Chapter 39
Su Zihan glanced at the visitor's name tag. It read—Lin Muxiu. She looked at him again. He looked to be in his late twenties. He was wearing a white lab coat and leaning casually against the wall, his posture somewhat slouched. His hair was thick and smooth, with fine strands grazing his eyelashes. He didn't look like a serious doctor.
"Hello, little friends," Lin Muxiu said in a friendly tone, greeting them, "May I know your names?"
After the two of them gave their names, Lin Muxiu looked at Shen Chumo and suppressed his smile: "Mr. Shen, do you know anything about superpowers?"
Shen Chumo nodded, thinking that he was going to ask something about super powers, or how he knew about Su Zihan's super powers, but he only heard him say,
"If, as you said, Su Zihan's ability is 'saving people', then she is... so special."
Shen Chumo didn't expect that the other party would immediately grasp the essence of the matter and looked at him noncommittally. Su Zihan's ability was indeed special. Being able to save people from pollution was related to the future of the entire human race.
Seeing Su Zihan's defensive posture, Lin Muxiu smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, kid. As long as you have potential, I can find a way to help you activate your supernatural powers. News about supernatural powers is still under lockdown, so it's normal for ordinary people not to know about it."
Su Zihan exhaled: "Those two, please."
Two days later.
Shen Huaixin looked at Shen Chumo who pushed the door open and walked in. Behind him were Qi Yi, Su Zihan, and a young man in a white coat. She quickly thought of one of the male protagonists in the book - Lin Muxiu.
He is a genius doctor, known for his exceptional precision and scalpel wielding. Midway through the series, he loses his left ring and pinky fingers, which are replaced with titanium prosthetics. While he appears gentle and courteous, he's inured to life and death, and more heartlessly cold and ruthless than the other two male protagonists. Initially, he even intends to dissect the female protagonist to explore the secrets of purifying her powers.
Lin Muxiu showed up so early? Didn't the heroine and the others meet him when they arrived in the capital?
Su Zihan took a step back, his face full of uncertainty: “This pollution source…is Shen Huaixin?”
At this time, the Shen residence had become a black and white world, with the old TV's scrapped screen flashing from time to time, accompanied by the sound of "sizzling" electricity. Shen Chumo's eyes were gentle, touching the intersection of the pollution world and reality.
"Well, this is her world."
Qi Yi was silent. Two days later, when he visited the pollution site again, he went from being in disbelief at first to accepting it now. His heart gradually grew cold and empty.
Su Zihan pursed her lips and stammered, "She might have already..."
He was halfway through saying this when he saw Shen Chumo's gaze and swallowed back the words "hopeless". Lin Muxiu was not shy and went straight to the point.
"Unfortunately, Su Zihan's ability is only effective on people who haven't yet transformed into a source of pollution. You should be aware of this. We've experimented with this many times in the hospital, and none of them have been successful."
Seeing the atmosphere cool down, Su Zihan quickly stepped forward to smooth things over: "No matter what, I'll try my best. What if a miracle happens?"
Seeing this, Shen Huaixin finally understood. So Shen Chumo asked her to wait three days so he could find Su Zihan to cleanse the area? The question was, how did he know about Su Zihan's abilities? The pollution had only just begun three days ago, and according to the book, Su Zihan hadn't developed any abilities yet.
However, since even Lin Muxiu appeared in advance, it is understandable that there are some deviations in the plot.
But... I'm going to leave eventually, so why bother with all this trouble?
Lin Muxiu disagreed. "The risk is too great. To purify the source of the pollution, we must first find its 'core.' Once we delve deeper, we will be eroded by the contamination. You, in particular, cannot afford the slightest mistake. This isn't a harmless 'core' in a lab dish, but a real, active contaminant."
Shen Huaixin remembered that people with special abilities had a certain ability to resist mild pollution. A low-level pollution source like her didn't pose much of a threat to them. However, in the early stages of the pollution outbreak, no one had discovered it yet. She silently prayed that no one would come. Otherwise, after all the effort, they would discover a hollow pollution source like her. How embarrassing it would be.
"I'll go," Shen Chumo glanced at the three of them, "I will find the core today. If you can't wait for me, you don't have to wait any longer."
"You're courting death," Qi Yi frowned and made a judgment, "I know Shen Huaixin's death makes you feel bad, but people always have to look forward."
"Yeah, I think so too. It's too risky for you to do this." Su Zihan agreed repeatedly and tried to save the situation.
Shen Chumo had made up his mind and took another step towards the pollution source. Qi Yi just reached out to stop him, but was bounced back by an invisible force, shackled in place and unable to move. He was shocked: "Have you awakened your superpowers too?"
Shen Chumo paused and did not answer.
[System: Host, you have waited for Chen Chumo, do you want to go back? ]
[Chen Huaixin: Can he find the 'core'?]
[System: Of course not. Your soul is the core. He won't be able to find it no matter how hard he tries.]
It's time to leave. Shen Huaixin knew that even though Shen Chumo didn't know, she had indeed waited for him for three days as agreed. If she continued like this... she would be in danger.
