Chapter 23 Butterfly Flutters Its Wings and Scratches the Palm
Xu Nuo quickly lowered his head.
What happened to Tang Ningyue's eyes?
She looked at Wei Yan, but the latter didn't say anything.
Fu Xue was moved to a lab chair, surrounded by numerous instruments and monitors. Zong Lan expertly attached the devices connecting the various instruments to her body.
"Her body is fine," Tang Ningyue said after reading the report, "but her mental damage is quite severe. Her spirit even briefly collapsed."
Xu Nuo worried: "Was it because of that monster? I was covered in psychotentacles at the time, but its howling was terrifying. I soon lost my hearing and my head started hurting."
Tang Ningyue nodded. "I've reviewed the surveillance footage you've saved. After this mutant appeared, all the footage and audio were destroyed. It's reasonable to infer that the sonic boom at the time exceeded the recording limits of standard equipment and was accompanied by a significant amount of radiation. She felt the impact before you did, and was unprepared, which is why she was so severely injured."
The surveillance footage is lost and there is no sound information. Isn’t this the reason why the clues were interrupted when the male and female protagonists in the original novel were investigating the surveillance of Yueshan Base?
Afterwards, Tang Ningyue also did a test on Xu Nuo - there was nothing wrong with his body, it was just that his legs were weak because he had not fully recovered, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.
After completing the test, Tang Ningyue turned off the instrument. A glint flashed across her azure eyes. "Alright, our friendly time is over. As a member of the White Tower's decision-making committee, I need to learn more about this mutant."
"Based on the corpse you sent, the lab confirmed it's genetically identical to the Reaper. However, rather than calling it the same creature, I'd rather call it an upgraded Reaper."
"What is a 'reaper'?" Xu Nuo asked in a low voice while sitting on the metal chair in the laboratory.
Wei Yan stood beside her and said, "That intelligent mutant imprisoned in the restricted area of the White Tower."
Xu Nuo nodded in understanding.
At that time, they were sitting in the car of the administrative center discussing whether the mutants that dug the pit could change their size. Wei Yan specifically mentioned that there was an intelligent mutant in the White Tower that could change its size. Fu Xue began to suspect that it was it that escaped from the restricted area and came to the capital to cause this series of events.
Now it seems that the genes are highly consistent, and her suspicion is not unreasonable.
The display screen in front of her showed two pictures. The two mutants in the pictures looked almost exactly the same. They were both pitch black and covered with leather armor, with sickle-shaped claws. But Xu Nuo quickly recognized that the first picture was the corpse of the monster they killed in the capital.
The reason is that although they look very similar, the second mutant's head does not have a fully developed blood-red brain, nor does it have a wound that can produce a scream.
"We've named this mutant you discovered the Howler. The biggest difference between it and the Reaper is this," Tang Ningyue pointed at the former's exposed, blood-red brain. "Its core."
"This mutant's core grows abnormally outside, and it also has the ability to actively howl."
Xu Nuo recalled what the teacher had said in class: "As we all know, all mutants have a core. They rely on it to supply energy and spread contamination. Due to its importance, the core is often hidden deep within the body, wrapped in layers of protection, and hidden. Only when it is on the verge of collapse will it be forced to howl to protect itself."
"In all the mutant killing cases published by the White Tower, not a single one showed the core growing outside. This is because mutants are cannibalistic. The core, as a plentiful source of energy, is an irresistible delicacy for them. Exposing it would be tantamount to suicide."
But why did this one, which was alive and well, almost cause a disaster?
Tang Ningyue continued, "It deliberately exposed its core to lure other mutants to prey on it and then devour them. Furthermore, the examination report showed that in addition to the residual energy from the Phantom Walker's core, it also contained some undigested energy. I reasonably suspect that it has almost completely consumed all the advanced mutants in the polluted area west of the capital."
Zong Lan pondered the report. "So, this also explains why it didn't immediately attack the security guards and escape. After consuming the B-rank Phantom Walker, it has evolved to A-rank. As long as it stays at the bottom of the pit and digests all the energy it swallowed, it will be just one step away from S-rank."
Almost everyone present frowned.
Mutants hunt humans, especially guide sentinels, which can also enhance themselves. This mutant is hiding at the bottom of the pit and not moving. It is probably waiting for the security to relax their vigilance and take the opportunity to massacre the city, thus evolving to S-level.
Xu Nuo felt a little scared.
If the escort team had not responded in time, if there were no emergency measures on the scene, if its sneak attack had succeeded... the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Records of S-class mutants exist only in a very few unofficial histories, but once they appear, they are bound to bring about a devastating disaster. Legend has it that when the Earth was first polluted and turned into a wasteland, a powerful Sentinel was transformed into an S-class mutant. In order to kill it, humans almost lost millions of lives and blood flowed for thousands of miles. It also directly broke the entire world, which was still a federal system at the time, into a loose base power structure, and it has never recovered since then.
It was also from that time that the White Tower was established, shouldering the responsibility of receiving and controlling the guide sentinels.
"No," Zong Lan frowned and said, "The western contaminated area must immediately organize an investigation to find out what exactly gave rise to this intelligent mutant and allowed it to evolve to this point."
Tang Ningyue shook her head. "As far as I know, the contaminated area isn't very large. Even if all the remaining mutants were devoured, they wouldn't be able to reach the conditions for breeding an S-level mutant. But it did happen. If we exclude natural factors, I'm afraid this time, it was man-made..."
