Chapter 18: Eighteen: It

Eighteen: It's Not Over Yet

At the midnight hour, Yu Lianyun felt an impulse, but constrained by her currently injured body, she was unable to get out of bed.

Yu Lianyun could not help but feel puzzled; she had arrived at the Xuanmi Group headquarters for the first time and was still unfamiliar with everything, so what could possibly give her such a sudden desire to get out of bed and take a look?

After much thought, Yu Lianyun, whose train of thought had long been broadened by the strange experiences of these past few days, quickly arrived at an answer. In this unfamiliar environment, aside from Li Yingqi, Wei Jiang, and He Jia'an, the only person or thing she was familiar with and connected to was that female corpse.

Was the female corpse summoning her?

No, it should be the power behind the female corpse calling out to her.

This might, more or less, have to do with her keen intuition; she was like a freak walking down the street with a highly developed, oversized satellite antenna on her head at all times, so it was no surprise that she would attract the attention of those Other-dimensional Powers.

The impulse lingered in her mind, like an unknown creature disguised as a kitten but hiding barbs, seducing her and making her feel as if her heart were being clawed at by a hundred talons.

She forced herself to calm down and think, very curious about what the purpose of those Other-dimensional lifeforms' obsession with possessing humans actually was. Humans were such a fragile civilization compared to them, and furthermore, this place possessed risks that could counter them, such as Blessings.

No matter how she thought about it, this was a losing deal, right?

No, no, no, perhaps only humans would measure value in such a way.

Yu Lianyun felt she could not dwell on this any further; she might be a relatively intelligent individual among humans, but not to the extent that she could fathom the thoughts of a higher lifeform race.

Ultimately, one must remain human-centric; since she could not think about the problem from the perspective of the aggressors, she could only return to the human side and think of countermeasures based on every result that might be unfavorable to humanity.

First, she needed to strive to resist the temptation and must never take the initiative to seek out or approach that female corpse; she had only just managed to escape the encroachment of the Other-dimensional lifeforms with great difficulty.

Second, she had to find a way to destroy the corpse; the core was to remove the Cross-dimensional Node established upon the corpse, as the Other-dimensional lifeforms used the corpse to carry out their invasion.

This was not an easy task; just think, even a secret organization as experienced as the Xuanmi Group could not solve the problem of the female corpse to this day, let alone a mere person like her.

Amidst the constant thinking, Yu Lianyun resisted the impulse in her heart, fatigue gradually clouded her brain, and she fell asleep without realizing it.

When the next day dawned and Yu Lianyun woke up, she could no longer remember how she had fallen asleep the previous night or when she had drifted off.

"You slept quite well last night." As soon as Yu Lianyun opened her eyes, she saw Li Yingqi, who had come over early to visit her.

Yu Lianyun was somewhat surprised and was about to say, "How did you come so early?" but glancing over, she saw it was already twelve o'clock noon, so she immediately changed her words: "The matter is over, so I feel a little more at ease."

As she spoke, her peripheral vision darted toward the two "vengeful spirits" crawling all over the walls of the room, and she noticed that they immediately caught her gaze, then let out strange low growls and slowly crawled toward her.

Yu Lianyun: "..."

Li Yingqi was completely unaware of the vengeful spirit Yao Zhenzhen licking her head, while Yu Lianyun squinted her eyes, unable to bear the sight.

Li Yingqi: "Resolving a major threat is indeed a very good thing; it just so happens you haven't slept well during this period."

Yu Lianyun nodded with a smile, then looked out the window.

"Did anything strange happen last night?" Just as Yu Lianyun was inwardly complaining about the bizarre scene before her, Li Yingqi's words instantly raised Yu Lianyun's leveled guard back up.

Yu Lianyun did not answer the question immediately, but asked curiously: "Did something happen last night?"

"Hmm... several partners died last night." Li Yingqi sighed deeply.

Yu Lianyun's heart jumped, her throat rose and fell slightly, and she said: "What happened?"

"Still investigating." Li Yingqi shook her head; she spoke in a light and breezy manner, without any pointed implication, yet Yu Lianyun felt as if countless fingers were fiercely poking at her soul.

Thinking of this, Yu Lianyun hesitated and said: "Before I fell asleep last night, I actually felt a certain summoning."

"Summoning?" Li Yingqi raised an eyebrow and looked at Yu Lianyun.

"Yes, but I believe this did not come from my own intent, and fortunately my limbs could not move, otherwise I think I would have been unable to resist following the impulse in my heart to commit some irrational acts." Yu Lianyun noticed Li Yingqi's earnest gaze and knew deeply that the other party's purpose for this visit was not simple.

If she hadn't guessed wrong, Li Yingqi hadn't come alone today; from the moment the other party entered the ward, she had used her hypnotic ability, just like when they first met, making her only able to notice Li Yingqi's presence, when in fact, the room was already full of other people standing beside her.

When she saw Yao Zhenzhen hugging a mass of air and gnawing on it, Yu Lianyun became even more certain of her conjecture.

"What do you think the voice that summoned you last night could be?" Li Yingqi took a deep breath.

Yu Lianyun said helplessly: "I haven't been at the Xuanmi Group for long, and I'm very unfamiliar with everything here. Aside from that female corpse, there shouldn't be anything else I can think of that relates to me; could it possibly be you guys?"

Li Yingqi caught the subtext in Yu Lianyun's words, knowing that the other party had actually guessed that her purpose for coming today was impure, and also knew that He Jia'an and Wei Jiang, whom she had "hidden" with her ability, were both present.

"Ahem." He Jia'an coughed awkwardly and walked out from behind Li Yingqi as usual, and Wei Jiang followed closely behind, scratching his head in a simple and honest manner.

"This is a necessary procedure, please understand." He Jia'an stood with his hands behind his back and said solemnly, "If the person under suspicion today were someone else in the organization, such an inquiry would also be directed at them."

Yu Lianyun nodded calmly.

"Indeed, as you suspected, the few people who died last night were all organization members who had directly contacted the female corpse. I didn't expect those Other-dimensional lifeforms to be so cunning and insidious; they set psychological suggestions for everyone who had fallen into hallucinations.

If any of them had broken free from the Other-dimensional lifeforms' modification, the psychological suggestion would be triggered, and at night they would hear a certain sound wave emitted from the female corpse, like a young girl's panting..."

"Why does that sound a bit weird?" Wei Jiang could not help but say.

"Uh, anyway, that's the sound recorded by the containment facility, what can I do." He Jia'an's old face was embarrassed; after glaring at Wei Jiang, he continued, "In short, those who received the induction subconsciously obeyed it, and then they all approached the place where the female corpse was stored last night. The closer they got, the more they fell into being controlled, and the final result was that they triggered the anti-theft mechanism and were killed by the traps."

"Is the Xuanmi Group headquarters actually such a dangerous place, where even the anti-theft design is so merciless and takes lives so easily?" Yu Lianyun looked shocked.

He Jia'an shook his head and said strangely: "That's not the case. After they arrived at the place where the female corpse was stored, they lost their self-awareness and, like zombies, used any means necessary to enter the room. Some smashed their own heads against the door, and others squeezed themselves into gaps less than five centimeters wide... The ways they died were bizarre and varied; no one knows how they managed to do it."