Chapter 118

Chapter 20: Truly Awake Yet?

　It was a fine day, just stepped out for some fresh air, chatting with the neighbors, when suddenly doctors and nurses brought me into a small room.

　Even though encountering such an event, Gong Tao didn’t get angry.

　Because he was merely a mentally ill person who didn’t know the truth.

　”Is it time to eat? Oh, are we eating so early today?”

　But no one answered him. The doctors and nurses just mechanically repeated their actions, eyes vacant, as if possessed. If a normal person came in, they might not even recognize who the real mental patient was.

　Under Bai Ling’s subconscious suggestion, the doctor chose a relatively secluded small room that was almost never visited, where sunlight barely reached. In the dim little room, a mentally ill person sat, with several possessed-looking doctors standing beside him, creating a sinister and terrifying atmosphere.

　The next second, a sunny and sweet big-chested beauty walked in, instantly dispersing the tension.

　”Hey, take a seat,” Yuan Xiaoling pulled over a small chair herself, “Teacher Gong, have you eaten?”

　”Not yet, I haven’t had my meal yet, you can’t just skip mealtime.” Gong Tao said anxiously.

　It was clear that his mind was really a bit off.

　”At least you had breakfast, right?” Yuan Xiaoling asked.

　”Yeah, two fried dough sticks, a glass of soy milk, and a big steamed bun, it was delicious.”

　”So after enjoying your breakfast, you’re already thinking about lunch?”

　”Of course, enjoy lunch, then take a stroll in the courtyard afterward, that’s life.”

　Bai Ling quietly gave a hint for the doctors and nurses to leave the room. These vacant-eyed people standing here were quite embarrassing.

　Then she sat down and watched Yuan Xiaoling chat with Gong Tao.

　She was different from Ningning. As a fifth-tier mental-type spiritual energy manipulator, and someone who had directly faced the foundation stone fragment, seeing Gong Tao’s previous series of performances, she could interpret many things.

　Knowing that Gong Tao was once involved in the Four Squares Academy incident, he most likely also suffered from the impact of the foundation stone fragment. Due to his consciousness being scrambled, his memories were rather chaotic, mixing memories from different time periods or emotions that didn’t match, making him appear like a mental patient.

　Regarding the words he spoke earlier, ignoring the nonsense, he mentioned that a unit leader had questioned him, which was worth pondering.

　Look at how he spoke, passionate words, full of spirit, as if the person he was chatting with wasn’t a unit leader but a taxi passenger he picked up.

　In this situation, either it was memory confusion, or more complexly, stitching together the content of conversations with leaders and the relaxed mood during chats with passengers.

　Bai Ling thought about it and felt the latter possibility was greater because simple memory confusion wasn’t enough to demonstrate the power of the foundation stone fragment. Stirring up memories and the corresponding emotions of the scene together fit the strength of the foundation stone.

　Gong Tao was currently in such a state, for example, while chatting outside, talking about marriage made him burst into tears, deeply sorrowful, while discussing divorce made him laugh heartily, extremely pleased.

　Nowadays, there’s a fitting term online called audio-video desynchronization.

　Realizing this, Bai Ling looked again and noticed the blonde-haired maiden was still chatting with him.

　”Teacher Gong is so spirited every day; your memory should be pretty good too.”

　”Not bad, although memory is painful, I’ve already gotten used to the pain.”

　”Then I want to ask you something, will you tell me?”

　”Heh, give Teacher Gong a pot of good Maojian tea, let’s have a proper chat.”

　With such a smooth start, Yuan Xiaoling happily looked at Bai Ling, “See, I can talk to him pretty well.”

　Bai Ling didn’t say anything, just silently stared at her with a half-smile.

　Ningning became slightly upset, wondering why she was smiling like that, as if mocking her. Was it funny that she could chat with a mentally ill person?

　… It seemed kind of funny.

　Yuan Xiaoling suddenly realized what she had done.

