Chapter 40: Psychic Drawing (Part ½)

Zhang Yingying had spoken about Luo Nan drawing a portrait without rhyme or reason, causing Luo Nan to observe her carefully once again.

Honestly speaking, Zhang Yingying really did change, and it was a fairly large change at that. The aura of her body had transformed entirely. If Luo Nan were to draw her portrait now, the result absolutely wouldn’t be like the one from when they played the game together, possessing the intense look of victory or defeat.

Was her mood actually influenced this greatly?

“Mr. Luo.” He Yueyin’s voice propagated through the HexaEar with some information to the side, “Please enter Encrypted Channel 001.”

“......Okay.”

Luo Nan abided with her request, entering into what seemed to be a module established at the last minute. A simple interface should have already been set up inside, but Luo Nan wasn’t certain on the specific contents. He could only see information pertaining to himself and the Human-Faced Arachnid, and the information was constantly being updated with new information at this time to always be changing.

Was this a pre-installed template of the HexaEar? Or was this built by He Yueyin? If it was the latter, Luo Nan could only exclaim in admiration over He Yueyin’s powerful control over the mental plane.

“I hope we can collect some information before we start the meeting as a basis for determining our strategic decisions. Mr. Luo doesn’t mind right?”

Luo Nan responded sincerely: “I don’t even know how I should describe some of the things.”

“No problem. Just providing the information first-hand is fine. Before when you were in the elevator, other than your friend……”

“Xue Lei.”

“Mm. Other than Mr. Xue blocking the Black Wolf, you should have caused the Human-Faced Arachnid to be impeded in some way. Is this correct?”

Luo Nan rolled his eye back in the dark. Why was the first question so sharp!?

However, the heavily chained crow molded from his grandfather’s Formatting Theory was a grand and impressive achievement. Luo Nan couldn’t wait to proclaim this achievement; he didn’t have sentimental thoughts that stopped him. But what he wanted to avoid was nothing more than revealing his relations.h.i.+p with the Human-Faced Arachnid and his hidden card of having psychic intuition.

The current problem was that he absolutely wouldn’t be able to explain things in such a short time, so he could only express things in a rather brief and regretful way: “I felt that there was some sort of negative existence in the elevator at that time, so I tried using my ‘Chains’ to inhibit it.”

“Chains?”

Luo Nan was waiting for this question. He took a deep breath to express his words as clearly as possible: “This is in accordance with my grandfather’s theory. I constructed a sort of Format on the mental plane. Its usage is to quell abnormal states in the body and mind…...”

He Yueyin asked in curiosity: “A Format built on the mental plane? Do you mean the Formatting Theory’s Archetype Formats?”

Luo Nan original mood was rather worked up, but then it was as if his mood was suddenly doused with ice-cold water. He really wanted to roar in response, “What f*cking Archetype Formats!” But soon he thought of the origins to the strength displayed by He Yueyin in the elevator. Wasn’t it none other than the Format of Fire?

In the hearts of Burners like her, Yan Hong’s Archetype Formatting Theory was certainly the cornerstone of strength. They wouldn’t accept anything else.

He had actually wanted to expound on his grandfather’s theory in earnest. He was really stupid for wanting to.

Luo Nan’s mood dropped down in a flash, no longer caught up in a desire to explain. He just responded: “I don’t know what special terms you all use, but the general meaning is like this.”

“This theory looks to be quite interesting. I hope Mr. Luo would discuss the theory with me in earnest when there is a chance.”

He Yueyin was just like an outstanding host; she would never reject her people’s words in rashness. Yet she grasped the crux of the subject all this time: “Mr. Luo. Can you describe what you experienced when you faced off against the Human-Faced Arachnid? For example, the abilities displayed by the Human-Faced Arachnid?”

Luo Nan didn’t respond immediately, for he was trying to sort out his response in order to preserve his hidden cards; he would need some time.

From feeling Luo Nan's hesitation, He Yueyin didn’t stick with the roles of questioner and listener; she first shared her own experience:

“Actually, I cooperated with my comrades yesterday to annihilate a clone of the Human-Faced Arachnid. The one that we encountered today was clearly far different than the one from yesterday……”

“Yesterday? Where?” Luo Nan wasn’t quite expecting this.

“Mr. Luo should know where the source of the Human-Faced Arachnid incident is. It was right above the R&D district, in the air, on the military transport s.h.i.+p Lanshan.”

It was her……. That blade aura! No doubt about it!

The door to Luo Nan’s memories had been a bit loose. Now that door was wide open. He took this lean woman in front of him and integrated this image with his memories of the Deep Blue Walker slaying the burning wraith with a cross blade slash from yesterday morning on the transport s.h.i.+p.

That sensation from the blade’s aura fit completely. Yes. She was the Slayer who had beheaded and vanquished the burning wraith!

Sure enough, this was a small world full of coincidences.

Luo Nan really didn’t feel much, even though they ought to have some hate between them. Anyway, he suddenly spurted out the question he had stuffed in his stomach:

“Sister He doesn’t need the Deep Blue Exo-Armor to ignite the Format of Fire?” 

The real question he wanted to ask was as follows: Why did I feel that the strength you displayed in the elevator was a factor stronger than what you displayed in the armor?

What a pity. This sort of question would expose himself. He could only stuff it into his stomach.

He Yueyin wasn’t surprised of Luo Nan's certainty that she was a Deep Blue Walker. Deep Blue Walkers and Burners had a synonymous relations.h.i.+p in this world.

“Starting from the third generation of Burners, the Format of Fire can exist even when casting off the Exo-Armor. After all, technology is constantly improving.”

He Yueyin did not explain in further depth. Instead, she returned and elaborated more on the original topic: “Compared to the one I annihilated before, this Human-Faced Arachnid's clone possessed capabilities of interfering with reality that were clearly much stronger. To be able to forcefully infect and control an Awakened such as the Black Wolf, and to extract life force at high speeds…… If the clone on the wars.h.i.+p was like this one, we would have had a hard time succeeding in surrounding and killing it.”

Luo Nan used the HexaEar to thumb through the Society’s materials and linked them with his own experiences. In the end, he found nothing that was illogical:

“It should have consumed much of its kind. Eight, ten of them acc.u.mulated together. Its abilities would naturally be on a higher level.”

He Yueyin responded: “As of now, there has only been two cases of success from the start of the search and destroy operation with the Human-Faced Arachnid in the entirety of Xia City, not counting the one here. Other than that, there are three cases of defeat. Though there isn’t more detailed information, from the brief you can see that this clone of the Human-Faced Arachnid we faced displayed a strength on another level. This was also the first case where an Awakened was forcefully infected.”

“I didn’t mention this before, but I feel that the most important issue lies in how the information is determined. Purely relying on the power of the Society’s psychics would make it impossible for a valid series of information to occur. Other than this, Quantum Corporation certainly has its reservations. The high ranking members of the Military and the Society have already re-entered the R&D district for reconnaissance, in hopes of new discoveries.”

The sound of a door interrupted their conversation. The ability users, who had been scattered on the various floors of the building, arrived one after another. Each person had a different appearance, but they shared a single common ground; they were rather curious towards Luo Nan and He Yueyin.

Zhang Yingying raised her head as well, pumping herself up to help with introductions.

Frankly speaking, Luo Nan really didn’t commit too many of them to memory; he just remembered that the Black Beetle hadn’t come. It looked like that one no longer put on any false pretenses of respect.