You're sending max-level players to be cannon fodder?

Zhao Lingnan noticed that Zhong Xun was pressing his temples from time to time, and tentatively said, "Are you feeling unwell? How about we try a skin graft? It really won't hurt, and I won't use your skin; I'll just leave it here."

Her eyes held a fawning quality that she herself could hardly perceive.

Or rather, Zhao Lingnan is very skilled at "pleasing" others.

What was her life like in Tuxin Village before?

"No need," Zhong Xun said gently. "It's not something that can be solved by changing the skin."

The hidden entity, also known as the coal ball, has sunk into the sea of ​​consciousness and begun absorbing Du Ruosen's core. Its mental tentacles are unusually agitated, and waves of increasingly severe headaches are hitting it.

But Zhong Xun's face showed no sign of gloom. He asked Zhao Lingnan, "Can you control your urge to eat people?"

"Yes!" Zhao Lingnan hurriedly explained, "I have voluntarily eaten two people, both of whom were evil people. If I don't eat them, other innocent people will be harmed."

"So who do you see yourself as? A pollutant? A human being?"

Zhao Lingnan firmly replied: "Humans!"

"Then let's stop eating people from now on," Zhong Xun said. "Even the wicked must first be judged by human society."

Zhao Lingnan nodded: "Actually, it's fine if I don't eat. Youyou will bring me fresh beef and mutton, which are also delicious."

"Hmm." Zhong Xun sat there, exuding a refreshing and gentle aura. Zhao Lingnan kept scrutinizing her, but Zhong Xun wasn't offended: "Do you think I'm good-looking?"

"More than that." Zhao Lingnan shook his head: "You're different from all the men I've met who gamble, smoke, and commit domestic violence. You don't even seem like an Omega. You should be from the same world as Youyou." Zhao Lingnan chuckled, "Like the male protagonist in the comics I read when I was in elementary school."

  

"Oh my, you were reading shoujo manga in elementary school?" Li You chuckled. "You probably weren't studying hard."

Zhao Lingnan continued to smile, but did not respond.

Chung-Hsun thought that there might not have been any conditions for her to study at all, and that "playing cards, smoking, and domestic violence" were enough to illustrate her upbringing.

Zhong Xun thought of the baby girl buried in Zhongtu New Village in the news report. Zhao Lingnan was a girl herself. What was the price of her living?

Zhao Lingnan stared at Zhong Xun's hands again.

Zhong Xun: "Hand control?"

Zhao Lingnan nodded vigorously.

Cui Ye, already dressed in her own skin, emerged from the room with light steps. Upon hearing this, she smiled and said, "She watches movies every day and pays attention to the characters' hands."

Zhao Lingnan mustered her courage and asked, "Can I touch it?"

Li You looked over in horror.

Zhong Xun extended his right hand to her.

Zhao Lingnan was surprised that Zhong Xun agreed, and felt embarrassed for a moment, but she did not give up the opportunity and reached out to shake his hand.

Rough, dry, with flesh and skin burned together in a chaotic mess, the unfamiliar texture easily evokes the devastation of that fire.

Zhong Xun asked, "Were you contaminated when the fire started?"

"No," Zhao Lingnan said casually. "I was only contaminated when I was about to die."

In other words, the whole process was agonizing.

"But thinking about it, it's a win-win situation." Zhao Lingnan released Zhong Xun with satisfaction. "I'll stay eighteen forever."

A fleeting, misty pity crossed Zhong Xun's calm eyes. "Seventeen years old."

"Zhao Lingnan, you're only seventeen."

"Your parents enrolled you for an extra year in order to take advantage of the policy."

Zhao Lingnan was taken aback. "The Tribunal is amazing. They even found this out." Then he shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It makes no difference."

Li You handed the phone back to Zhong Xun: "The arbitrator identity is really useful; everything was approved."

"Okay." Zhong Xun said, "I'll see you out of the city first thing tomorrow morning. Li You, we're all in the same boat now. If Zhao Lingnan makes any new moves, you have to let me know."

Li You finally asked the question: "You're planning to... conduct an experiment?"

