Degeneration
The face of the person in the mirror is very three-dimensional, and at first glance looks a bit like a mixed-race person, obviously not the appearance of "Shi Youchen".
As the team members around him continued to chatter, Shi Youchen reached out to peel off the hemostatic patch on his right arm, then stared at the wound and activated his ability. The two cross-shaped wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It was “healing”, indeed, a supernatural power that Shi Youchen was familiar with.
"Captain? Captain! Are you listening? What's wrong? Are you hurt? How could you have a wound?" The noisy series of questions attracted the attention of the other three people, and everyone became concerned about this in an instant.
"What's the wound?" "How did you get it?" "Captain, are you feeling anything wrong?" "Let's get it checked first when we get back."
Shi Youchen frowned slightly and lowered his head to untie the bandage wrapped around his left hand. He said, "It's okay. I was accidentally bitten by a snake in the mountains. I've already taken care of it."
At this time, the team member driving the car suddenly asked: "What's the matter with the bandage on your left hand? Did you meet anyone?" His voice sounded particularly calm and ruthless among the few people. Obviously, he noticed some unusual details.
Shi Youchen looked up and caught his eye in the rearview mirror. "It must be a villager nearby. They said they found me injured in the valley." As soon as he said this, the surroundings fell silent. Even the team member who had been the most restless earlier shut up.
Without warning, the driver suddenly flipped the "block" switch in the car, temporarily cutting off communication with the association's base. He then removed his headphones, seemingly to hear more clearly, and said, "Captain, that area is the association's long-abandoned experimental base. It's still under control. Theoretically, there shouldn't be any villages or villagers there."
"And..." He glanced at Shi Youchen's arms through the rearview mirror. There was no trace of any wounds there. "The entire mountain range has been affected by the experimental environment. The creatures there are no longer ordinary plants and animals."
"They all may have unusual abilities. Even wounds that have healed must be carefully examined."
He had already noticed many things that were wrong, but both his senses and the data told him that this was definitely the "Captain" himself.
As long as they were the captain, they could be trusted unconditionally, even if... He seemed to be deliberately hiding something. "Remember to check your entire body when you return to base, especially any injuries." He said this and then fell silent, but he still didn't turn off the "shield."
The other three team members remained silent until they returned to the District 8 Association base.
Shi Youchen said goodbye to the team members with different expressions at the entrance of the equipment department. He first re-bound the psychic bracelet according to the procedure, and then immediately opened the system to check the key information.
The task list shows that the latest completed task is "Level B: Scan the abandoned experimental base of District 8, task points: 320+100 (captain's reward)". Considering the old and blurry road sign and the information given by the team members on the road, it is not difficult to guess the full picture of the task.
However, what is unreasonable is why he appeared in the valley alone and was picked up by Hassan first. How did Hassan enter the mountainous area which is the abandoned experimental base of the Psychic Association? Where did his daily necessities come from?
Furthermore, were the creatures they encountered on their descent truly extraordinary, as the team members claimed, no longer just plants and animals? Did the experimental base have any real impact on the creatures within? Was the mysterious death of the venomous snake that bit him in the bag related to this?
There are so many questions that have no answers yet. Perhaps starting with "me" is the fastest and most direct way.
Shi Youchen opened the personal system in the upper right corner of the screen and saw the information of this body -
"Name:
Gender: Male
Age: 33
No.: 6139
Ability type: Healing
Ability direction: Healing
Association address: Area 8, Building 3, 17th Floor
Coincidentally, he was also a healing user, and apparently a gifted awakener. Although he didn't know why he had entered the illusion from An She's perspective, Shi Youchen had a vague feeling that this person's story was not simple.
Out of an abundance of caution, Shi Youchen went to the medical department for a full-body checkup and, while awaiting the results, returned to the 17th floor of Building 3. Anshe's dormitory was very clean and tidy, but also full of traces of daily life, making it look like someone who lived there permanently.
It is worth mentioning that there are many small animals in his dormitory, including common cats and dogs, as well as some birds. They get along very harmoniously and do not show any instinctive behaviors such as pouncing on food.
Judging from the clues known so far, the person involved seems to be a very gentle person in dealing with others, and those team members also seem to respect and care about the captain.
When Shi Youchen was thinking about how to get more information, a call came from the medical department, asking him to return to the examination room quickly.
"There's nothing wrong with your organs or functions, but the energy in your body is noticeably decreasing. And judging by this trend, your energy fluctuation will fall below level 5 within a month. Within two years, you'll lose your supernatural powers and become an ordinary person."
"Although this situation has occurred before, this is the first time it has happened to a person with awakened talent. You should be prepared first." The Medical Department also reported the matter to the Branch Information Center, calling it "The 37th Superpower Elimination Incident."
Perhaps because the person involved was too emotional at the time, Shi Youchen's mind was filled with thoughts like "I must find the reason" and "I must not lose everything in a muddle" on the way back to the dormitory.
