CH 21.1

Chapter 21.1 – Psychological Evaluation

November 27, 2240, 10 o’clock in the morning.

New Moon Newspaper Office, Gleaning City.

“Xiao Yang, have you written the review of The Martyr yet?” Liu Hongzheng asked.

Across the mountains of notes and books on the table, the young man suddenly raised his head: “It’s still short of the conclusion, and I’ll send it to you right away!”

Liu Hongzheng nodded in satisfaction, picked up a white porcelain cup, and slowly took a sip of black tea. After 20 minutes, Xiao Yang sent over the review, he scanned and read it once.

[In the past ten years, the Wild Rose Troupe, as the only troupe in the city, has been surprising us. Its masterpieces “In the Wheat Field”, “South of the City”, and “Waiting for Auckland” have been widely circulated and have an excellent reputation. And this time, they brought a new surprise to the audience. The stage play “The Martyr” has received rave reviews since its performance. Its story begins with a murder…]

[…I think that the setting of the God of Salvation in “The Martyr” is quite surprising. He is not only Leo’s demon, but also, he himself has a demonic appearance. Under the stage lights, the dusty white clothes are matched with weird horns and scales. It is impossible to tell whether it is the God of Salvation or a monster. However, it is this kind of conflict that makes the whole play have a dramatic sublimation, and people can’t help but think: Is that really the God of Salvation? If he is a monster, can he really save the world? Or is all this just Leo’s fantasy, and the God of Salvation never existed?]

[…It must be mentioned here that the troupe’s casting was very bold, picking a new actor to play the role of the Savior… Leader Wolfgang Berger played steadily, and the young actor Qin Luoluo also contributed an outstanding performance. The creator of “The Martyr” and well-known screenwriter Cheng Youwen accepted an interview from our news agency…]

Accompanied by a few stills.

After Liu Hongzheng finished reading it, he marked the places that needed to be revised and sent them back: “Xiao Yang, please change these places.” He paused. “It’s well written.”

Xiao Yang’s eyes lit up: “Okay, thank you, Editor-in-Chief Liu, I’ll change it right away!”

“You also send a copy to Old Shi,” Liu Hongzheng said. “Let him take a look.”

Xiao Yang responded.

Liu Hongzheng glanced not far away, there was a famous sign [Shi Yi] hanging on the empty seat.

“Where did this guy go…” Liu Hongzheng muttered, “If I catch you slacking off, see if I don’t dock your bonus.”

After lunch, Liu Hongzheng picked up a massage hammer and tapped on his sore lower back.

Shi Yi, who had been missing all morning, finally appeared. He was a man in his late thirties, with an ordinary appearance, neither tall nor short, without any personal characteristics, the type that wouldn’t be found when thrown in the crowd.

If you insist on finding something special about him…

Probably his sitting and standing posture.

He stood straighter than a pine tree, standing there like a bamboo pole, and his sitting was also a textbook-level standard, a habit belonging to soldiers.

Shi Yi was a veteran, he worked as an Abyss Watcher for 14 years.

Calculating it, Shi Yi has worked in the newspaper office for 5 years.

In the first year, Liu Hongzheng’s attitude towards him was very complicated. On the one hand, he admired the Watchers very much, but on the other hand, he was a little bit afraid of Shi Yi.

The pollution of the abyss was everywhere, it could infect both body and mind. Ordinary people who came close to the abyss would experience varying degrees of mental discomfort within a few hours, such as insomnia, auditory hallucinations, panic and anxiety, etc. Over time, they would also develop mental illnesses.

Researchers generally believed that the abyss radiated bioelectromagnetic waves of unknown frequencies that could not be detected by instruments, but could resonate with the brain waves of living things, changing their original wavelengths and production patterns.

It was like the whisper of a demon, breaking into people’s mind and distorting it invisibly.

People who never had close contact with the abyss would not be infected with a mental breakdown.

But for the Watchers, once they had a mental breakdown, even if they had not been injured, they would be infected.

Those who could become Watchers had a firm mind in themselves. They lived by the abyss for a long time, taking spirit-stabilizing drugs, and conducting patrols and observations. They were the first line of defense of the Alliance, and once an abnormality in the infection value was observed, an alarm would be sounded.

They were whistle-blowers, but they were also hidden time bombs.

Monitors could no longer join the army after the end of their term. Some of them retired to all walks of life, and the hiring policy would be tilted in their favor.

Accordingly, they must undergo rigorous psychological evaluation on a regular basis to ensure their mental health.

