Our Responsibility

"Given that, how can someone like that be recruited?"

A moment of silence fell over the entire office, the atmosphere thick with tension. After a long pause, Minister Shen, whose face was stern, was the first to abruptly stand up and declare loudly, "We must immediately initiate comprehensive monitoring of him, and even…"

"No!"

Professor Bai interrupted him, saying, "My personal decision is to agree to recruit him, and to agree to guide him!"

"What?"

This time, it wasn't just Minister Shen; even Chen Jing and the others present at the meeting clearly showed expressions of surprise.

"The risk of this young man losing control is indeed quite high, but it's evident that he's been trying hard to control himself!"

Professor Bai continued, "I've reviewed his file. Ten years after the Crimson Moon Orphanage incident, he hasn't shown any further anomalies. Instead, he's been diligently studying, working, and actively helping in the reconstruction of Crimson Moon Elementary School. I believe this is a rare display of character. At the very least, it shows that while his mental level is high, he has been making a conscious effort to control himself. If we provide him with some guidance and assistance, it's highly probable that we can help him maintain a stable state and reduce his risk of losing control!"

Minister Shen, upon hearing this, instinctively said, "But he…"

"Is dangerous and difficult to understand?"

Professor Bai shook his head. "When a person's mental level reaches a degree unimaginable to ordinary people, all sorts of unusual states are bound to appear. From the perspective of a normal person, let alone his schizophrenia, the mere fact that he possesses abilities related to mental anomalies can be considered highly abnormal. They could even be directly classified as mentally ill, or… mad!"

"But that shouldn't be the basis for our judgment."

"We should approach these changes with humility and reverence, not with a sense of superiority and prejudice!"

"Compared to them, we are normal people!"

"But from another perspective, we are also ordinary people!"

"…"

Professor Bai's words caused a brief silence and hesitation in the meeting, the atmosphere becoming somewhat oppressive.

Not everyone could calmly accept and face these changes like the professor.

"Of course, there's another, more important reason!"

Professor Bai turned around at this moment and looked at the plump, round-faced elder in the middle of the conference table. "This time, when I attended the special conference of the Alliance Research Institute, I discovered that in other High Wall Cities, as well as organizations like the Technological Church and mining companies, some people have already discovered S-class mental anomaly individuals. Although the specific intelligence is still unknown, you can imagine that when these people can fully master the abilities of these S-class mental anomaly individuals, and even no longer be content with handling the mental pollution incidents within their own cities, but decide to use them for military purposes and set their sights on other High Wall Cities, how will we resist them?"

"…"

"S-class mental anomaly individuals…"

Professor Bai's words caused many people to show expressions of terror.

The round-faced elder remained silent for a moment before saying, "Doesn't the Kid have great potential?"

"The Kid has great potential among anomaly individuals with a low risk of losing control!"

Professor Bai's gaze appeared somewhat weary. "But many people have already set their sights on those with a high risk of losing control!"

Minister Shen suddenly said, "Their doing so is very dangerous!"

"But not doing so is also very dangerous!"

Professor Bai sighed softly. "If everyone else is doing it and you aren't, you'll fall behind!"

Everyone in the conference room fell silent.

As most of them had experienced the hardships of the early days of High Wall City's construction, they all understood the price of falling behind.

After a period of silence, Minister Shen said, "I agree with Professor Bai's opinion, but I still insist that when facing someone with such a high mental level and such a great risk of losing control, we must strengthen regulatory measures. Furthermore, until his mental state is confirmed to be stable, he must not be allowed to enter the main city. I need to be responsible for the millions of residents in the main city!"

"I understand your concerns!"

Professor Bai chuckled. "But there's no need to be so nervous. I believe we can find better ways to handle this!"

"Professor Bai…"

Just as everyone was in a slight silence, the middle-aged man with the round face, who was sitting in the middle, suddenly spoke with a smile. "I have some doubts. If these mental anomaly individuals have unstable mental states and a high risk of losing control, and if we, apart from observation, can no longer assess his risk of losing control through other means, then how should we judge if he is safe?"

Professor Bai turned around, was silent for a moment, and then smiled. "Sometimes, the criteria for judgment can seem a bit ridiculous!"

"If we are truly unable to determine if he is normal, but we must consider utilizing their abilities…"

"Then we can only rely on some standards that might sound a bit ridiculous!"

"For example…"

"Is this person's heart kind, and does he yearn for beauty!"

"…"

Professor Bai's words caused another moment of silence in the office.

"Let's make a decision on this later. Professor Bai, after you return, I hope we can have a good chat!"

At the end of the meeting, the middle-aged man with the round face said with a smile, bringing the meeting to a close.

Shadows began to disappear from the conference room, but Professor Bai did not leave.

Chen Jing knew that the professor had something to say to her, so she took the initiative to report separately. "Professor, regarding his abnormal performance when dealing with the spiritual pollution source incident, I've already explained it in the first detection video I sent to you earlier. I still maintain my previous view that some aspects of him do appear abnormal, but that doesn't necessarily mean his risk of losing control is high."

"From my initial contact with him before, it was evident that he is a very ordinary person."

"He likes money, and he likes... women. He's also a bit cunning, but these are all expressions of human nature."

She paused, then added, "Of course, at the time, I didn't know his mental level... would be so high!"

"..."

"What you're saying makes a lot of sense, and I trust your judgment!"

The old man in the white suit chuckled, "However, strictly speaking, I don't think the possibility of loss of control or not is that important. You've dealt with them too much, so you've been influenced by them. Those of us who do this kind of research need to understand problems from different angles. For example, everyone else thinks he's dangerous because he has multiple personality disorder, but from another perspective..."

"He's had personality disorders for so long, and his mental level is so high, yet he hasn't had any problems. Doesn't that precisely demonstrate his self-control?"

"..."

"This..."

Chen Jing was somewhat taken aback by Professor Bai's words. After a brief pause, her ingrained habit from years of student-teacher relationship kicked in, and she immediately adopted the perspective of the City Defense Department to answer Professor Bai's question, "Then, if he could have avoided losing control, but lost it during prolonged exposure to mental pollution incidents, wouldn't that become our responsibility?"

"Responsibility shouldn't be understood that way!"

Professor Bai smiled and said, "Rather, it's our responsibility to guide him to utilize his abilities without losing control!"

Sensing Chen Jing's inability to answer immediately, Professor Bai continued with a smile, "Besides, among the people recruited now, which one hasn't lost control? The kid's autism, Gecko's lechery, the drunkard's delusions, and even your own..."

"...severe gambler's mentality and extreme pink fetish?"

"..."

Hearing Professor Bai's words, Chen Jing's face turned red. She lifted her head and said, "I've already corrected it!"

"You're just forcing yourself to hide it through strong self-control!"

Professor Bai smiled and said, "I just want to tell you to look at problems more calmly and thoroughly, and not to be easily influenced. We are, after all, researchers; we only believe in facts and data. Everything else is just pointless speculation and nonsense..."

"Of course, before this young man is officially recruited and guided, he still needs to undergo more detailed testing!"

"..."

Chen Jing frowned and said, "Those people in the main city won't feel at ease letting him go there for testing!"

"It's alright!"

Professor Bai chuckled, "We can arrange for staff to go there and conduct tests and evaluations on him in the satellite city!"

Chen Jing was a little surprised, then she smiled, "It's still the professor's influence that's great, to be able to persuade those old stubborn folks to come to the satellite city."

Then she asked with some concern, "When?"

Professor Bai smiled and said, "As soon as possible. To be honest, No. 041, the special pollution source, has given me a bad feeling!"