Chapter 163 The Avengers: Assemble

"Have you seen that guy outside the door?" Wu Xiaoting asked Shen Yuan with some curiosity.

"I don't know him." Shen Yuan shook her head.

Wu Xiaoting didn't seem to pursue the matter further, because she remembered what she had rushed over to say earlier.

Since Lu Wenying was present, Wu Xiaoting didn't know who Lu Wenying was, so she refrained from saying it directly.

"I dreamt about the future again," Wu Xiaoting said nervously, lowering her voice. "This time it's definitely real... This city in the future will be ruled by the monsters from before! No matter what you do, the monsters will know!"

"It's that kind of..."

Wu Xiaoting seemed unsure how to explain it clearly, so she spoke and gestured, seemingly trying to make her story sound more terrifying. "In my deep dream, I saw that most of the people in the city had forgotten what happened before, just like the previous situation where everyone would become happy. This is very abnormal, right?"

"But when I tried to find you in my dreams, I discovered you were nowhere to be found. Then I saw those controlled monsters coming to capture me, and even my mother was turned into a monster... So I tried to find a way to turn my mother back..."

"I succeeded! Anyone whose forehead I touched completely lost control, and I could get information out of them about what happened during that time!"

"That way, we can find the mastermind behind this..."

Wu Xiaoting was still talking enthusiastically when Shen Yuan interrupted her.

"I'm getting ready to move out," Shen Yuan said, looking at Wu Xiaoting in front of her.

"Now... huh?" Wu Xiaoting was stunned for a moment. She seemed not to have expected Shen Yuan to suddenly say this, and panicked a little. She quickly said, "Didn't I dream that your brother died before? But in this deeper dream, there was no news of your brother's death at all. He was probably captured by a monster, and then we fought side by side, and then..."

"Xiaoting." Shen Yuan's lips twitched slightly, her face bearing a complex expression that was hard to tell whether it was sadness or a smile. "People can't come back to life after they've died... We should look forward."

Shen Yuan seemed to have accepted everything that had happened, her expression showing little sadness or pain, but Wu Xiaoting seemed to be able to tell that Shen Yuan was closing herself off.

Because she herself went through a period of time like that, trying to escape everything through negative methods.

Although she hadn't known Shen Yuan for long, Wu Xiaoting knew that Shen Yuan was definitely not the kind of person who would passively run away from things. She was more proactive and less willing to admit defeat than she was.

It was also because of Shen Yuan's encouragement that Wu Xiaoting took the initiative to understand dreams this time, instead of passively accepting them.

"What happened? Who dies and can't be brought back to life? Is your brother dead?"

Wu Xiaoting asked, still unaware of what had actually happened in reality while she was in the deep dream state.

She didn't think there was anything wrong with asking that question, because Wu Xiaoting firmly believed that what she dreamed about was true. She didn't see Shen Xing's body in her dream, which meant he was most likely not dead, but had entered a state she couldn't detect in her dream. This state was very likely related to the influence of her special abilities.

In the dream, she, Shen Yuan, and the older sister outside act together, investigating in the city and uncovering the truth step by step, spending a very exciting time that is comparable to a movie.

This deep dream experience was very rewarding for Wu Xiaoting.

The most important impact was that she was no longer afraid of the people in her dreams. When she was no longer afraid of them, they were no longer those twisted, stitched-together monsters, but became individual, specific people.

Even after entering the deepest dream state, Wu Xiaoting no longer saw the ghosts and monsters that only appear in movies, but relatively speaking, the information she could obtain seemed to be more vague, and there were often situations where the clues did not match up.

Just like this time when I discovered the monster in my dream, it was also discovered by chance.

In her dream, she felt like someone was watching her, but when she turned around, the other passersby were doing their own things as usual.

It wasn't until Wu Xiaoting tentatively conjured a mirror in her dream that she saw, from the moment the mirror appeared, a scene of everyone behind her staring at her.

She caught the unusual moment.

A person with evil superpowers wants to control the city through their abilities—this is the conclusion Wu Xiaoting has drawn.

"Could you please leave?" Shen Yuan didn't seem particularly emotional, but rather appeared somewhat weary as she spoke in a low voice, "No matter what you say, I can't stay here any longer."

"Why? I already told you, the scene of your brother's death has never appeared in my dreams again, which means..."

"Please leave."

"Shen Yuan!"

Wu Xiaoting was so anxious that her face turned red, and her chest heaved. Suddenly, she realized something was wrong.

Why is Shen Yuan now like her mother before, never getting angry no matter what she says?

She calmly accepted her brother's "death" and calmly chose to move away, as if she were born with this submissive personality. She was completely unlike the Shen Yuan she used to know, who had promised to help her uncover the secrets of the mastermind behind the scenes.

Wu Xiaoting clenched her fists.

Ordinary provocation seems to have no effect at all.

Faced with this situation, I have no choice but to use the moves I learned in my dream.

"Holy crap! Spider-Man!" Wu Xiaoting raised her left hand and pointed to the window behind Shen Yuan, who subconsciously turned around to look.

