Chapter 802: Shattered Illusions
by xennovel“None?”
“I saw it all—how can you say there’s nothing?”
Lu Xin instantly saw through his sister’s lie. Though she hid it quickly, he remembered that pen vividly—its golden filigree had caught his eye back then. That wasn’t important; what mattered was that it was the Fire-Thief’s weapon!
To him, it was as invaluable as Mom’s scissors. How on earth had his sister managed to steal it?
She’d been sneaking around, furtively glancing at her bag now and then. Was taking that pen the root of all her troubles?
She claimed the mess was entirely her fault—was she referring to this?
In an instant, a barrage of details flooded his mind, making his head spin.
But it was exactly this that made him realize why his sister had so effortlessly shattered the illusion.
Truth.
The power of truth is never veiled. The moment he unleashed his illusionary power against the Fire-Thief, it had been proven.
Because of that pen, his sister helped break the illusion for their group.
……
……
Taking a deep breath, Lu Xin decided not to press his sister any further. He quickly glanced at Dr. Zhang and Dr. Wang, who had just emerged from the illusion and were now huddled together, fearfully scanning the dilapidated corridor.
Ahead, Doctor An sat heavily on the ground, the muzzle of his gun still smoking.
Further on, the scattered ‘corpse’ of the electronic flies lay mostly destroyed.
“Are you alright?”
Lu Xin hurried over and steadied Doctor An by the arm.
Doctor An looked around, clearly bewildered.
He wasn’t sure if this was just another twist of the illusion or if it had genuinely been broken.
Only when he felt the solid press of Lu Xin’s hand did he realize he was back in reality. Suddenly on edge, he asked:
“What did you just hear?”
“……”
“Uh…”
Lu Xin gave Doctor An a peculiar look before admitting, “I just heard about a melon.”
Doctor An’s hair nearly bristled as he gritted his teeth, “You heard it wrong. I had nothing to do with that guy…”
“Y-yes, yes…”
Lu Xin quickly nodded along and helped him to his feet.
Even though she didn’t look too well, it was clear she hadn’t sustained any fatal gunshot wounds.
Aside from a layer of dust and her black stockings snagged and torn on her legs, she had no serious injuries.
Only then did Lu Xin relax slightly as he suddenly asked, “Do people at the Research Institute really have women proposing to men?”
“You…”
Doctor An shot him a sharp look, clenching her teeth.
“Just curious,” she replied.
Lu Xin quickly waved his hand and then earnestly looked at her, saying, “But you needn’t worry—you really have a feminine charm.”
Doctor An was instantly dumbfounded.
Lu Xin’s kind smile never wavered as he looked at her.
This woman used to be, well, something else entirely…
…Over the top.
It made him feel incredibly awkward.
At the same time, he wondered if her boldness sprang from there being so few high-quality men at the Research Institute. Earlier, while dashing through the illusion, he had inadvertently caught fragments of her murmuring.
It suddenly struck him—her behavior might be rooted in deep-seated trauma.
A way to prove her own allure to everyone.
To show that the man who had already died perhaps shouldn’t have jumped from the building?
It hardly made sense.
Still, outsiders rarely understand the logic of those carrying inner scars.
Yet, after learning her story, Lu Xin gradually found himself less repulsed by her.
She was simply very lonely.
Thinking this, his gaze softened even further as he looked at Doctor An.
Just as a touch of warmth blossomed in Doctor An’s heart, Lu Xin suddenly added, “And you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“?”
Doctor An looked confused once again.
“No sexual experience. It’s not your fault,” he explained.
He comforted her sincerely, then demonstrated, “I haven’t either!”
“Why are you so proud about that?”
Doctor An nearly lost it. “Do you want to help me fix this problem?”
“Ah…”
Lu Xin froze for a moment before hastily shaking his head, “No, absolutely not…”
“You…”
Doctor An suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head.
Overexerting his abilities and trudging under the vast weight of the illusion had taken a heavy toll on both his mind and body. Barely had he caught his breath when Lu Xin’s antics pushed his heart even further.
His head throbbed worse than before, leaving him with an urge to pin Lu Xin down and teach him a lesson, or perhaps to test once and for all if it was even possible.
Yet her professionalism forced her to hold back as she abruptly changed the subject, saying:
“Let’s leave first…”
Struggling to stand straight, she asked, “How did you break the illusion?”
“I just heard you mention something about the Fire-Thief’s Pen?”
“……”
“Well…”
Lu Xin was momentarily startled and immediately shook his head, “Nothing…”
His unwavering response even surprised his sister, who turned to look at him in astonishment.
