Crime Nemesis?

The tall, thin young man sitting in the back seat subconsciously glanced back again. Because they had left in such a hurry, they hadn't even had time to close the warehouse door. The dark door looked like a Monster opening its mouth to devour something, sending chills down one's spine.

The thought of the monster with many eyes and arms he had just seen inside made him even more eager to leave this place as soon as possible, the farther away the better.

"Myth brother, let's go quickly, I didn't see anything..." the young man said, his voice trembling with tears. He didn't want to talk about the monster anymore, as if mentioning it again would cause it to rush out of the warehouse and come after him.

The scarred man looked at him with suspicion. "Didn't you see it?" He then looked at the obese middle-aged man in the passenger seat. "You said it doesn't want us to leave, do you know what it is?"

"Since you saw it, don't you know?" The middle-aged man rubbed his face vigorously with both hands, seemingly trying to cheer himself up, but his slightly trembling hands revealed his current state of mind.

"What do I know? You fucking explain yourself!" The scarred man suddenly flew into a rage, leaning over and using the wrench in his hand to choke the middle-aged man's neck, shouting angrily.

"Brother Ba, Brother Ba, please don't do this, Brother Ba, let's leave here quickly..." The young man in the back seat reached out and grabbed the scarred man's arm, his voice trembling as he pleaded.

"His mother can't even drive, how can he leave? Leave your mother!" The scarred man forcefully shoved the young man's hand away.

But at this moment, the middle-aged man, who had seemed rather slick since the start of their collaboration, suddenly leaned towards the car door, then raised his left foot and kicked the scarred man hard.

The scarred man was kicked hard and slammed into the driver's side door with a loud bang, making the young man in the back seat, who was stunned, worry that the car window might be broken.

After letting out a scream, a ferocious glint flashed across the scarred man's face. He glanced at the obese middle-aged man and the tall, thin young man inside the car, then quickly opened the door, jumped out, and turned back to yell at them, "I knew it! This must be your doing! You're trying to ruin me! You're all ganging up on me! You just want to keep it all for yourselves? Fine, you can have it all! Without my connections, let's see where you sell it! You better have the stomach to handle it all! I'll make you regret this! You better watch out!"

After saying that, the scarred man glanced back at the warehouse with lingering fear, and then started running towards the outside of the abandoned factory area.

The two men in the truck watched as the scarred man said some incomprehensible things, then suddenly took off running. They tripped and fell after a few steps, but immediately got up and continued running, quickly disappearing around the corner of the road in the distance, both looking utterly astonished.

"Uncle, what happened to the myna bird?" the young man asked in a trembling voice.

The middle-aged man wiped his nose, shook his head, and said, "He has something to hide." He paused slightly, then added, "The three of us... all have something to hide."

The young man didn't quite understand him and could only ask, "Uncle, what... what do we do? What about this car?"

"I probably won't live much longer." The middle-aged man lowered his head and smiled bitterly, burying his face in his hands. "I know you saw it too, the monster in that warehouse. It can make us see the things we're afraid of. The more you run away, the more afraid you become. Do you understand? The more you run away, the more afraid you become." His emotions had gradually calmed down, no longer as chaotic and out of control as before.

Upon hearing these words, the young man in the back seat seemed to be lost in thought and began to stare blankly.

In the narrow alley next to the warehouse, Xiang Kun, who had already broken out of his "Hyper-Sensory State," was quietly repeating to Xia Libing what the people in the truck had said.

From their position, they couldn't see the warehouse door or the truck, but for Xiang Kun, this distance was no obstacle. Plus, the truck's terrible soundproofing allowed him to hear the conversation between the three people inside perfectly clearly.

Xiang Kun's reason for conducting these experiments on the three people was not simply out of a perverse sense of humor to scare them, but rather to verify his two ideas.

My first thought was to test his expanded and improved version of the group hallucinogenic ability that Little Apple "developed" last night—to achieve a wide-ranging hallucinogenic effect even without "Gold Glitter."

So far, Xiang Kun has several methods for inducing hallucinations:

One method is to influence others through "Projection Manifestation," making them see what he sees. For this ability to be effective, it's best used in conjunction with "Emotional Assimilation." When he went to a bar with Chang Bin and suddenly decided to sing Jacky Cheung's "The Real Man" to influence those around him, he used this method.

