Crimson Moon Elementary School

When faced with people no one else could see or hear, yet you yourself could see them, hear them, speak with them, communicate with them, even touch them—and be protected by them—were those people truly real, or not?

Chen Jing had seen many Mental Mutants and handled many cases.

She had long stopped being surprised by madness or anything bizarre, but at this moment, she found it strange.

She simply felt that Lu Xin, as he said those things, seemed very serious and very clear-headed.

Calmness and madness, normality and strangeness—completely contradictory qualities had somehow appeared in the same person.

A voice urged her through the earpiece. "Team Leader Chen, the armed preparations are complete. You need to make your final assessment of him as soon as possible!"

Chen Jing fell silent, and Lu Xin, sitting across from her, fell silent as well.

Both of them seemed to be thinking over many questions.

Chen Jing quickly came to a decision. She had seen many Mental Mutants and dealt with many similar incidents of mental breakdown, so she was very experienced in such matters. After thinking seriously for a while, she looked at Lu Xin and said, "I only have one question. If all your abilities come from your family, can you guarantee that they won't casually influence you?"

She did not deny the existence of the "family" Lu Xin had mentioned. She merely asked whether those "family members" would affect him.

Lu Xin looked up at her. "You're worried they'll take control of my body?"

Chen Jing did not deny it.

To her, the most dangerous thing about the person before her was that no one knew whether he might suddenly turn into someone else.

Lu Xin considered the question seriously.

In fact, he understood his own condition quite well. When the symptoms had first appeared, he had spent a long time in the library.

He had read through every book related to "mental illness."

It was through those books that he learned how many problems the human mind could have: Body Transformation Syndrome, Capgras delusion, Happy Puppet Syndrome, Alice in Wonderland syndrome, Claustrophobia, and so on. Some he could understand from the names alone, while others he had no idea what they meant, so he carefully studied their symptoms instead.

Based on what he had learned, he had made a diagnosis for himself.

His family had split off from him?

It did sound somewhat similar, but Lu Xin vaguely felt that his condition was not an ordinary case of dissociation.

He had always wanted to understand what exactly was happening to him and whether his symptoms could be cured.

That was why, when he first saw this woman and heard her talk about things like "Mental Mutation," he had felt rather hopeful. Perhaps they had the ability to cure him. Or perhaps, in their eyes, his condition could be explained—not as insanity, but as another kind of normality. But after seeing her reaction...

Lu Xin knew that hope had fallen through.

If he were normal in her eyes, why would she be so wary of him?

He did not like being looked at with such wary eyes.

So he merely chose his words carefully and answered slowly, "Actually, you don't need to worry. My family are all very good people."

"My Sister is a lovely child. She likes toys and likes running around and playing."

"My father likes cooking. He's very honest and always stays in the kitchen."

"My mother is very gentle. She never argues with anyone and only likes reasoning things out with people..."

"..."

Watching him answer so seriously, Chen Jing felt an extremely complicated emotion arise within her.

This person was far too normal...

He was actually describing several people who did not exist at all in an utterly serious, utterly normal manner...

The more clearly he described them, the tighter Chen Jing's nerves became.

She lit a cigarette to conceal her emotions. The voice in her earpiece was still urging her on.

She had many options before her. She could immediately withdraw the decision to recruit him, raise the level at which he was monitored, or even directly use her ability to kill him as a potential threat in this sparsely populated little bar.

But when she thought of his usual behavior and the current state of High Wall City, she still hesitated.

In the end, she made her decision. She took an envelope from beside her and pushed it in front of Lu Xin. Looking him in the eyes, she said, "I arranged the assessment for you. Since the results are most objective when the subject doesn't know they're being observed, we kept it from you beforehand. But you passed the assessment, and you also helped us deal with that Level 1 Mental Monster."

"So, you can be considered to have completed a commission. This is your payment!"

Lu Xin froze for a moment. He picked up the envelope and opened it to look inside. It was filled with rolls of banknotes.

Every bill was worth fifty yuan.

The disappointment on Lu Xin's face suddenly gave way to a flicker of light.

"There's ten thousand yuan in there!"

Chen Jing spared him the trouble of counting it himself and told him directly.

"Ten thousand?"

A visible change came over Lu Xin's face.

After the Crimson Moon incident, the currency system had been reshuffled. At his company, he now earned one thousand yuan a month.

And he was even the company's model employee!

"It's what you deserve."

Seeing Lu Xin's faintly astonished expression, Chen Jing smiled. "Besides, with these abilities, making money shouldn't be hard for you!"

It's still pretty hard...

