"Who let you in?" Just after recovering a bit of strength, Anuza’s sister imdiately sat up and revealed a guarded expression toward us, quickly scooting to the corner of the room as if we weren’t life-saving benefactors but rather intruders about to harm her—honestly, most of us are girls here, Miss, is there any need to be this nervous?
"What’s this reaction?" Miss Lin clicked her tongue, "We just saved you, didn’t we? How co you don’t even say thank you?"
"Did you all see?" The other party seed to ignore Miss Lin’s words completely, absorbed in her own emotions. She slowly stood up, although her hands and feet were still trembling, she still adopted a posture ready for a fight. Yes, I felt that was a posture ready for a fight.
I accidentally noticed sothing: Every move this girl made from beginning to now seed to be cautiously avoiding the pale golden glow that shot in through the window. Now she had completely placed herself within the shadow of the room. This may rely be wariness against "enemy" as she hoped to use the shadow to protect herself. But it could also be... she was avoiding the light emitted by the lowa Ship in the sky.
"Saw it," Qianqian probably didn’t observe anything; she just waved her hand carelessly, "Wasn’t it just rolling around on the floor with an upset stomach? Sure, it is embarrassing for a girl to be seen like this, but it’s nothing major. I often had stomach problems when I was little, Ah Jun always rolled with ... oh, no wonder you only ate a little earlier. You have a stomach ulcer? Hold on, I have so dication, although it’s been stored for four whole years... Ah Jun, what’s the shelf life of Gastric Comfort again?"
Sandora stared dumbly at Qianqian, then glanced at , her tone foreboding: "...Quickly pacify your little darling, tell her to keep quiet, it’s so hard to maintain a serious atmosphere..."
Anuza’s sister looked at us puzzled throughout the process. The spiritual interference Sandora used on her seed to have temporarily weakened, so Qianqian’s jumble of statents and associations thoroughly confused the girl, but soon she shook her head, clenched her fists: "I an the nerve poison backlash syndro, did you all see it? If you saw it, then I apologize... though it’s a pity..."
"Stop!" Our expressions montarily froze, Sandora decisively interrupted the other party, "You just ntioned nerve poison backlash syndro... this term should not have originated in your level of civilization. Do you know there’s nerve poison in your daily food?!"
The girl across finally showed a huge change in expression, she looked at us with disbelief: "You know about the nerve poison too? Aren’t you... wait, didn’t you just drink those things in sufficient doses earlier? Especially this person (she pointed at Sandora), she drank twelve people’s worth of poison! Logically speaking, she should be drooling and unable to do anything by now."
I thought for a mont, suddenly realizing Sandora really would be drooling sotis, but that didn’t seem related to intelligence issues...
Sandora stealthily kicked , she knew what I was thinking, then showed a bland smile to the wary girl in front: "Looks like we have a misunderstanding. You’re soone who’s detached from ’control’. Relax, that thing in the sky will probably show off for quite so ti, we have plenty of ti to be frank. Now you sit down and tell us properly—what exactly is going on with the nerve poison? Where did you get it from, why mix it into daily food, and... who do you think we are."
Anuza’s sister slowly sat on a chair but still hid in the corner away from the window, trying not to let any part of her body touch the golden radiant glow coming through the window. Looking at us, her eyes showed confusion, wariness, and unease. Faced with Sandora’s series of questions, she seed unsure where to start: or perhaps not sure whether to answer at all. From the mont the other party uttered the sophisticated term "nerve poison backlash syndro," I realized this girl before us was vastly different from those outside who were in a state of ignorance like dieval villagers—she knew many things, and probably the matter about the "God" in the sky.
However, the other party was too cautious. Even though we had just saved her once and behaved completely different from the controlled villagers, she kept her lips tightly shut. I realized that to make her speak, the first step must be to gain her trust. Sandora’s spiritual interference could only skew senses, not make a wary person reveal the truth. Perhaps...
My glorious boss of the Teaching Departnt, Lilina, should take the stage.
Seeing my gesture, Lilina cleared her throat: "Ahem, this lost lamb... eh, wrong, sorry, sorry, occupational habit. I an sister, it’s alright if you don’t trust strangers, we can start by getting to know each other and gauge how much can be said. Now, you should at least tell your na, right? It’s been so long, and you haven’t introduced yourself."
This is not an unreasonable request. The girl hesitated slightly, her hands entwined, and she said in a low voice: "Anu Lili."
Anu Lili, an unexpectedly pleasant na, though the pronunciation seems rather peculiar. Lilina nodded: "Yes, yes, Sister Anu Lili, you probably already know our nas, so I won’t waste breath. It seems you know there’s nerve poison in the daily food. Actually... we’ve been aware of it too; we just didn’t know exactly what that thing is."
