He didn’t linger. He soon exited the room—now refitted as a Containment Box—and headed to the neighboring monitoring room.
Chu Jifan showed zero signs of feeling like a prisoner. Becoming Weird Phenomena had tweaked her personality in subtle ways. She felt even more uninhibited than the version Lin Juan had known in the illusion.
Her holding cell was a specially built oversized Containment Box. Inside, the Pollution stayed at a bare minimum.
“How much of your memory have you recovered now?” Lin Juan crossed his hands over his knees.
“Pretty much all of it as Chu Jifan. You’re here to ask me something specific, right, Mr. Lin?” She held nothing back.
Her value was immense: knowledge of the lab from over a decade ago, Weird Phenomena research, shadowy forces still lurking unknown…
Lin Juan wasn’t surprised the Anomalous Affairs Bureau clashed over her fate.
Some risks were worth taking.
Lin Juan didn’t mind testing the waters for the Anomalous Affairs Bureau. “I’ve got two patients. They went mad because of Experimental Subject B-023 from your lab. Any way to fix them?”
“Yes.” Chu Jifan didn’t even ask how they’d been affected. Her answer came swift and certain.
“What method?” Lin Juan leaned his body forward slightly, looking eager.
Chu Jifan said, “Take me to see them. I can make them recover. Of course, if you are not at ease, you can also bring them to see me.”
“I can’t do that.” As he spoke, Lin Juan carefully observed Chu Jifan’s expression.
“I think that when asking for someone’s help, you should at least show some sincerity. What do you think, Mr. Lin?” Chu Jifan’s words carried an ambiguous meaning.
Lin Juan did not speak.
Outside the monitoring room, the ability user watching the surveillance sighed, “This is the first time I’ve seen a weird phenomenon act so boldly in front of Mr. Lin.”
Indeed.
The other ability users nodded inwardly.
They looked at the 【Water Tower】 they had contained, then at the 【Forest Cabin】 that served as a weapon by Mr. Lin’s side, and then at the other weird phenomena that Lin Juan had punched down with a single fist. No weird phenomenon that dared to act up in front of Mr. Lin had ever been tough.
The conversation inside the room continued.
“You should know that the world outside now is different from back then. Weird phenomena are known to the public, and the country has established a dedicated institution to handle weird phenomenon incidents. Chu Jifan, cooperate well, and you might still have a chance.”
Lin Juan did not specify what chance, and Chu Jifan did not ask.
She lowered her eyes and fell into contemplation.
After a long while, she raised her head. “Tomorrow, bring people over and have them prepare some things for me. I can make a medicine that will make them recover.”
Lin Juan nodded. “I will relay that.”
Just before opening the door, Chu Jifan called out to Lin Juan. “Wait.”
Lin Juan stopped and turned back.
“Do you want to know what really happened back then in the true past? For example, did they research the true 【Angel’s Eye】?”
Lin Juan let go of the door handle, turned around, and sat back in the chair. “I’d be happy to know.”
“They did not research the true 【Angel’s Eye】, but they successfully bred the evolved form of B-023. The evolved form was named Experimental Subject A-023. They were not large in size, polluted people more easily, and could even alter people’s cognition to a certain extent.”
Lin Juan instantly thought of Second Brother Lu, who had been deceived by Qiu Lishu for many years, and Lu Yanzhou, who had eaten the eyeballs.
Qiu Lishu…
“Were there spiders among the experimental subjects you researched?”
Lin Juan had specifically checked all the experimental subjects in the laboratory during the illusion, but he had not found any spiders or the like.
There were very few insects.
Chu Jifan said, “Our laboratory did not have any, but other places did. Their laboratories were spread across the globe. Some specialized in animal research, some in insects, and some in other categories. They were divided very finely. The laboratory I was in back then was one of the smaller ones.”
Lin Juan asked, “How much do you know about their information?”
“Not much.” A flash of hatred appeared in Chu Jifan’s eyes. “If I knew more, I wouldn’t have only destroyed one laboratory back then.”
The dead could not be brought back to life. The people she cared about would never return.
“I should make them pay the price!”
Her hair behind her moved without wind, and a faint glow emanated from Chu Jifan’s body. In the containment box, the pollution value skyrocketed.
“【Memory Recall】 is out of control!” In the monitoring room, the ability user who saw this scene abruptly stood up.
“Don’t panic. See what Mr. Lin does.” Director Liu remained composed.
With Lin Juan there, no matter how out of control 【Memory Recall】 got, it would not cause any trouble.
In the surveillance feed, Lin Juan had already stood up.
He moved very quickly. Before Chu Jifan could fully lose control, he struck down with a palm, and the half-erupted weird phenomenon collapsed.
Lin Juan patted his hands and looked toward the surveillance direction. “Try not to mention what happened back then in front of Chu Jifan. It will cause her to lose control.”
When Lin Juan came out, an ability user trotted over. “Mr. Lin, please come this way.”
“Mr. Lin, about what 【Memory Recall】 said…” Director Liu was undecided.
He was very tempted, but Lin Juan had only just asked about what happened back then, and 【Memory Recall】 had nearly lost control. If they let her conduct the experiment, would she recall more bad things?
“Since she proposed it herself, doing the experiment should not affect her. Prepare the things she mentioned and see when she wants to do it. I will come and watch.”
If anything could make Chu Jifan lose control, Lin Juan could not have had a normal conversation with her for so long.
