Chapter 668: The Depths of Mental Pollution

Is this thing dead or alive?

Does it belong to the real world or the abyss?

When his palm touched Lu Xin’s heart—or rather, the ’embryo’—an unusual sensation stirred within him.

Now, as researchers in the real world deepen their understanding of Mental Alteration, theories have become more refined. They’ve meticulously defined different types: those that are unconscious and inherently polluting are labeled as Pollution Sources, while those that pollute with intent fall under Mental Monsters.

Beings with real-world bodies are classified as Mentally Altered Persons.

Yet, by that theory, what he saw clearly broke the rules.

It was born in the mental realm, yet it resonated with disturbances from reality…

Most importantly, Lu Xin sensed its danger.

He pressed his palm against it, hoping to use his Distorted Force Field like a radar to probe its insides. Yet, despite his power reaching hundreds of meters, he detected nothing from this embryo, merely two meters in diameter—it seemed to devour his Mental Power outright.

It can consume his very Mental Power!

This thing was terrifying beyond words—far more fearsome than the Scarecrow he encountered in Heichao City!

……

……

“Ha ha, good…”

Upon hearing Lu Xin’s words, his Father burst into maniacal laughter as black shadows surged forward like tangible waves.

Many of the zealots gathered in the stadium had already been overcome with fear from his Father’s power, and fear—being the strongest form of Pollution Source—only magnified the terror, spreading swiftly to those around them…

It compounded in layers until the afflicted completely broke down.

That was his Father’s method—he intended to drown the zealots in the stadium in deep Pollution.

Through some ritual and prayer, the people in the stadium had intertwined their Mental Powers into a bizarre mass, from which this strange embryo had emerged. Without hesitation, Lu Xin urged his Father to deep-pollute them so that once fully polluted, his Father would completely control this sea of mental energy.

Only by doing so could he seize control of the embryo.

To help his Father act quickly, Lu Xin completely let go of his own restraints.

Naturally, his Father was delighted and unleashed his full power.

A tide of black surged forward, crashing into the zealots and smothering the last trace of light…

……

……

“Something’s wrong…”

His Father suddenly exclaimed in astonishment.

Lu Xin kept his hand on the ’embryo’ and, startled, asked, “What’s the matter?”

He could clearly feel that as his Father’s power intensified, his grasp on the embryo grew stronger. Yet at that very moment, the potent Pollution inexplicably halted—as if a speeding train had slammed its brakes.

“Something’s not right…”

His Father murmured, “Their Mental Core has vanished…”

Lu Xin hesitated, “Mental Core?”

“Yes…”

His Father’s mental tremor responded quickly, “Think of it as a person’s will, their self—essentially, that intrinsic essence.”

“It’s the most stable part of one’s mind, the key element distinguishing mild from deep Pollution.”

“Once consumed, a person becomes a slave to the mind.”

“But if it isn’t consumed—even if their perception is stripped, emotions controlled, and memories erased—they’re still, to some extent, themselves. Once that core is lost, no matter what feelings or desires remain, they cease to be truly themselves.”

……

“The self among the seven wounds?”

Lu Xin paused in thought at his Father’s words, and soon understanding dawned upon him…

His Father was referring to that deepest level among the seven layers of Pollution: the self.

Perception, emotion, desire, cognition, instinct, and memory can all be influenced and altered by Mental Power.

But pollution of the self is the most severe and irreversible.

After all, lose your self, and you lose yourself forever.

He realized that, even if he had never given it much thought, he always followed a personal rule: resolve issues without polluting others. Even the commotion caused by his Sister and Father—which affected the Flame Residents—was only mild Pollution.

After all, he was there to save lives, not to take them.

If he engaged in deep Pollution, then once the issue with the Flame was resolved, everyone here would be taken care of as well.

“These people have lost their Mental Core.”

At the same time, unaware of Lu Xin’s thoughts, his Father continued, “To me, they are nothing but empty shells.”

“Understood…”

Lu Xin lowered his gaze at the zealots and murmured, “They’ve already sacrificed their selves to their God…”

At the mention of ‘God’, a cold sneer tugged at his lips.

……

……

Looking up, Lu Xin noticed that the embryo’s transformation was accelerating.

His Father’s shadow had tainted it, turning it into a subtly darkened mass.

Yet because the Pollution couldn’t intensify further, the embryo still maintained a vibrant, unrestrained life. One could even see its surface writhing gently, slowly engulfing the Pollution his Father had imposed on it.

It was even consuming his Father’s power.

“Glug…”

At that moment, the embryo pulsated violently once more.

A massive surge of Mental Power radiated outward, flooding into the hearts of everyone in the city.

