation Team must be sitting in front of the huge surround screens at this moment, watching the scenes of all candidates, including Fang Cheng, struggling bitterly in the Black Rain World.

To consume such huge Seal energy for a mere exam in itself exuded a sense of evilness.

It was simply no different from using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.

Chen Bingzhong sighed inwardly.

He had previously questioned Ling Shaofeng about this matter, but was sternly rejected by the latter on the grounds of "Honing willpower, select the best among the best".

Ling Shaofeng always pondered before acting, pursuing the maximization of value in everything he did.

In the dozen years he managed the Special Investigation Team, there had never been any unhealthy trends of extravagance and waste.

Therefore, he must have hidden something.

Chen Bingzhong narrowed his eyes slightly.

Thinking about it carefully now, Ling Shaofeng didn't care about the scores of these candidates at all.

Perhaps he just wanted to use the consciousness of a large number of candidates to enter the Black Rain World, trigger certain specific logics of that world, and thereby achieve the purpose of finding "something".

Thinking of this, Chen Bingzhong shook his head, actively cutting off these dangerous speculations.

His gaze moved away from the wall and refocused on the ancient bell covered with cyan-green bronze patina.

Because this derivative treasure still carried a faint contamination.

To ensure the safety of the candidates, these chief examiners had to guard the interrogation room without leaving an inch, unable to enter the monitoring center to see what was happening in that world.

The only thing they could do now was to stare at the brainwaves and emotional thresholds on the computer screen.

Once a candidate's fear index soared and approached the red line, showing signs of irreversible mental collapse, or failing to wake up on their own.

Chen Bingzhong would have to immediately strike the Soul-Suppressing Bell, using a special acoustic frequency band to transmit information into that world and forcibly guide the other party's consciousness back.

Of course, if it reached this step, it also meant that the candidate's test was a complete failure.

"The time flow rate inside is different from the real world."

Chen Bingzhong looked at the green curve gradually flattening on the screen and muttered to himself:

"Only seven minutes have passed outside right now, which means that after Candidate No. 263 entered the Black Rain World, not even a single day has passed."

"It just depends on how many days he can hold on in this gradually out-of-control nightmare..."

At the hospital entrance in the early morning.

Fang Cheng walked out of the emergency building, looking at the scene outside with a depressed face.

The sky was gloomy, like a lead-gray curtain soaked in water.

Fine rain threads were still drifting, and the chaos of last night was still vivid in his mind.

When the paramedics lifted the grandpa onto the stretcher, that pool of dark brown blood flowing from his nostrils was engraved on Fang Cheng's retina like a brand.

His parents' reproaches echoed in his ears:

"How could you lay a hand on your grandpa?!"

"Are you out of your mind?!"

Fang Cheng could not explain.

Could he say that he saw a monster wearing grandpa's skin?

Saying that the monster grabbed his throat with cold hands and wanted to kill him?

Or that last night's rain was black, smelling like dead rotting fish and shrimp, very similar to the odor emitting from grandpa's body?

Who would believe it?

These words would only make his parents think his brain was sick all the more.

Fang Cheng took a deep breath, a bitterness welling up in his throat.

He lowered his head and glanced at his own hands.

His knuckles felt somewhat numb due to excessive force while beating.

The red and swollen lump on the back of his hand had not completely subsided, faintly glowing with cyan and purple.

He felt a wave of relief followed by a wave of lingering fear.

Relieved that his strength was small, and he didn't accidentally beat grandpa... to death for real.

What he feared was that if it happened again, he might still choose to do so without hesitation.

Sometimes, Fang Cheng truly doubted whether he was crazy and had violent tendencies.

That rotting and bloated face last night, that strong stench, the cold fingertip touch... were all too real.

So real that even though he was currently in a familiar living environment, he always felt that everything around him was covered with a thin layer of grime.

The breakfast shop by the street had just set up its stall, and the steaming steamer was emitting white smoke.

Pedestrians passing by him were all in a hurry, rushing to work or school.

Everything in Pingjiang County seemed so normal and peaceful.

Fang Cheng walked blankly, his gaze falling on the wet floor tiles.

Just as he passed a corner and was about to turn into another street.

The corner of his eye suddenly caught a fleeting dark shadow.

That trace of shadow was extremely brief, fast like an illusion.

But that fuzzy and distorted outline instantly evoked Fang Cheng's nightmare from last night.

Making his heart sink abruptly, a bone-deep chill rushed straight to the top of his head.

Fang Cheng immediately turned his head to look.

However, behind him, apart from occasionally passing vehicles, there was no one.

