602: Chapter 602 Physical Exorcism, Back to the Exam Room

"Bang!"

A dull sound of flesh impacting exploded deep within the water plant.

Zhou Ming flew sideways like a sandbag, heavily slamming into a pile of rusted iron pipes.

Then, he lay on the ground and dry-heaved violently, coughing up a large mouthful of foul-smelling black water with a "wa" sound.

Accompanied by the gush of black water, the dark shadow entangled within his body let out a shrill scream and quickly dissipated into the air.

The signs of Zhou Ming rolling his eyes back began to fade, and his pitch-black pupils re-focused.

He was dazed for two seconds, then abruptly gasped a cold breath.

"Hisss— My face!!!"

Zhou Ming covered his left cheek, which was swelling at a visible rate, and let out a wail.

Then, using both hands and feet, he climbed up with difficulty.

At this moment, only one leg of the black-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose hung from his ear, dangling precariously with his movements.

Zhou Ming looked around blankly.

Finally, his gaze fell on Fang Cheng, who was leisurely shaking his wrists, and he asked in a slurred voice:

"Fang, Fang Cheng? What happened? Why do I feel like my face was just hit by a large truck?"

Fang Cheng's expression was calm.

He stepped forward, bent down, picked up the broken half of the glasses temple on the ground, and casually shoved it back into Zhou Ming's hand.

"Did you forget? A monster possessed you just now. To save you, I had to resort to a somewhat more intense physical method."

"Physical method?"

Zhou Ming grimaced in pain, his face full of cluelessness:

"You... what method did you use?"

Looking at his face, which was swollen like a leavened steamed bun, Fang Cheng said in a sincere tone:

"You didn't stand steady after being possessed, took a fall, and your face just happened to strike this pile of iron pipes. Fortunately, the monster was knocked out by that impact."

Wang Lan, standing aside, couldn't help but twitch the corners of her mouth violently.

She instinctively touched her still-aching neck.

Suddenly, she understood why her throat had felt burning hot just now.

Evidently, she had also completely enjoyed this set of "physical method" treatment not long ago.

Wang Lan gritted her teeth, her expression extremely speechless.

Looking at Fang Cheng's calm profile, for a moment she didn't know whether to be grateful for his lifesaving grace or to blame him for being truly ruthless.

...

Half an hour later.

In front of the water plant's main gate, five middle school students sat sprawled in disarray on the weed-grown stone steps.

Except for Fang Cheng, the remaining four people were all bruised and battered, their bodies covered in dust and black stains, looking as disheveled as could be.

"Cough cough... Oh my mom, I almost thought I was going to meet my end inside today."

Holding his highly swollen left cheek, Zhou Ming breathed heavily with lingering fear.

"Yeah, yeah, good thing the snacks I brought didn't get lost..."

Li Dazhuang opened his schoolbag, shook out a pile of food from it, and handed them to Fang Cheng and the others respectively.

As for himself, he opened a bottle of cola and gulped down several mouthfuls to calm his nerves.

Speaking of which, he was considered the least frightened among the few; he hadn't seen clearly what had happened at all, nor did he know why he was possessed.

He only heard his classmates describe it as so terrifying that thinking back now made him feel somewhat scared.

Lin Xue tightly hugged the already-damaged detector, her complexion still pale.

But her gaze revealed an irrepressible excitement, and her mouth wouldn't stop moving:

"Our Supernatural Research Club has been established for almost a year, and today we finally saw the real deal."

"Turns out ghosts and monsters really exist in this world, this is too magical!"

Hearing this, Zhou Ming couldn't help curling his lips.

The subtext was, isn't your family's house a shrine? Isn't your mother a shrine maiden?

Did you still need to run over and prove this kind of thing with us?

"Yeah, this time we owe it all to Fang Cheng."

Wang Lan stood aside, gently exercising her aching neck, and sighed sincerely:

"Usually he looks so weak and frail, I didn't expect him to be so reliable when real danger strikes. Those few punches just now were really punchy, much more useful than Lin Xue's talisman water!"

Hearing this, Lin Xue, who was sitting on the stone steps, blushed and appeared extremely embarrassed.

She lowered her head to glance at the colorful water guns at her feet, awkwardly kicked them backward with her toe, and defended in a low voice:

"Th... That's because the talisman water my mom prayed for at the shrine is mainly for dealing with Essence Spirits in the mountains and forests."

"Places like the water plant belong to modern industrial ruins, the magnetic field and feng shui are different, belonging to... crossing boundaries."

"Right, it's crossing boundaries, and maybe the talisman water expired, which is why it didn't exert its power..."

