Chapter 24: The Shadow in the Lakebed

Right now, a thousand meters away, countless eyes were fixed on the bizarre and maddening scene unfolding at the bottom of the drained lake.

Three fully armed soldiers hung suspended in mid-air, their bodies unnaturally twisted. It was as if some unseen will forced them stiffly, slowly, but inexorably to turn around. They even raised their guns, unleashing a dense barrage of bullets towards their surroundings…

Yet despite the danger, Lu Xin charged straight into the hail of bullets.

Even while sprinting, his body twisted and turned with uncanny agility. Mud splattered around him, yet somehow, amidst the dense gunfire, he miraculously dodged every single bullet. Closing the distance to three meters, he leaped forcefully.

Beneath the red moon, he arched his back like a cat, his form blurring into an afterimage as he shot into the air.

This leap brought him close to one of the Investigation Team members.

The team member hovered four or five meters high, a height seemingly impossible for anyone to reach. Yet Lu Xin had jumped, precisely timing his move between bursts of gunfire, and lunged fiercely towards him.

“Hiss…”

On the back of that Investigation Team member, a blurry but distinctly distorted shadow whipped its head around to face Lu Xin. Its mouth stretched impossibly wide, revealing a horrifying visage that sent chills down the spine.

But Lu Xin simply swiped a hand, tearing off half its face, before grabbing its body with both hands.

“Ah…”

The Investigation Team member thought Lu Xin had come to kill him.

Instead, he suddenly felt his body lighten as the force binding him vanished instantly.

Before he could react, a powerful sense of weightlessness overcame him, and he began flailing as he plummeted downwards.

In the same instant he freed the man, before he could fall far, Lu Xin kicked off his body, using the momentum to launch himself towards another team member hovering four or five meters away, freeing him as well.

Then, repeating the process, he used the second man’s body as a springboard to reach the third.

…

…

“What is he doing?”

Meanwhile, in a secure building within Qinggang Main City, Chen Jing and Han Bing of the Information Analysis Team watched the live feed from the cameras worn by the containment soldiers in the Second Satellite City. Despite the distance and the dim, crimson moonlight, they could still make out Lu Xin’s ghost-like movements and seemingly reckless actions.

His movements were fluid, eerie, almost phantom-like.

Charging headfirst into bullets and towards the mental monster—it was sheer madness.

“He’s dangerous…”

Han Bing had so much she wanted to say, but when the words reached her lips, only that single, useless phrase came out.

Everyone in the Information Analysis Team had access to extensive data on Mental Pollution. In a way, they were semi-experts, which allowed them to provide professional advice during contamination cleanup.

From her perspective, everything Lu Xin was doing was incredibly dangerous.

The specifics of Pollution Source No. 41 in the Second Satellite City were still undetermined.

However, based on immediate analysis, a single Mental Impact from it had destroyed most nearby lights and repelled three armed personnel along with Lu Xin. This indicated an immense level of psychic power. Its ability to instantly pull the three soldiers into the air also demonstrated a potent, instantaneous infection capability.

Under these circumstances, the correct course of action was an immediate withdrawal of all personnel followed by artillery bombardment.

Normally, those three Investigation Team members would have been considered lost the moment they were caught by the Pollution Source.

Yet, despite all this, Lu Xin had charged in.

Wasn’t he afraid of dying under gunfire?

Spider-type Ability Users did have documented cases of dodging bullets in experiments, but a direct hit would still be fatal!

But paradoxically, after Lu Xin did just that, they watched as he performed three mid-air leaps, somehow rescuing the three team members who had seemingly lost control and started firing on their allies. The method was unclear. Even more astonishingly, once the three hit the ground, they quickly scrambled up and retreated rapidly…

Their movements were agile and orderly, suggesting they likely hadn’t been infected after all…

“He…”

Han Bing’s mouth fell open unconsciously.

Chen Jing, phone in hand and about to issue an order, paused, her expression a mixture of shock and delight.

After a moment’s hesitation, she quickly commanded, “Quick! Retreat with the Investigation Team members immediately—”

But she didn’t finish her sentence. Staring at Lu Xin’s actions on the blurry screen, her eyes widened.

…

…

“Now it’s your turn…”

But Lu Xin, having rescued the three Investigation Team members, didn’t retreat with them.

Instead, he relentlessly charged forward again.

His target was the puddle at the center of the lakebed.

He had noticed something crucial when the three armed personnel were lifted into the air earlier.

To others, it looked like the three team members had completely lost control after being pulled into the air.

But Lu Xin could see it clearly: a blurry shadow was holding the three men aloft. The shadow clung to their backs, wrapping around them, tightening on their arms and fingers, forcing them to turn and shoot. That’s why the Captain had managed to yell a muffled “Get clear!” as he fired.

And that’s how Lu Xin knew they were merely being ‘controlled’, not ‘infected’!

So, with his sister’s help, he had dodged the gunfire, leaped into the air, and torn apart the shadows binding them.

Those shadows were strange but not very durable; they tore easily.

Of course, it might just be that his sister was good at tearing things. She did it often enough.

But after saving them, he couldn’t retreat yet.

Mainly because his sister didn’t want to.

Her eyes were gleaming now, fixed intently on the puddle at the very center as she lunged straight for it.

“Gurgle gurgle…”

Lu Xin was incredibly fast. At his speed, the seven or eight meters to the puddle would be covered almost instantly.

But just as he was about to reach the central puddle, the mud around the doll began to bubble and mound upwards. Suddenly, a black shadow erupted from the muck, expanding rapidly. Twisted branches stretched in all directions, countless bizarre tentacles whipping out frantically towards him.

In that instant, Lu Xin’s pupils contracted as he looked up.

It was a tree—a tree covered in countless vines, and at the end of each vine hung fruit.

And those fruits… were ‘people’, one after another.

These ‘people’ lunged down from above, arms and legs spread wide, bodies outstretched as if wanting to give Lu Xin a big hug.