Chapter 607: Twisted Memories and Fateful Encounters

Whoosh…

Lu Xin sprinted along a vertical wall—stepping on some heads—as he dashed off in one direction.

At the moment when everyone’s thoughts had nearly stalled, he could precisely sense the aura of that abnormal mental entity.

And he charged straight toward it.

For example, his chosen path at that moment led him straight to an open window.

Inside the open window sat a dazed old man in a wheelchair, his neck crooked and drool steadily streaming.

That Pollution Source seems to favor those with blank memories.

With a figure as agile and strange as a spider, Lu Xin covered over 200 meters in an instant to reach the window.

Gazing at the old man’s vacant eyes, he offered a friendly smile.

Swish!

At that moment, though the old man sat immobile, his perfectly shaved head and stubble appeared to stiffen for an instant.

Suddenly, a slender neck shot out rapidly.

At its tip, a fist-sized head—resembling a snake—burst forth from a hole.

With speed almost impossible to track, it lunged toward the caregiver beside the wheelchair…

The caregiver was a young man in his twenties.

Normally, this surge of mental power could have easily flooded into the young man’s mind.

But unexpectedly, the young man’s expression remained vacant, his eyes intensely fixed on something outside the window—as if, even with a gun bearing down on him, he wouldn’t dare blink.

Consequently, the snake-like head slammed heavily into his, as if colliding with an iron plate.

Lu Xin even felt as if he heard a loud ‘thud.’

The whole scene was so absurd that he almost burst into laughter.

“Come over here…”

Lu Xin appeared at the window sill and reached out to grab.

In his view, after the snake hit the iron plate, it tumbled out from the old man’s body, revealing a young man in black tightly clutching a transparent hourglass, his face unusually pale.

Lu Xin worried that a direct grab might be too forceful.

So his tone had already hinted that the target should surrender immediately.

After all, whether it was a matter of allegiance, why he was hiding in Qinggang, or why he was peddling special pollutants that could alter memories to ordinary people like Cao Ye—all of this required a thorough interrogation. If he accidentally crushed the target, Qinggang would only gain another hidden pollution point cleared…

…Worth so little…

…

“Don’t come any closer…”

As Lu Xin’s hand reached toward him, the pale-faced young man looked horrified, silently screaming.

At the same time, he gripped the hourglass tightly and flipped it over with force.

“Hmm?”

The moment the hourglass was inverted, Lu Xin felt a most peculiar sensation.

It was as though something in his mind had been violently twisted.

The distortion was clear but fleeting— for a split second, his memories became chaotic.

Just moments ago, he had pieced together that it was via the tainted girl Chen Wei that he discovered this odd little shop, then tracked down the Pollution Source, and now moved in to capture it. These memories had formed a logical sequence to justify his action.

But as the hourglass flipped, his recollections suddenly became jumbled, like a messy slurry.

With his memories scrambled, he briefly forgot what he was supposed to do.

It was like a simple equation gone wrong—when one part is disordered, the entire result collapses.

However, the process was swift, lasting only about a second.

Previously, when Lu Xin was affected by pollution, it lasted at most five seconds.

That was on his way to Central City when he encountered that God’s Body brain.

After that incident, the duration of his contamination—or influence—grew ever shorter.

Especially after the events in Heichao City, his pollution seemed to dilute almost instantly, barely leaving an impact.

But now, as the young man shook the hourglass, Lu Xin still paused for a second.

That was an astonishing development.

It seemed that this type of power affected him far more strongly than other pollutants…

“…Could it be because my memory was already largely blank?”

“…”

That thought flitted through Lu Xin’s mind, but he quickly recovered, his expression turning cold as he continued to reach out.

At this point, he cared little about whether the target was alive.

A black shadow coalesced to form a huge hand, and the cold, hollow laughter of a father figure resounded…

Yet in that brief moment, the young man made another move; he brought the hourglass to his mouth.

Shouting, “Retract all the price!”

Just a brief command.

Inside the hourglass, the sand suddenly began to boil.

Meanwhile, throughout Qinggang City, many people’s expressions froze, their eyes turning eerily hollow.

It was as if, in an instant, the memories in their minds were wiped clean.

Among those affected was Cao Ye from the Security Hall.

