Chapter 338: Illusions in the Courtyard

Three Geckos remained in the courtyard.

At least one of them had to be fake.

Of course this conclusion excluded two other possibilities.

One was that Chen Jing or Gecko had already been killed by these deeply Polluted individuals during the earlier chaos, meaning there were now two or more fake Geckos left alive.

The second was that Lu Xin’s touch had faltered while dealing with the Polluted individuals just now and he’d accidentally killed his own teammates…

…That was impossible. Lu Xin had been very careful!

Three Geckos and one Lu Xin faced each other in the small courtyard. The atmosphere grew strangely silent.

Suddenly one of the Geckos violently raised the homemade shotgun in his hand aiming it at the head of the person beside him.

Lu Xin instantly dashed forward, grabbing his hand. The touch was ice-cold. Lu Xin confirmed this Gecko was fake. His fingers immediately clenched crushing the other’s hand, the bones twisting into a mangled mess.

*Crack…*

The homemade shotgun in his hand clattered to the floor.

Before the shotgun even hit the ground another Gecko lunged forward catching it and firing without hesitation.

The head of the “Gecko” whose hand Lu Xin held instantly exploded.

Lu Xin relaxed slightly, looking towards the Gecko who had caught the shotgun and nodded.

It was settled then. Of the two remaining one was the real Gecko and the other must be Chen Jing…

But before that thought could fully form the third Gecko suddenly rushed forward. A sharp dagger appeared in his hand as he stabbed viciously downwards at the Gecko on the ground.

Lu Xin reacted instantly lunging forward. He moved so fast his body was almost parallel to the ground, yet he somehow maintained his balance, grabbing the attacker’s arm.

As he grabbed it Lu Xin’s heart suddenly went cold.

The touch was ice-cold!

This Gecko was also fake!

*Swish!*

Lu Xin yanked the fake “Gecko’s” arm pulling him closer. Then his hands moved rapidly across the body, like dismantling a toy instantly breaking the arms, legs and torso into a pile of parts on the ground…

*Clatter…*

As he ripped open the figure’s chest an intricate Rubik’s Cube covered in tiny squares tumbled onto the ground.

Simultaneously the body… the body fragments rapidly transformed into cold hard brittle flesh and blood.

He was indeed fake.

Lu Xin’s face however turned somewhat pale. He turned his head and saw the Gecko who had grabbed the shotgun earlier. His appearance hadn’t changed. He still held the shotgun, nimbly flipping up from the ground. He looked closely at Lu Xin then visibly relaxed.

But as his gaze swept around his face suddenly turned deathly white. “Where’s Section Chief Chen?”

“Right where is Section Chief Chen…”

Lu Xin’s breathing grew slightly ragged. He didn’t even dare turn his head to look around.

He was afraid he’d see Chen Jing’s corpse among the scattered bodies, killed by his own hand…

…

“What are you two spacing out for?”

Suddenly amid the oppressive atmosphere that made it hard to breathe Chen Jing’s voice rang out.

Lu Xin and Gecko jumped as if they’d seen a ghost whipping their heads around. They saw Chen Jing stepping out from behind a pillar a half-smoked cigarette between her fingers. There wasn’t a single trace of battle on her. She looked at them both with a slightly strange expression.

“You…”

Lu Xin started to speak urgently then forced himself to calm down. “Where were you just now?”

“Right here watching a bunch of Spider-types fight.”

Chen Jing slowly blew out a smoke ring tossing the cigarette butt onto the ground. She smiled, “Spider-type close combat is quite entertaining to watch.”

…

Lu Xin and Gecko were both completely dumbfounded.

“Oh oh…”

Chen Jing first gave them a puzzled look then smiled towards her side. “Did you forget about it?”

A short little monster with octopus-like tentacles covering its body slowly revealed itself. It seemed rather shy hiding half its body behind Chen Jing its soft tentacles wrapped around her calf as if ready to flee at any moment.

Lu Xin and Gecko both suddenly felt a sense of dawning realization.

…

“So while the two of us were fighting for our lives Leader you just had this little monster pollute you and hid nearby watching us fight?” After a long moment Gecko asked his face crestfallen. “Why didn’t you hide us too?”

“It was a sudden situation. Before I could react you all turned into the same annoying shape.”

Chen Jing said naturally “Besides compared to Spider-types my skills really aren’t up to par so I didn’t want to get in the way.”

A leader is truly a leader…

What else could Lu Xin say? When he first saw Chen Jing appear he’d been so relieved he almost wanted to hug her.

But seeing her face he still felt a bit intimidated. Forget it.

