Chapter 87 The Final Question
The day looked toward the fading light.
The spiritual web that had been imprisoned for so long slowly rose and fell, like the last breath of a dying person.
The subtle influence over the years has already taken root here, and even if the black bugs are no longer there, it will be difficult to reconcile. Tiny cracks clung to the branches of the spiritual web, and it seemed that they would break in the next second.
"Success!" The light ball exhaled, and the pain from the heat consumption turned into joy.
"He won't last long."
Bai Ri stood there, the offensive smell dissipated, and he was able to observe quietly: "While he is still conscious, let's solve the problem as soon as possible."
The ball of light responded with a “hmm”.
After the supernatural power was lifted, the consciousness was resisted, and it left as smoothly as it entered, and returned to the body like flowing water, and opened his eyes subconsciously.
It was like a big dream. I looked at the clock on the wall during the day and raised my hand to press my swollen and painful temple. The passage of time in reality and the spiritual network is different. Not long after the first one came, Ke Yan was still staring at him intently.
Seeing the young man wake up without changing his expression, Ke Yan pursed his lips and said excitedly: "Great, you can really do it."
"I haven't even said anything yet, and you already know it?"
Bai Zhou took the water she had prepared in advance, shook it a few times and observed the fluctuations in the cup. There was a faint energy contained in it. His eyes moved to the opened painkiller on the table, and he understood.
The next second, warm water flowed down my throat, relieving my thirst but not my headache. When a powerful medicine is added to water, it is just like adding boiled water to warm water, there is no change.
The young man's expression remained unchanged. He let the pain in his temple feel like a needle pricking him, but his face looked relaxed and he smiled leisurely at the researcher who was observing him carefully.
"I can see it." Seeing that there was no one in the way, Ke Yan retracted his gaze, then quickly turned his head towards the research object on the stage. In an instant, even his sight became fiery. She rushed forward and took off the device that forced the man to sleep on his head.
"Not now. Can you tell me later what you just experienced?" she said.
The device was removed, and the man's consciousness was completely unrestrained. As the two people in the room stared at him intently, the subject groaned softly, and slowly opened his eyes the next second, only to be blinded by the light from the ceiling.
sluggish.
After the subconscious movement, the man lost all other reactions like an old card machine, and just maintained the expression of being awake, staring at the light, not caring about the tears that were stimulated to flow from the corners of his eyes. His limbs were still tied to the stage, but he was unaware of anything. He just lay there blankly with a dull look in his eyes.
This is the third look, which is different from the photo and the reality not long ago.
Ke Yan stretched out his hand, waved it in front of his eyes, and moved his face closer.
"Is he stupid?"
Still getting no response, she looked puzzled and turned to ask.
Bai Zhou looked at the dazed man quietly and stretched out his hand to block the glaring light for him: "That's about right. After being controlled by the evil cult for so long, your true self has long been eaten away."
"While he is still conscious, ask him everything you need to ask."
"...So." Ke Yan was stunned for a moment, and replied half a beat slowly. From the young man's few short words, she understood everything that had just happened. The enthusiasm for the research subject faded from her eyes, and her gaze became quiet, carefully tracing every inch of the man's facial features.
"I understand. I'll go get the instrument to record it now."
——
As an abandoned person, the man naturally did not have much information about the cult. But they had never expected that the positive side could break the control, so they were able to infer clues based on the man's slight unconscious reaction.
The silk threads transformed from supernatural powers invade the brain, entangle themselves in the mental web, and move like strings, amplifying the target's emotions and rolling up a group of memory fragments.
Memories of nightmares came flooding back. It was unknown what the man had seen, but his expression suddenly changed. His pupils suddenly shrank, and his fear was beyond words. Even though it's just an empty shell now, it still generates strong emotions.
When the five senses are not numbed, the pain that should have existed will return.
"Where is the secret nest?" Bai Zhou asked directly, and the strength of the silk thread increased.
“Huh…”
A slight breathy sound escaped from the man's mouth. He was missing several teeth, so there was always some leakage when he made sounds.
There was no response other than that. It turns out that information of this magnitude cannot be obtained easily. Without waiting too long, Bai Zhou quickly asked the next question: "How big is the Dark Nest? In other words, how many times bigger is it than the village in your memory?"
It is too difficult to ask a body with only a little consciousness to think.
This time the wait lasted a little longer. Daylight fiddled with the silk thread, trying to speed up the thinking process with the increasingly surging memories.
"Very... big." The man's expression became painful, and he spoke as if he was under great pressure. Just a few words took all his strength, "It's... dozens of times bigger."
"Dozens of times?" Ke Yan also frowned.
A simple calculation shows that there are already about the same number of people as a high-level guild. How did the dark nest develop secretly in a corner where no one noticed and grow so big?
Although people have been sent to check various places, it is indeed difficult to catch every undercover agent with the naked eye alone. But what Bai Zhou just said about "control" doesn't it mean that every cultist has been marked with an anti-counterfeiting mark by the Dark Nest?
Inspiration was inexplicably aroused, and Ke Yan immediately grabbed a pen and paper and quickly wrote down his various ideas on them, intending to implement them after studying the man.
"It looks like you're the only one left to ask questions." The light ball moved closer to watch Ke Yan's extreme hand speed, "The other interrogator is completely caught in the vortex of inspiration."
