Chapter 283: Shen Zexi: You Might Not Believe This, I Just Gave Up Thinking

Shen Zexi subconsciously raised his hand to scratch his face, as if struggling to organize his words, and his face still bore the lingering shock from just now.

"I........" he opened his mouth, his voice a bit hoarse, "to be honest, at that moment I really thought Ying Duo was dead."

His gaze subconsciously drifted toward Ying Duo, and in those eyes that always held a gentle smile, there was now a lingering dread.

"When I saw him fall, my mind went completely blank."

Shen Zexi paused, taking a deep breath.

In that instant, the image of Ying Duo collapsing was not the only thing flashing through his mind; there were also fragments of far older memories.

That cold despair of being powerless, forced to watch a life extinguish before his eyes.

He believed he had been careful enough, always restraining his thoughts, not "hoping" for anything, not "desiring" anything.

Because "fate" is like an insatiable demon, always satisfying its wishes in twisted ways that come at others' painful cost.

The moment the Blood Crystal pierced Ying Duo's chest, a mad thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

If Ying Duo really died, could it be because, in his subconscious, at some inadvertent moment, he had wished that this constantly troublesome fellow........ would disappear?

That thought made him feel as if he had plunged into an ice cellar, terrifying him even more than Ying Duo's death itself.

"Maybe it's because Ying Duo's hair suddenly stopped shining, which caused my mind to crash, right?"

Shen Zexi's expression turned indifferent, even with a slightly embarrassed smile.

Ying Duo's hair itself is a living Mutation Source.

And what is the nature of a Mutation?

It coexists with its host, and even........ when the host's vitality wanes to a certain degree, it attempts to seize and remodel the host's body to prolong its own existence.

If Ying Duo were truly pierced through the heart, the Mutation Source atop his head could never so "quietly" extinguish along with him.

The Butterfly Speaker heard this, his eyes instantly widened, genuinely showing a look of contemplation and self‑doubt.

"The hair stopped shining?"

The Butterfly Speaker murmured the words repeatedly, his gaze lingering over Ying Duo's head.

For illusionists, every detail of the environment is crucial; they use those details to cloud others' consciousness, making them believe the Illusion Realm is real.

"I thought it was a glowing effect he added with his own energy........ when a person dies, they lose energy and dim, that's normal, right?"

After all, when such a conspicuous trait changes at "death," it enhances the sense of realism.

So his deliberately cautious trick turned into a loophole?

But now, looking closely, the more he examined, the more something felt off.

Then this Ying Guang Lu hair doesn't seem to be a simple energy effect?

The Butterfly Speaker leaned in toward Ying Duo, examined the green hair closely, then recoiled as if burned, his face full of shock:

"Holy crap! Your hair is a living Mutation Source? You still haven't turned into an Aberrant Species? How are you still hopping around with that thing without being devoured by the Mutation, or captured by the Heresy Tribunal and burned?!"

The mechanical butterfly on his shoulder seemed to sense his master's shock, flapping its wings rapidly twice.

No wonder Chi Jinan was chasing that little fellow to kill! That little fellow really isn't innocent.

Chi Jinan's previously slightly eased killing intent surged again at the words, his pure black eyes coldly locking onto Ying Duo, with Blood Crystals faintly swirling around him.

"Mutation Source....... and you still claim you're not a 'Co-Absorption' cultist?"

Only Co-Absorption fits, a bunch of refined Mutation Sources running around.

Seeing Chi Jinan ready to act again, Min Tianyou felt a headache and quickly spoke up to interrupt:

"Wait! Ying Duo's Mutation Source is on record with the Supervision Bureau!"

Glancing at Ying Duo, then at the Butterfly Speaker's face full of curiosity and shock, Min Tianyou sighed helplessly, thinking this mess couldn't be cleared up without an explanation.

"His hair turning like this was an accident," Min Tianyou chose his words carefully, trying to make the incident sound less far‑fetched.

"According to the investigation, his hair was dyed at an unlicensed barbershop, and the dye accidentally contained some special material, which resulted in this appearance."

He paused, then added.

"Although he carries a Mutation Source, his Mutation Value remains stable, showing no signs of runaway, and his cognitive impairment is related to this, but it can basically be ruled out that he is a voluntarily carrying or manufacturing Mutation Source member of Co-Absorption."

The air fell silent for a few seconds.

Chi Jinan: "......."

Shen Zexi silently averted his gaze.

The Butterfly Speaker opened his mouth, his expression shifting from shock to bewilderment.

"....... Ha?"

The Butterfly Speaker finally emitted only a brief syllable, looking at Ying Duo's green hair stubbornly emitting a faint glow in the dim light, trying to digest this overly bizarre information.

The Butterfly Speaker remained silent for a long while, long enough that everyone thought his CPU had burned out, before he finally, with a sigh, slowly uttered two words:

"Awesome."

Those two words summed up all his complex feelings at that moment.

Nevertheless, aside from the rant, the Butterfly Speaker's sharp mind quickly seized another point.

"Wait....... a mineral containing massive Mutation energy?"

He stroked his chin, a glint of contemplation flashing in his deep‑purple eyes.

"This property......... I think I've heard of something similar somewhere........"

"Is it 'Gloomy Fluorescent Stone'?"

Min Tianyou continued, and the Butterfly Speaker subconsciously nodded, "Seems like that kind of thing?"

"Oh, so it's the 'Gloomy Fluorescent Stone' that our Supervision Bureau explicitly bans, then where did this gentleman hear about it? Could the Undercurrent be smuggling it privately?"

This kid just dug a rotten pit for him!

He says this thing sounds so familiar, and it really seems tied to their Undercurrent.

No, that reckless fellow's unilateral actions, what do they have to do with them?

"How could that be? Our Undercurrent is the most law‑abiding organization, otherwise we wouldn't have, as soon as we heard the Supervision Bureau needed something, agreed to cooperate with you, would we?"

The Butterfly Speaker forced a smile onto his face, responding with a grin that didn't reach his eyes.

"Ahem, that's enough. We'll discuss the hairstyle and dye issue later."

The Butterfly Speaker clapped his hands, forcibly pulling the stray topic back, his gaze sweeping over everyone present again, finally landing on Chi Jinan.

His tone returned to that slightly flippant manner, "Then shall we get down to business? After all, you came here for that, didn't you?"

"As per the cooperative terms we previously locked in, I will be responsible for informing you of the locations of several underground bases where our Undercurrent knows about Co‑Absorption."