Chapter 473: Eye of Truth

Lu Yu sat on the hospital bed, watching Su Ming and Chen Shao's bodies tensed like a drawn bowstring, and suddenly found it funny.

In his previous life, the two of them together could overturn half a city.

Now the way they look at him is like encountering an unknown liquid in a chemistry experiment.

"In his previous life, the Investigation Bureau, while cleaning a contamination zone near the North American Frontline, accidentally discovered a rule‑type Containment Object."

Lu Yu lifted his water cup and took another sip. The cup was stainless steel, its insulation was poor, and the water was already ice‑cold.

"Codename 'Eye of Truth'."

Su Ming's fingertip paused.

He had seen many Containment Objects in his life, and any that bore the word "Truth" never turned out to be a cheap trick.

Lu Yu gave him no time to digest.

"Its rule effect has only one clause: anchor any spatial coordinates and absolutely replay the real footage that occurred at that coordinate within the past ten years."

The cold air from the ward's air‑conditioner vent brushed over the IV stand, and a metal pipe clanged with a ding.

That sound was especially clear in the quiet room.

Su Ming's brain completed the inference almost as a reflex.

"Anchor the spot where Zhang Yuanqing was granted power, and initiate the replay."

"Right."

"The face of that 'god' is right in the footage."

"Right."

Lu Yu set the cup back on the nightstand and flicked his finger against the cup wall.

"It disregards all shielding methods, all causal interference, all data erasure. It does not use any conventional data channel; it reads directly from the space itself's 'memory'."

Su Ming leaned back in his chair, his mind already running a second round of calculations.

Zhang Yuanqing's range of activity in life was limited: the slum's Black Clinic, a few surrounding streets, occasional temp work at a hospital. Running through all those coordinates wouldn't be a heavy workload.

As long as they obtain the "Eye of Truth", that "god" who hides in the shadows and wipes away all footprints will have to reveal its true form under the sun.

Su Ming was still pondering the third step when Chen Shao spoke first.

"Where's the thing?"

Three words. Simple and crisp.

He didn't even bother to question "Is it real?" or "Is it there?".

It's not because he trusts Lu Yu.

It's because he knows that anyone who dares to openly admit being a reincarnated being before Su Ming and himself has no reason to lie about such details. The cost of a lie is too high, and Lu Yu clearly calculates costs better than he does.

Lu Yu lifted his eyelid and glanced at Chen Shao.

Then he said six words.

"North American Frontline Core Area."

The air‑conditioner kept blowing.

But after hearing those six words, Chen Shao felt for three seconds as if the ward's temperature had been twisted down to sub‑zero.

Su Ming clenched his lower molars.

North American Frontline.

S-Class Anomaly Domain.

One of the most dangerous Anomaly Domains ever recorded by humanity.

The outer thirty kilometers are a continuously released neuro‑toxic fog that can dissolve organic tissue within six minutes. Inside the fog lies the monsters' territory, so densely packed that "covering the ground" is no exaggeration. Further inward—

There is no "further inward". The surviving humans can be counted on one hand.

"Su Ming." Lu Yu called him.

Su Ming looked up.

"I know what you're thinking."

Lu Yu's tone was even, without sarcasm or sympathy—just a plain statement.

"You are wondering whether the Investigation Bureau's elite combined with Eden Garden's main force can breach the outer perimeter and forcibly take the thing out."

Su Ming did not deny it.

He was indeed thinking that.

"Stop thinking about it."

Lu Yu raised three fingers.

"In his previous life, to obtain this item, the Investigation Bureau and Eden Garden conducted a joint operation. They sent in a vanguard of thirty‑seven, equipped with the era's most advanced gear and Containment Objects."

He withdrew one finger.

"The three S Ji anomalous leaders leading the team—Shadow Lord Jiang Yuan, E Fo Jin Zai Heng, and Gui Nao Zou Ren. You may not know the latter two, but they will later become Core Captains of the Investigation Bureau."