Lu Xin silently bore the inner turmoil he couldn’t put into words.
Though he felt the matter deserved extensive discussion,
the pen belonged to someone else—yet, in a way, it was still his sister’s.
The ties between the Research Institute and the Fire-Thief were unmistakably deep. What if they…
…wanted to come back?
Maybe he should go back and talk to his sister first…
With that thought, he waved the others over to distract them, saying, “Hurry, come with us out…”
Dr. Zhang and Dr. Wang hesitated for a moment before quickly following.
They couldn’t see his sister at that moment, but sticking with Lu Xin and Doctor An was enough.
……
……
“Pitter-patter…”
The rapid sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Lu Xin noticed that, throughout the Research Institute, every door had been flung open.
Behind each door or deep in the corridor, countless eerie shapes seemed to watch them.
Occasionally, somewhere in the distance, a pained howl or the scrape of colossal tentacles against the floor could be heard.
Suddenly, a table or chair would be violently thrown, crashing against the wall beside them.
At that moment, everyone cared only about getting away from the Research Institute as quickly as possible.
His sister stayed at the front of the group, sometimes on the wall, sometimes on the floor.
Every now and then, she’d look back and call, waving her hand, “Come on, hurry up!”
It was clear that illusory power still struck them occasionally, but the moment his sister clutched the steel pen, she immediately scraped it along the wall. The sharp tip left deep marks, and the illusion dissipated instantly.
“But that’s the Fire-Thief’s Pen…”
Lu Xin winced, “Can’t you be a bit gentler? What if you wear the tip down?”
……
……
“Thump, thump, thump…”
Amidst their frantic escape, they hurried through the maze-like corridors to reach Underground Level One.
The entire Research Institute began to tremble slightly.
It was as if a gigantic monster, along with all the surrounding oddities, was slowly coming to life.
Behind them, it felt like a New Year’s celebration—countless eerie entities had suddenly awakened and were stretching out wildly.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared ahead, accompanied by several blurry silhouettes.
Lu Xin and the others, though still moving fast, were momentarily startled, slowing down and gripping their guns tightly.
“There’s a lot of stuff coming from outside…”
Before they could react, a deep voice from across the street bellowed.
Squinting, they realized it was Master Li, A Zhen, Sissi, and others, also rushing through the corridor to back them up.
A few remaining electronic flies buzzed overhead as, following Doctor An’s orders, they quickly descended to assist. A Zhen clutched a strangely fashioned firearm, while Sissi had already unfastened one of her arms.
In her other small hand, she even held a dark, mysterious object.
Looking closer, it turned out to be a stone Buddha head.
The stone Buddha head in Sissi’s hand suddenly opened its eyes.
Within those eyes, a bright light stirred—like two searchlights that instantly illuminated Lu Xin and his group.
Under that glow, Lu Xin thought he heard dense chanting.
It was as if they were surrounded by a hundred monks in a temple, all intoning scriptures.
The chanting overwhelmed his ears, even making his body crave something inexplicable.
He felt so unclean that he needed purification—an urge to fall at the Buddha head’s feet and beg for forgiveness.
“Hmm?”
But the sensation passed in an instant as Lu Xin abruptly looked back at it.
The black particles in the Buddha head’s eyes danced lightly, and when its gaze met his, a whirlwind of chaos erupted.
Crash!
In that split second, the light in the Buddha head’s eyes faded instantly.
Immediately, cracks began to etch across its surface before it suddenly split apart.
Chunks of stone fell away, reducing it to ordinary rocks.
“What?”
Everyone was startled by the sudden change, jumping back to peer into the underground.
Lu Xin let out a quiet sigh of relief as he glanced at Sissi.
That little girl, who had somehow gotten hold of the Buddha head, was clearly too young to understand the danger of such eerie artifacts. It seemed she had removed its head—but in truth, terrifying power still lingered within.
Had he not reacted quickly, who knew what harm it might have caused them all…
“This is bad…”
As Lu Xin thought this, he saw Sissi gaze emotionlessly at the Buddha head in her hand.
She casually tossed the last remaining piece of stone to the ground, then blankly looked toward her sister, saying,
“I brought you this because you said you liked it.”
“……”
His sister paused before casting a disapproving look at Lu Xin.
Lu Xin felt a surge of embarrassment and pretended not to notice her glare; he hadn’t even realized it was meant as a gift for her…
Inside, he was astonished—had Sissi, this little girl, truly learned how to give gifts to her sister?
Could it be that they had become best friends?