Volume 4, Chapter 62 – Possession

“Tell me about your predicament,” Bai Xiang said. “That dream that’s been troubling you.”

So Hannah remained in her reclined position, making sure most of her body was restrained to the bed by metal clasps, and slowly recounted the strange things she had encountered during this period.

“…At first, it was the effect of the ‘Suppressive Prototype’ on me gradually fading.” Hannah’s voice was very steady, revealing exceptional emotional control. “I… I was naturally very worried about that. I took the initiative to go to Peak Master Xiang and tell her the truth. Peak Master Xiang ran some examinations on me, but neither of us found anything.”

The so-called “Suppressive Prototype” referred to the medicine Hannah had originally synthesized on a computer and produced herself.

Its function was to suppress the true consciousness of this body, namely the will of that fused demon beast, “Samsis X,” from awakening, while also preventing this body from suffering gene collapse.

So the failure of the “Suppressive Prototype” was a life-or-death issue for Hannah. Only where this matter was concerned, no sort of loss of control on her part would have been surprising.

But Hannah’s conduct was admirable. She first kept an observation log on her condition with absolute calm. On the fourth day, when the failure of the “Suppressive Prototype” had also begun to bring strange dreams, and after she had the dream for the fourth consecutive time, she chose to report the situation directly.

Even now, she had shown no sign of emotional collapse or breakdown whatsoever. She had even been careful to restrain and manage herself with external means, afraid that she too might be contaminated by demonic power and fall into Loss of Order, thereby causing damage to the laboratory.

That kind of mentality and capability demanded respect.

Now that the Aurora Family had crossed over, and with help from technologies like those of Starwater Company, Bai Xiang actually no longer cared all that much whether Hannah lived or died.

But now she had changed her mind.

A researcher of this caliber would be hard to find even in the Federation.

If possible, she naturally wanted to find out exactly what had happened to Hannah, and ideally help her eliminate the hidden danger at its root.

“My lady can review the log regarding my dreams.” Hannah pointed at the screen mounted beside the glass.

As she operated it, the screen lit up, and lines of textual records began to appear on it.

While Bai Xiang read through the materials, Xiang Xian took her place and continued questioning Hannah.

“You’re certain something is spying on you?” Xiang Xian’s expression was extremely grave.

She could hardly help being grave. Hannah’s status might not be high, but she knew far too many secrets.

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Especially the secrets related to the Path of Qi. Hannah might not understand the overall compilation and organization of it, but the modified methods aimed at the Shenming Vibration Art, as well as all kinds of extraction research involving those afflicted by Loss of Order and materials such as black crystal, were all extremely valuable pieces of information.

“I’m certain.” Hannah nodded.

“What evidence do you have to prove that?” Xiang Xian still refused to give up. “…It could also be a hallucination caused by demonic power falling into disorder.”

It was already accepted fact that disorder in demonic power could produce hallucinations.

Historically, many cultivators had ultimately transformed into Yaosui, and among them were quite a few who could still maintain the consciousness they had possessed in life.

Although that consciousness had already become utterly deranged and could not be called normal in the slightest, they could still preserve a certain sense of self. At the very least, they retained the concept of self-awareness.

And that was the effect of hallucinations. Their initial corruption had, more often than not, taken place within the hallucinations produced by Loss of Order.

Some cultivators, because of hallucinations, would kill every loved one around them. At times they saw bloody reality; at times they saw the beauty of fantasy. This gradually drove them into complete madness, ultimately causing a total and thorough transformation into Yaosui, after which they could no longer be considered human.

“I do have evidence.”

Hannah really did have evidence. She operated the screen twice more, then controlled a mechanical arm to pick up a stack of manuscript pages from the table. Only after passing through the disinfection chamber were they delivered out.

“What is this?” Xiang Xian took them and leafed through them with a frown.

“They are records of my body improving.”

“Improving?” Xiang Xian froze.

If she remembered correctly, hadn’t Hannah just said the “Suppressive Prototype” had failed?

“The medicine is affecting you again?” she asked hurriedly.

“No.” Hannah shook her head. “…That’s why I said this is evidence.”

So that was it…

Xiang Xian stared blankly at the glass. Through it, she stared at Hannah’s body, which was growing ever closer to being “human,” and finally understood what she meant.

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The “Suppressive Prototype” was still ineffective on Hannah.

That problem had never been solved. By all normal logic, Hannah absolutely should not be in this kind of “healthy physical state” right now. She should have been on the brink of gene collapse, with cancerous changes and grotesque mutations appearing across multiple tissues in her body.