　”I’ll ask,” Bai Ling stepped forward, “Gong Tao, the unit leader you mentioned outside, is his name Dai Hengzhu?”

　Hearing this name, Gong Tao instantly froze.

　”Yes, Dai Hengzhu,” he said word by word, “it’s him.”

　He pronounced it deeply, as if it were unforgettable.

　Yuan Xiaoling immediately became excited, sensing there must be some big scoop inside.

　Bai Ling remained calm, adjusting to a more casual posture.

　”He was my… leader. When my spiritual power awakened, I saw the public recruitment notice and took a few days off from the taxi company. Then I met Dai Hengzhu.”

　Gong Tao sobbed as he spoke: “He… recruited me… into the courtyard.”

　Yuan Xiaoling, unaware of the full story, was still expecting some explosive information, while Bai Ling, mature and steady, was already pouring herself a cup of tea.

　Judging by the situation, it was clearly audio-video desynchronization, emotions stitched onto other sad events.

　”He said there would be compensation, and I could still collect my salary and bonus from the taxi company,” Gong Tao displayed a look of profound grief, “he was actually very nice.”

　Yuan Xiaoling: “…”

　What’s going on with this guy?

　It wasn’t until Bai Ling whispered “he’s mentally ill” in her ear that Ningning realized.

　Alright, it was a relapse, not some big scoop. Got worked up for nothing.

　”If it was such a good job, why did you leave later?” Bai Ling asked.

　She didn’t ask why he ended up looking like a mental patient now, possibly because Gong Tao himself felt fine and didn’t realize he had mental issues.

　”Later?” Gong Tao revealed a joyful expression, “Later, my mission was completed, so I retired and started enjoying my old age. Look how great my treatment is now, all I do is eat and take walks, how carefree.”

　Bai Ling thought that the emotions stitched this time were okay, coinciding with another happy event.

　”What was the mission?”

　”Nothing much, just monitoring the spiritual energy fluctuations in the courtyard. I don’t know what to do specifically, but everyone has clear divisions of labor and their own tasks.”

　Bai Ling’s pupils flashed with bloodlight as she probed Gong Tao with her spiritual power. As expected, it was torn apart by the force of the foundation stone, unable to establish any mental defense, incapable of lying.

　Looking outside, the summer downpour had just stopped, and the sun was about to shine brightly.

　”Let’s take him back first,” she said to Yuan Xiaoling.

　”Okay.”

　Yuan Xiaoling also noticed the weather outside. The rain had stopped, and the sun was out. They needed to be careful while outside.

　Take him back first, find ways to study his mental state later, surely there’s more to uncover.

　Gong Tao didn’t resist. Judging by his demeanor, he probably thought it was just moving to a better sanatorium, even cheerfully saying goodbye to fellow patients before leaving.

　Before the sun fully brightened, they hurried back in the car.

　”Let’s go to the Grand Hotel,” Yuan Xiaoling said, “it’s closer.”

　The beach hotel was too far away, better to go to the old base, where there were more people.

　Driving on the road, Bai Ling glanced at Gong Tao through the rearview mirror, lost in thought.

　Tsk, truly troublesome. Since handing over decision-making to Yuan Xiaoling, she rarely pondered complex problems anymore. But today was different. Matters related to mental types and high-tier ability users were within Ningning’s blind spots.

　Although the blonde maiden was already fourth-tier and considered one of the strongest among all fourth-tiers, if you asked her to explain the reasoning behind it, she wouldn’t be able to.

　Bai Ling guessed she probably didn’t even know how she advanced.

　”Bai Ling,” Yuan Xiaoling voluntarily spoke up, “didn’t we gain much today?”

　Thinking carefully, after chatting for so long, this mental patient knew nothing about three questions.

　”Currently speaking, not much progress.”

　Bai Ling calculated as well. Today, they found the sole survivor of the Four Squares Academy incident, understood his current mental state, and learned that Dai Hengzhu once had him monitor the spiritual energy fluctuations of the academy, but the reasons and purposes were unclear.

