Once she recalled the details of the case, she told Zhang Ping about it.
About a year and a half ago, she had become an official combatant of the Cleanup Team and gained access to old case files.
The cases recorded in those files had partly been resolved by Cleanup Team members, while others remained unsolved to this day.
Among them was a particularly strange missing Corpse case from thirty years ago.
Because large piles of Corpses could easily attract Corpse-Eating Hounds, Mingzhu City practiced cremation.
However, in most cases, when someone died, Mingzhu City's funeral administration would leave the body with the deceased's family for four days so they could mourn.
What was strange about this case was that Corpses began disappearing one after another.
At first, it alerted the Patrol Team, but despite searching the entire city, they found no clues. Corpses continued to vanish for a month, until the city lord transferred the case to the Cleanup Team for investigation.
But the investigation ultimately came to nothing.
Liu Sishan could not make sense of the case, so she took the file to ask Situ Shibai about it. He told her that a Lost One had committed the crimes, but the Lost One was extremely cunning. Once it realized it had drawn the attention of Mingzhu City's three major organizations, it fled decisively.
Thus, the case became unsolved.
"Sisi, what kind of monster is a Lost One?" Zhang Ping could not help asking after hearing the story.
Liu Sishan said solemnly, "Lost Ones are also Awakened. The captain once told me that abilities slowly change according to their users' habits, eventually becoming the form best suited to and most familiar to the user. But if the user's mind is not strong enough and is gradually controlled by their ability, what do you think they become?"
"Lost Ones?" Zhang Ping's eyes widened in shock.
Liu Sishan nodded. "Yes. Lost Ones are Awakened who cannot control their own power and instead become slaves to it."
"That can happen?" Zhang Ping was deeply shocked.
But upon thinking carefully, he realized that he, too, had been unconsciously influenced by his abilities.
In his previous life, he had not been especially lazy, but he would always steal moments of leisure and find small pleasures for himself. Yet after coming to this world, especially after consuming the Contract Gem, his greatest pleasure seemed to have become training his body.
Thousands of push-ups, thousands of sit-ups—he would never even have dared imagine it in his previous life.
Thinking further, ever since gaining Fire Eater, he had especially liked staying beside furnaces. After obtaining Nightwalker, he slept less and less at night. Once he acquired the Appraisal Technique, he constantly wanted to appraise everything else, his curiosity far exceeding what it had once been.
And then there was the Pure Blood Body he had just obtained...
A few minutes ago, he had even been thinking of finding an excuse to return to Liu Sishan's body and simply never come out again.
In truth, he had indeed been influenced by his abilities without realizing it. The changes had simply been gradual and imperceptible.
"Sisi, do you think I might become a Lost One someday?" he asked anxiously.
Liu Sishan smiled faintly. "You're still far from needing to think about that. Lost Ones are generally top-tier Awakened. But the captain said that as long as you hold fast to the justice in your heart and do not casually trample the boundaries you set for yourself, you will not risk becoming lost."
Put simply, one had to control one's abilities rather than be controlled by them.
The more powerful an individual became, the less restraint morality and law held over them. So once such a powerful person trampled on the boundaries they had once upheld, they would inevitably do it again and again.
That was extremely dangerous.
The best approach was to hold firmly to the boundaries in one's heart, never giving oneself a chance to challenge them and eliminating the risk of becoming lost at its root.
For example, Situ Shibai's way of holding to his boundary was to never copy another person's ability without their permission.
That was a form of restraint.
It could prevent someone from doing evil as their abilities grew ever stronger, until they gradually became a slave to their power.
"I'll remember that!"
Zhang Ping could not help thinking of the dead Zeng Xiaofan.
Because his power had increased, and because he knew he would not be punished, he had used vigilante justice. The right thing to do would have been to knock Zeng Xiaofan unconscious and hand him over to the Cleanup Team for Judgment.
The Patrol Team being gone did not mean Mingzhu City's laws had become invalid. He had actually had other choices.
"Sisi, I actually did something wrong tonight. I killed someone."
Zhang Ping clenched his fists. After reflecting on it, he looked at Liu Sishan and earnestly told her about killing Zeng Xiaofan that night.
"Mm, I understand. Using vigilante justice was wrong, but since he had committed countless evil deeds, let this be the last time. I won't claim credit from the captain for this, so your reward is gone." After listening, Liu Sishan could not help reaching out to rub Zhang Ping's head. She smiled slightly.
Zhang Ping came to his senses and frowned. "There was a reward?"
"That Zeng Xiaofan you mentioned—if he's the flower-destroying bandit I know, then he deserved to die. Dead or alive, you could claim a reward for him from either the Patrol Team or the Cleanup Team. I remember his bounty being quite high," Liu Sishan replied.
Zhang Ping had initially felt some regret, but after thinking about Lost Ones, he felt that this was only right.
If he had known beforehand that Zeng Xiaofan was the flower-destroying bandit and could be taken dead or alive, then killing him would have been justifiable. But at the time, he had killed him in a fit of anger to vent his resentment. That was wrong.
It was entirely different from the previous time when he had killed someone to rescue Chen Juntaing. Then, he had been saving someone, and the criminal had clearly intended to resist and attack him. He had acted purely in self-defense.
Zeng Xiaofan, on the other hand, had already been scared out of his wits. Even if Zhang Ping had not killed him, he would not have posed a threat to Zhang Ping's life.
"Sisi, aside from becoming Lost Ones, do Awakened have any other hidden dangers?" Zhang Ping asked worriedly.
Liu Sishan smiled. "Normally, there is no danger. Awakened are generally the ones in control of their abilities, and Lost Ones only appear with an extremely low probability. But if a Lost One deteriorates further, it becomes a true monster—a Fallen One!"
"They can evolve?" Zhang Ping asked in surprise.
Liu Sishan nodded. "I was shocked when I learned that too. Lost Ones are more like patients suffering from mental illness, while Fallen Ones are cases where the ability truly develops its own consciousness. They continuously alter their flesh to strengthen themselves, eventually becoming... monsters!"
"An ability develops its own consciousness?"
Zhang Ping felt a chill run down his spine, as though his own abilities had opened their eyes in the darkness and were secretly watching him.
Under the black-and-white lights, Liu Sishan looked at Zhang Ping's pale face and smiled softly. "Abilities gradually become the form their users are accustomed to. But what if the form that user is accustomed to is itself abnormal? An abnormal state creates an abnormal ability form. That is a Fallen One!"
"Awakened actually have such terrifying hidden dangers. That's too frightening." Zhang Ping swallowed, feeling as though he might lose control at any moment.
Seeing this, Liu Sishan could not help laughing. "Zhang Ping, what are you afraid of? Can't you control your body and mind one hundred percent? Just give yourself an order: no becoming lost, no falling. Wouldn't that solve it?"
"..."
Zhang Ping was struck dumb, as though he had been turned to stone.