With this thought in mind, he returned to the 17th floor of Building 3. After verifying his identity information, Shi Youchen pushed open the door. However, there was no clean and tidy room inside, but a long corridor. At the end of the corridor was a black door.
He returned to the health consultation office, but he did nothing to break the illusion.
Shi Youchen took a deep breath and walked forward - he had no choice, because the moment he entered, the door behind him disappeared. In this space, he had only one way forward.
The second pitch-black door was opened, and Shi Youchen opened his eyes on a bed.
"Captain, are you awake?" The voice from the window was the same team member who had been making such noises earlier. It was clear that Shi Youchen was still "involved" this time. He glanced around and found himself in the association's treatment room.
"They told me to wait for you to wake up and then take over. I'm leaving now. My replacement will be here soon."
But after that team member left, a long time passed, and no one else appeared in the treatment room. Shi Youchen checked the time and the various information on his bracelet and found that exactly one month had passed since his last illusion.
The energy fluctuations in Anshe's body have also regressed to level 5.
"It seems that this is the key information. Perhaps this illusion is based on this incident." Shi Youchen thought to himself, and then began to recall the information he already knew. Just when he thought of the poisonous snake that died in the cloth bag, the door of the treatment room was opened.
The one who came in was the calmest member of the team. Shi Youchen was impressed by him. "Where's Ah Huai? Isn't he here?" He asked with a hint of dissatisfaction, pushing the cart with one hand and looking around the room.
It seems Ah Huai is the name of the talkative team member. Shi Youchen said, "He left two hours ago." Unexpectedly, the other party's brows furrowed even more after hearing this. "Didn't I tell him I'd be two and a half hours late? He didn't even read the message?"
Shi Youchen watched him place the dishes from the cart on the table, then came over to help him out of bed. "Let's eat first. I've ordered something to suit your taste." The dishes on the table were all light, typical of the association cafeteria. It looked like Anshe hadn't suffered any serious physical injuries.
Shi Youchen had no appetite, but to get the conversation going, he still picked up his bowl and chopsticks to deal with it. "I feel much better now. I can go out tomorrow."
The other party raised his eyes from the screen, looked at Shi Youchen and said seriously, "If you continue to mess around like a headless fly as before, we would rather keep you here."
Shi Youchen chewed on it for a few times, but it still tasted like chewing wax: "I thought of other clues." The other party put away the screen and pretended to listen attentively.
Shi Youchen: "The abnormal energy in my body was detected when we just came back from there. After thinking it over, I feel that I should go back."
"No!" Before he could even finish his first sentence, he was interrupted with a firm voice. "Your unexpected departure from the team has already caught the attention of the regulatory authorities. If you go there again at this critical moment, what do you think they will think?"
Thinking that he was now involved in the case rather than Shi Youchen himself, and that he needed to take care of not only himself but also his companions, Shi Youchen tried to consider it more comprehensively: "So I accepted the mission in my personal capacity. I'm just passing through and won't make a special trip there."
The man opposite had a dim look in his eyes. He looked at Shi Youchen with a meaningful expression. "Captain, what you said in the car on the way back, was it all true? Who did you meet there...or something like that?"
Shi Youchen blinked: "It's all true. I was rescued from the valley, and then I was bitten by a snake on the way he was taking me down the mountain." Thinking of the poisonous snake again, a sense of incongruity came over him.
After a moment of silence, the man suddenly pulled out the bracelet screen, opened the mission window, and began searching. "Your degradation is even faster than expected. Instead of wasting time or relying on others, why not strive for it yourself?" He found the target content and flipped the screen to face Shi Youchen. "These are the most convenient and well-hidden missions in that area. Be careful."
At the end, he added: "Everyone is waiting for you to return to the team and continue to lead us."
Because he had recovered well, after resting on the second day, Shi Youchen successfully embarked on his journey to the mission alone, and arrived at the unnamed mountain area on the morning of the third day.
There were many possibilities for the unnamed area, and the special land once used by the Psychic Association was one of them. Before entering the mountains, Shi Youchen once again reviewed the description of the large mountain range bordering Area 7. It was actually just longer than the average mountain range, encompassing a larger area, making it more suitable for isolating ordinary people from the experiment area.
Relying on his memory and the help of technology, Shi Youchen found the area where he went down the mountain. After searching for a while, he found the cloth bag lying in the weeds in the corner.
Picking up Hassan's bag, Shi Youchen carried it up the mountain. Perhaps because it was daytime, or perhaps because a month had passed, the temperature here was significantly lower than before, and Shi Youchen didn't see any living creatures along the way.
Finally, at noon, Shi Youchen saw a more familiar place - a large patch of weeds that were higher than his knees, which was near where the two of them had been hiding from the flock of birds.
"It looks like we'll be there if we just walk a little further." Shi Youchen was about to raise his foot when he suddenly smelled blood.
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