Shǎnyào flipped over and rummaged through the bedside drawer, pulling out gauze and winding it around himself to stop the bleeding. He bit the gauze to tie a knot and looked up at Chí Zhōng. "How is it?"
"...Tastes bad."
"What the hell did I ask you?"
Chí Zhōng stuck out his tongue and examined his clothes for a long time, but couldn't find anything black. Everything seemed normal.
"I'm fine. Looks like I'm the chosen one and won't get infected." He smirked, then looked up to see where Shǎnyào was infected so he could quickly convince Nuò Yī to run away. But as he looked, the black patterns on Shǎnyào's arm had vanished without a trace.
Chí Zhōng: "?"
Chí Zhōng's eyes widened. He grabbed Shǎnyào's thermal hoodie and pulled it up. His fair skin was clear of any marks. The only black spot was a tiny mole on the prominent bone of Shǎnyào's collarbone.
"Highway robbery!" Shǎnyào yelped.
Chí Zhōng couldn't be bothered with his flippant attitude. He grabbed Shǎnyào's wrist, heedless of himself, and tore open Shǎnyào's partially healed wound. Blood instantly soaked the gauze. "It's gone! The infection is gone!"
"--" Shǎnyào wasn't afraid of pain, but he wasn't one to be abused like this. "Let go of me first!"
"I said the infection is gone! I don't see those black patterns anymore!"
"Ancestor, you're pressing on my wound!"
Chí Zhōng let go. Shǎnyào unwrapped the gauze. A small robot rolled over, holding up a hemostatic spray. Nuò Yī was still in the mood to joke. "I thought you wouldn't need to stop the bleeding."
When Chí Zhōng said the infection had disappeared, many thoughts surged through Shǎnyào's mind.
He had seen Chí Zhōng before in the North American Underground City. Although Chí Zhōng definitely wouldn't remember him, that didn't matter. Shǎnyào had secretly reviewed human experimental data and knew that Chí Zhōng's ability was very special, possessing absolute control over other ability users.
Because no one had ever defined what Chí Zhōng's ability was or given it a name, Shǎnyào only vaguely knew that Chí Zhōng could defend against controlling abilities like "infection" and "Enchanting Voice/Siren Song." Therefore, he hadn't worried about Chí Zhōng being controlled or infected from the start.
When Chí Zhōng mentioned seeing black patterns, Shǎnyào had genuinely doubted whether humanity's "Fall" plan had succeeded. It seemed so unreliable. Wouldn't he, in a fit of emotion, blow up Cháng'ān?
But, ultimately, Chí Zhōng himself didn't dislike humans at the moment.
Shǎnyào attempted to delegate authority to him, approaching Chí Zhōng with a sense of trust. The bloodletting was merely to prove a point to Mò Kōng and Jiǔ Yán, to convince them to release Chí Zhōng as an artificial detector.
What would happen if he suddenly regained his memory...
Shǎnyào expressionlessly tugged at the corner of his mouth. It was a gamble all along, with the Federation staking the future of all humanity on Chí Zhōng's eventual compassion.
After a long silence, Shǎnyào, his face impassive, finished bandaging himself. "What's going on? The infection on me is gone. Did you eat it?"
"How would I know?" Chí Zhōng looked at his hands. "I don't have any infection on me either."
It seemed he not only wouldn't get infected himself but could also absorb infections.
He just didn't know the trigger condition.
Could it really be biting people?
Chí Zhōng frowned. "How are you feeling now?"
Shǎnyào: "I haven't felt anything. If I had to say something, I'm not sleepy anymore."
Of course. With Niàn'ér right there and him unable to see her, he'd been scared awake.
Chí Zhōng turned his head to look at Niàn'ér. After a moment of thought, he reached out to pull her hand, but it passed through. Niàn'ér had no physical form, and Chí Zhōng couldn't touch her.
"Absorb." He spread his hands, sounding very chuunibyo.
Shǎnyào flinched back.
