The light from the shadowless lamp shone on Shen Jie’s face.
His elegantly sculpted face, like it was carved from cold white jade, showed little expression related to fear or anger.
Even though he was trapped in the operating chair with his hands cuffed…
Shen Jie’s calmness caught Lin Ze off guard. The surgical blade spinning in its hand came to a halt.
“Shen Jie, you’re always like this,” Lin Ze said. “Even when your brother was forcibly conscripted into the City Defense Bureau and sent to assist in expelling the Super S-Class mist, you remained composed.”
“Later, he died, never to return, just like Tong Tong.” Lin Ze’s tone carried a hint of sarcasm. “You confessed to me when you were drunk during routine psychological counseling sessions that you regretted it. But, have you truly ever regretted?”
As for Shen An, Shen Jie didn’t actually leave much of an impression.
He arrived seven years ago, while Shen An died nine years ago.
Those memories of brotherhood were like black-and-white silent films, with him watching from the sidelines, unable to fully comprehend the emotions involved.
“So, what happened to Tong Tong?” Shen Jie finally spoke.
Skinning a living person, killing them, gouging out their eyes, and hiding the body—Lin Ze’s intense hatred towards him was extremely deep.
Lin Ze’s expression twisted momentarily, then returned to coldness.
He didn’t mind spending some time to reveal the truth to Shen Jie, after all, they were about to become companions soon.
In his domain, the time flow ratio with the outside world was 1:600.
Half a minute outside meant five hours here.
This was also why he dared to deploy his domain in the city. Even if discovered, he had enough time to achieve his goals.
Shen Jie couldn’t escape.
Lin Ze: “Thirteen years ago, Tong Tong and I encountered a sudden mist on our way home. I managed to survive with Tong Tong by my side. The next day, the city informed us to undergo psychological counseling. Yes, just like you today.”
“My psychological test passed, but Tong Tong’s didn’t. He was too young, and there were too many people who died in the mist. After he returned, he kept crying and wouldn’t talk to me. There was no choice but to keep him in the Psychological Treatment Center. The doctor said the treatment would take three months, and family members were not allowed to accompany. The city’s rules are rules, and ordinary people can’t change them. I had to agree.”
“Three months later, I brought Tong Tong back home. He stopped crying and behaved well. But soon I noticed something was off with him.”
Lin Ze’s expression drifted into reminiscence. “Tong Tong used to love painting. I used to buy him lots of paints, but after he came back, he picked up the brush less and less, until he stopped altogether. He didn’t like coriander, but that day, he swallowed the minced coriander hidden in the pancake without any reaction. He started burying himself in boring school exercises and homework, even saying he wanted to major in information technology in the future… When before, he told me he wanted to major in humanities and arts, wanting to become a painter who could record the world’s appearance.”
“My parents praised Tong Tong for finally growing up, knowing how to choose the right path in life and how to be a useful member of society. Only I know, it’s not true.”
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.
“He’s not Tong Tong at all.”
“Ktja atlcu, klat atf rjwf jqqfjgjcmf jcv wfwbglfr jr Kbcu Kbcu, tjr ajxfc bnfg Kbcu Kbcu’r lvfcalas jcv ilof, jcv rtjwfifrris mjiir wf ‘ygbatfg.'”
C mbiv rwlgx megifv Olc If’r ilqr.
“Pa jmar rb mbcnlcmlcuis, atlcxlcu P vbc’a xcbk. Dea P’w Kbcu Kbcu’r gfji ygbatfg, tbk mbeiv P cba xcbk?”
“At first, I suspected it was an infiltrating alien in the city. So I found various reasons to take it to subway security checks, hospital check-ups, and even to the inspectors at the city defense headquarters. I tried all methods, but it remained unscathed.”
“Later, I secretly took its hair to an underground private clinic for genetic testing. The results came out, and we turned out to be blood-related brothers.”
Shen Jie said calmly, “Didn’t you ever doubt that he might actually be Tong Tong?”
“How I wished he was.”
Lin Ze grinned, but his expression grew colder.
“In the process of repeated doubt, I decided to join the Psychological Treatment Center,” Lin Ze said. “Just like you joined the research institute trying to seek change, I joined the Psychological Treatment Center just to seek the truth behind my brother’s transformation.”
“I dare not move it, because I don’t know where the real Tong Tong is hidden. If I expose it, will Tong Tong be safe? Of course, there is another even worse possibility… I dare not imagine that possibility.”
