After coming to Director Xu’s side and silently watching him for a good while, Xu Panfeng finally shook his head slightly and spoke.
“Actually, before we sent him to go undercover in the Fanxing Church, we already had a premonition that something might happen to him.”
“What do you mean?” Blazing Flame asked, puzzled.
“Doesn’t the Fanxing Church give out Black Star Badges to new believers? We had someone go and receive one as a new believer, and then he resonated with that badge.”
“…”
Blazing Flame couldn’t help but frown, not understanding how this undercover agent had managed to do that.
Although she also felt the badge was strange, she had taken someone else’s badge and looked at it for several hours without feeling any kind of resonance.
‘Could there be some kind of restrictive condition?’
“Yes, although we don’t understand how he did it, he said that when he held the badge, a beautiful melody surfaced in his mind.”
“That melody cleared his brain, allowing him to understand knowledge he completely couldn’t comprehend before. He could even see the working principles of various precision instruments.”
“We found this very strange, so we let others try it as well. As a result, most people had no reaction. Only a few said that an indescribable sound indeed surfaced in their minds.”
“Then, after comprehensive consideration and a risk assessment, we found him and had him execute this undercover plan.”
“But the result…”
At this point, Xu Panfeng lowered his head, seemingly not expecting that his decision would lead to that undercover agent nearly facing a life-or-death crisis.
As Blazing Flame listened to his explanation, a rough guess formed in her mind.
She thought for a moment, then looked at the doctor nearby and asked.
“Sir, can you tell me if he showed any special behavior or strange reactions when you were assessing his mental state?”
“Uh…”
The doctor in the white lab coat looked at Xu Panfeng, then at the armor on Blazing Flame that looked completely out of place in a hospital environment. Finally, he nodded slightly and agreed.
“Alright. Although I thought the scene at the time was quite disgusting, in order for you to carry out your mission more smoothly, I will give you a brief description of what happened.”
“Just now, when I was performing the mental evaluation on that patient, I found that his mental state was no different from an ordinary person’s. The only difference was a very obvious paranoid disorder.”
“No, using ‘paranoid disorder’ isn’t quite appropriate. To be more accurate… it’s as if he’s been using a forbidden substance.”
Upon hearing the words “forbidden substance,” Xu Panfeng could no longer sit still.
He suddenly stood up, looked at the doctor beside him in shock, and confirmed again.
“A forbidden substance? Are you sure? When we saw him, we didn’t see any traces of him being an addict!”
“Director Xu, please don’t get excited. This was just a metaphor.” The doctor sighed. “Do you two know why it’s so difficult to quit once someone touches a forbidden substance?”
“This… I don’t know,” Xu Panfeng stammered, honestly admitting his lack of knowledge on the subject after a brief pause.
Blazing Flame simply shook her head, looking at the doctor with curious eyes.
She knew very little about forbidden substances. The only victim she had ever seen from childhood until now was Jia Yi.
She was indeed curious as to why willpower alone wasn’t enough to quit such a terrible thing.
“Since neither of you knows, I’ll explain it simply.”
“Forbidden substances cause the body’s natural production of pain-relieving endorphins to stop, leading to pain that prevents the body from functioning normally.”
“This process is irreversible, and it’s difficult to return to normal even after quitting. After all, the brain’s normal functioning mechanisms have been eroded by forbidden substances, so how could it ever go back to being a normal brain?”
“And that patient… his body is in a similar situation.”
The doctor paused for a long time after saying this, seemingly still unable to believe he had seen something so incredible in his lifetime.
However, since there were people waiting for his answer, he stopped beating around the bush and spoke directly.
“His brain shows signs of having been modified. When he learns brand-new knowledge, his brain produces a reaction similar to consuming a forbidden substance. Once he stops taking in new knowledge, his body begins to suffer from unbearable pain.”
“To use a metaphor, it’s similar to male masturbation. Every time he learns a piece of new knowledge, he obtains a level of pleasure ten or 100 times that of an ejaculation, and there is no refractory period.”
“If I explain it this way, you should be able to understand, right?”
After the doctor finished, he looked at Xu Panfeng and Blazing Flame, waiting for their response.
Xu Panfeng scratched his head awkwardly, indicating that he understood.
As Blazing Flame listened to his explanation and thought about what she had seen earlier, she pondered for a moment and asked.
“Doctor, you were closest to him then. Can you tell me how those tentacles covering his face appeared?”
“…They emerged from his throat.”
The doctor looked away, his voice low, seemingly nauseated by the scene he had witnessed with his own eyes.
Blazing Flame took a deep breath, now having a general understanding of this so-called resonance.
To be able to easily accomplish something that humans are currently completely incapable of… Truly worthy of a Night Demon.
However, because of this, the situation had become very clear.
“Director Xu.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?” Xu Panfeng asked curiously.
“You just said there are others in the department who reacted to that black badge and can hear a mysterious melody in their heads, right?”
“Yes, what are you planning…?”
“Lock them up for now and don’t let them run around,” Blazing Flame replied. “That song is the source that triggers their craving for knowledge.”
“Lock them up? They haven’t committed any crimes yet, so that might not be appropriate.”
Xu Panfeng originally wanted to reject Blazing Flame’s request, but when he thought of the undercover agent’s performance and then the combat strength within the department, he fell silent.
After a long silence, he finally nodded slowly and agreed.
“Fine, pretend I didn’t say anything. I’ll go back and take care of it immediately.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Director Xu.”
Blazing Flame felt a sense of relief when she saw that Director Xu wasn’t strictly sticking to the rules.
But soon, she remembered something. Her body suddenly trembled, and she spoke urgently.
“Director Xu! Let me ask you something. How many schools and libraries are there in City A?!”
“What?! Dammit!”
Xu Panfeng understood Blazing Flame’s meaning almost instantly. He hurriedly grabbed his mobile phone and dialed a friend’s number.
As soon as the call went through, Director Xu shouted urgently.
“Kao Wu! I need your help! How have the schools in the city been lately?! Especially the high schools—have any students shown signs of physical discomfort?!”
“Everything is normal? And then the principals called you to say they’ve been teaching effectively, resulting in high learning enthusiasm, and that the number of top-tier university admissions this year should be double what it was last year?!”
“That’s total bullshit! Call those principals right now and ask them which students are acting strange! Focus specifically on those who are studying 24 hours a day and won’t put down their books even while eating!”
“Quickly! Don’t wait! A Monster is behind this! This involves human lives!”