Me and My Family

"Mental Pollution? Mental Mutation?"

Lu Xin sat obediently in his seat, looking somewhat surprised and confused.

Having grown up in this city, he naturally knew that the world beneath the Crimson Moon was vastly different from before. He often heard colleagues and others talk about all sorts of mysterious incidents—ghost encounters, deranged madmen beyond the city walls, the rampaging Wilderness Knights, and so on. But to him, most of those things were rumors. Life was always oppressive, but it had remained stable.

Though he had the company of his "family" around him, which did not seem quite normal.

Though Sister often crawled around like a ghost and brought him strange incidents, he had never imagined that the world had become this abnormal—so abnormal that even the mind could be polluted and spread like a disease.

Seeing Lu Xin's expression, Chen Jing gave him time to process it.

Of all the people she had met, this young man before her undoubtedly counted as one of the calmest and most normal.

Though she had already seen the madness beneath his calm exterior.

But she had seen plenty of people like that.

As long as they could remain rational during normal conversation and when facing Mental Monsters, that was already good enough.

"Although our earlier tests had already evaluated you in advance, and we were certain that, with your mental strength, a Level One Pollution Source would find it difficult to harm you, we still prepared emergency measures. If you could no longer hold on, someone would have helped you resolve the problem. However, before our people could act, you solved the Corner Cafe Pollution Incident yourself!"

"Your performance exceeded our expectations!"

"We now need people like you to help resolve the pollution incidents between Qinggang Main City and the five Satellite Cities..."

After explaining, Chen Jing leaned back slightly, her chest opening as she looked at Lu Xin with composed appreciation.

"And that is why I am sitting here, preparing to recruit you."

"..."

Her movement made Lu Xin glance over unconsciously. Her chest is huge.

Chen Jing noticed the change in Lu Xin's gaze and made her assessment. He has lustful thoughts. Danger rating lowered by ten percent.

They decided to recruit me just because I dealt with the monster at the cafe? Do they have other criteria? And is the pollution she mentioned the reason for the problems I've encountered? If so, can they help me?

After thinking it over carefully, Lu Xin cautiously asked, "What are the standards for passing your assessment?"

Chen Jing had not expected Lu Xin to have so many questions. She was only here to recruit him and had not intended to explain this much.

But since he had asked, she answered anyway. "It depends on whether you lose control."

"It has already been confirmed that Mental Mutants, Mental Monsters, and even those wandering madmen outside the city all share certain connections. And it has been confirmed that the source of those connections is the red moon in the sky. Since there is a connection, we must be wary of it. Therefore, our assessment tests your control over your abilities. Only those who can control them will be recruited!"

Lu Xin thought for a moment, then hurriedly asked, "What if someone loses control?"

Chen Jing fell silent for a moment and looked at Lu Xin. "Then you will become a new Pollution Source!"

Lu Xin was immediately a little frightened.

Chen Jing quietly observed the young man before her, casually catching every change in his expression.

He should be a highly suitable recruitment target...

His initial potential was not the strongest, but judging from the outcome of the cafe incident, he was one of those who used his abilities best. As a Spider-type, he had even dealt with a Mental Monster alone without any outside help. Though luring the Mental Monster back when it was already about to escape seemed bizarre, weren't the others the same?

Most importantly, he seemed very interested in these matters, which meant he would be easy to persuade.

"I am rather curious about what you're talking about..."

"And I have indeed been wanting to find a part-time job..."

Just then, after pondering for a long time, Lu Xin slowly shook his head. "But there's something I need to tell you..."

"Actually, I don't have any abilities..."

"..."

Chen Jing could not help frowning.

Even at this point, he was still denying it. That meant he was not as honest as he looked and might be difficult to handle...

Then she heard Lu Xin continue, "Actually, Sister lent me my ability."

Chen Jing's gaze grew slightly solemn. After a brief silence, she lightly tapped the table. "Your sister is?"

Lu Xin looked at Chen Jing as well and slowly replied, "Sister was the one who helped me escape just now. She has always been with me."

Chen Jing seemed to choke slightly, and a trace of gravity appeared on her face.

"Not just Sister..."

Lu Xin added seriously, "There are also Dad and Mom. We have always lived together!"

The hairs on Chen Jing's body rose slightly.

At that moment, an anxious voice came from a tiny silver metal piece in her left ear. "Colonel Chen, you must make a final assessment of him. If he truly has severe dissociative identity symptoms, that means he may have been on the verge of losing control all along. Not only can we not recruit or guide him, we must eliminate him as soon as possible to prevent him from causing an enormous disaster!"

For a long time, Chen Jing showed no expression.

No one knew that every muscle in her body had already tensed, and even her hand had unconsciously moved to her gun.

She had long known that Lu Xin carried many secrets.

Inside her shoulder bag was an old digital camera that had captured many images of the subway station.

Thus, she understood even more clearly what kind of madness was hidden beneath the harmless appearance of this young man before her...

Moreover, even the assessment of this young man from the team in the back was far from optimistic.

During the cafe incident, the only ability he displayed while facing the contaminated was precise mental control over his body. He had not shown the Telekinesis observed before. Perhaps he had deliberately hidden it, or perhaps he had not yet mastered it.

Most importantly, something extremely bizarre had occurred during the previous observation of Lu Xin.

Once, a dreamweaver entered Lu Xin's dream in an attempt to make a reasonable assessment of his psyche.

But that dreamweaver never woke up.

He had turned directly into a corpse in his sleep, with no mental residue detectable whatsoever. Based on past experience, even if he had been killed upon entering Lu Xin's dream, some residual mental power should have been detected. Yet he had vanished too completely, so completely that even Professor Bai could not determine whether the dreamweaver's death was related to the seemingly harmless young man before them.

After all, research into the abilities of Mental Mutants was still not deep enough. Accidents were common.

But in any case, because of these issues, Lu Xin's danger rating in the assessment was extremely high.

And now he was showing signs of multiple personality disorder?

But...

It had not been easy to discover such a promising Mental Mutant. Chen Jing truly could not bear to eliminate him immediately. Yet she also understood that the greater the potential, the greater the disaster when that person lost control.

After a long silence, she merely adjusted her sitting posture slightly.

Her gaze seemed to sharpen at that moment.

Taking a deep breath, she suddenly looked at Lu Xin frankly and said, "Then do you know that I have read your files and observed you? Since Moon Orphanage was destroyed, you have lived alone. Your father, mother, and sister do not exist. They are all products of your imagination. Not only them—even the old building where you live has only you as its resident!"

After saying that, she felt slightly tense. Her pupils faintly reddened, as if they were about to turn into Crimson Moons.

Directly exposing some of his delusions could easily trigger a serious problem.

She knew that people at risk of losing control were at their most dangerous when confronted with the truth. Eighty percent would lose control because of it.

She was prepared.

But to her surprise, Lu Xin sat there quietly, without the slightest hint of tension or surprise.

"I know."

Faced with this question, Lu Xin merely answered calmly, "I realized long ago that other people cannot see them."

Chen Jing's expression became somewhat strange.

But Lu Xin suddenly smiled. "Yet you cannot see them, while I can. Not only can I see them, I can talk to them, communicate with them, and touch them. When I am alone, we eat together and watch television together. When danger comes, they appear to protect me too. So tell me, can family like that be said not to exist?"

Chen Jing opened her mouth. Even with all her experience, she did not know how to answer.