But the instant Shen Yuan turned around, Wu Xiaoting clenched her right fist, stepped forward with her left foot, twisted her waist, and swung her right fist forward, hitting Shen Yuan squarely on the left cheek.

The posture is cool and standard, but the strength seems a bit too weak.

Before she could react, Shen Yuan took a half-step back after being punched. She turned around, covered her face with her hands, and looked at Wu Xiaoting in shock.

"What are you doing?" Shen Yuan asked, seemingly not angry at all.

what?

If you throw a punch like that in your dream, shouldn't the other person fly away and instantly wake up?

Wu Xiaoting was dumbfounded.

But she did not give up. At this moment, Shen Yuan's behavior of not getting angry no matter what almost indicated that she had been controlled by the monster.

Wu Xiaoting didn't care about anything else and rushed forward, heading straight for Shen Yuan.

Wu Xiaoting was shorter than Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan simply raised her hand and pressed down on Wu Xiaoting's shoulder. Even if Wu Xiaoting stretched out her hands with all her might, she couldn't touch Shen Yuan's face.

But being short also has its advantages.

Wu Xiaoting suddenly squatted down, instantly breaking free from Shen Yuan's grasp. Then she suddenly stood up, closing the distance between her and Shen Yuan to a point where she could no longer reach out to block.

It was only then that Shen Yuan belatedly realized what had happened. A look of surprise appeared on her face, and she subconsciously took a half step back, tripped over the edge of the bed, lost her balance, and fell backward.

Wu Xiaoting wouldn't let this opportunity pass; she immediately stretched out her hands and pounced on it.

"Snapped!"

Wu Xiaoting placed her left and right hands directly on Shen Yuan's temples.

This was another seemingly powerless strike, but it froze Shen Yuan completely.

A loud buzzing sound filled her brain, as if something was wailing inside her mind.

The hazy, foggy feeling that had been shrouding her mind vanished in that instant, and her thoughts, buzzing, returned to normal.

Uh?

Why do I want to leave here?

This place clearly contains all my memories.

Shen Yuan lay on the bed in a daze, countless questions swirling in her mind.

Meanwhile, at the doorway.

Lu Wenying still held the kitchen knife in her left hand, and under pressure, the man in front of her finally revealed how he obtained the information. This method of obtaining the information left Lu Wenying utterly astonished.

"You mean you saw Shen Xing's email address in his profile on Tianya, then used a search engine to find alumni information for the same email address, and then saw Shen Xing's real name and work address in someone else's comment?"

"right."

The man nodded.

"What about the ID card?" Lu Wenying frowned.

So far, this method does not constitute a crime, but obtaining an ID card definitely involves hacking into a system or spreading a virus, or having a relative check the information within the provincial public security system—all of which are criminal acts.

"I crawled it from the official website of the CET-4 and CET-6 exams." The man's face was expressionless, as if Shen Xing's death had made him somewhat negative. "The documents published on the official website are completely unencrypted Excel spreadsheets. Names, ID numbers, and city districts can all be found." "Huh?" Lu Wenying was a little confused.

She doesn't use the internet much and really doesn't realize that information can be obtained so easily.

Moreover, the man's behavior did not seem to violate any laws. Under current laws, the criminal determination of crimes related to obtaining online information only includes obtaining online information that infringes on national defense and cutting-edge technologies.

There are no penalties for obtaining personal information. The only one that is somewhat relevant is using hacking techniques to delete or modify websites or applications, or intentionally spreading viruses.

But the man in front of them used only readily available information from the internet; he didn't hack anything.

For a moment, Lu Wenying felt that she no longer had that sense of righteousness.

Clearly, this is a gray area without clear legal definitions, and Lu Wenying can only criticize the other party on a moral level. Why would the other party go to such lengths to find a netizen's personal information?

"What exactly do you want with Shen Xing?" Lu Wenying lowered her hand holding the kitchen knife, her tone softening.

"It's nothing." The man seemed unwilling to say more. He picked up his briefcase and didn't look up at Lu Wenying. "Can I go now?" "...You can go, but I'm warning you, if I see you here again, I can determine that you're stalking a minor. That's indecent behavior, and you could be detained for at least seven days, understand?"

"Um... thank you, officer, I understand." The man nodded, seemingly not intending to stay any longer, and turned to leave. After the man turned away, Lu Wenying was unconsciously stunned for a moment.

She quickly turned around, looked in the direction of Shen Yuan's room, and then walked over quickly.

Wang Xinran lost control over Shen Yuan.

Lu Wenying opened the door directly, but what greeted her was only Shen Yuan's lunge.

Wang Xinran manipulated Lu Wenyin to subconsciously raise her hand to block, but found that she was still holding a kitchen knife in her left hand. If she really blocked it, Shen Yuan was very likely to get hurt.

His right hand, however, was wrapped in bandages and splinted, making it completely immobile.

In just that moment of hesitation, Lu Wenying, whose body had not fully recovered, was completely tackled to the ground by Shen Yuan.

Behind Shen Yuan, Wu Xiaoting rushed out, kicked away the kitchen knife that had fallen to the side, and then placed her hands directly on Lu Wenyin's temples.

A loud buzzing sound rang in Lu Wenying's mind.