Door of Choice

The third floor of the Laser Tower was where identity checks were conducted, and all the psychics who arrived lined up in a long queue. There were no staff on site, as there was no one there to direct or coordinate the others.

This empty space was empty except for two doors at the end. The left one was white; entering meant abandoning everything in the Holy Land and returning to their original continent. The right one was pitch black; entering allowed those who passed their psychic status to remain in the Holy Land and enjoy freedom.

The result of your choice is not permanent. Even if you choose to stay today, you can leave the holy land by yourself tomorrow. Vice versa, even if you choose to leave today, as long as you can pass through the "restricted area" ten nautical miles outside the holy land in the future, you can still go to the island.

However, this annual public decision is no longer just a trivial personal choice for these superpowered individuals. It is a symbol of courage, a direct expression of their loyalty to the superpowered community, and a declaration of their desire for freedom.

This is the spiritual totem of those with special abilities.

Lin Zhouze stood at the end of the team and watched coldly. People with special abilities kept walking into the door on the right without hesitation. Occasionally, a few of them pushed open the door on the left hesitantly and had to have a psychological struggle before leaving.

By the time Red quietly walked up behind him, the line had shrunk by nearly a third. Strangely, no one else was lining up behind him. Lin Zhouze asked without turning around, "Well, have you made your choice? Are you leaving and not causing him any trouble, or are you staying and becoming a burden?"

Reid was surprised that this man could see through his own struggles so completely. He asked with some reluctance, "Will I be unable to help him if I stay?" Lin Zhouze stepped back a few steps and left the group. He looked him up and down and said, "You're asking me? Can't you sense it yourself? Someone is approaching here, and what is their purpose?"

Red opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing. He could sense that his father, the ruler of the Holy Land and commander of the hyper-evolution experiment, was heading to the third floor of the Central Laser Tower. As for Noah abandoning the relocation of the Far South Experimental Base and running here, it certainly wasn't just to watch the fun.

"He probably knows what happened a few days ago." Red wasn't stupid; he could guess the general idea after a little thought. And once Noah arrived, it was only a matter of time before he discovered that he was the one who took Ying Yungui away and ruined the experiment.

For him now, staying in the holy land would certainly allow him to continue seeing Ying Yungui, but it would undoubtedly bring him trouble. Leaving here would divert his attention and keep him safe temporarily.

Lin Zhouze pointed at the line with his chin. "No one's been lining up for at least ten minutes. How long do you think it'll take him to get here?" His tone showed a thorough understanding of the situation. Red turned his head to look at the entrance, but Lin Zhouze immediately said, "You want to wait for the president to come down? Don't blame me for not warning you. I'm afraid it's too late."

Reid felt a little regretful, but he finally nodded to Lin Zhouze and followed the group forward. "Forget it, if I can't see him, then I can't see him." He had already made up his mind, but he still felt a little sad.

Lin Zhouze's eyes went blank. His "dissociation" ability activated, and the entire laser tower flickered briefly, though it wasn't noticeable in the sunlight. Nearly a minute later, he regained consciousness and watched in silence as the line of people shrank and the number of people entering the black door on the right continued to increase.

When the team was down to a dozen people, there was a noise at the entrance, as if someone was rushing in. Red, feeling bad, immediately tried to push the person in front of him out of the line and leave. This not only annoyed the people in front of him, but in his haste, he accidentally knocked over a petite girl, and in the end, he was still a step too late.

"Don't move!" A voice filled with abundant spell energy came from behind. More than a dozen people maintained their posture at this moment and no one moved, including Reid, of course.

"Red Ryan, turn around." Noah's voice was filled with the heavy breathing after running, and it didn't seem as gentle as usual. Red's body turned back uncontrollably and met his father's eyes.

Noah breathed a sigh of relief and took a few steps closer, still using his ability to ask, "Did you do what happened a few days ago? Tell the truth, don't lie." On the way here, he had almost figured out the clues based on various sources, but he still wanted to hear it from his youngest son himself.

"Yes." Red answered truthfully under the command of the curse. Noah took a few steps closer and asked, "Why did you do that? Why did you disobey me?"

"Because I like him and don't want him to suffer." The voice of this sentence was not loud, but everyone heard it. Soon, everyone's face showed the excitement of hearing shocking gossip. Some people even winked at the people around them desperately because they could not move.

Noah was stunned when he heard this, and stood about five steps away from Reid. Then he suddenly raised his voice and said, "He said he likes you. Did you know about this?" He turned around and asked the man who had just appeared at the entrance, "President Ying."

Ying Yungui came down alone first, but still ended up being a step behind Noah. "I know," he answered calmly to Noah's obviously malicious question. He brushed past Lin Zhouze and walked toward the crowd. Then, he stood in front of Reid and said clearly, "I'm sorry."

Apart from himself and Lin Zhouze, no one knew what this incoherent apology meant, but none of that mattered, because in the eyes of passers-by the current scene was already gossipy and exciting enough.

