Chapter 149 There is a Monster

After a long while, the woman came to her senses. She looked at Shen Xing and said, "We found him. He died at home just three days ago. His family hasn't even realized he's dead yet."

Dead for three days?

"Could you bring me his photo? Do you know anything about his memory?"

"He wasn't infected by the white worms. You can have the puppet eat him and check his memories."

"Um."

Sometimes, Shen Xing couldn't help but admire how useful Wang Xinran's abilities were.

It's like a human-shaped camera, with tentacles that can reach everywhere...

"Can your white worms control abnormalities? Like me?" Shen Xing asked curiously.

"No." The woman shook her head. "It can only infect abnormalities, and very slowly. It can learn some memories and thoughts, and can infect emotions, but it cannot control them."

What a pity...

If you can only control ordinary people, the limitations are quite significant.

Even if you control thousands of ordinary people, without heavy firepower, it's difficult to cause any damage to the anomaly... Of course, that is, the premise is that heavy firepower can damage the anomaly.

It's like sending thousands of people to besiege the school clinic's "01-wall"—it would probably be a buffet for the "01-wall".

Perhaps by participating in more resonances or studying the characteristics of [03-Honeycomb] in depth, one could gain more abilities. "Can you control the honeycomb now to stop it from continuing to erode your brain?" Shen Xing thought of this question.

"It's stopped for now. If we wait until the next resonance, the erosion will be even deeper," the woman answered truthfully.

A plan was brewing in Shen Xing's mind.

With Wang Xinran's help, covering up their tracks became much easier. Now, Wang Xinran can monitor Wen Yan's movements at all times, which also solves the problem of Shen Xing being unable to track Wen Yan.

Now, more important than execution is to properly handle the aftermath and ensure that no more trouble comes knocking.

Having finally gained temporary freedom, Shen Xing did not want to return to the Ninth Detachment's control so soon.

Shenhang now has two additional issues to resolve.

What should we do about the school clinic?

What should be done with Shen Yuan?

Before leaving, Shen Xing had already made arrangements for the aftermath.

He sent Lu Lingyun a message saying "entrusting my orphanage," and Lu Lingyun would see it and not ignore it.

Moreover, after observing Shen Xing for some time, Shen Yuan's mental resilience has significantly improved after repeated setbacks, and she has even made friends. She is completely different from her state two or three weeks ago.

That's why Shen Xing judged that even if he "died," Shen Yuan was unlikely to seek her own death.

If she really misses him, she can have Wang Xinran control the police to send some of her flesh and blood or clothes to keep her company. But not her bones. Shen Xing can't regenerate bones, and he doesn't know if she would even recognize him.

With Wang Xinran's help, Shen Xing believes that Shen Yuan can live to adulthood healthily, though not necessarily happily.

"Can you see what Xiaoyuan is doing now?" Shen Xing asked the woman in front of him.

By now, the family has probably already been notified...

"Little Kite? Let me see." The woman nodded, then went back into standby mode.

Wednesday, 6:00 AM, Meiyuan Residential Area.

Shen Yuan lay on the floor of her room, with a makeshift bed next to her bed. She was surrounded by her dolls, and in her arms, she was holding a slightly childish Hello Kitty doll.

That was a doll her brother gave her.

She barely slept all night. Ever since Shen Xing left the house, she had been clutching the phone he had given her, staring at its screen. She wanted to send her brother a text message, but she was worried about bothering him.

Then, Shen Yuan noticed the current time.

She instinctively listened, but didn't hear her brother get up and open the door on time.

In the past, the noise her brother made while washing up in the morning was very noisy and annoying, but for some reason, Shen Yuan now really wanted to hear any noise from her brother's room or kitchen.

Okay, let's get up.

Shen Yuan got up from her makeshift bed on the floor and drew back the curtains.

The sky outside the window was shrouded in mist. Although it was already early morning, there wasn't a ray of sunshine. Dark clouds covered the sky, as if it were about to rain. Shen Yuan didn't like rain. When her parents were still alive, they would call her to bring in the laundry whenever it was about to rain, because she didn't like doing housework.

Shen Yuan looked towards her bed, where Wu Xiaoting was still lying. She tried to gently shake Wu Xiaoting, but couldn't wake her. For some reason, Shen Yuan felt a pang of anxiety and became somewhat irritable.

