28: Chapter 28 The Left Eye That Sees Through the Truth

Inside the closed meeting room.

Lu Chen pressed his hands on the console and started immediately:

"We previously speculated that every Challenger can see their personal information, and the two most baffling core indicators are 'pollution' and 'Spirit Grid'."

Director Wei Tiejun and Zhou Jianping both nodded.

This matched the sporadic clues observed by the General Administration's intelligence team.

Lu Chen tapped on the keyboard.

The large screen flickered, switching to a shot of Lin Ye checking his intact knee and whispering.

He brought up lip-reading analysis software.

A few seconds later, the loading bar finished, and four characters popped up on the screen.

pollution cleared.

"When Lin Ye landed on the Level 2 Floating Island the day before, he scraped his knee, and he clearly noticed his pollution level rising at that time."

"When he checked the next morning, not only had the injury healed, but even the pollution level had returned to zero."

Lu Chen's tone was very certain: "The conclusion is that this so-called 'pollution' can be directly absorbed and assimilated by the Challenger's body."

Daily intelligence summaries flashed through Zhou Jianping's mind as he gasped:

"No wonder Soldier King Xu Haifeng and the others experienced common-sense-defying body enhancements after entering the Void Sea. Was it all caused by this stuff?"

"Yes."

Lu Chen admitted it directly, then immediately followed up with a bucket of cold water.

"But there's no such thing as a free lunch. This kind of physical enhancement must come with unknown costs or risks."

Director Wei Tiejun frowned and cut him off with a wave of his hand:

"Get to the point! What does this have to do with Lin Ye?"

Lu Chen turned and looked straight at Director Wei Tiejun.

"These next few minutes will overturn your understanding."

He clicked a few times with the mouse, bringing up his encrypted document: [Lin Ye: The Left Eye Hypothesis].

The large screen split into several windows, playing various god-tier maneuvers Lin Ye had performed since landing.

Screen 1: On the Level 1 Floating Island, Lin Ye threw away a pile of seemingly perfect cloud berries.

Screen 2: By the stream, he let countless fat fish go, specifically picking certain targets.

Screen 3: In the dense forest, he took an extremely bizarre weaving path.

Screen 4: And the most exaggerated scene—he played dead from over a hundred meters away, managing to avoid a Mountain Beast that hadn't even shown itself yet.

Zhou Jianping's eyes widened, his breathing becoming heavy.

The screen changed again.

On the left was the "flawed" cloud berry uploaded by the little Japanese bastard, and on the right was the "perfect" cloud berry Lin Ye had gained through his hundred-thousand-fold critical hit.

Lu Chen pointed at the comparison chart: "I've analyzed them with software. Physically and visually, there is no difference between the two."

Immediately after, the screen switched to footage of Lin Ye rubbing and squeezing a dead fish by the river.

He placed two fish on a stone slab, pressed them down, and then snapped the fish bones with two cracks.

Lu Chen's voice even carried a hint of fanaticism:

"Do you see? He's comparing! He's testing how pollution changes the strength of bone and flesh!"

"Otherwise, why would he catch a fourth fish separately and discard it after using it?"

Director Wei Tiejun and Zhou Jianping fell completely silent.

They were both old foxes in the world of intelligence; how could they not see the logic?

If they traced back through the kid's behavioral logic, his previously seemingly insane actions were actually all freaking god-level predictions!

Lu Chen hit the pause button and dragged the mouse, circling Lin Ye's left eye with a conspicuous red frame.

Then he replayed it at a lower speed.

"Pay attention to his left eye."

"Before every decision, this 'prosthetic eye' of his has an incredibly fast blink."

"In the instant he blinks, he obtains the information he needs."

Lu Chen leaned his hands on the conference table and said, word by word:

"Director Wei, Lin Ye has never relied on luck."

"His left eye can directly see the 'pollution' that none of us can see."

The meeting room fell into a dead silence.

Director Wei Tiejun frowned deeply, his gaze locked onto Lin Ye on the big screen.

