Chapter 2823: Compulsory Psychiatric Treatment

After the performance ended, Pu Yu had someone send a gift and invited the musicians to have lunch together.

The musician seemed accustomed to this kind of situation. When he came over with two players, his expression was calm and silent.

However, neither Xu Huo nor Pu Yu truly wished for his company.

They dined in a sky restaurant. During the meal, guests came by to greet Pu Yu, accompanied by several strikingly attractive men and women.

The other party was eager to establish a good relationship with Pu Yu and, during lofty discussions, offered to send her some “toys,” asking what she liked.

With a few words, Pu Yu deflected the topic and politely expressed her wish not to be disturbed while dining with friends. The young gentleman took one look at Xu Huo, then wisely excused himself.

The sunlight outside was just right; looking out, the bustling city was a tapestry of vibrant colors, while further out, the undulating desert was equally breathtaking…

“So cold,” the previously silent musician suddenly spoke out.

Xu Huo turned to look at him, only to see him immersed in his world, speaking, “Sunlight is perhaps the coldest thing in the world.”

“Unlike the rain and mist that mingle with people, it merely hangs in the sky, ignoring everything in the world.”

“Be it ants, humans, flowers, everything living seems unrelated to it. It merely observes the joys and sorrows, the changes of the world, making one feel that they are no different from ants every moment.”

The two players who accompanied him already had changed expressions, warning him.

Pu Yu was not interested in him and paid no heed to his words, continuing her meal.

Xu Huo smiled and said, “Isn’t that a good thing?”

The musician’s eyes shifted to him, “You’re different. You’re among the few who have transcended ordinary people; you already stand at the top of this world.”

For having the maximum extent of power, you can’t understand the helplessness of people like him, nor can you empathize with how they perceive the world.

To him, the blazing sun is as cold as a sword, but to someone like Xu Huo, it’s just a tangible landscape.

At one point, he was the same way…

No words can soothe the pain of losing one’s family, but Pu Yu felt Xu Huo made sense, “Not being noticed might be the best state.”

She instructed her players to escort the musician out, then seriously observed the sunlight outside for a while, chuckled, and said, “Who dares to claim they are not ants under the sun?”

In the afternoon, Xu Huo had an appointment with Tang Xu, and Pu Yu had her own matters to attend to, so they parted ways after lunch.

Tang Xu’s attitude had improved significantly, he was eager to lay bare all he had to show his sincerity. Xu Huo had long sensed that he had a request to make and thus took the initiative to ask.

“I initially planned to entertain you for a few days and then, after you’d eaten, ask for your help, thinking you couldn’t refuse then. I didn’t expect you to be friends with Miss Pu Yu… which makes me a bit embarrassed.” Tang Xu said, “But this matter is very important to me; I can only thicken my skin and ask.”

“As for compensation, whatever I can provide, just say the word, and I won’t flinch.”

“First, tell me what it is,” Xu Huo said.

Tang Xu, not playing any tricks this time, laid everything out plainly.

He has a fiancée, also a Rank-B player, who had some talent in Spirit Evolution, but whether because her evolution went wrong or she was sabotaged, she fell into a coma after the last instance, unable to be awakened by any means.

Experts were called in for examinations, revealing only abnormal brain waves and highly active psychic power. Several doctors who attempted mental intervention were attacked, resulting in significant side effects.

Unable to resolve it, Tang Xu had to suspend her player status and have her undergo hospital treatment.

She’s been lying in the hospital for over three months now.

“To be honest, I’ve lost much hope by now, not expecting to run into you on the train.” Tang Xu looked sincerely, “You’re different from other Psychic Evolvers I’ve met, which is why I maintain a hopeful attitude for a trial…”

Xu Huo understood his intent; having promised Pu Yu, he was bound to understand the Spirit Healing procedures in Liu Jin City, so he proposed to first look at the previous treatments of Tang Xu’s fiancée.

Tang Xu immediately perked up and arranged for an aircraft to the hospital.

“Currently, there are two main modes of Spirit Healing,” explained an accompanying expert. “One involves using devices to hypnotize the subject, mainly leveraging suggestion to alleviate psychological trauma.”

“The other involves Psychic Evolvers forcibly intervening, usually for patients in poor mental states. For such patients, brain anomalies could severely threaten their safety and that of others during attacks, hence the need for compulsory treatment.”

“Compulsory treatment? Surgery or Spiritual Control?” Xu Huo asked.

“Mr. Xu jests, unless completely abandoning the patient, the hospital wouldn’t easily perform such surgery,” the expert said. “Our research found that Psychic Evolvers are comparatively sensitive to others of their kind; this differs from instrument-caused active or passive Spiritual World closure. When encountering other Psychic Powers, an Evolver’s primary reaction is to attack, using aggression instead of defense to protect their own Spiritual World.”

“It’s under such circumstances that the treating Evolver can enter the patient’s Spiritual World.”

“But this differs from mere Spiritual World competition or conflict. The patient’s Spiritual World is often unstable; instability doesn’t mean weakened spiritual power. On the contrary, they over-focus spiritual power for expression, potentially unleashing tremendous offensive power after losing normal logical reasoning. One Evolver treating Miss Zeng was trapped in her Spiritual World for ten days before awakening.”

The expert presented the psychic power data of Tang Xu’s fiancée, Miss Zeng.

Zone 003’s research on Spirit Evolution is quite advanced; it goes beyond fluctuations in overall psychic power, able to assess the current state of Evolvers based on subtle psychic changes, whether in a berserk or relatively calm state. It also simulates the general state of an out-of-control Spiritual World based on an Evolver’s original Spirit Evolution data.

Xu Huo reviewed the past three months of treatment records for Miss Zeng. Each time someone engaged her in a psychic clash, her Spiritual World was described differently.

This was highly unusual. Unlike illusion interference shown to others, typically, a person’s Spiritual World is relatively stable from birth. Even if it evolves later, the core foundation doesn’t change. Fellow Evolvers treating her couldn’t possibly fail to touch the core of her Spiritual World.

“Have you seen Miss Zeng’s Spiritual World?” Xu Huo turned to ask Tang Xu, “Did she ever mention what her core Materialized Item is?”