Over the past few years, Shi Yi had been very worry-free. He worked diligently and conscientiously, he did not make any trouble, would submit manuscripts on time, would take the initiative to write reports, would never litter, and would help grandmothers cross the road. He was a model employee.

Therefore, Liu Hongzheng no longer cared about Shi Yi, and sometimes he would murmur in his heart, thinking that Shi Yi had a really good temper.

——Who said Abyss Watchers are unstable?

After so many years, the criminal record of Watchers actually only had one case. Shi Yi was more stable than inert gas, if someone punched him, he wouldn’t even fight back.

Based on this inference, maybe people didn’t have to worry too much about General Lu who held great power.

“Old Shi, where did you go this morning?” Liu Hongzheng asked.

Shi Yi raised his head: “I have…something to do temporarily, I’ll make up the leave later.”

“Okay, do it well.” Liu Hongzheng nodded and didn’t care anymore. “Xiao Yang sent you the review of the troupe, take a look quickly.”

Shi Yi didn’t say a word, and after hesitating for a while, he asked, “Did you hear the singing in the morning?”

“What song?”

“Chorus, it should be a choir.”

“I didn’t hear it,” Liu Hongzheng continued to hammer his waist. “When did we have a choir here?”

The next morning, Shi Yi did not come again.

He appeared in the afternoon, Liu Hongzheng frowned with a teacup in his hand: “Old Shi, what’s the matter with you these two days? The column interview is about to be released soon, and the big guys are all busy. It’s not that I don’t give you time off, right? It’s just that you have to say so in advance.”

Shi Yi said nervously, “Chief Editor Liu, I’m really sorry. On my way here, I heard the choir again, I followed the song and found the lighthouse.”

“Lighthouse?” Liu Hongzheng was taken aback. “Where did you see the lighthouse?”

“It’s nearby.”

Liu Hongzheng was very surprised: “Isn’t the lighthouse built by the sea? How can it be in the city? I have never heard of it.”

“I was also surprised,” Shi Yi said. “But I did see it…”

A certain peculiar, hazy blankness appeared on his face, as if he had wandered into the sky.

Liu Hongzheng was dubious.

The affairs of the newspaper were very busy, and he quickly put this matter behind him.

It wasn’t until after work this day that he accidentally heard a few colleagues complain that Old Shi had been out of his mind, Liu Hongzheng came back to his senses and went to Shi Yi again: “Old Shi, this…”

He was a little embarrassed.

“Editor-in-Chief Liu?” Shi Yi stopped to pack his things.

Liu Hongzheng squeezed out a smile: “Ah, this, your recent mental assessment report—”

Shi Yi was stunned for half a second, then suddenly said: “I handed over last week’s report to the personnel, there’s no problem. The day after tomorrow will be the next evaluation, and I will hand it over to you as soon as the report is issued.”

Liu Hongzheng said embarrassedly: “You happen to have nothing to do tomorrow morning so… why don’t you go ahead and take the assessment, and I’ll find someone to grant you leave.” He laughed dryly a few times. “It’s also insurance.”

If it was someone else who had asked for leave, he would have scolded them angrily, but Shi Yi had a special identity.

Shi Yi dryly agreed, apologizing repeatedly.

The next day was a foggy day, and Liu Hongzheng walked into the office humming a song.

He always arrived early, and he was the only one in the entire newspaper building. When he put the tea bag in the cup and poured the water, there was a cold sound behind him.

He shook his hand in fright, and turned his head to see the visitor clearly: “Old Shi! You scared me to death!”

Shi Yi stood upright and did not answer.

Liu Hongzheng continued to make tea and muttered: “Really, I’m already old and have a bad heart. What if I’m really scared to death? I don’t even hear any footsteps when you come in… Eh, Old Shi, didn’t I ask you to do a mental assessment? How…?”

“I want to find the lighthouse,” Shi Yi said.

“What lighthouse?” Liu Hongzheng frowned. “You’d better take the assessment first.”

“There is light in the lighthouse.”

“Huh? What’re you saying?”

Shi Yi: “I want to show you.”

At this moment, Liu Hongzheng’s back was cold, and an intuitive sense of horror captured him. He turned his head abruptly and Shi Yi raised his right hand.——

That can no longer be called a “hand”.

The flesh and bones disintegrated into vines, twisting and turning with abandon, each tip shining with a cold glint. Shi Yi’s body twitched, and the green blood vessels bulged on the skin, like a strange spider web.

一一一一一一一一一一

**TN

I really hope nothing happened to the editor in chief aaaaahhhh