As this connection deepened, the iron chains dangling beside the embryo grew increasingly distinct, almost tangible…

“This thing is really strange…”

Taking a deep breath, Lu Xin gritted his teeth and declared, “Send me over—I need to take a closer look at it!”

Being far away, he had to rely on his Father’s power to ‘reach’ the hellish embryo.

But after noticing the anomaly on the embryo, he wanted to inspect it himself.

It seemed his Father caught the chill and disdain in Lu Xin’s tone; he paused briefly, then burst into delighted laughter.

He found it peculiar.

Sometimes he was frightened by the side of Lu Xin that might inadvertently show itself, yet at other times it thrilled him greatly.

“Are you really going?”

Even his Sister, not far away, caught a hint of his intent and was briefly taken aback.

She hesitated for a moment but dared not refuse. Her small hand reached out to the ‘human spider webs’ surrounding the stadium, which began extending on their own. One by one, figures bridged the gap from midair, forming a human ladder leading straight toward the writhing, trembling embryo within the chaotic sea of zealots’ Mental Powers.

Lu Xin stepped onto the human ladder.

Uncertain of what it truly was, exposing his body to direct contact was undeniably perilous.

But he had faced dangers aplenty before and had never died…

……

“Buzzing…”

Pondering this, the black particles in Lu Xin’s eyes were trembling furiously.

He was about to call on his Sister for help to get him over.

But at that moment, he suddenly heard an unfamiliar sound that made him whip his head around.

“Swoosh” “swoosh” “swoosh”

It was the sound of heavy boots stomping in unison on the ground.

The Hell Regiment.

Once again, Lu Xin found himself facing the bizarre force of the Hell Regiment—the same eerie power that had nearly cost him dearly before.

They marched in unison from the distant street, resembling a black tide of heads, even swifter than before. Although the streets were usually chaotic, his Sister’s spider web had suspended some of the crazed midair, while most fled home in fright—only a few injured remained scattered along the road.

The Hell Regiment’s advance engulfed the injured in an instant.

From a distance, his Sister spotted the Hell Regiment and gasped, instinctively raising her web. She knew of their terrifying power and that, to some extent, they were immune to Mental Pollution—her web couldn’t affect them.

But after deploying her web, she realized the regiment paid them no heed.

They charged straight toward the stadium, disregarding the vertical wall as if it were nothing, surging upward in unison.

“Not this cursed thing again…”

An enraged Father sent a mass of black shadows rolling over, colliding with them in midair and annihilating both.

Lu Xin looked up at the embryo hovering above the stadium.

He could feel that whatever resided within the embryo was growing ever stronger and more entwined with reality.

Knowing that was the crux, he paid no mind to the Hell Regiment.

Just then, after a brief, inadvertent glance, he suddenly turned his head again and fixed his gaze on something.

This time, due to his angle, he saw a figure vaguely standing behind the Hell Regiment. Dressed in a black suit and hat, with his head slightly bowed and his Mental Power trembling as he led a row of Hell Regiment members.

“Number Two…”

The moment he spotted the man, Lu Xin paused.

The man in the Hell Regiment uniform, emanating that uncanny aura, was none other than Number Two.

Both his appearance and his Mental Radiation were identical to Number Two’s.

The only difference was that his Mental Power fluctuations were drastically different from Number Two’s.

“Roar…”

As Lu Xin pondered this, a shrill roar suddenly echoed.

He whipped his head around and saw a monster—or rather, a mass of flesh and blood—leaping out of the darkness. That jump spanned at least a hundred meters, sketching an arc in the air before landing atop the human spider webs around the stadium. The creature lay prone, its pallid face and piercing, cold eyes fixed on Lu Xin.

“Rustle…”

The spider web, struck by the intruder, immediately recoiled upward as if to engulf the creature.

Yet, the creature suddenly sprouted disordered veins and muscle, and those on the web were instantly entwined by them, coalescing around him into a massive, grotesque blob.

Meanwhile, a large void appeared in the web, as if corroded by him.

“Another Number Two?”

An indescribable strangeness filled Lu Xin’s heart.

At that moment, he suddenly sensed something and looked up abruptly.

Two hundred meters away, on the east side of the stadium, stood a high-rise over thirty stories tall—towering well above the stadium.

Looking up, Lu Xin saw a slender shadow along the edge of the building under the enormous Red Moon. Clad in a loose white hospital gown, the figure stood silently on the rooftop, a glass cup cradled in his hands as he gazed downward.

When Lu Xin’s eyes met his, he noticed that the glass cup in his hand suddenly transformed into a red apple.

In the blink of an eye, the apple turned back into a glass cup.

Most striking of all, his face was also that of Number Two.

……

……

“Phew…”

After seeing three instances of Number Two consecutively, Lu Xin suddenly understood.

A deep, indescribable revulsion welled up from within him: “What on earth have these people done to Number Two…?”