CH 39

In the middle of their conversation, Liu Sishan mentioned the name of Yi Chengze, a mysterious doctor and one of the protagonist’s suitors in the original novel. Si Huaixi, however, found it hard to believe, especially considering that Yi Chengze’s missing sister was not found throughout the entire book.

Faced with Si Huaixi’s skeptical gaze, Liu Sishan felt like crying but couldn’t shed any tears. Even she began to doubt herself, wondering if she was experiencing a hallucination or if the ghostly NPC in the game was playing a prank.

With a bitter expression, Liu Sishan said, “I know it’s difficult for you to believe, but I’m a timid person. That ghostly NPC has scared me several times. I don’t dare to go online and play the game anymore.”

Si Huaixi pursed his lips and, seeing how terrified Liu Sishan looked, spoke up, “Then give me the coordinates of the game, and I’ll go see what this ghostly NPC you’re talking about really is.”

“Okay, great!” Liu Sishan exclaimed excitedly and quickly sent the coordinates to Si Huaixi.

The Cloudy Mist Forest.

Si Huaixi landed in a swampy area, and the game ‘Star River Battlefield’ had incredibly realistic simulations. He could even feel the sensation of his boots sticking to the wet swampy ground, with flying insects buzzing around the water plants. There were very few signs of human presence.

After walking for over ten minutes, Si Huaixi had yet to find any players, let alone the ghostly NPC mentioned by Liu Sishan.

Just as he was about to leave the game with a slight frown, he noticed a white piece of clothing peeking out from behind a drooping tree, faintly moving.

Si Huaixi understood immediately and walked straight ahead…

“Ah! A person!” The ghostly girl had been hiding well, but as soon as she saw Si Huaixi suddenly appear, she screamed and fell to the ground in fright.

“Wuwuwu, don’t hurt me.”

The transparent white ghost girl had a pair of distinct black and white eyes. As a ghost, she was left with only black and white colors. Her face still retained some baby fat, making her look like a middle school student.

The girl’s terrified crying was enough to make one dizzy. It created physical ripples in the game scene, like the ripples on the surface of a water puddle in a low-lying swamp, fluctuating with the sound of the ghost girl’s cries.

Si Huaixi’s eyes showed surprise as he crouched down to meet the gaze of the ghost girl and asked, “Are you a psychic ability user?”

The ghost girl cried and hiccuped, fear and tears in her eyes, and replied, “What are you saying? Irin doesn’t understand.”

Si Huaixi pondered deeply, his eyes focused.

He sensed a wave of psychic energy from the ghost girl, though faint enough to only create a slight breeze. Even the lowest-ranking psychic ability users in the post-apocalyptic base wouldn’t stand a chance against it. But he still felt it, which momentarily made him suspect if the ghost girl and he came from the same place.

Si Huaixi wanted to ascertain the ghost girl’s identity. He had already confirmed that she wasn’t an NPC in the game. NPCs wouldn’t possess psychic energy. No matter how intelligent they were, they were just a set of pre-programmed data with predetermined actions.

“Where do you come from? What is your identity? Who is in your family?” Si Huaixi questioned the ghost girl as  if he were conducting a household registration. Seeing her frightened expression, he added, “Liu Sishan sent me to help you. The female beta you encountered.”

The ghostly girl gradually let go of her guard when she heard that, her timid eyes occasionally glancing at Si Huaixi. 

She huddled her body and lowered her head, saying, “My name is Irin, fifteen years old. My family used to live on the Pedes Star. My mother passed away shortly after I was born, and my father died of illness when I was around ten. It was just me and my brother, relying on each other. Later, my brother went to the capital star to study medicine, and we sold some of our land. I also went to the capital to attend junior high school…”

Si Huaixi checked the StarNet and found that the Pedes Star mentioned by the ghostly girl, Irin, actually existed.

“What’s your brother’s name then?”

“Yi Chengze.” Irin’s eyes flickered with tearful memories as her tone became disheartened. “He’s a good brother and will become a great doctor…”

A great doctor?

Si Huaixi’s gaze became subtle. Based on the information provided by Irin, he not only found the seven-year-old missing person reward issued by the police, but also discovered a wanted warrant for Yi Chengze.