Her deadpan and forced excuse made Wang Lan unceremoniously roll her eyes.

Amid the relief of surviving a catastrophe, the atmosphere finally became much more relaxed.

Everyone rested on the stone steps for a while, and their breathing gradually calmed down.

At this time, the sky outside had completely darkened.

The suburban area with sparse streetlights appeared exceptionally desolate.

The autumn wind blew past with a swish, bringing a biting chill.

"It's already dark, let's hurry home, otherwise our families will start worrying."

Lin Xue wrapped her thin jacket tighter and suggested.

Everyone nodded successively, supported each other to stand up, and walked along the dirt road towards the direction of the main street.

"Fang Cheng, today counts as me owing you a favor. Tomorrow noon in the cafeteria, I'll treat you to big ribs!"

Zhou Ming walked beside him, talking excitedly, preparing to continue boasting a few words about how brave he was when facing the dark shadow just now.

"Wait..."

Fang Cheng suddenly stopped in his tracks and uttered two words.

"What's wrong?"

Zhou Ming turned his head in confusion and looked at him.

Fang Cheng did not answer; he only raised his head, gazing at the sky with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

Immediately after, a wave of intense dizziness violently struck from deep within his brain.

That golden sun hanging high in his consciousness flashed rapidly, its light suddenly dimming and becoming extremely faint.

At the same time, the scenery before his eyes began to spin wildly, and the edges of his vision were rapidly swallowed by the surging darkness.

This thin and weak body had forcibly burst out with power far exceeding its own load under extreme anger just now, having long been overdrawn to the limit.

Now that the danger was lifted and his spirit relaxed once.

The fatigue hidden deep in his muscles and bone marrow swept over like a tsunami, instantly shattering all physiological defenses.

Fang Cheng opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But before any sound came out, his legs suddenly went soft, and his whole body tumbled straight forward.

"Fang Cheng!"

"Hey! Fang Cheng, what's wrong with you?"

"Everyone come quick, he seems to have passed out!"

Amid the panicked exclamations of Zhou Ming, Wang Lan, and the others, Fang Cheng's consciousness completely plunged into a boundless darkness.

His body seemed to lose all weight in an instant, rapidly plunging down a funnel-shaped pitch-black vortex.

The space around him was spinning wildly.

There was no sound of wind, and no gravity could be felt.

Only countless twisted and weird picture fragments flashed past rapidly from the inner walls of the vortex.

Those were incomplete withered bones, writhing black flesh, and bloated human faces soaked in bloody water.

Those faces uniformly turned their stiff necks, staring dead at the falling Fang Cheng.

"Hehehe..."

They emitted bursts of shrill and eerie laughter.

Sometimes far, sometimes near, like a grievance curse tangled around the ears, lingering persistently.

The falling speed became faster and faster, sinking deeper and deeper.

Until all senses were completely swallowed by this suffocating pitch-black abyss.

...

"Hoo—"

Fang Cheng abruptly opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

There was no bottomless pitch-black vortex, nor the sickening stench of rot from the water plant.

Strong, pure white LED light shone straight down, stinging his pupils into a violent contraction.

He breathed slightly, his vision gradually focusing.

All around were walls covered with gray soundproofing sponge, and the air was filled with a faint scent of disinfectant.

The low-frequency buzzing sound of the central air conditioning operating echoed in his ears.

This was the interrogation room for the Special Investigation Team interview.

Massive memories like a breached flood instantly broke through that layer of false cognitive barrier, surging and pouring back into his mind.

The memories of the middle school student Fang Cheng quickly faded, and the true identity of examinee No. 263, Fang Cheng, re-assumed dominance.

"Take a deep breath, relax your muscles, and slowly adapt to the feeling of reality."

The young examiner in uniform hurried forward and reached out to untie the heavy metal helmet fixed on Fang Cheng's head.

Then he tore off the patches connected to the electrodes one by one and packed them up properly.

Fang Cheng leaned against the cold metal chair back, caught his breath, and adjusted to the discrepancy between the two worlds.

Across the long table, chief examiner Chen Bingzhong sat upright.

He lowered his head to glance at the tablet timer on the table, pulled off the pen cap of his steel pen, and wrote down on the paper assessment form in front of him:

"Examinee No. 263. Illusion endurance duration: twenty minutes and nineteen seconds. Score: Excellent."

After finishing writing, Chen Bingzhong raised his head.

That pair of sharp eyes swept over Fang Cheng, and a trace of disappointment faintly flashed deep within his eyes.

He had originally held extremely high expectations for this promising talent recommended by his old friend.

