The Luoshan Office had a small reception room where Mazao was sitting on the sofa, intently examining the severed arm, with Zhu Shi by her side. And I was sitting on the other side with Lu Youxun.
"Lu Youxun," I said, "you ntioned earlier that Chen Long was ambushed and captured by Ying Lingyun at so unknown ti and place, then subjected to ntal transformation, right?"
Seeing bring up the information again, Lu Youxun first froze, his complexion turning ashen, then nodded: "Yes, that’s what I said. If I had sensed Ying Lingyun’s plot in advance, perhaps I could have prevented Chen Long from falling from grace."
"So you’re saying that you never actually witnessed Ying Lingyun brainwashing Chen Long," I said. "Did Chen Long tell you this himself? That he was brainwashed by Ying Lingyun, which is why he betrayed you?"
"A person who has really been brainwashed would never admit to being brainwashed; instead, they would argue that they have never been brainwashed and would utterly believe in the false notions implanted in them," he shook his head. "It was Silver Mask... Ying Lingyun who told this."
As he spoke, he seed to understand my suspicion and continued: "Are you suggesting that Chen Long wasn’t actually brainwashed and that he betrayed of his own will?"
"I’m only considering that as a possibility," I said.
"The possibility is zero," he said without hesitation.
How could there be a situation with zero possibility? That was my first thought. Especially coming from Lu Youxun, who once mastered the superpower of "possibility avatars" and claid to have even summoned versions of himself like "becoming a national leader starting World War III," how could there be "impossible" in his perspective? Even though he appeared calm now, perhaps he was actually swept up in emotion.
"I can see you’re struggling to accept it, even thinking that I’m being emotional... Then let put it another way," he said. "Suppose Zhu Shi uses so magical item tonight that can seal any superpower and ambushes you from behind, then delivers you, unable to resist, to the Human Bureau, watching indifferently as you beco a miserable lab animal, tortured and manipulated by others. And she does all this with a straight face, telling you that she’s been an underling of Ying Lingyun for a long ti and befriended you to help collect valuable test subjects for Ying Lingyun... What would you think?"
"That’s impossible," I said without hesitation. "Unless her mory and cognition were altered by ’Water Moon,’ she would never do such a thing... I see, your point is very clear to now."
The Chen Long that Lu Youxun knew of yesteryear was, in his eyes, much like the Zhu Shi in my eyes now. We both believed it was impossible for the other to betray.
"But Chen Long is at the Great Success Rank now, isn’t he? The Great Evil Silver Moon is also only of the Great Success Rank, and ’Water Moon’ is just a derivative artifact. I can understand if Chen Long, who was only at achieved level before, fell for it, but can Chen Long now not break free from the brainwashing caused by such an artifact?" I wondered.
"Most ’brainwashing,’ if applied for a brief duration, is rely an ’effect,’" Lu Youxun explained, "but if sustained over ti, it becos a ’result.’ It’s like how a healthy person who constantly maintains a hunched posture will eventually beco hunchbacked, and now Chen Long, even at the Great Success Rank, is beyond correction. Even if you present him with an opportunity to right himself, he won’t even think about wanting to return to normal."
I reviewed my previous encounter with Chen Long in battle.
Although he was said to be brainwashed, he felt surprisingly calm to , to the point where I lacked a genuine sense of fighting soone who had been brainwashed. Of course, it’s not that a brainwashed person must exhibit fervent and rigid expressions; there are also "calm madn" within the madness spectrum. Besides, without brainwashing, it’s hard for to imagine an achieved level Evil switching allegiances to an organization like the Human Bureau.
However, from a personal standpoint, I didn’t want to believe that Chen Long was soone who had been brainwashed. After all, he was the first adversary who made fight in earnest, and it was disheartening to think that this opponent was rely a "puppet on strings."
Perhaps in Lu Youxun’s view, it’s easier to accept being manipulated into betraying by an enemy than a comrade turning sides voluntarily. I was truly sorry for Lu Youxun, but I earnestly hoped that Chen Long had so sort of unbelievable hidden circumstances that could justify his actions.
The stationed agent brought over a report on the state of my soul damage, and then went back to his workstation. The paper I received looked like a dical examination form, and the content was mostly handwritten. Despite being written by an agent, the handwriting was as bold as that of a real doctor. Zhu Shi and Mazao both looked over concernedly but were powerless to help; Lu Youxun, on the other hand, could understand.
He took the examination form from , pondered thoughtfully, and then asked, "Are you still feeling pain?"
"Still a bit," I mused, describing it, "like a bruise that remains after falling off a bike."
"It seems there’s no major problem," he concluded.
