Chapter 26: The Body in the Puddle

Normally, resolving a mental pollution incident requires understanding its logic and core elements.

As personnel of the Special Pollution Cleanup Department, everyone is familiar with this process.

But it seems sometimes, this process isn’t absolute?

…

…

Holding onto this thought, Chen Jing, Han Bing, the Investigation Team members, and the surrounding vigilant City Patrol Soldiers all stared blankly, even feeling helpless, as they watched the battle unfolding in the lake between Lu Xin and the mental monster defy all common sense.

Qin Ran was the most stunned. He remained hidden on the shore, dumbfounded by the bizarre scene in the lake.

He watched the twisted horrifying humanoid fruit tree under the red moon, feeling a mix of terror and strangeness, pounding his head:

“What in the world is that?”

Then he watched Lu Xin gradually tear the humanoid fruit tree apart, an inexplicable fear gripping him. “And what is *that*?”

…

…

Even if they couldn’t fully grasp the insane, twisted nature of the fight, the onlookers could still tell one thing.

Lu Xin was gaining the upper hand.

The ‘figures’ growing at the tips of the vines frantically clawed and grabbed, desperate to catch him. But Lu Xin’s nimble elusive movements allowed him to dodge every attempt. Instead, he seized opportunities to tear them forcefully into shreds. One by one, the shadows at the vine tips vanished.

Soon, many vines were reduced to bare stalks, swaying limply in the air.

Lu Xin, however, seemed to grow more excited as he fought, a cheerful glint appearing in his eyes. Finishing off the ‘humanoid vines’ wasn’t enough; he started tearing directly at the main vines themselves.

In Lu Xin’s eyes, he saw his sister becoming happier and happier. She even jumped right onto the vines.

Grabbing a vine with both hands, she took a huge bite with a ‘Wah!’

The vine trembled in pain.

Lu Xin’s heart pounded in fear. “Don’t just eat random things…”

“No, I want to eat it!”

His sister ignored him, tearing off another chunk forcefully. Her teeth looked incredibly sharp and strong at that moment.

*Rip, rip, rip…*

Finally, under his sister’s frenzied assault, the vine began to tremble violently, visibly shaking as if shivering.

Tearing apart its ‘fruit’ earlier had only enraged it further.

But now, as his sister devoured parts of its body, a sense of fear began to emerge within the creature.

Suddenly, all the vines contracted violently, retreating towards the puddle. Since his sister was stubbornly holding onto one vine, the entity in the puddle seemed resigned, actively abandoning that tendril. The rest vanished in an instant, like an explosion playing in reverse.

“This…”

Caught completely off guard, Lu Xin froze as he witnessed the scene.

He instinctively asked, “What happened?”

“Hmph!”

His sister’s dissatisfied voice came from the side. She quickly devoured the abandoned vine, then hopped over to the edge of the puddle. Peering inside, she saw no movement after a while and angrily grabbed a handful of sand, tossing it in.

Then she turned to Lu Xin and declared, “It chickened out!”

…

…

“Chickened out?”

Lu Xin found it both bizarre and absurd.

A mental monster could chicken out?

He walked over to his sister, looking at the small puddle. Its depth was unclear; it seemed to be a deep spot within the lakebed. Although he knew the tree-like mental monster had emerged from here just moments ago, looking down now revealed nothing but the faint reflection of himself under the dim red moonlight…

“Is it over?”

Everyone around stared at the suddenly quiet lakebed, finding it hard to accept.

Over the comms, Chen Jing reacted fastest, making the first decision: “Clean up, now!”

“Corporal Lu Xin, the pollution source…”

Receiving the order, the three Investigation Team members mustered their courage and approached.

After witnessing the previous scene, they were clearly afraid, but they forced themselves to remain calm and carry out their orders.

“It’s right down there!”

Lu Xin, having just gone through such an intense battle, appeared unusually calm now.

He simply looked at the small puddle and said, “But there probably won’t be any more anomalies for now…”

The three Investigation Team members exchanged glances, unable to understand how Lu Xin could switch to such a calm state so quickly.

It was as if the battle just now had nothing to do with him…

“Dig it out! Lu Xin, you’re on guard!”

Chen Jing’s voice came through Lu Xin’s earpiece, and he relayed the order to the three Investigation Team members.

“Yes, sir!”

The three Investigation Team members immediately responded loudly and ran quickly to the lake shore to get shovels. Lu Xin noticed they retrieved them indirectly: the distant Support Team members placed the shovels near the shore first, then the Investigation Team picked them up. The two groups maintained strict separation throughout, indicating very stringent protocols.

Shovels in hand, the three Investigation Team members immediately began digging.

Lu Xin stood guard attentively nearby, wary of any mutations that might occur during the excavation.

His hand hovered at his side, ready to grab his sister’s hand at any moment.

However, perhaps the mental monster below really had chickened out as his sister claimed. Throughout the digging process, no further anomalies occurred. They cleared an opening, drained the water, and dug deeper bit by bit. At about one and a half meters down, an Investigation Team member whispered, “Found it!”

As they slowly cleared away the wet earth, a dark, humanoid object came into view below. It resembled a corpse.

Everyone simultaneously felt a slight sense of relief.

The incident began because Qin Ran killed Cui Wang. Therefore, they had initially suspected the pollution source was related to Cui Wang’s body. However, Cui Wang’s corpse wasn’t found where Qin Ran had dumped it; only some tissue fragments were collected. They speculated wild dogs might have eaten the rest, but that couldn’t fully explain the situation.

Now that a body had been found, it could potentially explain many things.

“I’ll do it!”

Lu Xin took the rope, bent down, and tied a knot around the corpse.

Then, the three Investigation Team members pulled together, finally hoisting the corpse up and placing it on the mud nearby.

It was indeed a corpse, showing no apparent abnormalities.

But the three Investigation Team members remained tense, grabbing a hose to wash the mud off the body.

Lu Xin noticed his sister tilting her head, examining the corpse with apparent curiosity.

Gradually, the mud was washed clean from the corpse’s face and body, revealing its clothing: faded, worn camouflage fatigues with a belt around the waist. Despite being buried beneath the lake for an unknown duration, the body was remarkably intact, showing no signs of bloating. Once the mud was rinsed from its face, its original features became recognizable.

“This is…”

Lu Xin frowned slightly as he looked at the face, finding it somewhat familiar.

“Can you confirm the identity of the corpse?”

Chen Jing’s inquiry came over the comms.

But as Lu Xin looked closer at the face, a chill slowly crept up his spine.

The slight relaxation he felt after defeating the mental monster vanished instantly, replaced by renewed tension.

After careful examination, one of the Investigation Team members suddenly cried out involuntarily.

His cry contained no specific words, nor even any distinct meaning.

It was simply an instinctive shout born of extreme surprise, or perhaps terror.

“Report immediately!”

Chen Jing’s voice crackled instantly over the comms: “Is the body Cui Wang?”

Amidst the urgent prompts, Lu Xin snapped back to reality, calmed his emotions, and replied in a low voice, “No!”

Then, looking at the corpse on the ground, he slowly answered, “It’s Qin Ran!”

“How is that possible?”

Sudden shock and confusion laced Chen Jing’s voice.

Yeah…

How could it be possible?

Lu Xin thought slowly, looking carefully.

This corpse was undeniably recognizable as Qin Ran.

Whether it was his facial features, height, or even his clothes, everything matched Qin Ran perfectly.

Or rather, this *was* Qin Ran.

But, if the source of the pollution that caused so much trouble, buried at the bottom of the lake, was Qin Ran…

Then who was the person on the shore, the one who had been following them around during the investigation and monitoring?