The trigger point should be that incident back then. As long as they avoided mentioning it, it would be fine.
With Lin Juan’s words, Director Liu began making arrangements.
According to Chu Jifan’s requirements, Director Liu gathered the materials and equipment she needed.
The matter was conducted in secret, and not many people knew about it. The experiment did not take long—less than three hours—and Chu Jifan produced the finished product.
Director Liu and two other higher-ups watched in a daze the entire time.
They had seen plenty of weird phenomena, but this was the first time they had seen one that could conduct experiments.
“There are quite a few finished products. You can take some to analyze the composition first.” Knowing that her identity as a weird phenomenon would not easily earn their trust, Chu Jifan spoke up proactively.
The potion was divided in two. Half was taken to the Research Institute, and the other half was handed to Lin Juan.
After confirming the composition was safe, Lin Juan took the potion to see Mu Xiaowan and Fan Xiwen.
Chu Jifan had said that after taking the potion, they would sleep for twenty hours, and upon waking, the side effects caused by Experimental Subject B-023 would disappear.
After feeding the potion to Mu Xiaowan and Fan Xiwen, the two who had been restless stopped instantly, closed their eyes, and fell unconscious.
Next came a long period of waiting.
For the Mu Family and Fan Family, these twenty hours were destined to be unbearable.
They stayed up all night.
Lin Juan did not sleep either and waited outside all night.
The closer they got to the twenty-hour mark, the more nervous the two families became. They did not know if the ones who woke up would be the loved ones they knew.
Second Brother Lu still did not enter and stood guard outside like a statue.
Ding—
The time arrived.
The Mu Family members and Old Master Lu stared nervously at the bed.
The person lying on the bed moved.
Mu Xiaowan opened her eyes, her gaze blank.
The Mu Family members eagerly surrounded her. “Xiaowan?”
They did not know if Mu Xiaowan had recovered and called out especially cautiously.
“Big Brother?” Mu Xiaowan propped herself up to sit. “Dad, Mom, why are you all here?”
She looked around, puzzled. “Am I dreaming? Why do you all look so much older?”
“Xiaowan!” After years of anticipation finally coming true, the Mu Family members wept with joy. “Xiaowan is really better!”
The family hugged together, crying and laughing. The same scene played out next door in the Fan Family.
Lin Juan’s taut nerves relaxed. It seemed Chu Jifan had not deceived him.
He knocked on the door. The room fell silent. The eldest brother of the Mu Family came to open it. Seeing Lin Juan, his eyes were still red, and his tone was agitated. “Mr. Lin, thank you. Xiaowan is really better.”
They had hoped countless times for this day, only to face disappointment after disappointment. This time, they finally waited for Mu Xiaowan to truly awaken.
The waiting medical staff entered to check Mu Xiaowan’s body. Zhuang Yufeng was also there.
After probing Mu Xiaowan’s body with his supernatural ability, Zhuang Yufeng mused thoughtfully, “It seems science can also counter pollution.”
Ability users were rare, and purification type and healing type ability users were even rarer. Moreover, their power was limited. But the potion Chu Jifan had researched was different—it could be produced indefinitely as long as there were enough raw materials.
The value of 【Memory Recall】 was greater than they had imagined.
Once the Mu Family had adjusted their emotions, Lin Juan entered the ward.
The Mu Family enthusiastically introduced Lin Juan to Mu Xiaowan. “This is Mr. Lin. Xiaowan, you were able to awaken thanks to the medicine Mr. Lin brought.”
Mu Xiaowan had already learned from her closest family that she had been mad for over ten years. Seeing Lin Juan, she blanked out for a moment.
“Big Brother, I want to speak to Mr. Lin alone for a few words.”
After this incident, the Mu Family’s trust in Lin Juan had reached its peak. They vacated the space for the two and left the ward.
Once the others had left, Mu Xiaowan spoke softly. “Mr. Lin, I’ve seen you before.”
Lin Juan was certain he had not seen Mu Xiaowan before, except for the previous visit to the sanatorium.
“Where did you see me? I visited you at the sanatorium before. Do you remember that?”
“Not at the sanatorium.” Mu Xiaowan shook her head. “It was a very strange place. Mr. Lin was also wearing a white coat, standing outside the glass tank, observing us.”
“There were eyeballs all around me, big and small. We would often kill each other—you eat me, I eat you. I didn’t know how many eyeballs I had eaten, nor how many times I had been eaten. My consciousness was sometimes clear, but most of the time it was chaotic.”
“It was like falling into an endless nightmare. I tried hard to awaken, but my consciousness kept drifting further away. In the end, I completely forgot I was Mu Xiaowan, forgot that I had once been human.”
“I was lost in the nightmare.”
“Mr. Lin, that wasn’t a dream, was it?”
She gazed at Lin Juan, her tone certain.
Had Mu Xiaowan’s consciousness also been trapped in 【Memory Recall】?
Then, was her awakening due to the effect of Chu Jifan’s potion, or had she lifted the control herself?
Lin Juan did not show any of his inner thoughts in front of Mu Xiaowan.
“You are awake now and will not return to that dream. You can treat it as just a nightmare, one that spanned over a dozen years. Now, you are awake. You will welcome a new life in the world that belongs to you.”
“I understand.” Mu Xiaowan withdrew her gaze. “Mr. Lin is right. No matter what, I am awake now and should not dwell on a nightmare of unknown truth.”
Every day from now on would be a new beginning for her.