"Are you saying Lin Ye has some kind of special visual ability? Like some sort of superpower?"

"Yes."

Lu Chen stood up straight.

"We cannot investigate the source of the ability, nor is it important."

"What matters is that this kid's ability has put us miles ahead of other countries right from the starting line!"

"In a place like that, an information gap is life itself; it's the guarantee of resource quality."

"He might be the only person who can uncover the truth of that world. His value is strategic!"

Director Wei Tiejun's breathing quickened as he paced back and forth in the meeting room.

Two minutes later, he slapped his thigh hard.

"Old Zhou! Change the plan immediately!"

"Give this round's opportunity to Lin Ye!"

"Yes, sir!"

Zhou Jianping stood at attention, took the order, and turned to leave.

"Wait a moment."

Director Wei Tiejun suddenly turned to look at Lu Chen.

"You've been observing him for so long. Given his current situation, what item would be most useful for us to send?"

Lu Chen pushed up his glasses.

"Lin Ye is clear-headed and cunning."

"He doesn't lack the means to hunt or the ability to find food. What he truly lacks is a margin for error."

The screen cut back to the view of Lin Ye's shirtless back as he warmed himself by the fire next to the underground river.

"He's only flesh and blood, and he only has one life."

Director Wei Tiejun understood immediately: "Good, I know what to do!"

Just as he was about to leave, Lu Chen spoke up again: "Director Wei, two more things."

He held up two fingers.

"First, Blue Star is full of undercurrents, and there are still many spies within our borders. The less people know about Lin Ye's intelligence before he matures, the better."

Director Wei Tiejun nodded; this was exactly what he intended.

"Second, for that 20-word message, I strongly suggest using classical chinese!"

Zhou Jianping was completely bewildered: "Why?"

Lu Chen sneered:

"Lin Ye is a student from the Archaeology Department!"

"classical chinese has high information density and lacks basic context. By the time those foreign decryption experts finish checking their dictionaries, the opportunity will have long passed!"

Director Wei Tiejun's eyes lit up, and he revealed a satisfied smile.

"That's a brilliant move. We'll do exactly as you say!"

...

Void Sea, underground cavern.

The campfire crackled, dispelling a small circle of darkness.

Lin Ye sat cross-legged and shirtless, holding a freshly opened leaf bundle.

He pulled out a strip of smoked meat and bit into it forcefully.

The meat wasn't particularly tasty and had a smoky flavor.

But there was no helping it; survival games aren't about presentation—calories are king.

After eating two strips of meat, his stomach finally felt a bit more settled.

He stood up and walked to the edge of the rushing underground river.

Watching the rotten wood from the cave-in floating on the river, Lin Ye decisively raised his right arm.

He raised his right arm.

"Thrum!"

The Wind-Chasing Claw shot out, latched onto a branch, and pulled it ashore.

He repeated this several times.

Lin Ye pulled out his dagger, scraped off the mud and thorns from the surface, and piled them all by the campfire to dry.

In the pitch-black underground, this firewood was life itself; he had to prepare enough.

After finishing these tasks, a dull ache radiated from his right shoulder.

He had strained a muscle when he fell from above earlier.

Lin Ye sat down against the rock wall and moved his hands closer to the fire.

"Today has been quite the ordeal."

First, the heavy rain flooded his camp, then he was hunted by that big beast, and finally, he was served a deluxe free-fall package.

Even if this small body of his were made of titanium alloy, it wouldn't be able to take it!

No matter what happened, he wasn't moving again today; he would just stay here and lay low.

Looking at the scrapes on his body, Lin Ye's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Since he had some free time, he might as well check his status.

With a thought, the National Destiny Challenge light screen popped up before his right eye.

[pollution: 0.19%]

Lin Ye's brows knitted tightly together.

Before, when he just scraped a bit of skin on his knee, the pollution was only 0.02%!

This wave of cave-in scrapes had increased it nearly tenfold!

It seemed the price of fate was beginning to show its fangs.