"Quite a surprise, isn't it? This is a development that didn't happen in the original world line." Bai Zhou glanced at it with a smile. The invisible threads on his fingertips tightened and relaxed in the air, and were completely accepted by the target person.
This is also a surprising point - the man showed miraculous cooperation in this questioning.
There is no doubt that Dark Nest's practices are tantamount to brainwashing. Bai Zhou could almost imagine the first thing every cultist did when they woke up in the morning, which was to loudly express their beliefs to the sky and strengthen their hearts.
Every day they listen to the lectures of their superiors and eat the cakes they draw. The fact that "nothing about the Dark Nest can be told to the outside world" has long been deeply ingrained in the minds of the cultists, just like the man's initial silence that he would rather die than surrender.
Even if the control has been removed, this idea has taken root, deeply rooted in their brains, affecting the mental network of regaining freedom. Therefore, the man's struggle to speak is a manifestation of the courage to split his will in two.
"So, what have you been through?"
Bai Ri asked softly.
What kind of insane research did the Dark Nest conduct on them, and how many innocent people were plundered? In the experiments day after day, how many people were thrown away like rotten meat, and how many people took high risks, gained "superpowers", and became disposable consumables, paying for the Dark Nest until their death.
In the corners that the square cannot see, there are many ordinary people like the man who have disappeared without a trace after an ordinary outing and have lost themselves ever since. In the end times, remote areas are the hardest hit.
On what basis does the Dark Nest plunder others? What is the difference between the black mist they possess? How to get it?
"I..." the man murmured, his eyes had become accustomed to the light and were now staring straight upwards.
“There is… black fog… I am trapped… in a cage.” He said hoarsely, his voice barely audible. “There are many people… with me.”
"There were many people... screaming to be killed... locked in other cages, me... me too..."
His words were incoherent and scenes flashed through his mind, all of which were horrifying scenes that made one's blood run cold. At that time, he was extremely frightened and trembling all over, which even affected his current self, and he spoke with trembling teeth.
His eyes opened wide and two turbid tears flowed from them.
"Is the result 'immersed in black fog' in the physical sense?" The light ball couldn't believe it, and the hair on his body exploded. "The black fog in the dark nest is probably related to the black fog in his body. Remember to let Ke Yan send a message to you first!"
Bai Zhou ignored the shouting in his head and continued to ponder the man's intermittent words.
"Killed while screaming? Locked in another cage?" The young man nodded his chin and lowered his eyes in thought. "His state was much more intense than before, so that should be when he still had self-awareness. The Dark Nest locked all the newly captured people in cages and then threw them into the black fog together?"
"From the two different results, we can see that some people successfully carried the power, but became monsters in the illusion; others, like the man, did not change their bodies and became higher-level cultists."
"As for 'screaming and killing', maybe the people who have become monsters are either conscious or unconscious. Beings that cannot obey orders will not be allowed to survive by the Dark Nest and will naturally be killed directly."
This is the basic information extracted literally.
Bai Ri reached out and touched the man's cold, pale skin. The heart underneath was beating slowly, weakly yet tenaciously.
The specialness of the black fog may be just one part of the story, and there may also be ignored information hidden.
"Is it because of my physical condition?" the young man said to himself.
Ke Yan, who had finished recording his inspiration, walked in and asked curiously, "What's your constitution?"
"It's about the physique of ordinary people." Bai Zhou looked at her, feeling that he had vaguely touched upon something unknown. "Ms. Ke Yan, from the report we can learn that this man was an ordinary person without awakened superpowers until the day he went out."
And why can it carry the surging energy of the black fog? He even mastered supernatural powers through various experiments and possessed an astonishing depth of energy, enough to copy hundreds of talismans, with quite terrifying power.
How is this different from other people who have been deformed into monsters?
He told the researcher everything he had just analyzed, and watched the researcher's serious expression gradually change, finally turning into surprise and a hint of excitement.
"You have a point, Mr. Bai Zhou." Ke Yan's hands began to move unconsciously, sometimes tightening the mask string, sometimes adjusting his white coat.
"The cult definitely doesn't kidnap people at will. There must be some connection. We only paid attention to the special nature of the black fog, but did not consider the special nature of the carrier. This is our mistake. I will call them over in a moment."
The Dark Nest allows people to gain high-risk superpowers, which is definitely not their own credit. The physique of ordinary people is something the government has never paid attention to. Maybe in the end times, there will be more than just the change of "superpowers".
Ke Yan's tone was full of eagerness, and he couldn't wait to get started with the new experiment right now. She quickly took out her cell phone and typed in the small group to call people. Her actions showed that she was very excited, but her eyes were still as calm as ever, making her look like a machine.
Bai Zhou naturally cooperated. Anyway, the key questions were beyond the man's ability to answer, and the information he knew now was enough for him to move on to the next step.
He looked down at the man on the stage. The momentary emotion had disappeared from his face. The vitality faded, and death grew. His empty eyes stared straight into the void, quiet and dead.
According to the calculations of the light ball, the man’s remaining consciousness was about to be devoured. By then, this body will completely become a carrier of the black fog, and not even a complete body will be left behind to return to its hometown.
Bai Zhou lowered his eyes and remained silent. His expression was unrecognizable with any emotion. He just stared at the man's chest, as if he was looking through layers of flesh and blood into the black fog that was beating like a heart.
There is one last question.
Without any hope, he asked softly:
"Who is the leader of the Dark Nest?"
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