I created a foundation

Chapter 0040: Object No. 005: Cursed Machine

Lin Qing's suspenseful words full of "but" made Ying Lili's heart, which had just been secretly happy about being recognized, suddenly rise again.

"Not over yet? What does that mean?" She looked at Lin Qing's expression, which had become serious again, and a very ominous premonition rose in her heart. "That monster... wasn't already... taken care of by me?"

At the end of her words, her voice unconsciously trailed off, because even she herself had deep doubts about whether her chaotic and instinctive "attack" could completely destroy the monster.

"Solved?" Lin Qing seemed to have heard some funny joke. He did not answer directly, but walked to the other side of the room, bent down, and picked up the mobile phone belonging to Itamaki Kiyu from the ground. The screen had several cracks due to the owner's panic.

He held the phone in front of Eriri.

As Eriri stared at her with bewilderment, she noticed a faint, moldy, black aura lingering between the receiver and the speaker. That aura was the same source as the monster named "Mary" from earlier.

"Now that you've officially become an investigator, it's time for you to learn some basic knowledge."

Lin Qing's tone was like that of a knowledgeable tutor who was giving his students the first professional lesson.

"The 'anomalies' our Foundation faces can be roughly divided into two types. One type is 'entity-type', like the parasitic beast you encountered earlier. They possess physical forms and can be 'killed' or 'destroyed' by conventional, or perhaps even superconventional, physical forces."

"And the other type," he said, his gaze falling on the phone in his hand, his eyes becoming deep, "is the 'rule type,' or in other words, the 'concept type.'"

"They have no fixed entity. They are more like a 'curse program' born from human fears, legends, and the collective subconscious, like a computer virus. For example, the urban legend of 'Mary's phone call' that your friend triggered this time."

"For this kind of 'abnormality', 'killing' in the conventional sense is meaningless."

Lin Qing looked at Ying Lili, who was lost in thought because of his words, and continued to explain.

"Your performance just now was truly remarkable. After being cornered, you successfully activated the power within you, granting you the ability to interfere with spirits. What you did was forcibly break the curse of 'Mary' and, utilizing your friend's fear energy, temporarily condense a 'spiritual clone'."

"However, its core, its program source code, has not been destroyed by you."

His fingers tapped lightly on the screen of the phone.

"The moment you dispersed that clone, its core retreated back into its cursed medium—the phone that triggered the entire 'game'."

"As long as this phone still exists, as long as this urban legend is remembered, the curse called 'Mary' will never truly disappear. It will lurk, waiting for the next young person to commit suicide. Or, after absorbing the experience of being 'torn apart' this time, it will become even stronger and return to find you and complete its unfinished 'game.'"

After hearing this explanation, Eriri and Itamaki Kiyo, who had just recovered from his shock, turned pale again.

The joy of surviving the disaster vanished in an instant, replaced by a deeper, seemingly inescapable fear and chill.

It turned out that... they had just put a bomb with a lit fuse back into its shell. It could explode again at any time, and the power would be even more terrifying than the last time.

"Then you...then why didn't you say it earlier!" Ying Lili asked angrily, and there was even a hint of coquettish grievance in her voice that she herself didn't even notice.

"I told you long ago, how can this be considered a test for you?" Lin Qing asked back righteously, and his words choked Ying Lili so much that she was speechless.

This devil!

Ying Lili was so angry that she stamped her feet in her heart.

Lin Qing ignored her eyes filled with shame and indignation, raised the mobile phone in his hand, and spoke slowly in a professional tone as if declaring the ultimate truth.

"So, you have to remember. The Foundation's most effective, and only, method for dealing with this type of 'rule-based' anomaly is not 'destruction'."

"But..."

The palm of his hand holding the phone suddenly emitted a soft, moonlit white light.

"…'Containment'."

The moment the words fell, the cursed phone, as if possessed of life, began to vibrate violently. A blurry little girl's face, filled with resentment and fear, flashed across the screen, followed by a silent, shrill scream that only Eriri and Lin Qing could "hear."

Thick black air gushed out frantically from the gaps in the phone, trying to resist the holy white light that enveloped it.

But all this is in vain.

In the face of Lin Qing's unquestionable and absolute power, the mobile phone, along with the cursed core named "Mary" contained in it, began to rapidly decompose and reassemble in a way that violated the laws of physics, and eventually turned into a data stream composed of countless "0"s and "1"s, which was completely and brutally absorbed by Lin Qing's glowing palm.

When the last wisp of black air was purified by the white light, when the last bit of data flow sank into Lin Qing's palm.

The cold and ominous atmosphere in the room completely disappeared without a trace.

The air has never been as fresh as it is now.

Eriri and Itamaki Kiyo, looking at Lin Qing's hand which had returned to normal as if nothing had happened, were once again shocked speechless by this godlike method of swallowing objects out of thin air.

hateful!

I was fooled by him again with this nonchalant way!

Ying Lili cursed in her heart unwillingly.

And in Lin Qing's mind, the cold, yet at this moment extremely pleasant system prompt tone officially sounded.

[Naming…]

[Item 005 - Mary's cell phone, successfully recovered.]

[Detected that the host independently guided investigators to complete a Class C anomaly containment mission for the first time. Overall assessment: Excellent.]

[Rewards are being calculated...]

A satisfied smile appeared on Lin Qing's face.