…

Earlier, Cao Ye had explained to Lu Xin that, in a moment of despair, he was drawn in by a mysterious old man from that odd little shop—so excited, he paid a certain price to buy what was said to be a sticky note capable of granting him his coveted love.

He only referred to it as ‘a certain price’ because…

Because even he didn’t fully understand what he had sacrificed…

He wasn’t completely thoughtless.

After witnessing Chen Wei’s transformation, instead of living his dream, fear gripped him.

The other party could indeed twist Chen Wei’s memory—and even take something from him.

Thus, he remained constantly on edge, meticulously revisiting every moment of his life from memory.

But he found that every critical moment in his life was still vividly clear…

Could it be that the other party had taken nothing at all?

For the first few days, he was perpetually uneasy, even losing interest in Chen Wei—such was his terror.

Until finally, when the distant hourglass began to sway, he suddenly realized what price had been forced upon him.

Perhaps it wasn’t so much taken as forcefully imposed.

…

Cao Ye, who had already been subdued by the Support Team with a glass helmet and was about to be taken away, suddenly went blank, his eyes bloodshot.

A flurry of strange sensations surged through his mind.

He recalled that from childhood he had been taught various rituals under a mysterious language.

From an early age, he was indoctrinated to willingly sacrifice himself for his God…

His memories unfolded like a scroll, now rapidly being drenched in vivid red.

If such a change had occurred in some deep dream or unnoticed gradual shift, Cao Ye might not have sensed it. But being abruptly forced into these memories, he was alarmed.

Realizing what was about to happen, his body tensed, and he screamed, “I haven’t even gotten her yet…”

As he shouted, his gaze fixated hopelessly in one direction.

That direction belonged to Chen Wei, who was also controlled and wearing a glass helmet.

Their gazes collided through the double layer of glass helmets.

Chen Wei had always been deeply worried for Cao Ye, even struggling more than he did just to protect him.

Yet at that moment, she was startled by Cao Ye’s sudden change, and soon saw in his eyes an insatiable, burning desire—a look of despair mixed with unyielding greed…

A look she was all too familiar with.

Because once before, after a late-night study session, she had seen that same look in the shadows.

Though in her memories that look originally belonged to Zhang Weiyu.

But now, seeing it in Cao Ye’s eyes, she instinctively felt terror and an almost reflexive revulsion.

The last thing Cao Ye saw was Chen Wei’s expression of fear and disgust…

…

…

It’s hard to say what Cao Ye felt upon seeing that look, because the very next moment, he lost himself.

The Cao Ye who had grown up in Satellite City—who went to school, coveted the girl next door, despised those around him and was despised in return—had vanished. All his memories began to twist, be overwritten, transforming him into someone else.

He became a devoted follower indoctrinated from childhood, loyal to his God.

“Everything is for the God…”

He closed and reopened his eyes, an odd fervor blazing within: “I will be reborn in Hell.”

Meanwhile, his left tooth lightly licked as he bit down forcefully.

In fact, his third tooth on the lower left had already been replaced by something else.

It was swapped when he entered that odd little shop.

But afterwards, he had no recollection of the change, nor did he ever think to check if his teeth were all right.

A bitter taste filled his mouth.

Instantly, his throat and esophagus felt as though they were burning.

Crack crack…

The glass helmet on Cao Ye’s head suddenly developed fine cracks.

This was because an internal surge of mental power rapidly expanded, striking the helmet.

Ordinary people’s psychic power amounted to only ten units—only during a mental mutation would it surge dramatically.

That was because, at the moment of mutation, one could siphon vast amounts of mental power from the abyss…

Cao Ye experienced this process in a very short span.

His gaze turned resolute and fanatical, and suddenly fresh blood spurted from his eyes.

In the next moment, the glass helmet exploded in a burst, shards flying like bullets in all directions.

At the same time, a pale mental entity burst forth from his head.

It soared into the air, drawn by a fierce force, and in an instant darted along with other pale mental entities emerging from various parts of the city, steadily appearing before the young man clutching the hourglass.

At that moment, the hourglass blazed with a dazzling light like the sun.

Together with the other pale mental entities, Cao Ye assumed a devout posture as if in prayer, gazing ahead.

…

In the next moment, countless dark shadows brimming with terror surged around Lu Xin, engulfing everything in an instant.