Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Lu Yan lay on the hospital bed, his eyes flicking to the readout on the cardiac monitor beside him.

As an ER doctor, reading an EKG was a basic skill.

According to the data on the screen, aside from some bradycardia and a slowed heart rate, he was in remarkably good health overall.

Despite performing countless surgeries and pushing his body to its limits since he was young—a body stubbornly resistant to dying—this was his first time lying in an ICU.

Lu Yan felt awake, but a chaotic storm of emotions swirled in his mind, threatening to split his skull.

"System," he called out.

[I'm here, my treasure. Your dedicated customer service representative, Tongtong, is now online.]

A knock sounded at the door.

"Come in."

Lu Yan pushed himself upright. His lips were pale, giving him the fragile appearance of an artwork sealed behind glass.

Tang Xun'an pushed the door open, his eyes filled with undisguised worry.

But when Lu Yan met his gaze, he instinctively shifted back half a body's length, his hand rising to cover his neck.

The wariness in his expression was so stark it gave Tang Xun'an a moment's pause.

[Was that half-step back for real? Such a small movement, yet the damage is immense.]

In the cycles of the consciousness space, Lu Yan had died over a hundred times.

His body's own protective mechanisms had mercifully blurred most of the agony of those deaths.

Yet, out of all those countless ends, the memory of dying in someone's arms, drained of blood, remained etched with particular clarity.

It wasn't the physical pain that lingered.

It was the cold, clear realization that death brought: the sacrifice of one to save the many.

If a day ever came where Tang Xun'an was forced to make that choice… such an outcome didn't seem impossible.

[He wouldn't. He's not that kind of person. That puppy-dragon would rather be flayed a thousand times and descend into hell himself than sacrifice anyone.]

Lu Yan felt nothing. "You're not Tang Xun'an."

[…I just think he's getting a raw deal.]

It felt unjust, like being yelled at by your wife because she dreamt you cheated.

Lu Yan lowered his arm. "My apologies. I had a nightmare."

Tang Xun'an's lips pressed into a thin line. "You're awake. That's what matters. I've been… worried these past few days."

Tang Xun'an was a man of few words. Having witnessed too much death, he'd grown almost fearful of forming connections. Only with Lu Yan did he find himself fumbling, worried his meaning never quite translated.

Ji Wen arrived with the medical chart, slightly late.

He cleared his throat. "My apologies for interrupting. Mr. Lu, for safety's sake, we need to run some routine checks."

Routine checks meant pollution level scans, mental health surveys, recordings of spiritual power thresholds and mutation progression.

Two masked researchers entered the room.

Ji Wen spoke gently. "To check hormone levels, we'll need to draw a vial of blood."

Lu Yan looked at him. "I refuse."

His eyes, still struggling to focus, shone with a silvery-white hue, but his tone held absolute finality.

Perhaps because Tang Xun'an still lingered outside the door, Ji Wen didn't press. "Understood. Your will is paramount."

Due to the attack from the 23rd Secondary Brain, Lu Yan's pollution level had peaked at 77.2 during his three-day coma, a layer of fish scales briefly covering his skin. Fortunately, the number was steadily dropping now that he was awake.

Spiritual power threshold: 3600. Mental state: Normal. Thought patterns: Normal.

As Lu Yan conversed with the psychologist, he chatted with the system in his mind. "What's the situation?"

[You collapsed at the airport. Seventy-six hours have passed. Four psychic-type Awakened tried to pull you back. They're either seriously injured or rendered mentally deficient from talent overuse. Puppy-dragon was so frantic he considered switching careers to selling grilled pig brains.]

[Oh, but now would be a good time for that. The Holy Spirit was severely wounded in the consciousness space. It's at its weakest point in fifty years.]

The memory of dying a hundred times was too horrific to dwell on.

But some things couldn't be glossed over.

"What was the scene in the final cycle?" Lu Yan asked.

After regaining his memories, that final, prophetic dreamscape was riddled with questions.

His long-dead mother. Lu Cheng saying he would cure him.

A sniper with dog ears he'd never seen. A dead snake on the ground. A kelp-man who looked like a programmer. A burning figure.

That burning man, featureless, felt like Lu Jiahe, yet not entirely.

And Shen Qingyang and Tang Xun'an in their polluted states.

On the black dragon's back, he saw a world in ruins, scarred by catastrophe.

Tiny, fragile humans huddled underground, clinging to life. Yet they stubbornly lit a single lamp in the black night, a beacon for survivors wandering outside to find their way home.

Most importantly, Lu Yan had seen his "little brother."

According to the doctors, he was the primary personality. "Little brother" was a secondary personality that had split off due to prolonged abuse from his father.

He was sent to the psychiatric hospital at sixteen.

The staff discovered the signs of abuse.

The doctors said this secondary personality held a fierce protective instinct for the primary, but also possessed extremely low empathy, weak moral awareness, and antisocial tendencies—a pathological symptom that needed to be excised.

Only Lu Yan knew the "secondary personality" the doctors referred to wasn't "little brother" at all. It was himself.

"Little brother" was the code name he'd given to that thing.

The doctors, failing to comprehend the brother's true nature, had mistaken Lu Yan's fragmented accounts for Dissociative Identity Disorder and treated him for dual personality.

To get discharged, Lu Yan had to perform.

He was a quick study. In three months, he'd learned to simulate a normal person's emotions.

Feel joy at beautiful things. Show a fondness for good food. Express disgust and hatred toward immoral acts…

If someone pretends to be good their whole life, then they are good.

Eleven years ago, Lu Yan was discharged. All the doctors believed he was cured.

