Chapter 206: Such Filthy Thoughts

Lu Xin slowly pondered these questions, not in any hurry to disturb Deputy General Manager Xiao.

He just silently swiveled his chair, watching Xiao Yuan perform this vivid and intricate pantomime, scrutinizing him carefully. However, after a short while, Lu Xin was certain: there was no Psychic Entity attached to the man right now.

Furthermore, there were no other threads or anything extending from him to elsewhere.

Even from his current vantage point, this Deputy General Manager Xiao seemed completely normal.

Here, ‘normal’ meant all his thoughts and behaviors were under his own control, without any external influence.

…

“Well then…”

After thinking for a moment, Lu Xin decided to borrow Mother’s ability.

He first calmed himself down, recalling Mother’s image. Gradually, changes appeared before his eyes.

When he looked at Deputy General Manager Xiao again, he immediately saw a different picture.

Streams of green light, growing intensely strong, radiated from Deputy General Manager Xiao. This was the radiance of his Desire for feeding. Logically, since he was dreaming of eating what he craved, this Desire should be satisfied. But because the dream held only Void, it provided only an illusion of satiety. This Desire, in essence, was constantly accumulating.

He would only grow more and more ravenous.

Aside from this Desire, through meticulous observation, Lu Xin gradually detected something abnormal about Deputy General Manager Xiao.

It was a Spiritual Entity within Xiao Yuan’s body, concealed deep inside.

Beyond the spirit belonging to the man himself, one could faintly make out fine, subtle white filaments not his own. They traced an outline identical to his body, latched onto the surface of his spirit like a Shadow, overlapping with him completely.

This white Spiritual Entity was extremely faint and subtle, merging so deeply with Deputy General Manager Xiao himself that they were nearly indistinguishable.

Even with “Mother’s Perspective,” Lu Xin could only barely discern it.

And this was only because Xiao Yuan was currently under its influence, trapped in that daily recurring dream, making the power more evident.

Normally, even with “Mother’s Perspective,” Lu Xin suspected he wouldn’t be able to accurately detect its presence.

…

“So, this is the force causing his affliction?”

A glimmer of understanding washed over Lu Xin, but he also frowned.

Even after identifying the problem within the man, how was he supposed to separate it?

His initial plan had been to observe Deputy General Manager Xiao.

To see if, when experiencing that dream, a Psychic Entity or Psychic Threads would manifest near him.

In either case, if something appeared, he could follow the clues, directly eliminate the Psychic Entity.

Or track the Psychic Threads to the source, to that “Dreamweaver-type,” and resolve it directly as well.

But now, with both possibilities ruled out, the problem became slightly trickier.

That white Shadow was fused with Xiao Yuan internally, forming one entity.

Any attempt to extract it for him risked harming the man himself.

Lu Xin wasn’t sure if Mother, if she were here, could cleanse the influence without harming him.

Unfortunately, after his previous conversation with Mother, they had established an agreement.

Before he successfully completed the Second Stage, he wouldn’t seek the help of family for now.

The Main City had already approved him for matters concerning the Second Stage; involving family now might lead to complications.

…

If that’s the case then…

After some contemplation, Lu Xin quickly formed a plan: he would call Han Bing via phone for guidance.

Since this wasn’t an urgent Special Contamination incident, he hadn’t kept an open line with her. But encountering a problem he found tricky himself, requesting intel support or mobilizing appropriate personnel for direct assistance was perfectly normal.

Of course, that meant a portion of his fee would likely have to be shared.

Though it pained him to think about it, saving a life took precedence.

…

With this decided in his heart, Lu Xin reached for his bag.

But just then, a soft electronic beep came from outside the hotel room door.

“Drip…”

It was the sound of someone using a hotel keycard to unlock the door from the outside.

Immediately after, the hotel room door was pushed open, and two noisy children suddenly scrambled inside, laughing and shouting as they charged toward Xiao Yuan. “Big Brother, Big Brother, we finally caught you! Why haven’t you come back…?”

Lu Xin frowned.

He turned his head to look outside the open door and spotted Xiao Yuan’s secretary hiding not far away in the hallway.

“Huh… huh…”

By the time Xiao Yuan’s younger brother and sister noisily barged in, he was clearly in the middle of his… feeding.

The more he consumed, the stronger the temptation became, the more intense the accumulated desire surged, with nowhere to vent.

As the children rushed up to him, he visibly froze. His movement of eating something invisible suddenly halted.

Inhaling reflexively, his entire face abruptly twisted into a look of strange, manic fervor.

“Whoosh!”

He violently yanked the little boy into his embrace and took a savage bite downward.

Although pulled uncomfortably and hurting a little, the little boy thought his big brother was just playing with him like usual; he closed his eyes, still laughing.