　Besides that, what else did he say?

　”Gong Tao,” Bai Ling suddenly remembered something, “you previously mentioned while chatting with your neighbors… that Dai Hengzhu asked you a question?”

　”Ah, yes,” Gong Tao changed his sitting position in the back seat, lowering his head, “he completely stumped me, left me dumbfounded.”

　What?

　Yuan Xiaoling was stunned for a moment, recalling after some time that in the riddles spoken by Gong Tao, it seemed indeed mentioned once.

　”He was just talking nonsense then,” Ningning was bewildered, “something about waking up or not.”

　”Of course not.” Bai Ling coldly snorted.

　Not easy, after such a long time, finally getting to see fools again.

　According to Bai Ling’s analysis, Gong Tao’s behavior at that time was due to emotional memory misalignment, mistaking it for boasting to a passenger friend, but the conversation content should be correct.

　Once upon a time, Dai Hengzhu asked him,

　”Am I truly awake? That’s what my leader asked me,” Gong Tao made a bowing gesture, “he said, have the spiritual energy manipulators truly awakened? How did they awaken?”

　Then he suddenly slapped the seat forcefully: “I said it’s random, randomness has no fixed method, that’s the truth.”

　Yuan Xiaoling blinked her eyes.

　When hearing this sentence in the morning, she only thought it was nonsense from a mental patient. But now, listening to it separately, it seemed like she understood something.

　”When did he ask you?” Bai Ling added conditions, “How many days before your final mission started?”

　”Months ago, but actually, his wife asked me earlier, months before him,” Gong Tao suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, “talking about the leader’s wife, I really envy them, living happily ever after, even working together.”

　Yuan Xiaoling couldn’t help but glance back at him, not, laughing like that while talking about such things, you’re the problem.

　Bai Ling remained unmoved, who knows which scene’s emotion Gong Tao stitched together, doesn’t matter anymore.

　But this sentence is important.

　”His wife?”

　”Yes, also my leader, abbreviated as the second leader,” Gong Tao sighed, “unfortunately, I was assigned under the main leader, so I don’t know much about her.”

　Yuan Xiaoling raised an eyebrow.

　Byd, pity isn’t it!

　Bai Ling tried asking a few more questions related to Dai Hengzhu’s wife, but Gong Tao didn’t provide useful information.

　The car stopped, the hotel arrived. Subsequently, Gong Tao was sent to a safe room, placed with the mobile phone-selling young man.

　Yuan Xiaoling went upstairs to look for people, didn’t find Luo Zou Cheng and Wu Bian, but instead encountered Liu Yaohua, who used to work for the government.

　”Old Liu, I’m just looking for you. There was a leader at the old Four Squares Academy place, Dai Hengzhu’s wife, are you familiar with her?”

　Dai Hengzhu was about to take a sip of wine, hearing this paused, shook his head: “I know there’s such a person, but I’m not familiar… After all, I only stayed there for a short while, didn’t even participate in formal work.”

　”Alright.”

　Given the current situation, can only ask Qiao Lili for help again.

　[Lemon: Thank you very much for your intelligence. When school starts, I’ll treat you to Tianhai Lobster, all-you-can-eat. By the way, in Tianhai City, there’s a leader named Dai Hengzhu, please help me check his and his wife’s information.]

　This is Lemon’s skill. As the saying goes, a soft tongue can melt hard hearts. Mentioning pleasant things first. The help given earlier was promised with a feast, now continuously upgrading the feast’s specifications.

　And Qiao Lili definitely won’t refuse, because refusing means all the previous help was wasted, the sunk cost keeps increasing.

　That’s wisdom.

　Yuan Xiaoling was feeling pretty good when Wu Bian huffed and puffed back, leaning against the doorframe panting heavily.

　”Miss Yuan, you’re back. The Yun family had a conflict with our people!”