Chapter 99: Blending In
by xennovel“My current assessment target is an old man, looks to be over sixty.”
“He reacts to my movements when I’m close.”
Lu Xin spoke softly, “Now, I’ll try knocking him down to see his reaction.”
As he spoke, he placed a hand on the old man’s shoulder, then swept his leg behind the man’s. The old man immediately fell. Since there were quite a few people around, his fall instantly bumped into two people behind him. Those two stumbled back, bumping into several others. A small, ripple-like disturbance spread through this section of the crowd, then silence returned.
The eyes of those who were bumped turned stiffly, all looking towards Lu Xin.
“Good.”
Lu Xin murmured, “Now they’re all starting to look at me. The assessment results are ideal…”
Through the camera feed, Han Bing caught a glimpse of the bizarre scene.
She was silent for a long moment before managing a strained, “Okay.”
…
…
“What the hell is he doing?”
Gecko, watching from the High Wall as Lu Xin went down, wandered around a bit, first waved his hand in front of an old man, observed him closely, and then actually knocked the old man to the ground, was so stunned his eyes nearly popped out.
“Is he down there investigating, or is he testing how far he can push before the old man clocks him?”
In the channel, Tie Cui stated coldly, “Shut up, or you go down!”
Gecko argued righteously, “Special operations personnel have the right to request a temporary retreat when encountering unknown dangers.”
“As a fellow Ability User, I also feel obligated to request retreat authority for him if I sense danger…”
…
Tie Cui said, “But you shouldn’t be cracking jokes while others are conducting a serious investigation.”
Gecko lowered his head, thought for a moment, and said, “Alright, honestly, I’m nervous. When I get nervous, I tend to talk a lot…”
Tie Cui clearly knew about this habit of his, simply remaining silent without further reprimand.
…
…
Meanwhile, below the High Wall, Lu Xin carefully examined the old man. He found nothing wrong; not only were there no signs of any Mental Monster presence, but there were also no unusual injuries. The old man even seemed quite sturdy.
The old man didn’t seem to mind being knocked down by Lu Xin either.
So, after pondering for a moment, Lu Xin gently pushed the old man aside and took his place.
Then he raised his head and quietly looked up at the High Wall.
After a long silence, Han Bing finally asked softly in the channel, “What are you doing?”
Although Lu Xin was the one on site, she seemed even more nervous than him.
Lu Xin maintained his posture, speaking in a low voice, “Besides looking at me, the old man had no other reaction. He just stares. I feel like further experiments would only lead to eliminating him… but let’s postpone that option.”
“For now, I’ll try to blend in with them.”
…
“Blend in?”
Han Bing thought she must have misheard; her tone was strange.
Lu Xin lowered his voice, “Since our assessment methods and external observation haven’t revealed anything…”
“Then blending in to feel what they feel seems like a logical approach, doesn’t it?”
…
Han Bing was suddenly at a loss for words.
Although Lu Xin’s statement didn’t sound inherently wrong, she still explained earnestly:
“There are many reasons why we can’t locate the Pollution Source through assessment. It might be hidden too well, or it could be a type of pollution we haven’t encountered before. If that Pollution Source only targets ordinary people, it’s indeed possible that even Ability Users might not detect it. In that case, even if you blend in, it would be useless.”
…
“So, you’re saying only ordinary people can sense it?”
Lu Xin replied softly, “Then I should be able to give it a try.”
He recalled his past experiences, especially the strange abnormality when he encountered the Drunkard earlier.
He added, “Actually, I’ve always felt that I’m just an ordinary person.”
…
…
“Mr. Lone Soldier says he’s an ordinary person…”
On the other end of the channel, Han Bing was lost in thought, silent for quite some time.
Lu Xin, however, stood earnestly amidst the crowd, remaining still, looking up at the High Wall.
After he had stood there for a while, the old man he had knocked down also got up. He didn’t try to reclaim his previous spot but silently stood behind Lu Xin, continuing to look up at the High Wall, tears soon streaming down his face again.
The surroundings were terrifyingly silent. After blending in, Lu Xin seemed no different from the others.
…
…
“So many people reacting the same way means they’ve all been affected by the same thing.”
As Lu Xin cleared his distracting thoughts, he mused internally, “There must be some mysterious power influencing them to act like this. If this power can’t be detected by assessing the affected individuals, then the only option is to try blending in with them, directly experiencing that power until I discover how it affects these people…”
“Discovering how it affects them means finding the Logic Chain.”
“Finding the source of the influence means finding the Core Key.”
…
Having thought through these points, Lu Xin stood even straighter, clearing his mind of all distractions, just gazing at the High Wall.
…
…
“What the hell is he doing now?”
Lu Xin stood quietly below the High Wall, concentrating intently, while Gecko up on the wall was completely baffled.
“Does he think our odds are too low and decided to switch sides?”
…
Tie Cui suppressed her anger in the channel, “Shut up! Don’t interfere with your teammate’s investigation.”
“Investigation?”
Gecko paused for a moment, then said, “Honestly, I’ve never seen this kind of investigation method before. Is this standard training?”
In the channel, Tie Cui remained silent.
Gecko couldn’t help but press, “Come on, tell me! He seems so professional. How much training has he actually had?”
After a long silence, Tie Cui couldn’t hold back anymore and said softly, “I just looked at his file. He is indeed undergoing training for special pollution and psychic abilities, but out of the three-month program, he’s only completed less than a week.”
“Which means, according to the special pollution handling training curriculum we helped organize, besides the initial general classification of Special Pollution Sources and the payment subsidies for different levels, he basically hasn’t started anything else…”
…
Gecko was dumbfounded. After a long pause, he managed, “From my limited understanding of him, maybe that’s already enough…”