Su Ming's pupils suddenly contracted.

Chen Shao's Demon Eye flashed.

"Three go in."

Lu Yu withdrew his second finger.

"One comes out."

The ward fell silent; even the air‑conditioner's hum was drowned by that sentence.

Su Ming and Chen Shao's complexions darkened simultaneously.

It wasn't fear.

It was calculation.

Three S Ji.

Lost two and a half.

But now they are still missing a whole level from S Ji.

"So you're telling us this not to let us take it." Su Ming's voice was squeezed out from between his teeth, "It's to keep us from going to die."

"Su Team Captain's comprehension is on point."

Lu Yu leaned back against the headboard and tugged at the edge of the blanket. The action was casual, completely mismatched with the discussion content.

"The poisonous mist and spatial anomalies in the core area render all conventional means ineffective. If you go now, you won't even breach the outer perimeter's first line of defense—you'll all be wiped out."

Chen Shao closed his Demon Eye.

That cluster of scarlet light was covered by his eyelids, leaking only a thin line of dark red through the gap.

He didn't speak. But Su Ming could tell he was calculating—calculating Eden Garden's total combat strength, Xu An's Correction Place, his own psychic upper limit, and whether all the Containment Objects combined could tear open a passage.

He finished the calculation.

The answer was written on the knuckles of his right hand, clenched then relaxed.

Not enough.

Far short.

"What do we do then?" Su Ming lifted his gaze and met the eyes of the boy on the bed.

Lu Yu had been waiting for exactly those words.

The boy propped himself up on the mattress and sat straight.

His previous lax, half-asleep languor was swept away completely.

In its place came something that rose from his spine upward, belonging to another stage of life.

"The essence of the contamination in the Weird Domain's core area is the overflow of an S Ji Weird's concept. Regular Weird‑wardens entering it, no matter how strong their bodies or how hard their mental defenses, will be eroded at the cognitive level once they touch that conceptual contamination."

He patted his own chest.

"But I'm different."

Su Ming's gaze changed.

"Glutton."

"Its full name is 'Final Devourer·Glutton.' It is not an ordinary parasitic Weird; its core rule is——to eat."

Lu Yu's fingers tapped twice on his own sternum.

"Any Weird's power, rule, or concept is food to it. S Ji contamination? Eat. Spatial anomaly? Also eat. As long as I can reach the core area, the poisonous mist is not an obstacle for me—it's a buffet."

When he said that, Lu Yu's heartbeat remained steady at sixty‑two.

Su Ming stared at the flatline on the monitor that was eerily steady, when a most untimely thought flashed through his mind——

"Is this kid really not nervous, or has his heart been altered too?"

"One person goes in. One person comes out." Lu Yu's mouth corner twitched, the arc precise to a millimeter, "In my past life, the task that took three S Ji and lost two and a half to complete, I can accomplish alone."

He paused.

"The premise is——"

It came.

A string in Su Ming's mind had been pulled to its tightest point.

Chen Shao's Demon Eye reopened.

"The premise is, I need enough time and resources to feed the Glutton to peak condition."

Lu Yu finished saying that sentence word for word, then quietly and patiently looked at the two people opposite him.

His expression was open and frank.

His openness verged on nakedness.

Su Ming took about 0.5 seconds to dismantle that logic.

"Putting it plainly: I have the exclusive key, but the lock is too hard; I don't have enough strength now. If you want to open the door, you must first fatten me up."

A blatant scheme.

A textbook‑level blatant scheme, too lazy even to hang a fig leaf.

Su Ming turned his head to glance at Chen Shao.

Chen Shao was also looking at him.

Their gazes met above the hospital bed, each reading the same word in the other's eyes.

They were had.

Su Ming turned back and stared at Lu Yu.

The fourteen‑year‑old boy leaned against a white pillow, his face still pallid from recent recovery, the tiny puncture mark left where the IV was removed on the back of his hand still oozing a speck of dark‑red scab.

