Shen Jie felt the gaze of many people in the hall focused on him.
Surprised eyes gathered around him, assessing him.
Normally, he didn’t like being scrutinized by so many eyes. It made him feel like he had transitioned from the observer to the observed.
But now he didn’t care.
He simply focused on Zong Lin at the center of the screen, observing the bloody wounds all over his body, the damaged and drooping bone wings, while rapidly devising plans for coordination and reassurance in his mind.
Just as he had done countless times over the past seven years.
Zong Lin remained silent.
And the infection value on the monitor continued to rise.
Shen Jie leaned over the table, his arm supporting him, and leaned towards the microphone, saying, “Mr. Zong, please trust me.”
His voice was transmitted into the sealed room through the speaker, clear and gentle, yet with an unmistakable forcefulness.
“I can help you.”
Zong Lin remained silent for a while, his lips, cracked and bloodied, finally moved.
“…The last time,” he said hoarsely.
“Okay.”
Shen Jie replied succinctly, straightening up and preparing to enter the laboratory, only to find Director Shi Chen scrutinizing him.
The director of the institute, one of the highest authorities in the city, though well past fifty, still possessed a strikingly youthful and aggressively handsome appearance.
Under the silver-framed glasses were a pair of slender eyes, their irises a deep, chilly gray.
“Director,” Shen Jie inquired to Shi Chen, “May I go in?”
Shi Chen controlled the laboratory’s door. Without him pressing the open button, no one could enter.
However, Shi Chen didn’t immediately open the door. Instead, he raised his hand to mute the microphone and said, “Just now, you told him this is the ‘last time.'”
Shen Jie: “Yes.”
“You made unnecessary promises to the subject. I did not agree to cease the experimentation on his infection level after this attempt,” Shi Chen stated.
Shen Jie raised an eyebrow and said, “It’s not a promise. I’m stating a fact.”
“Because this indeed will be the last time.”
“And, Director, allow me to correct you. Superpower users are people, not subjects.”
Shi Chen stiffly tugged at the corner of his mouth and said, “You’re very confident.”
Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, Professor Xu hurriedly approached and coughed, “Ahem… Director, Shen Jie is a newcomer, unfamiliar with the rules, and lacks experience. Young people, you know, are prone to being impulsive. Perhaps he won’t be able to do anything if he rushes in. Maybe we should consider other options…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
After speaking, he frantically winked at Shen Jie.
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The door closed with a loud bang behind him.
A strong smell of blood wafted over.
There were more bone fragments scattered in the room’s corners than seen on the monitor, all remnants of previous experiments.
The ground and walls were covered with numerous bloodstains, whether left by Zong Lin or the researchers who had entered before was unclear.
Zong Lin sat beside the metal pod.
He looked even more lifeless than on the screen, with pale hair and complexion. The fluctuation of the “Soul” category’s ability emitted unstable waves, and half of his body had already undergone mutation, with bones protruding.
Shen Jie felt the soul mark in his body gradually heating up.
Zong Lin’s eyes lifted and met his gaze, still indifferent with blood-red pupils.
Zong Lin didn’t recognize him. Nor did he trust him.
Even when he saw Shen Jie’s overly youthful appearance, there was a barely perceptible furrow of his brow.
Shen Jie approached, crouched down, and placed the tray containing the suppressor aside, taking out cotton and moistening it with alcohol.
“Mr. Zong. How are you feeling?”
He didn’t immediately start fitting the suppressor because he knew that the suppressor from seven years ago wasn’t sufficient to contain Zong Lin’s mutation.
He asked softly, then lifted his head to assess Zong Lin’s condition.
The alcohol-dampened cotton swabbed over the wounds at the corner of Zong Lin’s lips.
Zong Lin remained silent, lips pressed together, his blood-red pupils contracting into vertical shapes.
Shen Jie was too close.
Too close, and his instinct for combat would make him vigilant.
But why did he feel such an unusual… warmth towards the unfamiliar young man before him?
It was as if they were not strangers at all, but had already spent a long, long time together like this.
Soul markers and their bearers were responsive to each other— even in the original world, Zong Lin did not share a soul mark with him when they first met.
However, this was not truly seven years ago, but Zong Lin’s own consciousness space.
In this space, memories stopped at seven years ago, and while the soul was trapped in this metallic prison, the mark remained.
The bridge between them still existed.
Shen Jie cleaned the wounds on his face, setting down the alcohol cotton, and gently stroked Zong Lin’s cheek.
His movements were gentle.
Perhaps even he himself didn’t realize it, but there was a kind of compassion and tenderness on his normally calm face that was rarely seen.
This made his already beautiful face even more enchanting.
It was as if an electric shock, Zong Lin’s body trembled slightly.
Out of the instinct of a “Soul” category’s power, he finally sluggishly sensed that the person before him was the one he had marked with his soul… everything.