Twenty minutes could indeed be considered very good among ordinary examinees, but it definitely couldn't be considered stunningly brilliant.

You must know that Shi Chengyi had nothing but praise for this child, boasting that he was a once-in-a-century martial Dao Genius, with the potential to catch up to the former commander-in-chief and the Special Investigation Team's top expert, Li Guizhen.

Since he was a Genius, his mental willpower shouldn't be bad.

At least a performance of nearly thirty minutes would be considered reasonable.

"What Rank of anomalous entity did you encounter in that world? What coping strategy did you adopt?"

Numerous thoughts flashed quickly through Chen Bingzhong's mind, and then he asked routinely, his tone all business.

Before Fang Cheng could answer, the young examiner beside him looked at the computer screen and couldn't help chiming in:

"Your physiological data just now was very abnormal; your brainwave curve was extremely chaotic, and your heart rate once soared to 180."

"The strangest thing is that your body temperature was also very high, your whole body's skin was flushed red, and you were constantly sweating, practically as if you had been locked into a high-temperature steamer."

Fang Cheng steadied his mind and lowered his head.

He found that his shirt was already completely soaked by sweat, clinging wetly to his back, and the surface of his skin was even radiating billowing heat outward.

In his mind, the exclamations of his classmates faintly lingered, as if all the scenes were still right before his eyes.

Fang Cheng raised his hand, wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, and then calmly explained:

"I encountered a group of incorporeal shadow-type anomalous entities. To rescue the possessed companions, I adopted close-quarters hand-to-hand combat."

"It might be that the combat intensity was too high, coupled with excessive emotional agitation, which led to the body producing a stress response."

Fang Cheng guessed that the other party probably mastered some monitoring indicators or special methods, so he did not conceal it.

Chen Bingzhong nodded slowly, his steel pen sliding across the paper surface, making a soft rustling sound.

"The test's illusion directly stimulates the subconscious. Under the stimulation of extreme anger or fear, sympathetic nervous hyperactivity appearing in the real body is a normal physiological feedback."

He closed the folder, crossed his hands on the table, and his tone resumed its ripple-free official pitch:

"Alright, Fang Cheng, your interview segment is completely over."

"Keep your communication open after going back, patiently wait for the specific score notification, and you can go out now."

Fang Cheng propped himself up on the armrests of the chair and nodded to the examiners in greeting.

Then he turned around, pushed open that thick soundproof door, and walked out in big strides.

The incandescent lights in the corridor were somewhat dazzlingly bright.

A depressed and tense atmosphere permeated the waiting hall.

Hundreds of examinees waiting for interviews sat on chairs, some muttering words, others shaking their legs nervously.

There were also a few examinees who had just come out from other examination rooms, their faces pale, dry-heaving beside the trash cans against the wall.

Obviously, they had just experienced illusions similar to Fang Cheng's.

Beside the water dispenser ahead, Ma Donghe was pinching a crushed paper cup in his hand, boasting with spittle flying all over to the scrawny Hou Peng.

"Back in the day, when I was on the streets of Dongdu, I was a fierce character who could chase and beat dozens of people all by myself! Just that little scene in the illusion, could it bluff me?"

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Ma Donghe turned his head, his eyes lit up, and he immediately threw away the paper cup and strode forward to welcome him.

"Fang Cheng, you finally came out!"

Ma Donghe slapped Fang Cheng heavily on the shoulder and asked with concern:

"How are the results? How long did you hold on?"

"Twenty minutes and nineteen seconds."

Fang Cheng replied casually.

"Awesome! Three minutes more than me, I didn't even last eighteen minutes."

Ma Donghe grinned and smiled, his entire face filled with the relief of a burden lifted:

"This damn illusion is simply too weird; after going in, everyone can't remember their original selves, as if their brains were directly formatted."

"Fortunately, when I came out, I remembered everything all over again."

Saying that, he flopped onto the empty chair beside him, spread his hands wide open, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Fang Cheng, let me tell you, I turned into a forty-something bald security guard at the time, patrolling the morgue in the middle of the night."

"Fortunately, the identity arranged for me by the illusion was an adult man, and I had some strength to cope with danger."

"I heard there is a poor fellow in the fourth examination room next door, who went in and directly turned into a crawling baby on the ground, falling off the bed less than half a day after going in, and thus waking himself up by falling like that."

"There's an even crazier one: a big man went in and turned into a woman, and before the monster even spawned, he scared himself into a breakdown!"

Ma Donghe was speaking with gusto, suddenly lowered his voice, and blinked mysteriously:

"Fang Cheng, do you know what I encountered inside?"