And for a long, long time, Lu Yan hadn't felt the brother's presence.

Until now.

The system asked, [What scene?]

Lu Yan raised a brow. "You don't know?"

[What happens in the consciousness space isn't my department.] The system tried to salvage some dignity.

"I saw little brother."

The system seemed to glitch for a second. [That's terrifying, bro.]

"What exactly is he?"

[I know, but it's not convenient to say. Let's just keep it between us. Besides, you already have part of the answer.]

"What happens when he wakes up?"

The system gave an evasive answer: […Why does the black dragon like gnawing on tree roots? This editor is also curious.]

In Norse myth, when the black dragon finishes gnawing the roots, the world ends.

Lu Yan understood, and couldn't help the flicker of surprise.

The recorder assigned by the Prevention Center spoke up. "Would you mind recounting your experience after encountering the Holy Spirit? Primarily, we'd like to know how you broke free, for reference purposes."

Recounting every death would be its own special torture.

Lu Yan thought for a moment, then offered a simple summary. "I took my own brain out. Then I woke up."

"You know, removing a brain. Knife in, pry open, quick work." His expression was utterly placid. "It was still making noise when I pulled it out."

It hadn't hurt much. Probably because it wasn't his brain, so there was no psychological pressure.

Things in the consciousness space hovered between existence and non-existence. Lu Yan wasn't curious where his brain had gone. It was enough that it was back in his skull now.

The recorder couldn't help but regard him with newfound reverence. "You've been through an ordeal."

*

Lu Yan was likely the best-recovering Awakened to ever grace the Third Research Institute's ICU.

The four psychic-type Awakened who had tried to treat him were still lying in their beds, while Lu Yan had already met the discharge criteria.

He made a point of visiting the four, confirming none had appeared in his consciousness space. They didn't match the dog, the burning man, or the snake-woman.

Of the four, the only one conscious was the A-Class Awakened, the Magician. Spiritual power threshold: 8200. Still in the mentally deficient stage following talent overuse.

Upon seeing Lu Yan, he let out a sharp scream and hid under the bed, trembling.

[Look what you've done. Scared the poor man.]

"It wasn't me. It was little brother," Lu Yan corrected.

The system thought for a moment. [The dog is probably 01. The burning man could be 07, or Lu Jiahe, or some fusion of the two. The snake-woman is likely the Slaughterhouse's proprietress.]

[I can also tell you, the Prophet sought her out recently. Pity they couldn't reach a consensus on world unification.]

Lu Yan's eyes narrowed slightly. "Where is Lu Cheng now?"

The system lowered its voice. [Near City A.]

It seemed increasing his spiritual power threshold had its uses. At least the system could now give him a rough location without fear of detection.

Lu Yan changed tack. "I've never seen those people. Why did they appear in my subconscious?"

He had seen Lu Jiahe's polluted form, but he truly didn't know what 07 looked like now, much less that 07 had a "little bird."

The system chirped in his mind. [I've seen it. If I had to explain, I live in your head too. Is that so strange?]

Lu Yan offered no comment.

He ran into a slight issue while processing his discharge.

The staff member across from him wore an apologetic smile. "Mr. Lu. The situation is this: given your recent encounter with the Holy Spirit, headquarters believes it's necessary to assign you a protective detail. They're currently seeking a suitable candidate..."

On paper, Lu Yan was a support-class Awakened, but in reality, he was a registered, highly valuable healing-class Awakened. He fell into the category of fragile, precious cargo, so assigning protection wasn't unreasonable.

Moreover, in the better part of a year since becoming Awakened, Lu Yan's life had been a string of near-catastrophes.

His liaison, Director Li Dongcheng, was so worried about his safety he couldn't sleep, losing twenty pounds in six months.

[Protection or surveillance?] The system snorted. [They're clearly worried you've been swapped out by the Holy Spirit, that you'll bring some unnecessary trouble to City A. And they make it sound so nice.]

Lu Yan thought about it, feeling the system's perspective was sometimes overly negative.

During his past studies, he'd observed many people.

His expectations for humanity were genuinely low.

Most were foolish, impulsive, greedy for wealth and pleasure, driven by base instincts of gain and self-preservation. Yet sometimes, these same people could display shining qualities.

The surveillance was real. The protection was also real.

Just like the four psychic-type Awakened who, knowing full well the danger, had still tried to save him.

The researcher had been somewhat concerned about Lu Yan's reaction, as past records showed an inexplicable aversion to the Research Institute.

This time, however, Lu Yan simply nodded in compliance.

He didn't have to wait long at the Third Research Institute.

That afternoon, a staff member brought his assigned guardian.

Ji Wen made the introduction. "Mr. Lu, headquarters reviewed the schedules of Awakened currently in City A. The final decision is to assign Tang Xun'an as your guardian for this period, responsible for ensuring your personal safety."

"Mr. Tang's code name is 'Tyrant.' He is also the current head of City A's Pollution Disease Prevention and Control Unit. His professional record is outstanding, having received the Special Operations Group First-Class Merit Medal for eighty consecutive years. He owns property and a vehicle within the city's third ring road, holds local residency, and has an annual salary of over a million contribution points."

Ji Wen's tone made it sound like he was introducing a highly eligible bachelor.

"Do you consent to Mr. Tang becoming your guardian?"

Lu Yan's gaze swept over Tang Xun'an. The man's face was its usual mask of cool indifference, but after a moment of being stared at, he turned his head slightly, a hint of awkwardness showing.

[Heh. It's all just the puppy-dragon's transparent scheme.] the system sneered.

Lu Yan looked away and answered slowly, "...I consent."