One method involves directly utilizing the ability "developed" by Little Apple, which packages the emotions contained in "Emotional Injection objects" and Projection Manifestation them onto reality. This is then "invested" into the target's consciousness, causing the target to experience the corresponding emotion and see the corresponding emotional projection. Of course, Xiang Kun cannot control the projections they see. He used this Qi Haoguo, who were with Liu Feibao, in Tongshi Town.

Another method involves performing the previous step while in a "Hyper-Sensory State," directly projecting emotions remotely to induce corresponding hallucinations. He used the Rabbit Woodcarving to locate a Research Base of "Shenxing Technology," and then used this method to make the Research Base there see rabbit meat hallucinations.

The latter two are both individual influences. Although the first one is a group influence, to "Projection Manifestation" it onto others, one needs to first enter into the emotional state and hypnotize oneself, so the preparation time is a bit long. Moreover, one also has to be exposed in front of others, which often makes it difficult to perform effectively.

As for Lao Xia "developed" ability of "Fantasy Manifestation," it is not yet certain whether it is purely an illusion. Although it can make others see it, at present, it can only manifest various foods, and it does not have the function of affecting emotions.

Xiang Kun's improvement method was also very simple. He directly entered the "Hyper-Sensory State," invoked the emotional projection of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving, and then, in the "Hyper-Sensory State," used the influence of a large number of "Super-Linked Object" around him to directly extend this emotion and exert a wide-ranging influence.

If we were to say that the ability Little Apple developed last night was equivalent to throwing lime powder (emotional projection) and having a high-powered electric fan (Gold Glitter) blow it everywhere, it would be used to exert a wide-ranging influence.

Xiang Kun's improvement this time is equivalent to setting up a large number of small-powered electric fans (Coin, balls, and other Super-Linked Object) at various angles in advance, and then throwing out lime powder so that these fans blow randomly everywhere, creating a wide-range influence.

Xiang Kun's first time using this ability, he was worried that he wouldn't have enough "Super-Linked Object" to call upon and exert influence, so he basically had Lao Xia throw most of the "Super-Linked Object" into that warehouse.

In the end, the hallucination did indeed have a collective effect; all three car thieves who entered the warehouse saw the hallucination and experienced a very strong emotional impact.

It might even have been a bit too forceful.

Xiang Kun's second idea, or rather his purpose, in conducting this experiment was to verify the lasting effect of the fear projection from the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" and what kind of impact it would have.

I ran into Chu Xiuwen this morning, and he mentioned that General Manager Qi. He said that after returning from Tongshi Town, he suddenly started doing charity work and also disposed of some high-quality, profitable assets.

Xiang Kun then recalled the people who had been influenced by the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," like the swindler from a consulting firm who was "deep-fried" in his dream, and who turned himself in to the police the next day.

Because Xiang Kun experienced the dream from the first-person perspective of the dreamer, he was able to roughly understand why the swindler made that choice after waking up.

The fear evoked by the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" varies from person to person depending on their individual experience.

Comparatively speaking, criminals or people who feel guilty are more strongly affected than ordinary people.

Although most criminals, especially repeat offenders, will find all sorts of reasons for themselves when committing crimes and harming others, they will never feel any guilt or remorse.

However, anyone who grows up in a normal society will have their basic sense of right and wrong subtly influenced. Just like some ruthless criminal leaders will still teach their children to obey the law and be good people. Innate evil people or mentally ill people are relatively rare. They can usually convince themselves, but under the influence Emotional Assimilation the fear embodied in the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," all the things they subconsciously worry about and fear will be stripped of their disguise and amplified many times over.

The "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" is like an igniter, setting off all the fears.

Once fear is ignited, even if the hallucination of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" ceases, the fear will not disappear immediately; it will continue to "burn."

The more you try to escape, the stronger your fear will become; only by facing or accepting it can you alleviate or even eliminate it – this is also Xiang Kun's own experience.

Although the Qi boss was not in a dream when he was affected by the emotions of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," the impact of that direct emotional projection might have been even stronger than in a dream.

This could explain his unusual behavior after returning from Tongshi Town.