Lu Xin silently thought to himself. He took the paper bag and gripped it in his hand. "I happen to be short on money."

Chen Jing seemed thoughtful. He likes money. His danger rating can go down a little more...

Lu Xin was clearly a little nervous. After hesitating, he asked quietly, "Do you always pay this much?"

"It'll be more than this!"

Chen Jing said, "This Mental Monster had already been thoroughly investigated, and containment and prevention measures had been put in place. Even without your intervention, we could have eliminated it easily, so the payment was only ten thousand yuan. Under normal circumstances, when an Action Team member completes an investigation and elimination mission, the reward we approve is usually around thirty thousand yuan..."

"Thirty thousand..."

Lu Xin did not notice anything else.

He was obviously stunned, and a faint excitement appeared on his face.

"That's right!"

Seeing his reaction, Chen Jing felt even more reassured. Smiling, she said, "From now on, you won't have to worry about money anymore!"

Lu Xin truly loved those words!

When he left the bar, it was not yet dark. The red sunset spread over the old, dilapidated city.

In the southern sky, a moon faintly tinged with red had already risen at the horizon.

"They just gave me ten thousand yuan like that?"

Lu Xin still found it somewhat unbelievable.

Before this, he had not known he had the ability to earn so much money in one go.

But he liked the money, and he needed it.

After letting out a soft breath, Lu Xin pulled himself together and went to the bus stop to wait for the Number Two bus. He swayed along on the bus for an hour before arriving on the eastern side of Satellite City, before a cluster of low, rundown buildings. He walked through several streets and alleys, past listless vendors and drunks leaning in corners with bottles in their arms, until he came to a house.

Compared to the surrounding decay and desolation, this house looked bright.

Perhaps it was because its walls had been spray-painted with many cartoon figures in blue and yellow.

It was a small orphanage.

A rusty metal plaque hung on its iron gate, bearing the words: "Crimson Moon Elementary School"!

Lu Xin untied the wrapped wire mesh and entered the school. The old man in the guard booth was reading a newspaper. Hearing the sound, he saw that it was Lu Xin and did not stop him. He merely nodded before lowering his head to continue reading.

The school had only one classroom. All its other rooms had fallen into disrepair and were piled with odds and ends.

In truth, it was only a small orphanage that had taken on such a name.

When Lu Xin arrived outside the classroom, he saw a girl sitting in a wheelchair inside. She wore a white sweater and was playing a game with more than a dozen children. The oldest among them were seven or eight, while the youngest were only two or three. They were all dressed plainly, but their clothes had been washed very clean, and their eyes were all exceptionally bright.

They were playing Lao Ying Chi Xiao Ji?

How childish!

Lu Xin did not disturb them. He placed the paper bag into the rusty mailbox outside the classroom door. Worried that the girl in the wheelchair might not notice it, he plucked a handful of wildflowers from nearby and placed them on top of the mailbox so she would know he had come.

Then he quietly left the classroom.

As he passed the guard booth, the old security guard reading the newspaper said without even lifting his head, "Why don't you just tell her directly? Every time, you pull up a bunch of flowers and put them there. Do you know how hard this old man worked to grow that whole flower bed? You've nearly pulled it bald..."

Lu Xin felt a little embarrassed and quickly smiled. "I'll come by again this weekend and treat you to a drink, sir!"

"No need!"

The old man did not even shift his gaze toward him. "When you come, I'll treat you to a drink. I've still got peanuts!"

"Okay!"

Lu Xin agreed with a smile and walked out of the school, slowly making his way toward the bus stop.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride!"

A jeep pulled up beside him. Chen Jing smiled from inside and opened the door for him.

"Sure!"

Lu Xin agreed. Otherwise, it would take him at least half an hour to get home.

After he got into the car this time, Chen Jing directly tossed another bag at him.

Lu Xin eagerly opened it, only to feel a little disappointed. It was filled with documents.

Chen Jing looked ahead and said to Lu Xin naturally, "Starting now, the Action Team is provisionally taking you in."

"Uh, okay..."

Lu Xin froze for a moment, unable to process it right away.

Chen Jing, who was driving, did not explain much further.

The first thing someone did after receiving a "fortune" was often what they desired most deeply, and it was also the clearest reflection of their true nature. If Lu Xin had used the money to gorge himself on food and drink, her assessment of him would have been ordinary. If he had used it to indulge himself in something even more excessive, her assessment would have dropped to an extremely low level, and she would never have chosen to take him in.

But this person had given the "fortune" he had never possessed before directly to the school.

Chen Jing could not imagine what someone like that would look like after losing control.