Lin Ze paused and said, “But I’m not as smart as you after all. The exams at the Psychological Treatment Center were very difficult. For those two years, I consumed coffee powder raw every day, did a lot of practice tests, and took the exams continuously for two years before finally passing.”
“Speaking of which, Shen Jie, you were my first official patient after I passed. You were outstanding. Despite working part-time to take care of your younger brother every day, you excelled in university and even entered the research institute on your first attempt.”
As he spoke, he stared at Shen Jie’s face, as if trying to see what was going on inside his head.
“At that time, I admired and envied you. You still had your own younger brother to take care of, while I couldn’t even figure out what had happened to my own brother.”
Shen Jie replied, “So later, after Shen An had an accident, you told me that your brother had also disappeared. In fact, he hadn’t disappeared; it’s just that you subjectively believed he wasn’t your brother.”
“No! He never was!” Lin Ze exclaimed.
After a moment, he covered his face with his hand and took a deep breath towards the sky. “Of course, I tried to believe he was. When I told you that Tong Tong had come back, I really tried to believe—It’s not the world that’s gone mad, it’s just me—”
Lin Ze’s hand couldn’t contain the surging of some black tentacles, waving around in disarray.
His hoarse voice slowly calmed down.
“I’ve been working here for ten years. From an intern doctor to a resident doctor, then to an associate chief physician, and finally a chief physician. Can you guess what I finally discovered?”
Lin Ze lowered his hand, and some small tentacles crawled out of his eyeballs, looking ferocious yet resembling tears.
“All patients who fail the psychological tests have their medical records transferred layer by layer, and finally the chief physician makes the decision and sends them to specialized treatment rooms for the final treatment plan. The treatment rooms are not on the surface, but underground. There are special instruments sent by the research institute, which we call the CECT therapy machine. The principle is to stimulate the brain with specific currents to change the patient’s thought direction.”
Lin Ze pointed downwards, “Of course, the chief physician can only make judgments and decisions. The ones who truly take care of and treat the patients are the ‘nurses’. According to the procedure, physicians cannot go underground, so only the ‘nurses’ provide feedback on the patients and judge whether they meet the discharge criteria.
Under the care of the ‘nurses’ and the cooperation of the CECT therapy machine, patients undergo treatment for about three months to half a year, and their condition generally improves step by step. When they come out again, they will have been ‘reborn’. From then on, these people will no longer have any psychological problems. And then they’re discharged.”
Lin Ze looked at Shen Jie.
“You work at the research institute, so you should know that with current technology, the period from the birth of a cloned human embryo to forced maturation through medication is also only three months to half a year.”
Shen Jie understood his implication and said, “Are you suggesting that these discharged individuals are not the original people but their clones?”
Leaning back against the operating chair, Shen Jie pondered for a moment and said, “Although cloning technology in District Two is already quite mature, it is limited to the cultivation of individual tissues and organs. According to current city laws, cloning of entire human beings is still prohibited. This is undoubtedly illegal.”
Lin Ze chuckled, “That’s why it’s done underground.”
Shen Jie asked, “So, why do this? And where did the original problematic individuals go?”
Lin Ze stared directly at him.
“Shen Jie, you’ve been working at the research institute for ten years. Are you really completely unaware of the ‘Bait Plan’?”
Lin Ze’s question was indeed overestimating a mere bystander.
“No,” Shen Jie replied, then turned to the system in his consciousness and asked, “Have you heard of it?”
The system remained silent for a while before responding, [I don’t know… It’s not written in the books.]
Lin Ze didn’t know whether to believe it or not.
“The apocalypse has been going on for thirty-three years, and the city has never disclosed the pattern of ordinary people attracting the mist. Don’t you find it strange? Do you think they really haven’t discovered any clues?” Lin Ze said.
“Negative emotions attract the mist. And an excessive number of living beings also attract the mist.”
“The city’s population now totals thirty-two million. According to the initial data from the outbreak of the mist, every month, one person out of every hundred thousand will be chosen. With thirty-two million people, that’s three hundred and twenty mists every month. Even if they’re all low-level mists, in the long run, it’s enough to cause the city to collapse.”
“So, at this point, the ‘bait’ created by artificial selection serves a purpose.”
“Since there will inevitably be chosen individuals among every hundred thousand people, let the chosen ones become a constant. Since negative emotions attract the mist, use this point for screening. That’s the purpose of the existence of the Psychological Treatment Center.” (Translator: I am so scared…)
“People who are notified of the final treatment plan are not undergoing treatment at all, but rather receiving deeper stimulation. Only by maximizing negative emotions can they become the ‘constants’ chosen by the mist. They will be sent to the wilderness, closest to the city’s uninhabited areas, to degrade, and then be exterminated by the military. And their families are kept in the dark throughout.”