He looked fragile.

But every word he spoke was tightening a noose around Su Ming's and Chen Shao's necks.

"Name your price." Chen Shao's voice low, "What do you want?"

Lu Yu blinked.

"Not much."

"Eden Garden opens supply of high‑quality Weird materials; the Investigation Bureau's A‑Ji and above Containment Object training grounds are available unlimited; when a suitable Weird Domain appears, let me enter first."

He counted on his fingers, as if ordering dishes in the cafeteria.

"Also——the information networks of both sides are opened to me synchronously. I need to stay abreast of global Weird developments and judge for myself which prey are worth eating."

Su Ming laughed.

It wasn't a happy laugh; it was a laugh of exasperation.

"Why didn't you also take the Investigation Bureau's key over?"

"Can you give it?"

"Get lost."

Lu Yu shrugged his shoulders and pulled the fingers he had just counted back into the blanket.

"Just kidding. No key. The rest, I'm serious."

The ward was quiet for a few seconds.

Su Ming shoved the flattened cigarette pack back into his pocket, stood up, and the tablet on his knee almost slipped off; he caught it with one hand.

"I need to report to Wei Gong."

"Whatever," Lu Yu said lightly, "but I suggest you leave no trace on any electronic device. That 'god' can erase your database and monitor your communications. Report face‑to‑face, keep paper records, and burn them after reading."

Su Ming's movement paused for a beat.

He closed the Encrypted Terminal he had just opened.

Chen Shao rose from the folding chair, his right arm under the bandage trembling slightly. It wasn't pain; his muscles were contracting involuntarily.

He walked to the bedside and looked down at Lu Yu.

Demon Eye fully opened. Crimson light fell on the boy's pale face, staining half of his visage blood‑red.

Lu Yu stared back at him motionlessly, not even squinting.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Chen Shao withdrew his gaze.

"Deal is sealed."

He turned and walked toward the door. As he passed Su Ming, their shoulders nearly brushed, and neither yielded.

The door opened, then closed.

Footsteps faded away.

Only Su Ming and Lu Yu remained in the ward.

Su Ming glanced at the tablet in his hand, then at the boy on the bed with his eyes closed, looking as if he intended to go back to sleep.

"You have calculated everyone's reactions."

It wasn't a question.

Lu Yu didn't open his eyes.

"Captain Su."

"Hmm."

"The last meal in the previous life, the Cafeteria's spare ribs were really too salty."

Su Ming's hand paused on the door handle.

He didn't look back.

"The Investigation Bureau's logistics must never change the cook."

The door opened, then closed.

The ward fell completely silent.

Lu Yu opened his eyes and stared at the bleak white patches cast by the ceiling fluorescent tubes.

The curve of his mouth gradually vanished.

The cup of ice‑cold water still sat on the nightstand, a thin veil of mist clinging to its outer wall.

He reached for it and took another sip.

When he swallowed, his throat tightened.

It wasn't because the water was cold.

It was because the taste of that meal from his previous life was too vivid.

The spare ribs were salty. The soup was salty. Liang Wen's cheesy lines were annoying. Jiang Yuan's politeness was unnecessary. Su Ming's method of picking fat meat was punch‑worthy.

All of it was too clear.

Lu Yu set the cup down and closed his eyes.

The monitor's beeping continued.

Sixty‑two.

Steady as if it were fake.

Outside the white ward deepest within this military hospital, in the medical office of Qiu Ce Yuan many kilometers away, a young doctor wearing gold‑rimmed glasses was polishing a Stethoscope.

Chu Che hung the Stethoscope back on his neck and nudged his glasses frame.

The lenses reflected a flash of light.

"Eye of Truth."

He repeated the name softly, his tone laced with a certain playfulness.

"Interesting."

He pulled open a drawer, took out the next patient's file, and opened it.

His expression was gentle.

His movements were unhurried.

There was no difference from the most ordinary school doctor in the world.