Assessment

"During this time, we've been observing you. Your performance can be described as 'excellent'," the woman said. "But this is all on the surface. Your deeper mental state needs to be assessed through a series of specialized tests. Only by meeting the standards in these tests can we grant you the title of 'Anomaly Hunter'."

"What kind of tests are they? What do I need to do?" Sun Hang asked.

"You'll find out when you follow them to the room designated for testing," the woman said. She tapped on a holographic screen floating in front of her. A passage immediately appeared on one side of the room's wall, and four people in full heavy protective gear walked in.

They quickly helped Sun Hang change into the "test suit." This so-called test suit consisted of nothing more than a pair of pure white boxer briefs and a large white cloth with three holes cut into it. Sun Hang just needed to stick his arms and head through these holes to be considered dressed.

"Are you planning to dissect me?" Sun Hang asked, eyeing the test suit with suspicion.

"You can rest assured, the entire process will not cause you any harm," the woman shook her head. "We won't even need to draw blood."

After Sun Hang left with the four people, the woman turned to the old man in the wheelchair and asked in a low voice, "Teacher, there's something... I don't know if I should ask."

"Go ahead," the old man looked up at his student, a hint of kindness finally appearing on his face.

"I've always been puzzled. Is the Anomalization Virus that 0420 was infected with truly from the Taotie?"

"What are your doubts?"

"The Taotie, as a uniquely singular individual among Type C Anomalies, its most prominent characteristic is that it devours all living things it comes into contact with, yet it never releases the Anomalization Virus externally. If other Anomalies release viruses carrying their own 'memes' to infect and assimilate things they touch, the Taotie does the opposite—it only devours the 'meme' carriers and embeds these 'fragments' into its own 'meme.' It's precisely because of this trait that every year at academic conferences, someone proposes changing the Taotie's codename to 'Pixiu,' symbolizing 'only intake, no output'..."

"Are you suspecting that the Anomaly that infected him wasn't the Taotie?" the old man interrupted his student, asking.

"Yes, Teacher," the woman nodded. "To date, including its clones, there have been a total of three hundred and fourteen Anomaly attack incidents directly or indirectly caused by the Taotie. In all of these incidents, there have been no infected individuals. Even if other Anomalies appeared, they would be completely devoured by the Taotie. It's precisely for this reason that after confirming the attacking Anomaly was a Taotie clone, the rescue team skipped the routine infection screening process..."

"Because people infected by the Anomalization Virus become the highest priority prey in the Taotie's eyes. So they subconsciously believed there couldn't be any infected individuals among the survivors," the middle-aged man said. "The person in charge of the rescue operation has been disciplined. I guarantee this won't happen again."

"But..." the woman wanted to say more, but the old man in the wheelchair raised his hand, stopping her.

"Both its infection progression, the 'meme' sequence detected, and its abnormal behavior when interacting with Anomalies all match the 'Taotie'... Yang Qi, you've made a very serious mistake: never judge an Anomaly based on past experience."

"T-Teacher..." the woman froze for a moment, a look of shame appearing on her face.

"Sometimes, you can't even trust what you see with your own eyes, so how can you trust what's written in literature?" the old man said slowly.

"Teacher, I know I was wrong," the woman lowered her head.

"Remember, if an Investigator or a Hunter makes a mistake, the worst outcome is mission failure. But if we make a mistake, it will lead to catastrophic consequences."

Sun Hang was led to another room filled with what were obviously expensive and sophisticated instruments. The staff had him lie down on a large surgical chair in the center of the room, and then proceeded to attach hundreds of electrode patches to his body.

After applying the patches, two staff members worked together to push a camera in front of the surgical chair. The camera's support arm was extended, and the lens, shimmering with a rainbow sheen, was thrust forward, stopping less than two centimeters from Sun Hang's nose.

Once the support was secured, the staff members left the room, and the room lights were turned off, leaving only a beam of light shining down from the ceiling, enveloping Sun Hang.

"Test template, standard. Test content, custom 01. Subject ID, 0420," a devoid electronic synthesized voice emanated from a speaker next to the camera. "Please do not be nervous. Maintain emotional stability and steady breathing as much as possible. You will have ample time to relax to the greatest extent before the test begins."

"Will nervousness affect the test results?"

"No."

"Then let's begin now. I'm quite relaxed," Sun Hang said, lying back on the surgical chair and staring at the camera just inches away.

"During the test, a portion of a long poem will be played. Your task is to repeat each line of poetry during the intervals between them. Additionally, random questions will be interspersed between the lines of poetry. You do not need to answer these questions; simply repeat the lines of poetry," the electronic synthesized voice continued.

"Then how will I distinguish which sentence is a line of poetry and which is a question you're asking?"

"All lines of poetry are declarative sentences, and all random questions are interrogative sentences. They are easy to distinguish. If you accidentally repeat a question, it will not affect the test content."

"Alright."

"Test commencing."

After a burst of meaningless white noise, the brightness of the light beam illuminating Sun Hang began to intensify. In contrast, the surrounding room seemed to grow darker.

The indicator lights on the equipment, which had been constantly flickering, all extinguished simultaneously. Sun Hang felt as if he were floating in the vast, deep expanse of space, the sense of spatial boundaries gradually blurring.

"Black as blood, the void weaves a net," the electronic synthesized voice no longer seemed to come from nearby, but from that distant, dark space, ethereal and faint.

"Black as blood, the void weaves a net," Sun Hang repeated.

"Do you fear the dark? Have you ever imagined yourself in an environment with absolutely no light?"

As per the test requirements, Sun Hang did not answer the question.

"Cell to cell, connected, connected,"

"Cell to cell, connected, connected," Sun Hang repeated.