Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 286 Programming and Parasites

Zhao Yingkong hid in the darkness where the streetlights met the bushes, watching the girl in the distance excitedly knocking on her boyfriend's door.

"Paul, I'm here to pick you up!"

Although she didn't fully understand why Mu Xiang had sent her to keep an eye on Paul and Annie, Zhao Yingkong still came to carry out the order.

After all, Mu Xiang has always been an overly cautious person.

Zhao Yingkong didn't possess Michael's strange traits, nor had she exchanged for any special stealth abilities. But simply by standing, she could naturally blend into her surroundings. The dimly lit streets were incredibly convenient for her.

A night breeze blew by, causing her hair to flutter slightly. Of course, given her professionalism, she wouldn't make a big fuss about her hair here... This fleeting thought made Zhao Yingkong's gaze shift slightly to the side, as if that person was still behind her.

"Huh? You're still planning to wear this for fun?" Annie's voice rang out, half surprised and half mocking. "Tommy and Linsie don't play with these anymore!"

Zhao Yingkong's gaze shifted, and then she saw a young man reach out to place a white mask on Annie's head.

Her eyes instantly went blank; the Shining's abilities activated, and every movement was deliberate. The next moment, Annie was thrown away by a tremendous force, while the mask in Paul's hand remained stuck in empty air.

"Hey!" Annie exclaimed, but Zhao Yingkong immediately grabbed her neck and made her faint.

A burly figure emerged from another clump of trees and reached out to take Anne's hand.

The Overlord's movements were undeniably fast, but this was all coordinated; in reality, he didn't fully understand the situation.

Zhao Yingkong naturally didn't bother explaining anything. A blurry light appeared in her hand, and Xiao Lian was already in her grasp. Then, she transformed into a blur, and when she reappeared, she had already removed the hand that Paul was holding the mask from.

"Who are you?" Paul's surprised question finally came out, ignoring the mask on the ground, two beams of green light shot from his eyes.

Zhao Yingkong placed her other hand on his shoulder, and with a flick of her fingers, Paul arched his back. Just as he was about to be completely pinned to the ground, a layer of green light erupted from his body, sending Zhao Yingkong flying.

“Paul also has a problem,” Zhao Yingkong said in the shared mental energy, “Should we subdue him or kill him outright?”

“Just kill him,” Mu Xiang replied.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yingkong felt that things had become much easier.

Before the green light on Paul could dissipate, Zhao Yingkong's sword arrived again.

The young man's eyes were filled with shock, clearly unaware of who his opponent was. A beam of green light shot out from his severed wrist, which he casually swung at Zhao Yingkong, using the force of the energy burst to propel himself backward.

But the next moment, the green light, which seemed to be both a physical entity and energy, was cleaved in two by the blurry sword, and his retreating figure was immediately overtaken, the dangerous blade already close to his throat.

“Reincarnation…” Paul murmured, but Xiao Lian abruptly cut him off.

The young man swayed and then collapsed to the ground. Zhao Yingkong, without turning her head, gestured for Ba Wang to come over. Since the young couple was one dead and the other unconscious, she decided to let him take them both back.

Just then, Paul's eyes were replaced by a burning green light, like green will-o'-the-wisps: "It's you bunch of cowardly rats hiding here and there again!"

"This time you've delivered yourselves to our doorstep, don't even think about running away again!" The curse swayed with the green light, its tone completely different from Paul's, as if it came directly from the green light.

Zhao Yingkong gave him a cold look, and with a flick of her wrist, holding the short sword in reverse, Paul's head was severed in an instant.

When Zhao Yingkong and Bawang returned, the head was still chattering: "If you're so capable, then erase me, hahaha..."

Zhang Jie looked at Zhao Yingkong holding her head, clicked his tongue in amazement, and reached out to take the head.

A vast surge of spiritual energy flooded in, instantly silencing the sharp words. The green flames dimmed, as if extinguished.

"Let me see what kind of thing you are..." As Zhang Jie said this, everyone else couldn't help but turn to look at Dr. Loomis... Although the old man's senses were completely blocked, and he stood stiffly in the corner like a living dead man reflecting on his mistakes, he was still a bit better looking than Paul.

After a while, Zhang Jie spoke up: "Like those that parasitize Loomis, they are just wisps of spiritual remnants. Their role should be to control and guide the behavior of these puppets, and then periodically provide feedback to another entity."

"Hmm..." Mu Xiang pondered for a moment, "What if we erase it?"

Zhang Jie shrugged: "Unfortunately, even if we remove this parasite, the puppets won't return to normal... Their spiritual bodies have long been completely corroded. And this young man's head... is completely dead."

Long Taobing asked in confusion, "I have a question: how does this kind of mental disorder achieve the manipulation of behavior and the transmission of information?"

"Hmm... let me think about how to say it." Zhang Jie scratched his head, reminding Zhan Lan on the other side to listen as well. "Any spiritual entity can reflect a person's thoughts and future behavioral tendencies. Of course, ordinary spiritual controllers, without exchanging for specialized skills, can only judge the most basic characteristics such as strength, calmness, and agitation."

“But if I were here, I could observe things in greater detail. If a person’s mental body is damaged, it will inevitably affect their behavior. In these two people, their mental bodies have become mere shells; the core is actually the parasitic mental thoughts.” Zhang Jie shook the head in his hand, a gesture that made Zhu Wen shrink back. “But they can still move around, and they’re no different from normal people. Can you guess why?”

Liu Xi said, "I guess... a normal person's thoughts are too chaotic. Although they can only do a few things at a time, other thoughts still exist. When a person is transformed into a single-threaded puppet, the excess mental energy can be eliminated... and this just happens to meet the requirements of parasitism?"

“Bingo!” Zhang Jie laughed. “Mostly correct. Although they look no different from normal people, and you might not even be able to tell them apart… in reality, all they have to do is those few things, like instincts etched into their genes. And what programs these things, and at the same time takes over the body in critical moments… are these parasitic mental thoughts.”

Long Taobing couldn't help but exclaim, "This is too... vicious."

Zhan Lan asked herself another question: "Zhang Jie, can you do this?"

“Unfortunately, although I can see through it, I can’t do it… This is the problem that Mu Xiang has been considering.” Zhang Jie casually tossed Paul’s head, which landed steadily on Dr. Loomis’ bald head.

Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses: "So I've always felt that Zheng Zha still hasn't figured it out... Just like Zhang Jie summarized, this kind of mental parasitism has programmed the puppet. Dr. Loomis is both driving the plot forward and acting as an assistant and material for the experiment; Paul isn't a major plot character, but he can switch to the main storyline at any time with the help of Annie. But the problem is, they seem to be following a script, and they even know what will happen. This isn't something you can just write whenever you want."

"So, where did the prototype for this program come from?"

(End of this chapter)