But… she looked at Shen Chumo in the pollution source again. Ashes floated onto him. He searched aimlessly in the black and white world, as if there would never be an end, as if he would not leave until he found the core.
Shen Huaixin felt the increasingly strong attraction of the pollution source to herself, like a call from the depths of her soul, telling her that there was an eternal hotbed there.
[Chen Huaixin: ...If the pollution source had its own core, would it still tempt me so strongly?]
【System: Theoretically speaking, no, what's wrong? 】
[Chen Huaixin: Didn't you say before that you have the original owner's soul and can use her as a core?]
[System: Although it is possible, does it make sense? ]
【Chen Huaixin: Perhaps.】
Give the story an ending, let Shen Chumo see with his own eyes that Su Zihan is unable to purify her and cut off his unrealistic thoughts. This is the last thing Shen Huaixin, who is about to leave, can do for him.
Gentle and cruel.
Shen Chumo stopped and saw the "core" floating in front of him. As the name suggests, it is round and black in color. The surface is uneven and has thorny protrusions.
He was so stunned that he forgot to reach out and take it. It didn't flee, but just hovered quietly in front of him.
His dreams often moved faster than reality, especially recently, when, through his deliberate meditation, he could see many fragments of the future. Among them were those of pollution sources. Driven by their subconscious survival instinct, they often hid their cores in hard-to-find places, like the eye of a magic array, requiring intruders to carefully unravel the mystery before they could find it.
But Shen Huaixin's was placed blatantly in front of him, and as if afraid that he couldn't see it, it stopped just within his reach.
...Is it a trap?
But the pollution was originally created by Shen Chumo. He was very familiar with this energy. Others could hardly move in the pollution source, but he could easily sense the intensity of the pollution in various places. Therefore, he concluded that what was in front of him was a nuclear power.
"Xin... Sister, you want to be saved too," he murmured, his eyes lowered, a look of longing in his eyes, "Don't worry, I will save you. No matter the cost."
Shen Huaixin said nothing, but floated over to Shen Chumo and patted his shoulder. He looked much more haggard than the last time they met. Despite his strong recovery ability, deep fatigue and grief were still engraved on the boy's brow, as if he had grown up overnight, and his former childishness had dissipated completely.
When Shen Chumo stepped out of the pollution source, three people were sitting on the ground outside, discussing their next plans. Seeing him come out so quickly, Su Zihan's face was full of disbelief. In her imagination, no matter how fast it was, it would take at least an hour. She couldn't help but blurt out,
"You give up?"
Shen Chumo extended his hand to her. In his palm was a contaminated core, emitting a strong pollution. The three of them subconsciously retreated, as if it were a hot potato, and no one dared to take it.
Lin Muxiu looked at him suspiciously and said, "Just hold it in your hand, aren't you afraid?"
“Pollution level, F level,” Shen Chumo said, “You can also hold it in your hands, it won’t be contaminated in a short time.”
"Where did you get this information?"
Shen Chumo didn't reply. These days, he forced himself to search for clues in his subconscious, but the more he looked at those images, the more desperate he became. He couldn't find a way to purify Shen Huaixin. She had been there since the pollution outbreak...
But the difference is that in the picture, she stabbed him in the back and was eroded by the pollution that broke out instantly due to his instinctive defense, and was alienated into a source of pollution. The real Shen Huaixin was enduring the high-intensity pollution from him and Shen's mother, reading out her heart's thoughts for him word by word, and never stopped vomiting blood onto the paper.
Completely different people.
Su Zihan was about to reach out her hand, but Qi Yi stopped her: "Be careful, find a piece of cloth to cushion it first."
"It's okay, and my ability... requires contact to take effect."
Su Zihan took a deep breath, took the contaminated core, and after feeling the pollution condensing within, she gritted her teeth, clasped her hands together, placed it on her chest, and unleashed her supernatural power. Everyone held their breath as a soft, holy white light emanated from her hands.
Not long after, Su Zihan sighed and returned the core to Shen Chumo: “I’m sorry… I can’t do it. Purifying it further will only destroy its structure and completely ruin it.”
"This isn't destruction, but salvation," Lin Muxiu pondered. "I think it's a good deed for you to save your friend."
"She's still there. She's still conscious, right inside." Shen Chumo said firmly.
Qi Yi couldn't bear to watch it any longer: "Chen Chumo, I think you know that I am no less sad than you are about Shen Huaixin's death, but you should also be more compassionate. She wouldn't want to see others worrying about her."
Shen Huaixin listened to this and nodded continuously, but when he saw Shen Chumo's bloodshot eyes, he couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart.
"Chu Mo, it's time to let it go, just like Qi Yi said," Shen Huaixin was in front of him, and even though he couldn't see, he still comforted him seriously, "Your world is still very big, and I'm just a passer-by in your life."
As if he had heard her words, Shen Chumo's eyes became increasingly dull, as quiet as a pool of stagnant water, without a ripple on anything.
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