The Red world - Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Estimation of Psyche Magnitude
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“You could SEE it?”
Chen Jing paused for a brief moment before asking.
She emphasized the word “see”.
“Yes, I could!”
Lu Xin explained in a serious tone, “I could see the monster. I know what it looked like. That’s why I was certain that the three of them had simply been controlled. They hadn’t become a part of the monster. Besides, the fact that I could see it was also the reason why my sister was able to help me fight back… That monster was indeed a scary one. But I survived, so all is well!”
“That means…”
Chen Jing fell into deep thought. A grim look emerged on her face. “Can you see those distorted psyche fields?”
“Sometimes I can. Last time at the cafe, I saw that monster add something to my cup. When that monster suddenly released its power, I could see the field too. However, it all disappeared when the monster fled underwater…” Lu Xin said slowly. Then, he frowned. “I thought you all should be able to see it too.”
“No, we can’t see it most of the time!”
Chen Jing’s brows knitted together as she explained, “Actually, ‘seeing’ is not the right word. We sense it.
“Psyche Monsters don’t have a definite shape. Only under certain specific circumstances can we sense their presence.”
Lu Xin thought hard about the difference between “sensing” and “seeing”. Then, he asked, “Perhaps it could be your problem?”
“Well…”
Chen Jing was slightly flustered by his words.
It felt strange to talk to this young man, not only because she knew that there was an invisible sister of his staring at her from the side.
But Chen Jing’s professionalism helped her readjust her mindset very soon.
She adopted a more casual tone and chatted with Lu Xin for a while longer with a gentle smile.
She asked about his preliminary investigation of Qin Ran, and whether he was happy with working with the investigation team. She also asked Lu Xin to explain in detail the Psyche Monster that he saw and how it was like to fight against it. She even found a pencil and made a quick sketch of the “humanoid fruit tree” according to his description…
Lu Xin was deeply impressed. He hadn’t expected Chen Jing to be such an artist. Her drawing was almost the same as what Lu Xin had seen.
“Well done. You may go back and have some rest now.”
After the careful conversation, Chen Jing rubbed her temples and said, “I will update you about the subsequent investigations.”
“Sure.”
Lu Xin stood up, but he looked somewhat hesitant.
Chen Jing read his mind. She smiled and comforted him. “Don’t worry. Your abilities are indeed something we aren’t familiar with, but that’s totally understandable. Since the Red Moon event, a wide variety of new powers emerged due to psyche mutations. Besides, it’s not a bad thing that you can see the sources of corruption and even fight with them in close combat. It’s not the strangest thing we’ve seen, either. I’ve personally encountered someone who could steal other people’s abilities…”
Lu Xin nodded and said, “Actually, I wanted to ask about my payment…”
Chen Jing didn’t see that coming. She paused for a second before smiling again. “I’ll transfer your due to your account very soon!”
Lu Xin felt relieved. He nodded and turned to walk toward the door.
“A lot of those people have hidden intentions…”
Walking beside him, his sister looked up at him and said, “Brother, that woman with deformed breasts is trying to worm things out of you…”
Lu Xin gently put his index finger before his lips and whispered back, “Shh… She’s paying me…”
Chen Jing sent Lu Xin downstairs and arranged for a car to send him home. After Lu Xin had left, Chen Jing seemed to be in deep thought. She slowly strolled back to the empty meeting room. The conversation with Lu Xin earlier had reminded her of many particularly complicated incidents.
Before the meeting, she had had absolutely no idea that Lu Xin was able to see the sources of corruption and the Psyche Monsters.
That could potentially become a loophole in her work.
That couldn’t be helped, though, because only the main city had the facilities to conduct a conclusive checkup on Lu Xin. There was no way to investigate his full power otherwise.
However, judging from Lu Xin’s mental state, Chen Jing didn’t want to take the risk of sending him to the main city.
And Lu Xin’s performance in the mission this time had stirred up even more conflicting emotions in her.
Varied abilities often corresponded to an increased risk of getting out of control.
But this young man had managed to save the other three members of his team during this extremely dangerous corruption incident.
Or rather, he had prevented her from killing them.
“The ability to see Psyche Monsters isn’t a very special case. In fact, on the days of the full moon, especially when the sky is clear and the red moonlight is ample, many people have claimed to witness mutated psyche figures. Some look like ghosts, while others are distorted monsters. That’s also why people named those monsters ‘Psyche Monsters’.
“However, to be more precise, they shouldn’t have been able to see it. They probably sensed it. The energy magnitudes of those corruption sources are so high that they end up affecting our brains and vision. That’s why we can see those scenes…
“Therefore, those scenes can’t be captured by any photography devices. This has been verified.
“As of now, the appearance of all the monsters comes from sketches based on people’s memories. There’s not much research value to it.
“In addition, there’s another point worth mentioning. People have vague descriptions of the appearance of Psyche Monsters. Even if it’s the same monster, some said that it looked like a ghost while some claimed that they saw an Ultraman…”
A woman’s voice suddenly rang out in the empty meeting room. It was Corporal Han Bing.
Chen Jing rubbed her forehead. She reached out and pressed a button by the window.
Projectors whirred to life on the walls of her office. When light shone down from the projectors, light-blue figures of the same size of people instantly appeared in the office. They looked just like real people.
It was as if the office was full of people all of a sudden.
That would definitely be a strange sight in the eyes of others.
Just two streets away from the Security Office, neighborhoods without telephones or stable water and electricity supplies could be seen.
But high-end holographic technologies had already returned to the meeting room of the Security Office. Those technologies were rare since the disaster.
“But he’s definitely different…”
A spectacled man in a lab coat said, “Not only could he see the monster, but he could also accurately determine, from over four meters away, whether our men had been restrained or corrupted.
“That’s not an illusion anymore. I’m more inclined toward the explanation that due to his extremely high psyche magnitude, he’s very sensitive toward psyche fluctuations. That’s why he could ‘see’ the monster with his deeply disturbed mind!
“Based on my preliminary estimate, I suspect that his psyche magnitude is probably about 300… or more!”
Silence befell the office.
Apparently, it was something that demanded careful judgment when a mutant of more than 300 units of psyche magnitude appeared, especially since he hadn’t been guided and this was only the beginning of his mutation. Everyone needed some time to analyze and evaluate the situation.