Xu Nuo looked up suddenly.
She now strongly suspected that this mutant was the culprit that caused the destruction of Yueshan. The damage it caused to the capital base was almost the same as the original text, except that the target of destruction had changed from Yueshan to the capital.
Why did the plot change? Was it because of her time travel, her unintentional choices like the flutter of a butterfly's wings, that set off a storm in the original plot line?
This time, she and Wei Yan successfully prevented the tragedy from happening. Does the revision of the destruction plot mean that the novel's ending can also be changed? If Tang Ningyue's guess is true, and the truth behind the monster is man-made, then the conspiracy hidden in the world-destroying war later in the copy is probably even deeper.
But at the same time - if she can find the BOSS and the real culprit in advance based on these vague clues, can she prevent the final world-destroying war?
"That shouldn't be the case," Zong Lan scratched his head. "What's the point of artificially creating mutants? Even if they manage to produce an S-level mutant, it can't be controlled. What are these people trying to achieve? Wasn't the Federation accident enough of a warning? That was Ning..."
She suddenly fell silent and looked at Tang Ningyue.
"It's okay, A'lan," Tang Ningyue soothed softly, "Don't worry about things that haven't happened yet. The White Tower is different now than it was in the past. Even if an S-class mutant does appear one day, we will definitely be able to defeat it with minimal losses."
"Then let's do this," Zong Lan, his hair smoothed down, looked up at Wei Yan, "Tomorrow morning I'll lead a team to investigate the contaminated area. I need someone from the capital to pick us up. You and I..."
"I'm not going." Wei Yan said lightly.
Zong Lan was furious: "This is the accident you reported. We are here to help you! If you don't send anyone to assist you with your own affairs, don't go. If anything else happens, don't blame the White Tower for it!"
“…”
Wei Yan said calmly, "Jiang Chen will be accompanying us. He is Principal Jiang's son."
Xu Nuo covered his chest with his hands. These two people really don’t get along.
When did Wei Yan start panting so hard when he spoke? He must have done it on purpose. Zong Lan was really angry just now. With her ponytail and arms swung, her aura was so strong that it shattered several nearby glass beakers.
The atmosphere became increasingly tense, and a fight almost broke out on the spot. However, looking at Wei Yan again, his expression was calm and composed.
Xu Nuo elbowed him and said, "Stop making trouble. They are helping us."
If they get mad and start fighting, with one S-grade and two Transcendent A-grades fighting to the point of shaking the heavens, and she's sitting in the middle and can't move her legs, she'll be a sitting duck.
"Yeah." Wei Yan lowered his eyes and grabbed her restless hand, holding it in his palm.
Xu Nuo made a symbolic effort.
Was it her imagination? Although this man ignored her advances and sometimes got inexplicably angry, he seemed to be liking physical contact more and more.
Is this the legendary "wanting to refuse but actually accepting"?
Xu Nuo thought for a moment and tentatively squeezed his hand.
No response.
Scratch the palm of your hand?
He just glanced at her expressionlessly.
He touched from the palm to the base of his palm, scratched it, and then moved upwards... His hand suddenly tightened, and Wei Yan's big palm pressed down, and was suppressed again.
Xu Nuo couldn't pull her hand away and glared at him fiercely, but she saw the corners of his mouth curl up, a hint of smile in his eyes, and he finally looked less gloomy. That's right, it turns out that Wei Yan is so likable, why is he pretending to be so aloof?
She also smiled at him: "Senior, you look much better when you smile than when you have a sullen face."
For some reason, the smile on Wei Yan's face quickly disappeared, and it even became darker than before.
"I've never seen anything like this before. Even he has a nemesis," Zong Lan gloated. "You have no idea how scary he was when he first came there three years ago. Everywhere..."
Wei Yan suddenly stood up: "I'll leave Fu Xue to you."
After saying that, he took Xu Nuo and left.
Xu Nuo turned back as he walked: "So sudden?"
Zong Lan raised an eyebrow, as if he was worried about the world being in chaos. "Leaving now? It's okay, Miss Xu, have a good rest in the White Tower. We have plenty of time to talk about the past. Oh, and if you meet a suitable Sentinel, spend more time with him. Don't always be with this taciturn guy!"
Tang Ningyue smiled and said, "Fu Xue will wake up in about three days. You can come and take her back then."
Her voice was so gentle and delicate that Xu Nuo couldn't help but look at her twice, and he was caught off guard and looked into her eyes.
The azure sea is warm and vast, as if a tide is constantly surging outward.
She sank into those eyes, as if she was traveling in a vast ocean, with a buoyancy that felt real all over her body and the undulating waves lapping against her face.
Suddenly, she wiped her face and got a handful of wet water stains. The water stains quickly evaporated from her hands and formed some clear salt crystals. Then, the salt crystals also disappeared.
Xu Nuo looked up hurriedly, but the elevator door was completely closed at this moment. He could no longer see those eyes, and the real feeling of floating on the sea disappeared in an instant.
She asked anxiously, "What's going on?"
Wei Yan said solemnly, "Her eyes can summon the spiritual power of the person she looks at, turning the things you imagine in your mind into reality."
Xu Nuo looked at his empty hands, as if he could still smell the salty smell of sea water.
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