The academy, cultivation classroom.
After swiftly completing a full-body acupoints Mind Power circulation, Lu Cheng slowly let out a breath.
He looked at the others in the classroom. Most were far behind his progress; he was completely leading the pack by a huge margin.
"Lu Cheng."
His smug mood didn't last more than a few seconds before he heard the lecturer's voice calling his na.
He imdiately stood up and walked to the front of the lectern.
Shi Jingyi was currently sitting at the back, her gaze towards this student sowhat grave.
"I heard from Counselor Qin that you've recently been cultivating using the power of the spores. Is that true?"
Lu Cheng frowned, inwardly cursing that Qin Qing for being such a busybody.
"Yes." eting Shi Jingyi's gaze, he didn't lie or try to brush it off. "The alien spores have indeed been helpful. But I believe I have it under good control."
Lu Cheng continued, "Lecturer Jingyi, didn't you say it's better to guide than to block? Uh... I saw that online. Anyway, I think as long as one is disciplined enough and controls it carefully, nothing will go wrong."
"Words are one thing, but can you really control it?"
"I believe I can."
"Take a test then."
"A test?"
Lu Cheng didn't know how such a thing could be tested.
Shi Jingyi explained, "Starting now, you stop practicing Mind Power Flow."
"What?"
Lu Cheng was stunned. He didn't expect Shi Jingyi to tell him to stop practicing. Wouldn't that delay his leading progress?
"Just for seven days." Shi Jingyi said solemnly. "If you can go seven days without practicing, I'll consider you capable of control. If you can't help but break the rule within these seven days, it ans you're already addicted... tell
imdiately when that happens! Understood?"
So that's it...
Lu Cheng understood Shi Jingyi's intention.
The enhancent the spores provide to the body is a continuous process, and the intensity keeps increasing in a step-like manner.
It's like so addictive substances, where the pleasure they give becos stronger and stronger. Suddenly stopping for a period at this point, if the body shows strong discomfort or even an inability to control oneself, then it ans addiction.
To prove himself, Lu Cheng agreed imdiately, "No problem at all, Lecturer Jingyi. I promise to stop practicing for seven days."
"Good. Keep your word."
After class ended, Lu Cheng returned to his dorm.
He subconsciously went to sit on his bed to cultivate, but rembering his promise, he stopped imdiately.
Even though Shi Jingyi wouldn't know if he practiced secretly, since he gave his word face-to-face, he intended to stick to it.
"It's just a few days without practice, no big deal. I'll just study other subjects more. Once the seven days are over, Lecturer Jingyi will probably look at
in a new light... maybe she'll even teach
so secret techniques or sothing."
Lu Cheng thought to himself. If he persevered, it would an he could achieve the sa "go with the flow" state as Shi Jingyi. That would be a huge encouragent for him.
...
Pinglu City, Quarantine Zone 3.
This place was originally a large indoor stadium, now repurposed by the authorities as a quarantine zone. Of course, "quarantine zone" was just the internal term; externally it was still called the "collective cultivation area."
Currently, on what was originally a basketball court, the floor was densely packed with people sitting and cultivating.
Most of them wore homade so-called "signal enhancent hats," mumbling and chanting under their breath.
The whole scene resembled morning reading sessions from high school days, just with the numbers scaled up dozens of tis, making it quite a spectacle.
In one corner of the court, several people in uniforms observed the scene, all looking serious and unsmiling.
"You said they've been sitting for six or seven hours, skipping lunch?" asked the middle-aged man in a white lab coat. He was none other than Zhang Minglu from the Counterasures Research Office, here today for on-site observation at the quarantine zone.
"That's correct," replied the person in charge of this quarantine zone. "Starting from around 7 AM, people have been trickling in to cultivate here, and they haven't stopped since."
Zhang Minglu glanced at his watch. It was already past 2 PM.
Seven hours without food or water... this was getting further and further from normal human behavior.
"How long will they cultivate today?"
"Yesterday they went until 10 PM."
"From 7 AM to 10 PM... and they didn't eat anything during that ti?"
"No, only a minority eat nothing at all. Most will eat a little around 5 PM."
"......"
Zhang Minglu frowned deeply, wondering if fasting was the third stage of parasitism?
Currently, the Counterasures Research Office had divided the spore's parasitism of humans into stages.
The first stage was the host beginning to show life-preserving behavior, refusing dangerous activities and avoiding hazardous areas.
The second stage was the host showing a tendency to cluster, having a strong desire to gather with others in the sa stage, the more the better.
And now, prolonged fasting seed like a manifestation of the third stage.
Zhang Minglu continued his questions, "Those few who eat nothing at all, when did that start? Also, don't they eat after finishing cultivation either?"
The person in charge answered, "It started about two or three days ago, I think. According to surveillance, these people now only eat once every two days, and not much at that."
"...Alright, I understand the situation. Thank you for your continued observation efforts."
"It's our duty."
After the person in charge left, only Zhang Minglu and Dragon Soul, who had co with him, remained in the corner.
Dragon Soul now spoke up, "Doctor, are these people who don't eat entering the next stage of parasitism?"
"Very likely." Zhang Minglu glanced sideways at him. "And have you noticed? A contradiction has appeared."
"Contradiction?" Dragon Soul didn't understand imdiately.
"The first stage of host parasitism is life-preservation, right? Then let
ask you, is prolonged fasting a life-preserving behavior? It would only make the body weaker and weaker, leading to malnutrition and death."
Hearing this, Dragon Soul suddenly realized. Indeed, eating only once every two or three days was not behavior befitting soone who valued their life.
"If I'm not mistaken, perhaps in the next stage, or at most two stages from now—that is, the fourth or fifth stage—the parasitism will be completely finalized." Zhang Minglu's attitude was sowhat pessimistic. "By then, the host may have completely beco the 'parasitized form' ntioned in the rules."
Dragon Soul said, "Doctor, are we truly powerless against this? Can only watch it happen?"
Zhang Minglu shook his head and sighed, "There's no way... We've tried all sorts of thods recently—abilities, items, including dical exploration of the alien spores. All ended in failure. The only thing that can resist the spores is human willpower itself."
"......"
"Using that theory from the academy lecturer, Guan Tong, the Fire Thief, as the Superior Position, completely suppresses us humans, the Inferior Position. We can only play by the ga rules it has set."
Hearing the na "Guan Tong," Dragon Soul's heart stirred. "Doctor, is there still no news about this Guan Tong?"
"I'm not sure either. Investigating him isn't within my duties. Head Gao's side should have information. Why, Dragon Soul, are you interested in him too?"
"Not . It's Silver Fox."
"Silver Fox?"
"She also just rembered these past couple of days why she felt a faint, inexplicable sense of familiarity when she saw Guan Tong that ti." Dragon Soul said. "Doctor, do you rember the rule about the Nightmare Beasts? In front of the fog gate, our team briefly fought with Shadow."
Zhang Minglu thought for a mont and nodded. "I rember. What are you implying?"
"Silver Fox attacked Shadow at close range back then. Although the latter had armor protection ford from shadows, she still roughly observed his physique... She told
the day before yesterday that that faint sense of familiarity with Guan Tong might stem from that."
Zhang Minglu's eyes changed. "Does Silver Fox think Shadow's true identity is related to Guan Tong?"
"I think so."
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