The other party looked up, surprised at Lilina.
"Do you think we are like those controlled villagers outside?" Lilina twirled around, then suddenly raised a hand pointing at the "Divine Star" outside the window, "You’re an idiot!"
Everyone gawked in shock, Anu Lili almost slipped off the chair.
Lilina nodded contentedly: "You see, we aren’t controlled, I can still curse them for fun! That’s because we have innate drug resistance."
"Drug resistance?" Anu Lili looked at Lilina skeptically, and the latter nodded vigorously: "We all co from the sa family, born seemingly with resistance to what you call nerve poison. We realized early on we were different from those around us; while people around kept chanting God this, God that, we felt nothing. Later, my brother, this universally adored man here forever blessed with radiant glow, thought it might bring trouble, get branded heretic, be thrown on the bonfire, get sprinkled with cumin powder and roasted in circles, so he took us all to flee. That’s why we travel everywhere. We never stay too long in one place, mostly spend ti in the wilderness, just to avoid controlled people. We planned to leave here tonight, but didn’t expect others unbound by control like you existed. Sister, how did you manage it? Do you have drug resistance too?"
I stood dumbfounded listening, look at this improvisation skill! Lilina daring to develop billions of followers within four years isn’t just empty words... well, in a sense, it is just verbal prowess, she sure can invent!
Anu Lili looked at Lilina, weighing whether to trust these people still essentially strangers, though I doubted she had much suspicion left now: after all, the distinction between us and the controlled villagers was clearly evident, plus Lilina’s earlier "you’re an idiot" still resonated loudly, more impactful than anything else. Her greatest confusion now might be the unclear but potentially profound phrases Lilina quickly spouted, I guess an Otherworld person wouldn’t understand the roasting over firewood with cumin bit; red-hot heretic grilling isn’t universal practice...
"They’re controlling us," Anu Lili finally spoke, "With drugs, genetic modification, brainwashing, and the energy fields enveloping the entire planet... I don’t have drug resistance, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been in such an embarrassing state just now."
"They..." Miss Lin pointed at the sky, "Are you saying those people on ’Star’?"
"Who else," Anu Lili hugged her legs, curling up on the chair, "They distribute drugs worldwide; every person’s first food from birth is nerve poison lted into milk. They appear periodically, using the glow of the ’Divine Star’ and energy fields to enhance the drug’s neural impact, filtering, marking those not consuming sufficient doses as ’malignant elents.’ They co down as Saints being worshipped and take many of us away... those taken never return... Everything you’ve experienced growing up is a lie. You’re lucky; before being discovered by Saints or reported by your fellow villagers, you escaped, otherwise, you’d be taken away, sent to the Divine Country where no one knows what happens."
Anu Lili seed to have held these words suppressed for so long that once starting, it seed hard to stop, saying far more at once than we’d anticipated. Now we could completely ascertain the nerve poison mixed in the soup during dinner was distributed by the lowa people to local natives worldwide—and they likely distributed other resources too, like that chemical used here as fuel, the latter probably aids in fostering local natives’ gratitude toward the "lowa God."
The combination of nerve poison and mind control technology turned everyone on the planet into a puppet-like state, yet with free will. Although their motives for doing this remain unclear, I feel this whole series of asures is quite ridiculous because, apart from self-indulgence, I truly can’t see any value in brainwashing a bunch of natives to this extent.
But soon I had new questions: Where did those high-tech terms keep coming from Anu Lili’s mouth?
Could it be that natives who have escaped the mind control state... are able to engage with things that seemingly have no relation to their world? Where did she learn these terms from?!
Faced with my question, Anu Lili beca very vigilant and closed her mouth.
"Is it inconvenient to disclose?" Miss Lin looked at Anu Lili, "We just feel a lot of the words you say are very strange and want to know what they an, and how you know about these things."
"In any case, I have my own sources. Perhaps you can access these sources too, but..." Anu Lili shook her head, "but it’s not the right ti to talk about it now, the timing isn’t mature.
I glanced at Lin Xue, who gave a barely noticeable nod: It seems like Miss already sees so things, but she feels there’s no need to point them out herself; the truth may soon co to light. There’s a reason why I can gain so much information from just a nod: After all, I’ve been with Miss Xue for over four years, plus our spiritual connection, I can even interpret twenty syllables from her sneezes...
"Because you think we’re still not trustworthy," I showed Anu Lili an understanding expression, "Then let ask sothing else, tell us what you’re able to say—Anu Zha, your brother, I feel he...how should I put it, don’t bla for being overthinker, but I feel he is a bit different from ordinary villagers, rather similar to us, could it be..."
