Chapter 294: White Tower Town’s Secrets

“Mom can’t possibly be talking about me. I’ve always had a pretty good temper…”

Listening to his mom’s instructions, Lu Xin mulled it over for a moment, clearing up some thoughts in his mind. Then he looked up and smiled, “I’ll do my best to take care of the family and wait for you to come back. But… I really have grown up, so shouldn’t you tell me some things now?”

“Hmm?”

Mom’s smile seemed a bit mysterious as her gaze gently landed on Lu Xin’s face. “What do you want to know?”

Lu Xin seemed to ponder, slowly asking, “What are those thirteen mental entities?”

Mom looked at Lu Xin, a faint smile appearing on her face.

Lu Xin looked at her, continuing his questions, “They said Glasses was one of the thirteen types of mental power, extracted from that painting. And that painting… it can devour emotions, help stabilize me, and even be used against that ugly monster… It seemed to fight the monster by disrupting its emotions. So, I want to know, what exactly is it considered?”

“Different people see things from different angles.”

Mom paused for a moment before softly replying:

“It does indeed have the ability to devour emotions. The painting it previously parasitized was also called the Gaze of the Red Moon. That’s why the people in Qinggang gave it the codename ‘Gaze.’ But I think… perhaps we can understand it more intuitively. Call it Chaos.”

Lu Xin hesitated slightly, then continued, “What about Father? What does he belong to?”

The shadow beneath his feet writhed more obviously. It seemed to want to hide its movement, but couldn’t quite manage.

The smile on Mom’s face grew wider. “Shouldn’t you know that better than I do?”

“Then…”

Lu Xin nodded, slowly gathering his courage, and suddenly asked, “What about you?”

As he asked this question, he looked intently at his mom.

Mom looked back at him calmly. After a long, long pause, she suddenly chuckled.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she picked up her bag and slowly walked forward. Suddenly, she turned back, chuckling softly, “Oh, right.”

“If you want to find out who’s doing these things, you can start with this convoy…”

“……”

“Mom still treats me like a child.”

Lu Xin walked back to the camp, a faint smile still lingering on his lips.

Of course, he knew that if he wanted to investigate these matters, he should start with the convoy.

How could this convoy be so coincidental, happening to be forced to detour into White Tower Town at this exact moment?

Under normal circumstances, where would one find an entire convoy full of people to investigate?

Besides, wasn’t it possible that the original targets of these madmen weren’t just the people in the convoy, but also included their cargo?

If that were truly the case, it would be going too far.

Not only taking the convoy’s people but also their cargo, and without paying.

Lu Xin slowly pondered these issues as he walked over to his motorcycle and took out the signal receiver and satellite phone.

He was a bit more practiced this time, quickly dialing Han Bing’s number.

“Good evening, Mr. Lone Soldier…”

Han Bing’s voice was slightly muffled, but still very pleasant.

Lu Xin asked, “What are you eating?”

“Strawberries…”

Han Bing said, “My mom bought them. They’re big and sweet, not fully ripe yet, a little sour, but very crisp.”

A crisp crunching sound followed.

Lu Xin felt a bit of saliva well up in his mouth and quickly changed the subject, “The investigation I mentioned earlier… I have results.”

“Really?”

Han Bing sounded pleasantly surprised. “How did you find out?”

Lu Xin paused for a moment, then said, “The target of the investigation told me directly.”

“……”

Han Bing was taken aback for a second, then chuckled, “I must admit, that sounds like Mr. Lone Soldier’s style.”

Lu Xin thought about it carefully and smiled a bit sheepishly, “But her situation… doesn’t seem like normal pollution. It should be said that… her own mind suffered trauma, which then triggered a certain degree of mutation. I observed her; she can’t even be considered an Ability User yet. Even during her most intense episodes, her mental radiation is at a very low level.”

“Phew…”

Han Bing seemed to let out a slight sigh of relief, followed by the sound of something being popped into her mouth. “That’s great.”

“I haven’t even had dinner yet, and you’re still eating strawberries, eating something so sweet…”

Lu Xin grumbled inwardly.

But he didn’t really mind. He could feel Han Bing’s attitude becoming increasingly relaxed around him.

This made him feel good.

It was also why he increasingly preferred calling Han Bing over Chen Jing.

“Also, while investigating the issue with the convoy leader, I encountered something else.”

Lu Xin said with a smile, “We ran into some madmen, and a strange brain that could control them.”

“Oh…”

Han Bing replied casually, munching on strawberries with crunching sounds, then suddenly her voice shot up, “What?”

Lu Xin was startled by her reaction, stammering slightly, “A… a brain that can control madmen…”

“Gulp…”

The sound of Han Bing forcefully swallowing came from the other end of the phone. She quickly asked, “Specifically… what exactly happened?”

“Oh, it was like this.”

Lu Xin slowly explained, “Because a mudslide destroyed a bridge, the convoy had to pass through an abandoned city called White Tower Town. Unexpectedly, there were many madmen hidden in this city. Not only would they roar and attack living people, but they even emitted a kind of cold laughter… I heard a violin sound controlling them, so I followed it and encountered a brain-shaped monster.”

“Yes, it’s been dealt with…”

“Both the madmen and that terrifying brain monster have been dealt with…”

“It was quite scary…”

“I also picked up a file about some Third Stage God’s Body Creation Plan…”

“It feels quite important, so I’m letting you know.”