His gaze passed over the arrogant young lady who was glaring at him, but whose eyes concealed a hint of admiration, and fell on the other key party in this incident who had been offline since the beginning, in the corner of the room.

On Banjuan Jiyu's body.

Now, it's time to deal with this last "little trouble".

Chapter 0041: Choose, forget everything or face hell

With Mary's phone completely contained, the cold, ominous atmosphere in the room dissipated. The air seemed to have been cleansed, becoming fresh and warm once again.

The crisis seems to have been resolved.

Eriri's nerves, strained by the battle and confrontation, finally relaxed. She breathed a long, relieved sigh, feeling her body, heavy from the fever and exhaustion, lighten.

But Lin Qing's next action made her heart, which had just been relieved, rise again.

Lin Qing's gaze slowly passed over her and fell on the real "culprit" of this incident - Itamaki Kiyo, who had been huddled at the foot of the bed since just now, wrapped himself tightly in a quilt, leaving only a pair of eyes full of fear and confusion.

Feeling Lin Qing's gaze, Banjuan Jiyu's body stiffened instantly like a frog being stared at by a snake, and shook even more violently.

She witnessed everything that happened tonight.

From the moment her good friend Eriri burst out with godly power and tore the horrible monster into pieces, to the moment this mysterious man appeared out of nowhere and "ate" the cursed phone directly into his palm.

Her small, normal worldview had been shattered countless times, repeatedly and mercilessly. Her brain was now completely unable to think, leaving only the purest, deep-seated fear.

She didn't know what would happen next. She didn't know how this man, who looked kind but was actually more unfathomable than any monster, would treat her, an innocent ordinary person who had seen something she shouldn't have seen.

Eriri also grew nervous. Subconsciously, she stepped forward, standing in front of her friend, and looked at Lin Qing with a wary look. Although she was now an "official investigator" for the foundation, Itamaki Kiyo was still her best friend.

Lin Qing noticed her nervousness and gave a soothing smile.

He no longer used that oppressive posture, but slowly squatted down in front of Itamaki Kiyo, keeping his eyes at the same level as the shivering girl.

His voice also became extremely gentle, like a psychologist who was patiently guiding a problem student.

"Itamaki-san, don't be afraid."

"Everything has been resolved. The curse called 'Mary' will never come after you again."

His words seemed to have some soothing power, calming Itamaki Kiyo's violently trembling body a little.

"Now," Lin Qing looked into her eyes and spoke slowly and clearly, "you have two choices before you. One concerns your daily life in the past, and the other concerns your future reality. I hope you can seriously follow your truest thoughts and make your choice."

He stretched out a finger, his voice soft, yet he seemed to be describing a tempting, heavenly scene.

"Choice one, you can choose to forget everything that happened tonight."

"I'll use a much gentler method than 'physical therapy' to completely and precisely erase your memory of the game from the moment you started playing it until now. When you wake up tomorrow morning, you'll only feel like you had a confusing nightmare and have a headache from staying up late."

"You will return to the bright, sunny everyday world you are familiar with. You can continue to discuss the latest fashion magazines with your friends, continue to be excited about buying limited edition bags, and continue to look forward to a beautiful life in the future that is full of infinite possibilities."

"You will no longer remember anything about monsters, curses, or the Foundation. Your world will become simple, happy, and safe again. You will continue to enjoy the precious happiness that belongs to the 'ignorant'."

Then he extended his second finger, and his tone became serious and low, as if he was revealing a thorny road leading to hell.

"Choice two, you can choose to remember all of this."

"Like your friend Eriri, you will become a member of our foundation and face the darkest and craziest truth of this world with your own eyes. You will see more 'abnormalities' that are far more horrifying and indescribable than what you saw tonight. Your life will always be filled with danger and fear."

"You will shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting 'daily life'. In the unknown shadows, you will fight to protect ordinary people who know nothing about it, and risk your life."

"This is a thorny road filled with pain and struggle. Once you embark on it, there is no turning back."

Lin Qing finished talking about the two options.

He didn't urge her, but just looked at Itamaki Kiyo quietly, waiting for her answer.

Eriri, standing nearby, felt a mixture of emotions as she listened to the two options. She looked at her friend with sympathy, knowing that no matter which path she chose, it would be too much for an ordinary high school girl.

However, Itamaki Kiyo's answer was completely beyond her expectations.

Not even any hesitation.

The moment Lin Qing finished speaking, Itamaki Kiyu used all her strength, like a drowning person, to grab the first and only straw that could pull her back to the shore, and roared out in a tearful and extremely firm voice.

"I choose one! I choose the first one!"

"Please! Let me forget all this! I don't want to know anything! I don't want to see those horrible things anymore! Please!"

Her answer was so without hesitation and so natural.

For an ordinary person who has just crawled back from the brink of hell, any temptation of "truth" and "power" is not as precious as the four words "return to daily life".

The pain of knowing is far greater than the happiness of ignorance.

Lin Qing looked at her eyes that were full of fear and desire, and an extremely gentle smile full of "understanding" and "respect" appeared on his face.

"I respect your choice." He nodded, his voice as gentle as if he was comforting a frightened baby.

Hearing these words, Itamaki Kiyo's heart, which had been hanging in the air for a long time, finally settled down. A huge feeling of exhaustion and relief, a sense of having survived a disaster, washed over her.