"Very few people are naturally immune to nerve poison, but it’s not just you few, Anu Zha...he probably can’t completely resist those things, but has a certain degree of resistance," Anu Lili’s face turned complex as she glanced at Lilina, "this is also why I believe your claim, because I truly know so people can resist poisons naturally, and I also know that once these people with natural antibodies are discovered, they soon disappear. The God claims these disappeared people are taken to the Divine Country to enjoy eternal life. I believe you’ve heard similar tales before you left your hotown, but you definitely didn’t know these inside stories.
"Nonsense." Miss Lin’s evaluation was brief but concise.
"Let’s not talk about this first," Anu Lili sighed, "I must protect Anu Zha, so since young I tried my best to teach him not to do things that stand out, to make him appear as if he’s been modified by poison, and let him eat those neurotoxin-tainted foods regularly. It seems this approach has had so effect, although Anu Zha sotis appears overly energetic, he has never doubted the God above, and being able to live life quietly might be enough for him..."
Qianqian sat on the edge of a bed, holding her chin with both hands, her eyes darting around, and finally raised her own question: "Then why do you know about nerve poison but still take it?" She seed to be recalling when Anu Lili herself drank those agent-mixed soups during als, though in small amounts, but she did take them voluntarily. Qianqian soon found her answer: "Oh, I get it, it’s to cover your intentions, isn’t it? You can’t resist the poison, yet you can’t let people find out you’ve escaped control, so you pretend to have a stomach ulcer, only eating small bits each ti... Ah Jun, my Gastric Comfort is useless again."
I: "..." So after all this ti, Qianqian circled back to Gastric Comfort?!
Anu Lili blinked: "I’ve always wanted to ask...what exactly is Gastric Comfort?"
I rolled my eyes at the sky: "It’s our hotown specialty dicine, specifically for ’suicidal behaviors’ like eating spicy food with chili sauce after barbeque, with ice cubes."
"Oh..." Anu Lili remained confused, "It seems this world is really big. Let’s talk about the nerve poison. Those of you who are completely immune to nerve poison can’t understand this situation, if ordinary people don’t take the nerve poison daily... they’ll die."
As Anu Lili’s words fell, I suddenly recalled sothing Anu Zha had said: "... Without it, people would get sick..." So that’s what he ant!
"All regular people have a dependency on nerve poison; this dependency is etched into our genes. You might not understand this term, it refers to the foundation of everyone’s life, actually each of us is a part of a very small..."
"Uh, no need to explain; we’re not interested in that." I quickly waved my hand, rejecting the bizarre idea of a dieval rural girl explaining DNA coding rules to aliens, Anu Lili regretfully shook her head, letting out a quiet sigh: "Indeed, very few rember or care about these ancient knowledge."
I awkwardly coughed: "So you are saying that if people don’t take the drug, they’ll instead be poisoned? Like just now, calling it so nerve poison backlash syndro?"
"That’s just a mild symptom because my dosage isn’t enough, so when the Divine Star appears, the nervous system will spasm under the specific energy field of the Divine Star—they claim that’s the natural penance of the soul under Divine Light for those not devout enough. But normally, insufficient dosage won’t cause severe consequences. However, if one completely stops, the person will die due to nervous system disruption and nutrient cycle obstruction, ultimately from severe nerve necrosis or systemic nutrient depletion."
I looked at Anu Lili, once again confirming she was quite petite: Perhaps, this is one of the outcos resulting from reduced intake of nerve poison.
Now there’s only one last question—The nerve poison control system designed by the lowa People seed flawless; under normal circumstances, except for rare mutations creating individuals with complete resistance, ordinary people would neither actively break free nor consciously reduce their dosage—they’ve been coerced into taking it since infancy and never develop the idea of reducing it for life, so then...how did Anu Lili break free from control?
Is there anyone else in this world who has broken free from control like Anu Lili?
If so, what initially enabled these people to break free?
I looked at the skinny girl hiding in the shadows; now the Divine Star was about to disappear in the sky, and her tense expression slightly faded. She must know so answers to the last few questions that popped into my mind, but I assu she wouldn’t tell strangers—we’re probably still half-strangers to her; given my status as an "Antidrug User," the intelligence I can gather from her is probably limited to what she’s already talked about.
Sandora agreed with via the Spiritual Connection that to avoid raising Anu Lili’s alert, we shouldn’t ask too much for now and should wait for the next day’s report from other agents to discuss further. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welco to vote or recomnd it on Qidian, your support is my greatest motivation.)
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