Chapter 91
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Lin You continued, “After rescuing Comrade Li Sanxin, we encountered the ‘you’ who came to find me and Comrade Li Sanxin.”
Lou Yan nodded and looked at Li Sanxin, “At the moment, your suspicion is the lowest, and it’s basically confirmed that you are the real Li Sanxin. But just to be sure, I have to ask you a question.”
Li Sanxin could tell from Lou Yan’s expression that Lou Yan was intentionally retaliating against him. It was probably because he didn’t recognize the fake Lou Yan at first glance, which displeased this young master. He rubbed his nose and said helplessly, “Go ahead, ask.”
Lou Yan said, “During the winter when you were fifteen, you did something earth-shattering. What was it?”
Li Sanxin’s expression instantly became extremely pained. “Can we not talk about it?”
The others looked at Li Sanxin curiously.
Lou Yan said ruthlessly, “No.”
Li Sanxin: “…”
Li Sanxin: “…I secretly drank alcohol, and ended up getting drunk and running out to do a strip dance in the middle of the night. An old lady passing by reported it to the police as hooliganism, and I was taken to the police station for criticism and education. This incident was printed on banners in the neighborhood as a cautionary example to minors not to drink alcohol…”
As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the conference room couldn’t help but laugh, and the air was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
Lou Yan smiled satisfactorily, nodded, and graciously said, “Very well, I’m sure you are the real Li Sanxin.”
Li Sanxin’s mouth twitched, “Thank you.”
After laughing for a while, Lou Yan turned to Lin You, “I saw claw marks on the iron door of Ward 17, which proves that you didn’t lie. You did indeed rescue Li Sanxin from the ward. I don’t know if the anomalies pretending to be us have the same abilities as us, so I also need to ask you a question to verify your authenticity.”
Lin You nodded calmly, “I understand. Go ahead and ask.”
Lou Yan asked, “Since entering the amusement park until now, how many times have I used my ability in front of you?”
As he spoke, Lou Yan gestured suggestively towards his eyes.
Lin You suddenly understood. Lou Yan’s ability he referred to was his ability to see into the future.
Lou Yan’s ability, Time Reversal, was a very powerful ability. Once time was reversed, except for Fu Xuezhou, no one remembered what happened before the reversal. Only Li Sanxin and Lin You, who had been with Lou Yan all along, would know the details of Lou Yan’s ability usage.
Lin You didn’t even need to think, he immediately and confidently answered, “Three times.”
Once in the maze, Lou Yan suddenly knew the map of the maze when Lin You was about to climb the wall; once in the second-floor corridor, Lou Yan also suddenly knew the way to leave the second floor; and once in the kitchen of the pig-headed people, although Lou Yan had never been to the kitchen, he knew it like the back of his hand and even led them to hide in the garbage truck to get to the fourth floor.
These three instances were vividly remembered by Lin You, and he was sure that these were the results Lou Yan had seen from the future after using his ability.
Lou Yan smiled and nodded, “That’s correct, three times. You’re fine.”
Finally, Lou Yan looked at Ye Buyan.
This high school-aged boy had not spoken since Lin You mentioned him, and Lou Yan directly asked, “Lin You said he saw you lying weakly in the corridor, what’s your story?”
Ye Buyan pursed his lips. With everyone else confirming themselves, only he was left now.
He placed his hands on the table, his cold fingers touching each other, and said, “I used my ability to escape from the ward. Because my mental power was low, I ended up collapsing weakly in the corridor.”
Wen Yian looked meaningfully, “But just running out of mental power shouldn’t have caused such a severe reaction.”
Ye Buyan said lightly, “My ability is different from yours.”
Lou Yan looked at the boy for a moment and said directly, “Did you get your ability from the anomaly?”
Only semi-anomalies fused with anomalies would become so weak when their mental strength was depleted.
Ye Buyan looked up sharply, surprised at first, then his expression became guarded, “You know?”
Lou Yan nodded, “Yes. I think everyone here knows that humans can merge with anomalies.”
As he said this, Lou Yan intentionally glanced at Lin You, and indeed, he didn’t see any surprise on Lin You’s face.
