Chapter 442 - 397: Teammates and Assisting Detection

Chapter 442: Chapter 397: Teammates and Assisting Detection

Guan Tong left the park after meeting with his new squad members.

He had no issues with the squad’s composition. Aside from one member named Yang Ran and another who was currently unknown, he knew everyone else.

Based on the members he knew, their overall combat strength was quite impressive.

Bai Xuewu was a top trainee from the Strategy Research Room and had previously led her own one-person squad. She was later sent to the front lines in the Black Banner Country to fight Parasites with the coalition forces, accumulating a great deal of combat experience.

Chen Na’s Perception Ability was second to none, making her crucial for this decapitation strike. It was safe to say she was the best person to find the mastermind behind the Fire Thief Sect.

Silver Fox was a versatile operative from the military’s special forces, a jack-of-all-trades. With her extensive experience in combat and infiltration, plus her strong mental fortitude, she was an ideal squadmate.

Even Yang Ran, who seemed a bit unreliable and perhaps had a childish personality, was not weak by any means.

Guan Tong had casually watched a few episodes of *Decisive Ascender* in his spare time, and based on Yang Ran’s performance, the title "Fire God" wasn’t much of an exaggeration. One classic scene from the show was him controlling a raging fire to burn down an entire building—something no ordinary Ascender with Fire Control Ability could do.

Guan Tong was quite satisfied with this squad lineup, which made him all the more curious about the mysterious member who, according to Li Meng, "couldn’t go out."

He guessed it was likely an Ascender with recovery or healing-type abilities. That would shore up the squad’s final weakness.

"Guan Tong, can you hear me?"

Shi Jingyi’s voice suddenly rang in his mind without any warning.

Guan Tong knew she was speaking to him through the Mind Network.

"I can hear you," he replied in the same way. "What’s wrong?"

"Something strange has happened. A student who left the academy after the ’Outer Heaven Parasite’ rule sent me a text message. You should remember him. It’s Lu City."

Lu City...

Guan Tong remembered the name.

When he had been a substitute teacher, he’d known Lu City was an honor student.

Shi Jingyi had even told him about it before. She had noticed a student was addicted to spores but failed to intervene decisively in time. The student later left the academy after the rule ended, and she had been haunted by it ever since, feeling it was her fault. That student was Lu City.

"What did the message say?" Guan Tong asked.

Since Shi Jingyi had contacted him, it had to be something strange. He didn’t bother with concerns about privacy and asked directly.

Shi Jingyi replied, "He said he wants help with his spore addiction and wants to meet with me."

"Why meet with you?" Guan Tong was confused. "Shouldn’t he go to a proper rehabilitation center?"

"Maybe he’s afraid of being caught? It’s possible he trusts me, his former teacher, more than an institution."

"...I don’t think it’s that simple. You must also find it suspicious, or you wouldn’t have contacted me, right?"

"Yes," Shi Jingyi admitted. "I don’t want to doubt my student’s motives, but my intuition tells me something is wrong with this."

Guan Tong thought for a moment. "Alright, agree to meet him. But I’m going with you. I need to find out if this kid is genuinely asking for help or if it’s some kind of plot. If he’s already turned into a Parasite, the purpose of this meeting is likely to harm you."

Guan Tong knew that with Shi Jingyi’s power, ten Lu Citys combined would be no match for her.

But if it was indeed a premeditated plot, an ambush still posed a risk.

After Suzuki’s bizarre suicide, he didn’t want to see anyone else he knew meet a strange and untimely end.

"Alright, but don’t show yourself. If Lu City is genuinely asking for my help, your presence might make him distrust me, or even give up on seeking help altogether."

Shi Jingyi wasn’t arrogant just because she was powerful. Her whole reason for contacting Guan Tong through the Mind Network was to ask him to investigate this with her.

But she was also thoughtful enough to know that if Lu City was sincere, bringing Guan Tong along would surely upset him.

"No problem. I won’t show myself unless you’re in danger," Guan Tong said. "Contact me when you’ve confirmed the time and place."

"Okay."

The mental connection went silent. Guan Tong glanced at his Terminal Panel.