“Who… are you?” he asked hoarsely.
“I am who?” Shen Jie replied.
His palm slid down Zong Lin’s cheek, gripping his chin, then he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Zong Lin’s, his black eyes locking onto Zong Lin’s blood-red pupils.
“I am the one who will take you home,” he said.
In almost an instant, their consciousnesses merged.
Through the “Soul Mark” bridge, the most crucial step in soothing the consciousness of an ability user was to achieve consciousness fusion, stabilizing one’s own soul waves and transmitting them to calm the other’s mutation and confusion.
Similar to this approach was the “Human Gene Compilation Replacement” surgery invented by the Genetic Treatment Center in District Two of the Institute.
This procedure involved injecting “normal human genes” into the mutated limbs of the superpower users at the physical level to forcibly reverse the mutation process, even though there was a risk of genetic collapse.
In the over twenty years since becoming an ability user, Zong Lin had undergone this surgery more than once. Some were successful, while others failed.
As a result, his external characteristics had undergone irreversible changes. The unusual white hair and red pupils were the consequences of the experiments.
Until this time, this surgery had almost lost its effectiveness for him. Compared to genetic surgery, it was evidently more effective to transmit soothing stabilized soul waves through consciousness fusion.
It was also more dangerous.
Carelessness could lead to the assimilation of the mutated and confused consciousness, resulting in complete collapse.
But Shen Jie was not afraid.
His soul was absolutely stable.
The intense fluctuations of mutation collided violently with the waves of his soul.
Zong Lin’s consciousness was like a tangled mess of bone spurs, intruding in an almost directly sharp manner.
Shen Jie couldn’t help but grunt softly, one hand resting on Zong Lin’s shoulder, fingers tightening, enduring the urge to be swept away by the surging waves, then gently enveloping the firm tendrils.
He had to concentrate deeply to melt them down one by one, straighten them out, and smooth them over.
The ordinary person’s body couldn’t bear the instinctive submission and weakness to the high-level superpower user. His breath was expelled at a trembling frequency.
Zong Lin’s hand behind him moved slightly, lifted up, as if wanting to embrace him.
But in the end, he still didn’t dare to move.
He lacked experience, unsure how to control his strength without harming the fragile, delicate human in his arms.
Sweat flowed from his cheeks.
The distorted fluctuations of abilities around slowly began to calm, and he felt himself enveloped in a softness. Perhaps it wasn’t water, but a vast, calm sea, seeping into his chaotic and mutated soul.
He heard the shallow, rapid breath of the other person, like the sounds of the waves, inexplicably soothing him.
Shen Jie closed his eyes, feeling the chaotic thorns slowly unfurling, melting into his steady soul waves.
If all went well, once Zong Lin’s consciousness was soothed and fully restored to self-awareness, both of them would be able to escape from this space.
But… would the consciousness space of a Rank Two superpower user be so easily navigated?
Suddenly, the lights in the laboratory began to flicker.
With each flicker, a shadow appeared on the ground. Strange, chaotic, twisted shadows.
Shen Jie had his eyes closed, so he couldn’t see.
The soothing work was nearing completion and had been smooth throughout. Although Zong Lin, without memories, had been initially wary of him, he hadn’t refused his approach.
He thought, perhaps tonight’s dinner… will finally be able to proceed smoothly?
The laboratory lights flickered faster and faster. The chaotic shadows slowly coalesced, then gathered into a huge mass.
“This time, you still chose him without hesitation.”
A voice suddenly came from behind.
It was Zong Lin’s voice, but deeper, more suppressed, and dangerous.
Shen Jie suddenly opened his eyes.
He realized something and tried to turn his head.
However, a pair of completely mutated pale arms wrapped around his shoulders, securing his cheek.
“And what about me?” the other asked.
Shen Jie’s pupils contracted sharply, noticing the shadows on the ground, right behind them. At this moment, at the center of the shadows, a pair of massive, gigantic wings unfolded, completely enveloping them.
The surrounding space began to continuously distort and shatter.
[Warning! Warning! SS-level dimensional space entry——]
The system, which had been silent since Zong Lin appeared, suddenly sounded an alarm.
[Host! Run away quickly – this is the consciousness of the SS-level alien – “Soul” category’s Rank Two, “Pale King”! It will kill you! ! !]
Thanks for the chapter! (≧◡≦) ♡
System, I doubt something can kill your host, I even doubt if he’s human!
tbh i don’t think he’s a human at all🏃🏻♀️
I feel like Shen Jie is the ‘King’ that they were talking about, his origin is too suspicious
I feel pretty sure that he is the King and somehow all this has gotten distorted
Look, I just want to cook my aphrodisiac dinner happily, okay?!?
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING AWESOME!!!