“This is the so-called ‘Bait Plan’. This is the truth behind the ‘Eden’ that never falls.”
“At least three hundred and twenty people sacrifice themselves every month. Guess how long this plan has been going on?”
Lin Ze counted on his fingers, “Twelve years ago, Tong Tong was a sacrifice. Even earlier, my parents underwent long-term treatment at the psychological center. But I was too young at that time. I didn’t notice anything.”
“And these hands of mine, over the past ten years, have sanctioned final treatment plans for over a thousand people.” His smile widened, his tone tinged with lament, “Ah, when I was still human, I had already personally killed over a thousand people.”
Three hundred and twenty people per month.
Over ten years, that was over thirty-eight thousand people.
Over thirty years, that was over one hundred thousand.
But compared to the entire city’s population of three million two hundred thousand, it was still a relatively small number.
After all, in an instance of low-level mist, the survival rate for ordinary people was 30%, and in densely populated areas of the city, where the mist covered most, reaching over a thousand people, the estimated death toll was around 700.
If three hundred and twenty incidents truly occured in a month, the number of deaths would already reach hundreds of thousands.
“Sacrifice the few to preserve the many?”
Lin Ze laughed heartily.
“But why did Tong Tong have to be one of the few? When he died, he was only eight years old, and he hadn’t even had the chance to take a good, serious look at this world.”
Shen Jie had been watching him all along.
Lin Ze laughed maniacally for a while, then abruptly stopped and said, “Alright, you’ve heard my story. It’s time for us to get down to business.”
Lin Ze took a surgical knife and approached Shen Jie.
Then, he made a cut on his own wrist.
Dark, murky blood dripped from the incision, falling onto Shen Jie’s white coat, blossoming into dark flowers.
“I am not like that foolish snake, Luo Yu,” Lin Ze said. “You are very clever. I anticipated beforehand that it couldn’t kill you.”
“But, compared to killing you, infecting you with corruption is what I most eagerly anticipate achieving. Unfortunately, you’re either at the research institute or by Zong Lin’s side most of the time. Finally, that foolish snake created an opportunity. I suppose it was useful for something before its death.”
Lin Ze squatted down, staring directly at him.
“Come, join us.”
“Be a member of the Judgment Society, serve as a knight to welcome the arrival of the King, let the King bring destruction to the world, and cleanse everything impure and filthy.”
“——And then establish our own new world.”
Thank you for the translation : )
Super cool world building. I love when an uncovered evil plan makes a form of sense, gives so much more realism to the horror
+1 which why i appreciate world building so much because it weaves much more than a tale of a person and another but rather the world before the person and the person with another to the world
Exactly! Villains don’t have to just be bad. Fleshing out their stories and giving the readers a clear path to their evil makes them more likeable as characters.
Thank you for the chapters! ❤
…and the plot thickens.
Daaaaaamn
😥🫣😨😰😱😱😱😱
Oof that’s so fucked up
Thanks for the chapters!
I’ve barely started reading this a day ago…I’m frickin’ hooked
If they got the tech to create clones then why not just send the clones out as bait?
Maybe it is still considered illegal and clone can still be considered a human life with thoughts and emotions cause clones are able to generate negative emotions to attract mist. Then it would be like a debate if clones are considered humans with thoughts and emotions, why are you treating humans as sacrifices or stuff like that. Idk but sending clones as bait sounds like a recipe for disaster like the one happening in the story rn. Like the promised neverland ish type situation. Or I’m just thinking too much and my thoughts going to a wild direction xD
I got goosebumps all over my body. Thank you for the translation 🥰
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Little dumb, the king is I’m front of you, you’re done!
The “King” didn’t expect he has cult already established, when in fact he’s just busy lovey-dovey with his hubby😭
fvck you trying to trick my baby into degenerating into a knight, why should he give up the king position just cuz you asked him to be a knight? Also when is that powerful alien that’s gonna kidnap bbg Shen at? Waiting for the big reveal! ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧
Imagine this is the kidnapping from the synopsis?
no, not yet, but it’ll happen soon after Lin Ze’s arc ends, and don’t worry those aliens will p!ss their pants lol #FeelingPityForWuYan,aka,XiaoShen’sDog