The brother mentioned by Irin wasn’t a doctor. He had been expelled from the best medical school in the capital for suspected drug smuggling and was imprisoned. However, he successfully escaped during the process of being transported to prison. Yi Chengze was an escaped criminal.

Si Huaixi wouldn’t be so cruel as to tell Irin this news, but he was curious about the state Irin was living in.

There had been discussions and research in the post-apocalyptic base about whether psychic abilities could reach an extreme state, allowing the individual to survive in the form of a soul in this world. For psychic ability users, this question added a lot of trouble for them.

Psychic ability users were always respected and feared by the people of the post-apocalyptic world, unlike those who possessed elemental abilities like water, fire, thunder, and strength. Their immense power was visible to the naked eye, which attracted both envy and admiration from the ordinary survivors.

Psychic ability users leaned towards control, controlling crowds of zombies. Some high-level psychic ability users with ulterior motives controlled both ordinary people and other ability users, causing even more chaos and instability in the early days of the apocalypse. If it weren’t for the limited control ability of psychic ability users over the human brain, mostly limited to controlling individuals of lower ranks and ordinary people, and if their evolving psychic abilities was much more difficult compared to elemental abilities like water and fire, it was estimated that the leaders of the base would have long since destroyed this special group of psychic ability users.

Therefore, psychic ability users instinctively distanced themselves from crowds when using their abilities, so as not to make their kind feel fear and dread.

Si Huaixi’s eyes remained calm as he looked at Irin’s ghostly, almost transparent figure, through which he could see the dark green swamp forest behind her.

“Irin, are you still alive?” Si Huaixi asked with complex and intense eyes.

Irin hesitated for a moment, tears streaming from her eyes, and choked, “I am still alive.”

Si Huaixi’s pupils contracted. His deep blue eyes seemed like overlapping and swirling abysses, reflecting the figure of the ghostly girl before him.

“…When I was fifteen, I manifested as an Omega and was told that I was an S-rank Omega. Shortly after that, I was captured by someone.”

“…I was drugged and remained in a state of drowsiness. There were only rare moments of clarity when I would lean against the window and gaze at the stars in the sky outside the spacecraft. The sparsely shimmering stars were truly beautiful.”

“…Later, a group of people wearing white protective suits placed me inside a glass container filled with blue liquid. Although my consciousness remained awake, I could no longer open my eyes.”

“…But one time, I heard noises from the outside world. The glass container seemed to have been knocked down, and an electric current passed through my body. When my consciousness recovered, I found myself in this game world.”

“I am glad to be here, but being trapped in the glass container has gradually weakened my body due to the separation of my consciousness. I can’t find a way back, and I don’t want to return to that dark world anymore…”

“…My physical body will perish, and my consciousness will dissipate along with it. However, I want to find my brother and bid him farewell. I don’t want him to search for me anymore. The force that has trapped me must be formidable. I hope my brother can live safely. I’m counting on you.”

Si Huaixi’s expression turned solemn and serious. He couldn’t bring himself to refuse the ghost girl, Irin.

“Don’t you want to live? Why don’t you ask for my help?”

With a worried expression in her eyes, Irin’s gaze was filled with sorrow and desperation as she said, “I don’t even know where I am or how to find my brother. I don’t want to drag a stranger like you into this mess. Your willingness to help me find my brother has already brought me immense satisfaction…”

Si Huaixi lowered his gaze, already inferring the reason why Irin had been imprisoned in the laboratory. Besides such places, who else would confine a young girl like her in a container filled with liquid?

Just like the secret labs that conducted inhumane experiments in the apocalypse, since Irin, an ordinary girl, wasn’t sold to those red-light districts but instead imprisoned in this kind of laboratory, she must possess something special. And her mention of evolving into an S-rank Omega was likely related to that.

Si Huaixi had no interest in getting involved in the plotline of this world or learning about Irin’s brother, the protagonist in the original work. However, he deeply detested these dark laboratories that conducted human experiments.

Si Huaixi’s profound gaze emitted a cold gleam as he asked, “Irin, you mentioned seeing the stars outside the spacecraft. Do you remember what the stars there looked like?”

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