She left her room, washed up, and put away her clothes. Then, she sat on the sofa, phone in hand, lost in thought. After a while, she decided to rebel a little. Shen Yuan went to the landline, found her homeroom teacher's number, and made a call.

"Hello? Teacher, this is Shen Yuan. I'm sick today and need to ask for leave."

"Okay... By the way, I need to ask for a day off for Wu Xiaoting too. She's not feeling well today. I'll stay with her at home." "Okay, okay, I'll call Xiaoting's mom and tell her."

"Thank you, teacher."

Wu Xiaoting was a frequent absentee, and the teacher simply couldn't be bothered with her. Shen Yuan, on the other hand, usually performed very well and had good grades. Considering her family situation, the teacher wouldn't make things difficult for her.

The teacher's only concern was why Shen Yuan and Wu Xiaoting were hanging out together; she was worried that Shen Yuan would be led astray.

After taking leave, Shen Yuan did not try to cook for herself. Instead, she left a note for Wu Xiaoting and went downstairs to buy three breakfasts before it started raining.

As Shen Yuan ran back, large raindrops began to fall, but fortunately, she ran fast and didn't get wet. When she got home, she found that Wu Xiaoting was awake and sitting in the living room.

When Wu Xiaoting saw Shen Yuan enter, she smiled slightly at her and said, "Good morning."

"G...Awake? Did you have any dreams last night?" Shen Yuan locked the door and casually placed breakfast on the table. For some reason, she felt that Wu Xiaoting seemed a little strange.

Was she ever this polite to me before? Was she still half asleep?

"I didn't dream, I slept very well, thank you," Wu Xiaoting smiled and nodded, then asked, "When are we going to class? Don't be late."

Do you still care about being late?

Shen Yuan frowned slightly, and her unease gradually intensified.

"Boom!"

A muffled clap of thunder interrupted Shen Yuan's thoughts.

She seemed to have thought of something.

Wu Xiaoting had said that when she opened the door to a dream within a dream, she would enter a deeper realm... and her real body would act on its own. "You've entered a dream within a dream?" Shen Yuan asked directly.

"What dream within a dream?" Wu Xiaoting looked puzzled. She blinked and asked, "A movie?"

How do you determine this?

Shen Yuan looked at Wu Xiaoting, who seemed like a completely different person, and felt somewhat confused.

If it were the older brother, what would he do in this situation?

Shen Yuan suddenly remembered that last night, her brother had set up a DV camera to film and observe Wu Xiaoting while she was asleep.

Do you have anything in your house that you can take pictures of?

Shen Yuan forced a forced smile. She asked Wu Xiaoting to wait in the living room for a moment, then opened her brother's bedroom door. The room, previously occupied by their parents, remained largely unchanged, with his belongings stored in the closet. Shen Yuan pulled out a black digital camera.

This was something her father bought before he passed away. Shen Yuan had used it a few times before out of curiosity and knew how to turn it on.

To turn on the camera, simply switch the dial on the top of the camera from OFF to ON.

After fiddling with it for a bit, the machine seemed to be unable to turn on because it was out of power. Shen Yuan rummaged through the box and found a button battery and several lithium batteries, but she didn't know how to install them.

"Don't you know how to do this?" Wu Xiaoting's voice rang out from behind Shen Yuan, startling her.

".....Hmm." Shen Yuan felt like she had been caught doing something wrong, so she immediately stood up and tried to stuff the things in her hands into somewhere.

But at this moment, Wu Xiaoting took the camera from Shen Yuan and started fiddling with it. She quickly disassembled the camera, replaced the lithium battery, and said, "The motherboard battery shouldn't need to be replaced, just the lithium battery... but I don't know if this battery is damaged from being discharged." "Okay, all done."

The camera was successfully turned on, and Wu Xiaoting handed it to Shen Yuan.

After taking the camera, Shen Yuan hesitated for a moment before slowly raising it and aiming it at Wu Xiaoting.

On the digital camera's screen, Wu Xiaoting was standing right in front of him.

The screen flickered with gray-white noise, and where Wu Xiaoting's neck and head connected, her head was no longer visible... only a hollow, decaying, old wooden clock remained.

"Yay!"

On the screen, Wu Xiaoting, with a wooden clock on her head, made a peace sign.

Shen Yuan subconsciously took half a step back, bumped into the wooden wardrobe behind her, lost her balance, and fell to the floor.

Strange..

monster..