He knew that if the Anomaly Control Bureau could develop pirated mental recovery syringes in their past lives, how could they not have discovered that humans could merge with anomalies?
Ye Buyan looked around at everyone in surprise, “Okay, there’s an anomaly inside my body. When my mental power was depleted, using the anomaly’s power to escape from the ward almost caused the anomaly inside my body to revive. Thanks to Mr. Lin, I asked Mr. Lin to punch me to help me stay awake using pain.”
After a pause, Ye Buyan looked at Lou Yan with a calm expression and a hint of doubt in his tone, “Actually, I don’t know how you can prove whether I’m real or fake. We haven’t had any interactions on this floor, and you don’t know if what I’m saying is true or false, or if my personality has changed. The best way would be for us to separate and not interfere with each other.”
Lou Yan smiled and changed the subject to something unrelated, “Are you still in high school?”
Ye Buyan pursed his lips, “Yes, but I’m on leave.”
“What’s the name of the high school you attended?”
Ye Buyan frowned, looked strangely at Lou Yan, and said, “Chengjiang First High School.”
Lou Yan raised an eyebrow, “I guess you didn’t use to be surnamed Ye, right?”
This time, Ye Buyan was completely stunned. After a while, he regained his senses, furrowing his brows deeply, “How did you know?”
“I have a child at home who happened to be in the same class as you. He mentioned you to me before,” Lou Yan said effortlessly, “Let’s do this: you and I will write your previous surname in the palm of the person next to us, and let the person next to us say your previous surname at the same time. Let’s see if we can match it up. If it matches, it proves that you are not an anomaly impersonating a person.”
Ye Buyan finally agreed. He and Lou Yan wrote their previous surnames in the palms of the people next to them. After Li Sanxin and Lin You recognized the words in their palms, they looked at each other and said together, “Ke.”
Ye Buyan used to be called Ke Buyan, and after dropping out of school, he changed his surname from Ke to Ye.
Once, Lou Yan took Lu Haoxiu out to the supermarket. Lu Haoxiu happened to encounter Ke Buyan in the supermarket. On the way back home, Lu Haoxiu told Lou Yan about Ke Buyan because Ke Buyan’s words at the time seemed to hint at knowing about the revival of anomalies, so Lou Yan kept this matter in mind.
Never did he expect to use it now.
Lou Yan then smiled and put away the spinal whip, “Alright, self-verification completed, everyone here is human. Does anyone still have doubts?”
The people present glanced at each other and shook their heads.
Ye Buyan raised his hand, “I want to know who your child is.”
Li Sanxin smiled and patted Ye Buyan on the shoulder, “My child has a really interesting name. You should remember him. His surname is Lu, like ‘road’, how about it, any impression?”
Lu…
Lu Haoxiu.
“It’s him.”
Ye Buyan felt a little relieved. Someone known by that naive fool shouldn’t be a bad person, right?
“Now that there’s no more doubt, let’s think about how to leave this floor.” Lou Yan said, getting back to the main topic, and signaled Wen Yian to tell others about her previous speculation that this level of the insane asylum was actually a funeral parlor.
“In that case, I have some related thoughts,” Ye Buyan said thoughtfully, “This place is a funeral parlor, and anomalies disguised with makeup are actually the dead inside the funeral parlor, or rather, the corpses. Earlier, the anomaly impersonating Mr. Lou also mentioned another person who looks like Mr. Lou. Suppose that anomaly told the truth, then there are three fake Mr. Lous on this level.”
“This number reminds me of the concept of ‘three corpses’ in Daoism,” Ye Buyan said, “The three corpses are three spirits living inside the human body, also known as three corpse gods. In Daoist theory, the three corpse gods are the source of all human desires. To become an immortal, one needs to get rid of the three corpses, which is called ‘cutting the three corpses.'”
“So, the creature Lou Yan encountered earlier was actually his ‘three corpses’? This is quite consistent with the setting of this level being a funeral parlor,” Li Sanxin pondered, “So, if we cut off the three corpses, can we pass this level?”
Wen Yian’s delicate fingers gently twirled her golden hair as she said softly, “Before we found you, we searched most of the corners of the hospital, but unfortunately, we didn’t find any exit that could lead us out of this level. If there’s no exit, then what Ye student said about ‘cutting the three corpses’ is likely the condition for passing this level. Perhaps killing everyone who looks like us is the only way for us to leave this level.”
