Chapter 42: An Unsettling Normality

Normal…

Everyone in the office listened to the psychologist’s analysis, their expressions turning a little strange.

Seeing the reactions around her, the psychologist sighed and explained, “After the Red Moon incident, everyone moved into the High-wall Cities. The oppressive environment and desperate life caused nearly everyone to develop psychological issues to some degree… myself included. But after talking with him for half an hour, I found him to be remarkably normal.”

“Normal… almost *abnormally* so!”

She paused briefly before continuing, “Because I’d already received Professor Bai’s warning, I didn’t press him about the Red Moon Orphanage explosion. I focused on his childhood at the orphanage and his experiences with school and work after leaving. He answered everything cooperatively. Towards the end, I even directly asked about his… family.”

At this point, she glanced at Chen Jing. “He wasn’t resistant to my questions. He described in detail how he interacts with his family, discussed the line between illusion and reality, and even seriously debated the difference between mental issues and split personalities with me, questioning whether this family of his might actually exist…”

“Honestly, for a moment there, I almost felt like he was one of my own students…”

…

The psychologist’s words painted a picture of normalcy, yet everyone in the office felt a growing unease, a chill creeping up their spines.

There was an indescribable strangeness to it all.

“He can’t be *that* normal, can he…?”

After a moment, someone asked, “Maybe he was lying?”

The psychologist shook her head. “If he were lying, I would have known.”

“That’s precisely why it’s abnormal—because he *wasn’t* lying!”

Pausing again, she let out a soft breath, placed the conversation transcript on the table, took off her glasses, and rubbed the small indentations on the bridge of her nose. “I tried to cover as much ground as possible with him. Ultimately, I found that aside from some blurry memories and a description of his family that ordinary people might find… hard to accept…”

“This young man is optimistic, cheerful, proactive, and kind…”

She finished with a wry smile, “I even started to wonder how someone like him could possibly be a Mentally Altered Person.”

“Optimistic, cheerful, proactive, and kind…”

Silence filled the office for a long moment before the bald, bespectacled Professor Chen spoke up. “Just hearing those words makes him sound abnormal… How could a child who grew up after the Red Moon incident be so…”

He trailed off, but everyone in the office clearly understood his unspoken thought.

The psychologist, clad in her white coat, put her glasses back on. “We touched upon that. I found he was deeply influenced by one person: the former director of the Red Moon Orphanage. From his descriptions, this director seems to have been someone who remained clear-headed, rational, and principled throughout those frantic, bewildering, and chaotic times.”

“It was this person who sheltered him and other orphans, taught them, told them about life, work, and dreams before the Red Moon incident, and introduced them to art and literature. All of this had a profound impact on him…”

…

“A director like that…”

Her words cast a heavy silence over the office.

They all knew how difficult it must have been to maintain such sanity during the years immediately following the Red Moon incident…

Chen Jing broke the silence. “What about the other professors? Any findings?”

“To him, his family is real!”

A bald, elderly professor raised his pen. “I noticed several subtle shifts in his gaze during the assessment. Based on micro-expressions, it was as if he was looking at someone who wasn’t there, perhaps even consulting with them. Although he subconsciously tried to hide these actions, it’s clear he genuinely believes such a person exists!”

“And this ties into one of our previous hypotheses!”

The bald professor twirled his pen, addressing the group. “Since he has three family members, and if the Spider-type ability comes from his ‘Sister’, we can reasonably speculate that he possesses two other abilities…”

The psychologist gently raised her pen at this point, adding, “I discussed this with him too. Following his line of thought, if his sister could lend him one ability, could the other family members grant him abilities as well?”

“His answer was that he didn’t know…”

“Note that he said he *didn’t know*, he didn’t deny it!”

…

The bald professor nodded. “Perhaps, for him, those other two abilities simply aren’t easy to use?”

Chen Jing remained silent, nodding slightly as she made a mark on the file in front of her.

“Two other abilities… It sounds incredible, but not entirely unreasonable!”

Another researcher, this one wearing a wig, spoke up then. “Because his Psychic Power level is indeed very high!”

“Normally, when assessing Psychic Power, we use the ‘Three-Point Extrapolation Method’!”

“After all, having these Mentally Altered individuals unleash their full psychic power is too dangerous. Such stress tests could significantly increase their loss-of-control risk. That’s why Professor Bai developed this assessment method: to have them use only a portion of their Telekinesis as accurately as possible, then calculate a rough index of their overall power based on that performance to extrapolate their true Psychic Power level!”

“I had prepared an apple for him at the time, but for that specific test, he didn’t cooperate!”

…

Hearing this, everyone in the office stopped what they were doing and listened intently.

This researcher was responsible for the rough Psychic Power index assessment, but everyone knew his test had failed.

Lu Xin hadn’t cooperated. So how could he have obtained a value?

“My wig was askew!”

Meeting everyone’s gaze, the researcher stated solemnly, “I definitely put it on straight when I left. I even went to the restroom to adjust it specifically after getting off the plane. Plus, because of my personal habits, none of you would come over and touch my wig.”

“After that, I maintained a distance of over five meters from him at all times.”

“But somehow, at some point, using a method I didn’t notice, he moved my wig!”

“Extrapolating from that, his Psychic Power level must be at least… over four hundred!”

He paused slightly before adding, “And four hundred is just the baseline. The upper limit… is hard to say!”

Seeing the confusion on his colleagues’ faces, his expression grew excited.

“Think about it…”

He vigorously ruffled his wig, revealing half his bald head, his expression bordering on fanatical. “After all, this wig is custom-made! It’s on so tight you have to yank hard to move it, yet he could secretly shift it without me noticing…”

“That’s way harder than moving an apple…”

“With that kind of power, does that mean he could potentially rip my head right off? Or just crush it?”

He gestured towards his own head as he spoke. “How strong would the Telekinesis have to be to make someone’s brains splatter everywhere?”

…

The surrounding atmosphere grew quiet.

Everyone watched his excited state in silence, silently picturing the scene he described.

Only Chen Jing remained seated silently, letting out a soft sigh.

“If the Red Moon Orphanage explosion incident is confirmed to be related to him, then it won’t just be a matter of brains splattering everywhere!”

“It might be the whole person splattering everywhere…”