"No major problem?" Zhu Shi asked suspiciously.
Lu Youxun clarified: "To put it simply, the damage Chen Long inflicted on him is like tumbling down from a twenty-story staircase while wearing a helt and knee and elbow pads. Even though his body hurts everywhere, at most he has so bruises, and it doesn’t seem like there are any fractures. According to everyday life standards, he’s indeed injured, but by combat standards, it doesn’t even qualify as a minor injury."
"You can’t be serious, Senior Brother Zhuang..." Zhu Shi’s expression turned strange as she looked at . "You were beaten by a being of Great Success Rank for so long, and it’s just this? How tough can you get?"
"It’s not all due to Zhuang Cheng being ’tough,’" said Lu Youxun. "Contrary to being invincible in defense, Chen Long ultimately lacks a definitive, lethal move; he can only go for accumulating damage. And before the damage could accumulate significantly, his tactics already t a wall."
"At least say I’m strong and sturdy," I added.
The conclusion of the report didn’t exceed my expectations; it seems that my soul indeed possesses an extraordinary endurance. Moreover, the credit this ti isn’t entirely due to my soul itself.
In the process of battling with Chen Long, I also discovered another attribute of mine.
The Weirdo Maker once said that my flas, being an offensive force, couldn’t provide protection for my own soul, but this statent now appears to be incorrect. My fla can mimic flesh and blood, aning that even in my Fire Elent form, I can touch external objects just like a normal body, thus it seems to also possess the capability to act as a shelter for the soul to a certain degree.
And it seems that this capability can be enhanced. Just as the higher the density of the Fire Elent body’s flas, the stronger the abilities, the soul defense of the Fire Elent body also seems to increase in this process.
The proof is that when attacked by Chen Long with a higher density Fire Elent body, the pain I felt was reduced.
From this, it’s clear that there was also a mistake in the combat tactics I chose while fighting Chen Long.
I shouldn’t be so quick to use Fla Transmission in battle. Although Fla Transmission is a supre movent skill close to Space Transfer, during this process, my Fire Elent body must continuously disassemble and reassemble. If I keep repeating this process, the density of the body—that is, the soul defense—can’t increase.
Just being caught in a mont when my body’s density is low is one thing, but if there’s an opportunity during the disassembly and reassembly, my soul would truly be defenseless. To put it in gaming terms, it’s like having a damage reduction rate reduced to zero, only able to endure with bare hit points in a critical state.
"Even if it’s just a soul injury equivalent to falling down the stairs, it’s not good to leave it untreated, right? There should be so dicines for treating soul injuries in this office..." Zhu Shi still couldn’t rest easy.
There are dicines for treating the soul here? I suddenly thought of grabbing so for Mazao.
"You might as well not bother. Even if it’s just a minor injury for Zhuang Cheng, those are claw marks left by the power at the Great Success Rank; with the shallow dicines stored by the office, using them would only be akin to pouring a cup of water on a fire scene," Lu Youxun shook his head.
I felt regretful. In that case, it certainly wouldn’t be of help to Mazao.
"I will help Zhuang Cheng recover," Mazao, who is always silent in front of others, suddenly spoke.
"Your own soul should also be in an overburdened state, right? However... Maybe he can think of a way himself."
It seed Lu Youxun thought of sothing, he suggested to , "Zhuang Cheng, your flas are your Spirit, right? And Spirit is the sa as the soul. Since you can transform Spirit into fla, then is it possible to also turn flas into your own Spirit, or say, soul?"
"Would that really work?" Zhu Shi sounded as if he heard so tall tale.
"Trying it out won’t hurt," Lu Youxun looked at .
Mazao, too, was watching my every move with attention.
I understood what Lu Youxun ant. Since I can shift my body between flesh and flas and be reborn in fire countless tis, filling in wherever there’s a wound with flas, perhaps the soul can also do the sa thing: to be able to revert back to its original state regardless of what kind of injuries it sustains?
I think it’s feasible. My body is my flas, my flas are my Spirit, so my body is my Spirit. If the body can do it, then there’s no reason Spirit—soul—cannot.
In the past, I couldn’t grasp the concept of what a soul was, but now, through pain, I have understood the concept of the soul.
Under the watchful eyes of the three, I raised my right hand, summoning a Fireball, then began to imagine in my mind. Now, there are fine cracks in my soul, and this ball of fire will beco the brand-new flesh of the soul, filling them, healing all the cracks.
I slapped the Fireball into my chest, where it disappeared like a stone dropping into water.
And the inner tornt, like snowflakes eting hot water, quickly dissolved and vanished.
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