The little girl, hugging her brother’s arm, saw him only holding the boy and not her, pouting with jealous resentment.

Lu Xin stood up from his chair. In one stride, he stood before Xiao Yuan and reached out to grip his jaw.

Although he could only borrow Little Sister’s ability right now, his movements were still far more agile than an ordinary person’s.

As his hand clamped onto Xiao Yuan’s jaw, his other hand simultaneously dove downward. With a deft twist from a tricky angle between Xiao Yuan’s tightly clutching arms, he plucked the little boy up and then casually tossed him away—sending him flying toward the pillows on the bed.

At the same time, he hooked his foot, kicked open a nearby wardrobe, and used his leg to nudge the little girl straight into the cupboard.

“Huh… huh… huh…”

Feeling the receding presence of his younger siblings, Xiao Yuan lurched to his feet in rage, poised to pounce on the cupboard.

Lu Xin leaned his upper body back slightly while sweeping his leg out in a kick. Xiao Yuan slammed face-first onto the floor.

Then, Lu Xin pressed his foot firmly onto Xiao Yuan’s spine, just above the lower back, pinning him with such force that he couldn’t muster the strength to crawl an inch.

“Waaaah…”

Only then did the two children finally comprehend what happened. A loud wail burst from them simultaneously.

Meanwhile, outside the room, in the hallway, the female secretary clearly hadn’t anticipated this scene either. Seeing Lu Xin instantly fling the boy aside and then pin Xiao Yuan underfoot, she panicked. Stomping forward in her high heels, she shouted:

“What are you doing?!”

“Security! Security, get here now…!”

“…”

She turned out to be quite formidable. Even as she ran inside, she snatched up an ashtray near the door.

Lu Xin frowned, his hand slipping into his pocket.

Before she could bring the ashtray down, Lu Xin had already drawn his gun, pointing it directly at her face.

The secretary recoiled in utter shock. The existence of this gun was completely beyond her expectation.

Wasn’t this guy a low-level employee from the branch company?

How could he have a gun?

Almost simultaneously, three or four burly security men came sprinting down the hallway.

They were originally Xiao Yuan’s bodyguards, stationed in a room on this very floor.

Hence, the moment the secretary screamed, they immediately emerged. Seeing Deputy General Manager Xiao pinned beneath Lu Xin’s boot jolted them into action; running closer, they each brandished rubber batons, faces etched with menace.

…

Under Lu Xin’s foot, Xiao Yuan, eyes bloodshot, was clawing desperately at the cupboard door.

He’d already pulled it open. Less than ten centimeters from his reaching fingers was the terrified little girl.

The bodyguards picked up speed, about to charge into the room.

Lu Xin frowned slightly. The situation was growing critical.

If these bodyguards rushed in, Lu Xin couldn’t guarantee that, while subduing them, he could simultaneously maintain enough stability—with just one foot—to keep Xiao Yuan pinned safely, preventing him from harming the girl right before him.

There was no time to explain clearly.

Normally, this might have made him irritable. But now, he was operating under Mother’s Perspective. To a certain extent, accessing Mother’s ability granted him greater calm. Thus, he made a swift judgment.

Just then, the secretary, momentarily frozen by the gun barrel, finally reacted. Perhaps Lu Xin’s gentle expression eased the immense pressure in her head.

Her face twisted into a threatening scowl as she started to yell, “How dare you—!”

But before she could finish, Lu Xin suddenly looked at her with a faint smile. “Did you give them the keycard?”

Struck by his question, the secretary froze.

Then she saw Lu Xin shake his head at her, as if he’d perceived every thought in her mind. “Jealous?”

“How vile your thoughts are…”

As he spoke, the gun barrel lowered slightly. His finger curled on the trigger.

“BANG!”

The shot hit the secretary’s leg.

The tremendous sound was deafening in the confined space. Everyone flinched violently.

The two children, startled by the gunshot, abruptly stopped screaming.

The anger and curses that had just formed on the secretary’s face vanished completely.

The bodyguards now at the doorway stumbled in shock, nearly falling over, scrambling wildly for cover on either side of the entrance.

The situation had been perfectly dealt with.

…

Having handled this, Lu Xin slowly lowered his gaze back toward Xiao Yuan on the floor.

Seemingly startled by the gunshot, Xiao Yuan, who had been struggling violently, had ceased his efforts.

“Interrupted?”

An expression of mild dissatisfaction flickered across Lu Xin’s face.

It was at that precise moment that an unnervingly pale hand suddenly emerged from Xiao Yuan’s back.

This ghostly white hand manifested with bizarre suddenness, stretching out directly from within his spine. It clawed frantically at his own calf muscle.

Simultaneously, Lu Xin felt the abrupt sensation of his consciousness plummeting.