Chapter 51: Mental Damage
Chapter 51: Mental Damage
The wild clamor and the instant silence that followed formed a sharp contrast.
“What happened?”
Tie Cui in the channel also noticed the abrupt silence. Her voice tightened with urgency as she inquired.
Meanwhile, not far from Lu Xin, Gecko, who was gripping a ball of iron thread, paused momentarily before replying in a low voice:
“The Secondary Pollution Source has been eliminated…”
Tie Cui’s surprise was even greater than when she had first learned of its existence. “By him…?”
“No!”
Gecko swallowed hard before answering quietly, “I can’t quite explain the specifics yet, but it wasn’t what you think.”
“Switch back to the original channel!”
Though clearly bewildered, Tie Cui made the decision quickly. When the channel was reconnected to Lu Xin’s frequency, her voice sounded again: “Mr. Lone Soldier, has the Secondary Pollution Source been eliminated?”
At that moment, Lu Xin stood in front of a row of toppled shelves, watching alongside Little Sister as Mother’s figure vanished into the red moonlight. This sight left him both astonished and perplexed. Yet, clearly, the Source of Contamination this time had indeed been neutralized. The little girl seemed to have vanished, and the bone-chilling sense of crisis in the surroundings had dissipated.
So, hearing the question through his earpiece, he slowly replied, “Yes!”
“Very well done.”
Though many questions obviously lingered, when Tie Cui spoke, she offered only praise.
Her voice came again moments later, this time addressing a different channel: “Support Teams may enter!”
……
Thump, thump, thump, thump…
Within mere minutes, the sound of heavy, forceful footsteps echoed. The door to the factory building was smashed open. A group from the Support Teams surged inside. Clad in thick, black Protective Suits and helmets with glass visors, their legs even bearing holsters for firearms, they immediately rushed towards the factory workers.
Highly trained and moving in unison, the first four members charged directly towards factory manager Zheng Yuanxiong. They carried a long, coffin-like steel-framed glass container. At first glance, it resembled a glass coffin.
They placed the deeply unconscious Zheng Yuanxiong, his limbs tightly bound, inside the container. Three heavy locks on the left side clicked shut. Oxygen tubing was connected via two pipes, and then they hastily carried the container away. In and out in less than twenty seconds; it was unnervingly professional.
During this time, other Support Team members swiftly targeted the remaining workers. Working in pairs: one rapidly secured a specialized tool over each worker’s head – featuring a glass eye-cover, a mouth/nose guard below, connected by canvas straps. The other tightly bound the worker’s hands and feet with plastic zip ties, then gave them a push to topple them. One team member lifted the shoulders, the other the feet, and they hurriedly carried the worker out.
Watching their swift and efficient work, Lu Xin actually detected a strange aesthetic beauty in it.
The workers, meanwhile, showed no resistance, as if their very souls had departed.
“They are lucky…”
Gecko, who had appeared beside Lu Xin without him noticing, remarked with a smile, “It was moderate Contamination; they were heavily influenced but minimally eroded. Most can still be saved. The Support Teams will take them to a special treatment center for psychological therapy!”
Lu Xin’s heart stirred. “Can they be cured?”
“At least the majority can be!”
Gecko answered softly, “However, after such Contamination, there will almost always be lingering aftereffects. The treatment center only ensures they won’t manifest effects harmful to others. After treatment and cleansing, most will endure a period of depression or dullness. Those with families and happy lives might recover faster, even fully. But others…”
He raised a hand, mimicking a falling motion from a great height, and sighed, “…might never shake off the depression. Might even… Well, there’s no helping it. The Mental Power drain is too severe.”
……
Lu Xin understood what Gecko was implying.
He knew the feeling described for those suffering severe mental damage.
He had experienced life painted entirely in grey—life suffocatingly oppressive, threatening to swallow him whole.
The absence of joy, even diminished anger; replaced by ceaseless apathy and a hollow sense of loss.
How many could endure such a state?
……
“But this outcome is still good!”
Gecko laughed cheerfully. “Look how many people are in this factory building? Nearly a hundred. If we hadn’t intervened, probably none would have survived. So, even if only half recover fully… Remember that old saying? ‘Saving one life is worth building a seven-story pagoda’… For this mission alone, the two of us have practically built a skyscraper!”
He slapped Lu Xin’s shoulder. “Besides! More than half will likely make a full recovery—at least seventy percent!”
Lu Xin nodded. He could do that math.
His subdued mood wasn’t due to an inability to save everyone—he wasn’t that rigid.
He was merely deeply affected, recalling that grey life.
“You pulled off something major, brother!”
Gecko grinned, then asked Lu Xin, “I’m really curious… how did you deal with that little girl?”
Lu Xin keenly sensed that Tie Cui’s breathing in the channel seemed to grow faint.
He understood. They all wanted to know. And were probably tense.
But how exactly should he explain?
He and Little Sister couldn’t do anything—it was Mother who handled it…
However, true to Lu Xin’s nature: while he trusted the Special Pollution Cleanup Department to a certain extent—even seeking their analysis to potentially cure himself—he didn’t particularly relish the idea of laying bare every secret, every move. He preferred discretion regarding what to reveal. So he didn’t rush to answer, instead smiling:
“You didn’t see?”
“See what?”
Gecko spread his hands helplessly. “All I saw was you squatting next to the little girl, taking her Toy…”
“This Toy has a physical form.”
Lu Xin glanced at the floor. The stuffed toy lay there still, separated at the neck.
He replied calmly, “So I thought… maybe I could scare her. Turned out it was surprisingly effective…”
“This…”
Gecko signaled a nearby Support Team member to also secure the discarded toy.
He looked thoroughly bewildered. “So… you snatched the Toy belonging to a Secondary Pollution Source… twisted its head off… and scared her so badly she withdrew all her Psychic Energy and fled back to the main body?”
Lu Xin considered this carefully and affirmed, “That’s essentially correct.”
“That’s…”
Gecko circled Lu Xin once, muttering, “Brother, that doesn’t make any sense…”
Lu Xin asked, “Can’t you guys do it?”
Gecko slowly shook his head. “I’ve scarcely even heard of something like that…”
Lu Xin wore a thoughtful expression. “Then the problem is definitely on your end…”