That short conversation with Shi Jingyi had consumed nearly one hundred points of Psychic Power, a tenth of his maximum capacity.

It was a significant drain, but absolutely worth it.

This kind of remote telepathic communication—unrestricted by devices, impossible to eavesdrop on, and able to be initiated or ended at will—would undoubtedly elevate the efficiency of human communication to a whole new level if it became widespread.

Of course, considering its extremely stringent requirements and high cost, who knew how long it would take to reach that day.

’...At the very least, I want the people I know to be able to use it.’

People like Chen Na, Shangyuan Zi, Yelena, and Xu Xiaotian. If all of them could access it and establish a connection, then no matter who encountered an urgent threat, they could instantly notify others for help.

Especially long-distance help from Guan Tong himself.

As long as someone held a Psychic Power-related item connected to him, or if he left a wisp of his Shadow on them, he could instantly use Body Shifting to appear at their side.

However, even though his friends were among the most outstanding Ascenders, breaking the one-thousand Psychic Power threshold wouldn’t be as fast for them as it was for him and Shi Jingyi.

’Maybe once I completely master ’Condensation,’ I can help them refine their Psychic Power and accelerate their progress, just like Shi Jingyi did for me...’

BUZZ BUZZ.

As Guan Tong was lost in thought, the phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

He took it out and saw it was a call from Zhang Minglu.

"Dr. Zhang?"

"Guan Tong, have you met with your squad members yet?"

"I have. What’s up?"

"Well, our Mr. Gao would like to entrust you with a task," Zhang Minglu said directly. "After I submitted your report on identifying Parasites late last night, Mr. Gao told me he hopes you can perform an identification check on everyone at the research base."

"...It seems Mr. Gao wants to ensure there isn’t a single latent Parasite in the base."

Gao Liangwei had made this request the moment the report was submitted and a method of identification became available. It showed just how meticulous he was.

"That’s right," said Zhang Minglu. "The Strategy Research Room is a department of critical importance to North Star. Security and confidentiality have always been the director’s top priorities."

"I remember spore addicts show symptoms in several distinct stages, right? Can’t the research base screen for them using those signs?"

"Of course, we can. I had someone check the cafeteria surveillance footage to see if any base members exhibited unusual eating habits during the Rule Stage, since binge eating is one of the signs of addiction. But you should know that the vast majority of people who work here are intelligent. A smart person, if they were trying to hide, could easily evade such observation."

"For example, by using Sublimation Coins to buy food items from the terminal market, avoiding the cafeteria’s surveillance cameras?"

"Exactly. No conventional test is foolproof. Even lie-detector items can fail. Your Mind Network detection seems to be the most rigorous method we have. Any latent Parasites would definitely be discovered by you."

"..."

’This is one of the ’downsides’ of being exposed,’ Guan Tong thought to himself.

Today the Strategy Research Room was asking him to test everyone in their base. Tomorrow, would other official departments come calling too? With so many government agencies across the country, testing every single one would be a staggering amount of work.

Of course, he knew it was for the good of the country and its people, and he wasn’t opposed to doing the hard work, but the thought still gave him a bit of a headache.

"I imagine you might be worried that every government department will ask you to perform these tests," Zhang Minglu said, seeming to guess Guan Tong’s thoughts. "But that’s not the case. Even if other departments besides the Strategy Research Room need your help, it will only be a very small number of the most critical ones, where no mistakes can be afforded. Please trust that we won’t senselessly waste a top Ascender’s valuable time. Moreover, the director explicitly told me that you will be reasonably compensated for your help."

Guan Tong said, "I’m willing to help. Ensuring that important departments like the Strategy Research Room are free of latent Parasites is a good thing for the nation."

"Haha, I knew you’d agree," Zhang Minglu laughed. "So, are you free tomorrow? It might take the entire day. We’ll prepare plenty of Psychic Power recovery items for you."

"A whole day? How many people are at the base?"

"If we’re only testing permanent base personnel, there are several thousand."

"It won’t take a whole day, then. I can test multiple people at once."

Guan Tong had been wanting to try a synchronized test on multiple people using several Shadow Lines, so this was a good opportunity.

Zhang Minglu paused for a second. "You can do that? Alright, I understand."