To verify this, when Xiang Kun lured the three car thieves away, he also had Lao Xia throw a few beads into the truck.

After the three were frightened in the warehouse, they tried to get into the car and leave. Xiang Kun, in his "Hyper-Sensory State," used the effects of the beads to temporarily disable the ignition system of the truck.

This prevented them from leaving, allowing Xiang Kun to observe their subsequent reactions.

After hearing the scarred man known as "Myna" get out of the car, cursing and swearing, and then the two men, one fat and one thin, also get out of the car, Xiang Kun knew that his guess was basically correct. The emotional influence of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" was far more lasting and intense than that of other types of "Emotion-Infused Object," and those affected had to take direct action to alleviate it.

From what he heard, apart from the suspicious, scarred man who suspected he had been betrayed and whose whereabouts were unknown, the fat middle-aged man said he was going to the hospital for a medical check-up, to quit drinking and smoking, and to find a proper job with regular hours; the tall, thin young man said he was going to buy a ticket to leave Citong and go back to his hometown the next day to see his father, whom he hadn't seen since he ran away from home four years ago.

As for the warehouse with its gate wide open, the stolen electric vehicles inside, and the small truck that wouldn't start but was actually perfectly fine, they were all simply abandoned there, and no one cared about them.

Xiang Kun and Xia Libing walked out from the warehouse to collect the "Super-Linked Object" from the warehouse and the car. Then, carrying the bag they had hidden earlier, they headed out of the abandoned factory area.

Although the factory area was abandoned and was quite remote, it was only a 20-minute walk to the main road, so there was no problem catching a ride. Although they had called a private car to come here, they got off at the roadside and walked all the way.

On the way, Xiang Kun continued to explain the process and results of the "experiment" to Xia Libing in detail. Then, with a hint of pride and a sigh, he said, "I never expected that the first 'Emotional Injection item' I accidentally created would actually have some crime-fighting potential. Lao Xia, do you read DC comics? Do you know Gotham City? The city where Batman lives. I reckon that if there really was a Gotham City in reality, with this wooden carving and enough 'Super-Linked Object' as nodes, theoretically, one wooden carving could 'purify' all the criminals in Gotham, tsk tsk. Oh right, I doubt it could purify the Joker or the like."

Xia Libing said thoughtfully, "What would have been the effect if you had just used the emotional projection of my chopsticks?"

Xiang Kun imagined for a moment, then hesitated and said, "Then I guess the three of them will hallucinate that Liu Shiling is offering them food? And then feel a strong sense of hunger? Hmm, they'll probably still feel fear too. After the hallucinations disappear, they'll probably think they've seen a ghost, but this fear will be pure shock, far less impactful than the emotional projection of the 'Eight-Armed Wooden Carving'."

He could sense that Xia Libing was also very interested in using the emotional projection of "Emotional Injection items," and seemed to be thinking about how to obtain this ability through the dream system she had created.

After returning to the city, it was already dinnertime. Xiang Kun called his mother, who was in the hospital, to let her know, and then went back to her rented place with Lao Xia.

For dinner, Xiang Kun quickly made him a bowl of noodles, prioritizing speed.

Xia Libing had mentioned before that she would have a summary discussion with him that evening.

Today, I underwent tests on various physical data and special abilities. For the first time, I even managed to fly directly regardless of the weather and atmospheric electric field strength—although I crashed quite badly. I also achieved a group hallucination effect for the first time while in a "Hyper-Sensory State."

Since "confronting" Lao Xia, Xiang Kun felt that his mindset had changed, becoming more relaxed, and therefore he was more adept at expanding and applying certain abilities.

Watching Lao Xia devour his noodles, Xiang Kun couldn't help but stroke his chin: Perhaps he could train Lao Xia to be his own Alfred?

Oh right, and there's Alice, isn't that Jarvis from Iron Man? No, my Alice, in theory, has even greater potential than Jarvis.

Although I'm not as rich as Batman and Iron Man, my team is no weaker than theirs, and I have superpowers.

Xia Libing suddenly stopped eating her noodles, looked up and glanced strangely at Xiang Kun, who was sitting across the table, squinting, touching his chin, and wearing a mysterious smile.