Noah scoffed and leaned forward, almost nose to nose, to carefully observe the changes in his expression. The close encounter between the two Serpent Totem Parasites shook their souls and consciousness.

"Do you regret it?" A low murmur exploded in Red's ears, still a curse. "No regrets," he said.

"Okay, very good." Nuoer withdrew his body and circled around him twice, then suddenly asked Ying Yungui, "President Ying, I want to know if your previous promise still counts?"

This sentence did not use the power of the spell, so Ying Yungui's actions were not restricted by it. However, he immediately realized what the question was about and replied, "Since it is a promise, of course it counts."

"That's good!" Noah was satisfied. He turned around neatly and pointed his finger at Red's eyes. "Red Ryan, I want you to never leave the Holy Land and never return to the Ryan family. Do you accept it or not?"

"...""recognize."

Noah put down his hands and laughed. After laughing enough, he waved away the people blocking his way and walked straight to the two doors at the end. Then he pushed open the pure white door on the left and walked in without stopping.

After his figure disappeared, everyone who had been immobilized by the curse regained their ability to move and immediately began to whisper to each other. "Did you see that right? That's Chief Ryan? How did he go through the door on the left?" "I thought I was hallucinating because I slept too late last night, but it turns out it was the real Chief Ryan." "No, what's going on? What's going on? Why is it both President Ying and Chief Ryan?" "Wait a minute, if I heard correctly, that guy Red said he likes President Ying, right?" "Oh my god, what the hell is this!"

The two people at the center of the conversation, Ying Yungui and Reid, did not move, but for different reasons. Ying Yungui did not move because he did not expect Nuoer to make such a choice. He needed to think carefully about the meaning of that sentence.

Red didn't move because the snake totem had already begun its parasitic transfer the moment Noah disappeared. Beneath his clothes, invisible to the public, shimmering scales began to appear on his skin, and his pupils constantly shifted shape.

Besides Ying Yungui and Lin Zhouze, there was another person who saw everything happen: Shi Youchen, who had just arrived. He wore a mask engraved with a crow totem, the same one he had chosen when he was choosing his codename.

"The curse has been broken. Anyone who wants to leave can leave now." He looked like an ordinary psychic who had just arrived here for identity verification. However, after this reminder, no one was willing to give up such a scene and leave directly. Their eyes kept moving back and forth between Reid and Ying Yungui.

Ying Yungui came back to his senses from deep thought and coughed: "Don't say I didn't remind you. If you don't leave when you should, you can't blame anyone if you regret it later." After all, the president's words still carry weight. Now several people withdrew their gazes and prepared to leave through the black door.

At that moment, the entire laser tower began to shake and emit a scorching heat. After a moment of weightlessness, everyone felt a burning pain on their skin. Before they could do anything, someone shouted, "Why is the tower deformed?"

The laser tower was indeed deforming. Except for the area touching the ground, the entire structure at the top was reshaped in an instant. After the heat faded, everyone could see clearly that they were trapped in a huge birdcage.

Lin Zhouze walked up to Shi Youchen and said indifferently, "The Snake Totem has been captured." Except for the four of them, everyone else ran to the edge of the birdcage and tried to get out through the gaps. As a result, the first person who tried to do so had half of his body twisted into a knot. He lay on the ground and began to wail, and soon became motionless.

"What the hell is this thing?" "How do we get out? Where's the door?" "Why did the laser tower become like this? Who did this? Was it the maintenance bureau?!" "I don't want to die here! Help!"

The parasitic transfer to Red's body was finally complete. The noises subsided, and his consciousness returned to normal. Then, through the hole in the mask, he saw the sorrowful look in Shi Youchen's eyes again.

Ying Yungui was a little confused. He knew that today's plan included the empathy ritual and the possible transfer of the snake totem's power, but with Noah's sudden action first and now the laser tower turning into a cage behind him, he really didn't expect so many unexpected things to happen.

So he asked Lin Zhouze: "What does this mean?" Lin Zhouze did not answer, but turned to Red and said: "Let those who are not involved get some sleep first." Soon under the command of the spell, those who ran to the edge of the birdcage fell into a coma.

Shi Youchen then began to explain, both to Ying Yungui and to Reid, "Noe came here because the tower was opened today. He knew about the interruption of the Holy Land's first super evolution experiment a few days ago. This was planned long ago. There won't be a second opportunity like this."

Facing Ying Yungui's puzzled look, he said, "Noah just chose to leave through the left door, right?" Red's heart suddenly pricked. "That's not what Patriarch Ryan would do. That was Noah Ryan's choice."

Ying Yungui seemed to understand something: "You mean..."

Shi Youchen: "Yes, he didn't let Red go, but chose to leave himself because he already knew and accepted the transfer of totem power. He accepted to use his own death in exchange for Red's life, and for the survival of the entire Ryan family."