He stopped his steps, his heart beating thump-thump.

"As expected, I am not crazy..."

Fang Cheng took a deep breath, quickened his pace, and almost broke into a light jog.

Rather than letting his mind run wild by himself, it was better to go to school and find Zhou Ming.

Although that guy always loved to exaggerate, he could always talk a good game about "supernatural phenomena".

Ring-a-ling——

The class-ending bell rang through the campus, and the classroom instantly became noisy.

The students, as if pressed with a start button, popped up from their seats one after another.

The sound of conversation and the friction of desks and chairs instantly filled the entire space.

Fang Cheng shuttled through the crowd, finding the bowl-cut teenager wearing thick-rimmed black-framed glasses.

He was lying on the desk, reading a comic book with an unknown creature drawn on the cover with great relish.

Even the noise around him seemed to be blocked out by him.

"Zhou Ming."

Fang Cheng walked to his desk and called out softly.

Zhou Ming suddenly raised his head:

"Fang Cheng? Is there something you want from me?"

He put down the comic book with curiosity on his face.

Fang Cheng pulled over a chair, sat directly next to Zhou Ming, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice:

"Let me ask you something. Don't you usually always research all sorts of bizarre and supernatural things?"

Zhou Ming's eyes lit up, he immediately straightened his back, and pushed the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose:

"Of course, this president of the 'Super-Research Club' has a well-deserved reputation."

"What do you want to ask? Aliens? Ghosts? Or some bizarre missing persons case?"

Fang Cheng's gaze fell on Zhou Ming's shining lenses, his tone somewhat hesitant:

"Have you ever heard of people suddenly turning into... um, not human, but monsters that look very much like humans?"

Zhou Ming's mouth opened slightly, and then he showed a slightly excited smile:

"Of course I know. Your question hit the nail on the head. This is called a 'Mimic Memory', and there are many different kinds."

"Some are parasitized by alien creatures, some are disguised by local evil spirits, and another kind is called flesh and blood aberration, where the body is affected by unknown substances and gradually becomes distorted."

"These monsters can still maintain a human form in the Early Stage, and can even mimic the memories and habits of the dead to continue living in human society, but gradually, they will reveal their true forms and become ferocious and cruel."

He became more and more spirited as he spoke, dancing with his eyebrows:

"What you are talking about is mostly a 'Mimic Evil Object'. This kind is the hardest to deal with; it can perfectly simulate your relatives and friends, making it impossible for you to tell the real from the fake."

"Once you are entangled by it, unless you have Yin and Yang Eyes that can see through the disguise at a glance, it's very difficult to handle."

Saying this, Zhou Ming deliberately paused for a moment, a hint of mystery in his eyes.

Fang Cheng's heart sank abruptly, he clenched his fists, and asked further:

"Then... is there any way to deal with this kind of thing?"

Zhou Ming put away his playful smile, and his expression became serious:

"Conventional weapons are useless. To deal with such evil objects, you have to rely on 'abilities', or rather 'psychic energy'."

"Our 'Super-Research Club' specializes in studying these, and every member is an excellent investigator who has mastered various detective techniques."

"How about it, want to join? I saw your brilliant performance in math class last time, you guy have great learning talent, and are definitely qualified to become the most outstanding investigator."

Fang Cheng's heart stirred.

What he thought of was not his performance in math class, but the courage and strength he burst out last night in a desperate situation that surpassed his usual self.

This likewise filled him with doubt.

Just as he was thinking of opening his mouth to refuse, he heard Zhou Ming continue:

"Right, today after school our 'Super-Research Club' has an exploration activity. It is said that at the abandoned old water plant in the suburbs, black shadows always haunt recently, and there is a strange stench of decay floating out, which is very much like the descriptions of those 'evil objects' circulating outside."

"We plan to go there for a field trip, and maybe we can find some clues."

Fang Cheng's pupils suddenly contracted.

Black shadow? Stench of decay?

He recalled the various "illusions" he had seen recently, as well as the stench floating from grandpa.

Today, no one was at home; his parents and younger brother were guarding at the hospital.

Only he was driven over to go to school.

This timing was the best opportunity for him to find the truth.

"Okay, I'll join."

Fang Cheng almost didn't hesitate and directly agreed.

Zhou Ming pushed his glasses in surprise:

"Great! You're finally enlightened! Let me tell you..."

Fang Cheng did not hear the subsequent excited words of Zhou Ming clearly.

In his mind, there were only those two words: black shadow, stench of decay.

Tonight, he might be able to find some answers.