"Do you take me for a peacemaker?" Zhong Xun shook his head: "I just need to collect some data to prove to the Supreme Alliance that a portion of the contaminated humans have the right to live."

The living room was completely silent.

At 4:30 a.m., Zhong Xun, who was leaning back in his chair, sat up and said, "It's ready."

The city opens at 5 a.m., so driving there from here will allow you to catch the fastest wave.

Last night, after I texted Meng Jingting to go home and sleep, the man just said "hmm" and said he had something to do, and nothing more.

Just to be on the safe side, Zhong Xun woke up Coal Ball and told it to put a cover over the area under surveillance so that everyone could be invisible.

"You're really brave," said Coal Ball.

"Go to sleep," Zhong Xun replied. "I'll call you if I need anything."

Coal Ball wasn't grumpy at all: "Okay."

The sky was a pale blue, with a sliver of bright white breaking through it, revealing the city gate defenses. Police officers in bulletproof vests and armed with guns stopped Zhong Xun. His travel documents were in order. The officers saw a woman sleeping in the passenger seat, and two women and a man in the back seat, all drowsy.

"Where to?"

Zhong Xun said in a low voice, "The elders of our old family have passed away. They were all relatives who lived together in Yandu, and we all agreed to go back together."

Zhong Xun had Meiqiu avoid the surveillance cameras to prevent Li You and Cui Ye from being exposed. Even if there were suspicions, as long as Zhao Lingnan wasn't caught, there would be no evidence, and Zhong Xun could simply give up. He used his identity as the arbitrator to expedite the review of the information about leaving the city, so he couldn't escape. He would go back and explain to Meng Jing.

This can't go on. Zhong Xun felt a dull pain in his heart, feeling that it was unfair to Meng Jing.

As vehicles were allowed to pass, the high-rise buildings in Yandu were gradually left behind.

Suddenly, an unbearable stinging pain shot through his temples, and Zhong Xun almost slammed on the brakes: "Coal Ball!"

"Huh?" The coal fan stammered, "...Ah! Sorry, I absorbed the core a bit too quickly and stimulated your mental sea. I'll be careful!"

Despite saying that, the pain quickly spread throughout his body. Zhong Xun felt a tightness in his chest. He stepped on the brake and looked at Li You, who was pretending to be asleep: "You drive."

"Okay," Li You replied.

The "man" in the back seat weakly raised his hand: "Can I take off this skin? It smells awful."

It was Zhao Lingnan. She couldn't possibly go through security in her true form. Fortunately, she had killed the lewd man who was following her and kept his skin. The downside was that it triggered Zhao Lingnan's "synesthesia." The man's terrible and chaotic life fragments really made her feel quite uncomfortable.

Zhong Xun: "Hurry up."

Zhao Lingnan quickly jumped out of the car.

She changed her clothes in the grass, hurriedly stuffed them into her bag, and was about to run back when Zhong Xun suddenly noticed a red spot on her knee.

"Watch out!" Zhong Xun rushed forward like lightning and tackled Zhao Lingnan to the ground. With a "thud," a small crater was shot into the spot where Zhao Lingnan had been.

The spiritual tentacles tore through the air, slithering like snakes towards the nearby woods.

Under the azure sky, where only the shadows of trees swayed and the bushes moved, gradually, one by one, dark figures stood up, guns in hand.

Zhong Xun's suffocating heart suddenly stopped beating.

The mental tentacles were grasped by slender fingers wearing leather gloves. The fingers were serious and ruthless, and with a sudden yank, Zhong Xun was instantly lifted into the air.

Li You was shocked: "Zhong Xun!"

Zhong Xun, feeling dizzy and disoriented, stumbled into a familiar embrace.

Cold sweat poured down my back.

Meng Jingting's chest pressed against Zhong Xun's back, the cold hardness of the combat uniform digging into his lower back.

Meng Jingting released his mental tentacles and instead held Zhong Xun's wrists with both hands. In this position, Zhong Xun was completely "enclosed" by Meng Jingting, and had no possibility of resisting.

The man leaned close to his ear, his tone calm yet chilling, and said, word by word, "So early, where is Dr. Chung planning to go?"