But reality was nothing like that.

Not only had Hannah remained healthy, her body had even undergone changes on this level.

She herself could not possibly have done that, which meant it could only be the result of interference by some external force.

Xiang Xian was clearly absorbed in the logic of this deduction, to the point that she failed to notice the subtle change in Hannah’s expression.

Only Bai Zhuqing, who had been curiously staring at Hannah the whole time, noticed it. After finishing her words, the lizard-person cast a quick glance toward Bai Xiang beside her. It was impossible to tell what she meant by it.

Meanwhile, Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes at the records. The description of that strange dream, or rather of the monster in it, felt strangely familiar.

Dark green armor, a long-handled weapon in hand.

A huge yet slender snout and tail, with thick, powerful limbs.

Long legs capable of supporting the body upright, with erect fleshy tubes covering the back.

Putting those features together, why did it feel so much like… the world-purifying lizard god from Augu mythology, the real “Samsis”?

[Besides that, I often dream of interwoven scenes.]

Bai Xiang continued reading.

[Sometimes the images flash by incredibly fast, as though the owner of the viewpoint is moving at high speed by some method.]

[I can’t make out all of the scenery. I only see the earth, rivers, lawns… and towering temples like those in Augu mythology, with enormous statues of various Augu gods placed around the outside.]

[Among them are not only “Samsis,” the “World-Purifying God,” but also his opposing counterpart, “Efadur,” the “World-Defiling God.”]

[The statue of Efadur resembles those in Federation religion. It is made up of hundreds upon hundreds of eyeballs gathered together, wrapped on the outside by a golden ring, with another four pairs of wings growing from the ring.]

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[I saw the owner of the viewpoint descend, walk into the temple, stop before the “Sacred Water Pool,” and stretch out a pair of terrifying hands covered in scars and pustules, dipping them into the water to scoop some up and drink.]

[During this process, ripples kept spreading across the surface of the water, reflecting many different scenes.]

[Some were towns, burning.]

[Some were city walls, resisting the flames of war.]

[In one scene, I even saw myself. I saw myself lying asleep on my bed, and the ornaments and decorations beside me were exactly the same as where I live in reality.]

[In the end, the ripples calmed, and I saw a reflection in them. I saw a filthy face as ugly and terrifying as those hands, and I also saw her smile at me.]

[At that moment, I immediately felt something very bad, as if something had invaded my thoughts.]

[I… I seemed to be…]

[receiving “purification”…]

When Bai Xiang reached this point, a warning suddenly rose in her heart.

At that very instant, the scrolling characters on the screen suddenly came alive. Like little tadpoles, they wriggled free, transformed into a mass of floating black water, then spread and expanded in an instant into a lattice woven from mysterious runes, dropping straight down over Bai Xiang’s head.

“Big Sister!”

Bai Zhuqing cried out a warning at once. With a clang, she drew the Clear Mist Sword and hurled it directly with a flick of her hand.

Puchi!

Crash!

Like a streak of white light, the sword blade shot straight through the black-water lattice and pierced through the transmission screen it had emerged from, as well as the glass behind it.

But it had no effect on the black-water lattice at all. As if it existed in another world, another dimension, it kept coming, on the verge of wrapping around Bai Xiang’s entire body.

Zheng—

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A metallic ring rang out through the corridor.

It was so piercing that even Bai Zhuqing bared her teeth at the sound.

And the effect was entirely different. The black-water lattice was instantly shaken aside, as though it had slammed into an invisible barrier, splashing across the wall and floor with a crash.

“Blasphemer…!”

But it still did not die.

The black water continued to rise, sketching a twisted human face across the wall and uttering obscure syllables out of thin air.

“Blasphemer… must be puni(shed)… —????”

How tedious.

Bai Xiang’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

Before the thing could gather itself together again, an invisible ripple spread out. Its following words instantly seemed to jam, stuck in its throat and unable to come out again.

Bang!

The black water exploded apart and vanished into thin air without a trace.

Bai Xiang stepped into the sealed room in a single stride. Facing Hannah’s shocked and contorted face, she reached out, seized her by the face, and just as she had once pulled a divine pool out from Bai Zhuqing’s face, she gave a yank.

A semi-transparent soul-form was dragged out in one pull.

Its face was full of wrinkles, full of scars and pustules.

This thing was unmistakably the hideous figure Hannah had seen in her dreams.