“……”

“This…”

Han Bing’s voice trembled with tension. “This this this this… This is more than just serious…”

“Woo…”

In the emergency information coordination office, adorned with banners like “Nuclear bomb might detonate any second!”, “We are saving the world!”, and “Don’t fear overtime, overtime taxi fares reimbursed!”, tense alarm sirens suddenly blared.

All the staff, who had been drinking coffee and playing games, hastily looked up.

Their faces wore expressions like, “Did a nuke’s tire blow out? Do they need us to remotely provide instructions on how to inflate it?”

“Emergency alert! Emergency alert! Emergency alert!”

“Mr. Lone Soldier discovered a forbidden laboratory in White Tower Town!”

“Preliminary suspicion links it to the Third Stage God’s Body creation…”

“Report to Colonel Chen immediately, formulate an emergency plan…”

“……”

All the staff were stunned, scrambling to put down their coffee and close their Spider Solitaire game interfaces.

Overtime personnel were notified via urgent phone calls: “Come back quickly! Take a taxi!”

Meanwhile, someone muttered helplessly, “How… how did he manage to stumble upon something like this just by wandering around for two days?”

…

“Mr. Lone Soldier, the situation is extremely urgent.”

Han Bing insisted that Lu Xin wait for five minutes while she was busy, forbidding him from hanging up or putting away the signal receiver. Otherwise, Lu Xin, out in the wasteland, could very likely lose contact immediately.

After five minutes, her voice returned:

“Regarding this matter, we will formulate a meticulous response plan. But right now, we need Mr. Lone Soldier to do one thing.”

Hearing her solemn tone, Lu Xin also became tense. “What is it?”

Han Bing said, “Immediately lead that convoy out of White Tower Town. Get as far away as possible, and head to Central City at the fastest possible speed.”

Lu Xin frowned slightly. “Why?”

Han Bing explained, “Although we don’t know the specifics of that experiment yet, any faction capable of conducting such a massive experiment, even controlling over two hundred madmen, must be incredibly powerful and influential. With their experiment subject destroyed, they will definitely receive news very quickly. They have only two choices: 1. Erase all traces and destroy the evidence. 2. Silence all witnesses!”

“Such forbidden experiments are explicitly prohibited by the Alliance.”

“No matter how powerful the faction conducting such experiments is, they wouldn’t want this matter known.”

“I even suspect that if Mr. Lone Soldier and that convoy don’t leave soon, a missile might land on your heads at any moment.”

“……”

Lu Xin instantly became alert, glancing up at the night sky.

A streak of white light cut across the horizon…

…Thankfully, it was just a meteor.

He realized he had indeed underestimated the situation.

He hadn’t even considered the possibility of missiles…

“Alright, I understand.”

Lu Xin nodded in agreement, confirmed a time for their next call, and immediately returned to the camp.

“Brother Lu, come eat something. Saved a big piece of meat for you…”

Little Zhou held a small stainless steel basin, eagerly waiting for Lu Xin, while Old Zhou brought out his treasured Lao Bai Gan.

“No time to eat. Pack it up quickly.”

Lu Xin told them, then hurriedly went to Boss Gao Ting’s tent and pulled open the curtain.

Inside, Gao Ting, who was applying iodine to her own shoulder, was startled. She instinctively covered her collar, looking up at Lu Xin in surprise. But Lu Xin’s mind was elsewhere, thinking, *What haven’t I seen?* He just said urgently, “Right now, immediately organize the convoy to set off. Head to Central City at top speed. Only there, in a place with many people, are we most likely to ensure our safety.”

Boss Gao Ting paused for a moment before saying, “You mean…”

Lu Xin nodded at her and closed the curtain again.

Inside the tent, Gao Ting thought for a moment, her expression suddenly changed, and she quickly ducked out from under the curtain.

“Toot…”

An urgent whistle sounded, and the entire convoy suddenly plunged into busy chaos.

…

“How is that possible? He was only out for two days…”

“Even if such a laboratory really exists, wouldn’t they know how to maintain secrecy? How could it be discovered so easily?”

Awakened in the middle of the night and rushing to the emergency information processing office weren’t just the overworked staff, but also Minister Shen and Mr. Su, who were already overwhelmed by the Sea Country affair.

Listening to Minister Shen’s low growl, Professor Bai, who had just reviewed Han Bing’s urgent report, chuckled and said:

“Perhaps it wasn’t that the other party was careless, but simply that it was bound to be discovered no matter what.”

“Given Mr. Lone Soldier’s identity, isn’t discovering such things, according to some mysterious logic, quite reasonable?”

“……”

“The top priority now is to get Mr. Lone Soldier and the convoy that witnessed this event to Central City.”

“Originally, having them return to Qinggang for protection would have been the best choice. But now, their location is closer to Central City than Qinggang. Moreover, the route back to Qinggang is mostly vast wasteland, whereas Central City is surrounded by numerous settlements and satellite cities. They can reach densely populated areas faster, which makes it easier to deter the hidden faction from acting rashly.”

“……”

“The problem is, the personnel at the Central City office are probably insufficient to handle such a large-scale incident.”

“No matter, we can consider organizing a support team to send over.”