Gecko however seemed to suddenly snap back to reality saying with a tearful voice, “Team Leader it’s great that you’re okay. I was worried sick just now…”

As he spoke he opened his arms wide to embrace her.

A dagger appeared in Chen Jing’s hand. She flipped it deftly up and down glancing sideways at Gecko.

Gecko immediately changed direction hugging the Little Monster instead moved. “Thank you thank you for saving our Section Chief Chen!”

The Little Monster trembled uncontrollably but didn’t dare push him away.

…

“Some people overflow with emotion but Gecko… should that be called an emotional tsunami?”

Lu Xin was somewhat speechless unable to watch the scene any longer.

He turned around looked down and saw the intricate Rubik’s Cube covered in tiny squares.

This Rubik’s Cube was very strange. The ones he usually saw had only nine squares per face but this one had twelve rows and twelve columns on each side. The tiny squares of different colors were densely packed together creating a dizzying effect.

“So this thing was the culprit?”

Lu Xin thought for a moment put on his gloves then picked up the Rubik’s Cube.

This trip into the city had certainly shown him how formidable various types of pollution could be. It seemed even he wasn’t immune to everything.

There were still types of pollution that were impossible to guard against and incredibly troublesome.

He might even end up with the root cause of an illness like an addiction to killing Geckos…

…

“This should be a fairly high-level parasitic item…”

Chen Jing and Gecko walked over looking at the Rubik’s Cube their faces showing some curiosity.

Although the problem was resolved smoothly they both knew how dangerous the situation had been.

Especially Chen Jing. She had already consumed a large amount of psychic power by continuously using her ability while crossing those fake streets needing Lu Xin to support her just to walk. If she hadn’t immediately had the Hide-and-Seek Little Monster hide her the moment she realized the battle situation was problematic she might have already lost her life in the chaotic melee filled with Spider-type individuals firearms and daggers.

“Let’s take it back. This thing should have significant research value.”

Chen Jing said softly taking out a special coarse cloth bag and handing it to Lu Xin.

Lu Xin nodded quickly wrapping the Rubik’s Cube tightly before stuffing it into his pocket. Since it had great research value Qinggang would definitely need it. And since Qinggang needed it bringing it back would surely earn him…

It felt a bit embarrassing to think about.

He originally came here to visit family but ended up picking up a relative’s belongings first.

…

“Are your conditions heavily affected?”

Chen Jing let out a soft sigh asking Lu Xin and Gecko.

After this period of rest her condition seemed much better than before.

“I’m doing okay…”

Gecko looked curiously towards Chen Jing’s side. The Little Monster had disappeared again.

However this time Gecko and Lu Xin hadn’t forgotten about it. Gecko asked with a curious expression “This little fellow is quite useful. But since it’s so powerful why didn’t we just have it influence us and enter that building directly?”

As he spoke he raised his eyebrows at Chen Jing giving her a look that suggested ‘Leader did you overlook an important plan?’

“After being influenced by it one can be ignored by others for a short time achieving an invisibility effect.”

Chen Jing glanced coolly at Gecko saying “But it also carries strong negative emotions.”

Its ability allows it to make the person it captures feel an intense sense of depression the moment they are caught. They won’t want to speak won’t want to call for help. If one consciously resists this effect the captured person can temporarily avoid these emotions.”

“But over time this emotion becomes unavoidable.”

“Meaning if we had relied on its ability to infiltrate from the start either our conscious resistance would have harmed it or we would have completely let go accepting its influence and becoming abnormally depressed…”

“The result would be…”

She thought for a moment then said “We successfully infiltrate then become three useless salted fish who don’t want to do anything?”

…

Gecko froze for a second then shuddered involuntarily.

Lu Xin suddenly realized he might have thought of something strange again…

“Regardless we finally found the place…”

Chen Jing sighed softly turning her head to look at the high-rise building ahead.

At this point they were only one or two buildings away from the high-rise less than a hundred meters.

“Let’s go…”

Lu Xin spoke softly taking the lead.

Now that his relatives were nearby it would be a lie to say he wasn’t feeling a little excited.

But just as he turned he suddenly sensed something was wrong.

He realized his sister wasn’t following beside him. Instead she had climbed onto the roof of this courtyard closer to the large building.

Her small body was trembling slightly. Although there was some distance between them Lu Xin knew his sister too well. He could feel that she seemed enveloped by a strange mix of emotions—excitement apprehension and even… exhilaration.

“What’s wrong?”

He quickened his pace asking his sister with concern.

“Brother I feel it again…”

Sister turned her small face sharply towards him. Beneath her messy black hair her eyes were faintly red yet bright:

“It’s that feeling from back at the detention center…”

“…That person!”