Niàn'ér looked at Chí Zhōng, blinking her eyes blankly.
Chí Zhōng instantly withdrew his hand, pretending nothing had happened. "Looks like that won't work. I can't very well bite everyone, I'm not a zombie."
"Just think of it as improving your diet."
Chí Zhōng raised his fist, about to smash it into Shǎnyào's face.
The General raised a hand and caught it.
Nuò Yī chimed and opened the door.
"Go, humanoid detector."
Chí Zhōng looked at him. "Aren't you coming with me?"
Shǎnyào tilted his head, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.
Youth is wonderful; you can fall asleep just like that.
Chí Zhōng, dragging his slippers, walked to the doorway, then suddenly stopped. He turned to look at Niàn'ér. "You come with me."
Shǎnyào opened his eyes, then closed them again. "My dear, please go with him for now and let me sleep. If you have any grievances, tell him, and I promise to get revenge for you in the way that suits you best. Mwah mwah, goodbye."
Niàn'ér nodded obediently and floated to stand beside Chí Zhōng.
Shǎnyào felt completely relaxed and fell into a deep sleep within two seconds. Nuò Yī couldn't even wake him.
The elevator went all the way down to Sub-Level 5. However, there were no buttons for sub-levels on the elevator panel, not even for the top-level areas. It was all controlled by Nuò Yī.
"I wonder how many levels there are underground in total," Chí Zhōng muttered, not expecting Nuò Yī to answer. He waited for the elevator doors to open before stepping out.
What greeted his eyes was a straight corridor. All the doors on both sides were identical, simple and uniformly decorated metal. Each door had an opening for a small window, like a cell in a prison.
A robot was waiting for him at the entrance.
Honestly, Chí Zhōng was startled at first sight. This robot had done its best to be fully realistic, but it had reached the uncanny valley of human likeness and stopped there. It looked very human, but a trace of unnaturalness still peeked through.
It was impossible to tell its gender. It was very tall and shaped like a sturdy man. Its voice, when it spoke, was Nuò Yī's childlike tone. "The infected have not yet had their distance restrictions determined, so we can only use robots for monitoring."
Then it changed its voice to a male tone befitting its status, though still with a mechanical quality. "Mr. Chí, hello. I am here to guide you."
It should be an independent system, but Nuò Yī could control it. Chí Zhōng walked out of the elevator. It was a bit cold on Sub-Level 5, with insufficient heating. Chí Zhōng pulled at his clothes. "I want to see Hè Yǎn first."
"Certainly."
He walked up to a door. The system controlled the small window to open and then stepped back, yielding its position.
Chí Zhōng walked over and bent down. "A Yan?"
Hè Yǎn lay on the small bed, eyes closed, listening to Chǔ Wù Qí Lǔ and Huái Sū Luò Zhī Yù arguing in the "Group Chat." The latter believed they shouldn't act rashly yet, as a Class B Infection wouldn't harm them, while the former was packing and preparing to fight, determined to rescue Chí Zhōng.
There were quite a few people quarantined by the Federation now, especially concerns that the Mimicry individual, carrying a Spirit Core, might have contacted others. Since there was no way to detect it, they had to be brought back.
With such a large banquet and such high-profile guests, the Federation was in a sorry state tonight.
Jiǔ Yán, accompanied by Xíng Tiān, went door-to-door, with robots escorting them the entire way to prevent any risk of secondary infection.
Hè Yǎn knew Chí Zhōng was coming because Huái Sū had notified him in advance.
So, the "Group Chat" fell silent.
Hè Yǎn got up and saw the familiar black eyes in the small window. He couldn't help but hook his lips into a smile, then put on a worried expression. "Why are you here? It's dangerous here. How are you? Hasn't the Federation quarantined you?"
Chí Zhōng scanned him up and down, then looked up at the robot. "He is not infected."
Hè Yǎn paused.
What did he mean? Hadn't his ability disappeared?