Everyone instinctively lowered their voices to prevent anomalies from being attracted to them.
Listening to their discussion, Lou Yan reached into his pocket and found the key from the male doctor.
His fingers tapped lightly on the key as he suddenly spoke up, “We lack information. In this level, the prisoner confinement ward has no information, and rooms like the conference room and the pharmacy also have no information. The only place that could hide information about passing the level is where anomalies often stay, such as the doctors’ and nurses’ dormitories and offices. I can pretend to be an anomaly and check them out.”
The other four people turned to look at him. Li Sanxin’s eyebrows furrowed tightly, not asking anything else, just one question, “Are you sure you can deceive other anomalies?”
“I can,” Lou Yan said earnestly, “I’ve encountered anomalies on the way to find you guys before, and none of them detected my human identity.”
“Then go ahead,” Li Sanxin trusted Lou Yan’s ability immensely, “Be careful.”
After saying that, Li Sanxin looked at the others, “While Lou Yan is checking for information, we can’t waste time either. Let’s go and see if there’s an exit in the hospital that can lead us out of this level, and also look for people who look like us. Let’s reconvene here in one hour, okay?”
Lin You, Wen Yian, and Ye Buyan all agreed to this arrangement. Lin You skillfully said, “Before we start, let’s establish a secret code so we can verify our identities when we meet again.”
After setting up the secret code, Lou Yan asked Wen Yian to take out some powder to touch up his makeup. The three big men crowded around, watching curiously. As they watched, each one started giving advice.
“Put more on the right cheek, it seems like it’s not enough on Yanzi’s right side.”
“Is the nose not evenly covered? It looks awkward.”
“His eyebrows are covered, make them look asymmetrical.”
Wen Yian: “…”
Lou Yan could see the vein on Wen Yian’s forehead tensing up.
After finishing the makeup and applying a bright red “lipstick,” Lou Yan imitated the appearance of other anomalies, expressionless, and walked out of the conference room.
On the way, he encountered two female nurses taking new prisoners to the ward. These two nurses didn’t notice anything unusual about him.
According to the room number on the key, Lou Yan came to an office marked “Cardiothoracic Department.”
The office was locked. Lou Yan glanced at the movement in the corridor and then, with half-closed eyes, quietly opened the door with the key.
—However, after opening the door, he saw there were “people” in the office.
The office had two workstations, facing each other. Sitting at the left workstation was a female doctor. She was looking at the computer. When she noticed Lou Yan coming in, she turned her head expressionlessly. Her face, made up like a dead person, was pale, and she stared at Lou Yan gloomily.
Lou Yan paused for a moment, then calmly walked to the right position under her gaze and sat down, pretending to be busy with the computer like the female doctor. The computer lit up dimly, and Lou Yan held the mouse, pretending to be busy. He could feel the female doctor across from him still staring at him.
Had she noticed something?
Lou Yan’s peripheral vision scanned the desk without leaving a trace, and suddenly he saw a power strip.
Next to the power strip were two computer power cords, and neither Lou Yan’s nor the female doctor’s computers were plugged in.
But despite being unplugged, the computers were still lit up…
Lou Yan pretended not to notice and casually averted his gaze. He believed he hadn’t shown any signs of suspicion, but the female doctor still stared at him intently.
After some thought, Lou Yan suddenly raised his eyes and met the female doctor’s gaze. His dark eyes stared back at her lifelessly.
They maintained eye contact for a long time, until finally, the female doctor slowly looked away, lowering her head to continue working on the computer.
Lou Yan breathed a sigh of relief internally and began to quietly search through the items on the desk.
In one of the drawers, Lou Yan found a work diary.
Glancing at the female doctor and seeing her still engrossed in her work, he opened the diary.
In the center of the first page of the diary, a sentence was written in black ink.
Stroke by stroke, horizontally and vertically.
“No one can leave here alive, except me.”
Author’s note:
Chief Lou: Please ask Mr. Li Sanxin to talk about the stupid thing he did when he was 15.
Li Sanxin: … You’re really something else.
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