Mental Level Estimate

"See them directly?"

Chen Jing paused slightly at Lu Xin's words before instinctively asking in return.

She emphasized the words "see them."

"Yes!"

At that, Lu Xin also became more serious. He said, "I can see what those monsters look like. That's how I could tell that the three of them had merely been restrained, rather than becoming part of the monster. And the reason Sister was able to help me deal with that monster was also because I could see it... That monster was terrifying, but once we avoided it, everything was fine!"

"So..."

Chen Jing pondered this, her expression gradually turning solemn. "You can see those distorted mental fields?"

"Sometimes. For example, in that café, I saw the monster putting something into my cup. And when that monster suddenly erupted just now, I could see it too. But later, when the monster hid in the puddle, I couldn't see it anymore..."

Lu Xin spoke slowly, frowning. "You can't see them?"

"Most of the time, we can't!"

Chen Jing frowned and said slowly, "More precisely, we don't actually see them. We sense them."

"Psychic monsters have no physical form. We can only perceive their existence under certain circumstances."

"..."

Lu Xin thought hard for a while before slowly saying, "Then perhaps that's your problem?"

"This..."

Lu Xin's words caused a slight confusion in Chen Jing as well.

Talking with this young man felt strange, not least because he had an invisible younger sister standing nearby and staring at you.

But her professional training quickly helped her regain her composure.

Her tone became more relaxed as she chatted with Lu Xin with a smile.

She asked in detail about everything from when Lu Xin had first gone to investigate Qin Ran to whether he had adapted to cooperating with the investigation team. She also asked what it had felt like to see the Mental Monster and fight it. She even brought over a pencil and quickly sketched, based on Lu Xin's description, the "Human-shaped Fruit Tree" he had seen...

...Lu Xin felt that this woman was incredible. She could even draw sketches, and with only his description, she had made it look quite similar.

"You did very well this time. Go back and rest for now."

After their serious discussion, Chen Jing rubbed her temples and said to Lu Xin, "I'll inform you about the follow-up investigation."

"Okay."

Lu Xin stood up as well, his expression seeming somewhat hesitant.

Seeing this, Chen Jing smiled and comforted him. "Don't worry. Some of your abilities are indeed things we rarely see, but after the Crimson Moon incident, abilities caused by Mental Mutation have always been diverse. Being able to see those Pollution Sources, and even fight them at close range, isn't a bad thing. Nor is it the strangest. I've even seen someone who could steal other people's abilities..."

Lu Xin nodded and said, "Actually, I wanted to ask about the payment..."

"..."

Chen Jing failed to follow his change of subject and froze for a moment before smiling. "It'll be deposited into your account soon!"

Lu Xin relaxed, nodded, and turned toward the door.

"A lot of people are looking at you with ill intentions..."

Sister followed beside him, tilting her little face up as she said, "Big Brother, that woman with the deformed chest was trying to sound you out..."

Lu Xin quietly raised one finger to his lips and said in a low voice, "Don't say anything. She's paying us..."

After seeing Lu Xin downstairs and arranging a car to take him home, Chen Jing walked thoughtfully back to the previously empty conference room. Lu Xin's answers seemed to have suddenly reminded her of many particularly complicated things.

She had not known that Lu Xin could see those Pollution Sources, or that he believed he was directly seeing the monsters.

Strictly speaking, this would become a blind spot in her work.

But there was nothing she could do. As for Lu Xin's specific condition, only Main City probably had the capability to conduct a comprehensive examination.

And Lu Xin's mental state made her afraid to risk sending him to Main City.

His performance during this mission had also caused even more conflicting emotions to emerge in her heart.

The diversification of abilities often represented another increase in the risk of losing control.

Yet this young man had saved three of their members during a dangerous pollution incident.

Or rather, he had prevented them from killing three of their own people.

"Being able to see Mental Monsters isn't an especially rare case. In fact, when the moon is full, the weather is relatively clear, and the Crimson Moon's light is strong enough, many people have claimed to see the forms of mutated mental entities. Some looked like ghosts, while others transformed into all kinds of twisted monsters. That is precisely where the term 'Mental Monster' came from."

"However, strictly speaking, they should not have seen them, but sensed them. The energy levels of those Pollution Sources are too high, affecting our brains and distorting our vision, which is why those images appear to us..."

"For that reason, no photographic equipment can capture their specific forms. This has already been confirmed."

"To date, all images of the monsters have been produced through hand-drawn illustrations, and they have little practical reference value."

"There is another point that must be mentioned. The forms of these Mental Monsters seen by different people at the same time are usually vague and impossible to describe precisely. For the same Mental Monster, one person may say it looked like a ghost, while another may insist they saw Ultraman..."

"..."

"..."

A woman's voice suddenly rang out in the empty conference room. It belonged to Corporal Han Bing.

Chen Jing rubbed her brow before walking to the window and pressing a button.

The projection equipment on all four walls of the office began to activate. The projected light immediately outlined one lifelike, pale-blue figure after another in the empty office, each the same size as a real person.

The entire office seemed to suddenly fill with people.

Anyone from outside who saw this would surely find it incredibly strange.

Only two streets away from the Guard Department, there were still neighborhoods where telephones did not work and water and electricity could not be supplied in time.

Yet the conference room of the Guard Department had already restored the advanced holographic projection technology from before the disaster.

"But his case is clearly different..."

A man in a white coat and glasses said, "Not only can he see them, he can even distinguish every detail in his vision. From a distance of four or five meters, he could determine whether our three team members had been restrained or polluted."

"This is no longer merely a question of hallucinations. I'm more inclined to believe that his mental level is extremely high, making him exceptionally sensitive to fluctuations and changes in the mind. Then, within his chaotic consciousness, he 'saw' the monster himself!"

"My preliminary assessment is that his mental level may very well have reached... three hundred or higher!"

"..."

The atmosphere in the office fell silent for a moment.

Clearly, the fact that an ability user in the initial mutation stage, who had not even undergone guidance, possessed a mental level of over three hundred units was something that demanded everyone's serious attention. Each person needed some time to analyze and assess the situation.