Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

It was a big, unfamiliar city.

Although the rows upon rows of high-rise buildings and the brightly lit city skyline were almost the same as those of Jiangnan City and were similarly stormy with lightning and thunder, as if the entire world had been swallowed by flood and thunder, Li Yao could still tell from the hot and humid climate as well as the tropical plants on the roadside that this place was even closer to the south than Jiangnan City. While he was in a coma, they had fled at least a thousand kilometers away.

As it turned out, the grey mist lady told Li Yao that this was the capital city of the southern hills, as well as the transportation hub of the five or so provinces nearby. It was very convenient to travel across the country or even out of the country by various means of transportation. More importantly, the geologic structure of the area was very stable. No large-scale natural disasters had ever taken place in history. Earthquakes, storms, floods, hail, and tsunamis were rarely seen.

According to the Red Pole Star, if the 'will of the earth' was willing to pay a high price, it was theoretically possible to wipe out such a large and stable city that was deep inland. However, it was against the natural disaster that was absolutely impossible. It would consume too much of its strength and might lead to its failure in the 'war of the universe'. Therefore, they were safe for now.

As he expected, although it was raining heavily and some of the low-lying streets were flooded, the normal functioning mechanism of the city was not affected. It was not completely paralyzed yet.

Li Yao's destination was a secret office of the Ark Foundation in the downtown area of the city.

Although it was called a 'secret office', on the surface, it had a public cover. It was a rather high-class psychological consulting club called 'Mind Space'.

The grey mist lady told Li Yao that the Heaven's Origin Sector might know that the 'mind space' was a branch of the Ark Foundation. But as she said, the downtown area was their best cover. If the Heaven's Origin Sector attacked the place without caring about anything else and revealed the existence of the metahumans and their superpowers to the world, it would only stimulate the ignorant human society. The mutation of cancer cells might occur, which was definitely not what the Will of Earth wanted.

Besides, most of the doctors and workers in the 'mind space' were ordinary people who knew nothing about the truth. Similar peripheral organizations were all over the world. Even if one of them was destroyed, the main body of the Fangzhou Foundation in the deep sea would not be affected much.

"The Heaven's Origin Sector suffered heavy casualties in the ambush, too. It will take the hunters at least twenty-four hours to gather enough hands to launch a second attack.

The grey mist lady said to Li Yao, "Let's rest here for a night and wait for the arrival of the Hell Breakers, who are going to be awakened in several provinces nearby. We will set off tomorrow morning and march southwards across the border. Of course, there is also a batch of advanced equipment here that can examine you."

"How are you going to test it?"

Li Yao was immediately alarmed.

Although he was biased toward the Ark Foundation and was familiar with Red Pole, it did not mean that he liked to be 'tested' when the secrets deep inside his soul were revealed.

"Rest assured."

The grey mist lady replied, "It won't be too difficult. We have a very special patient here. I hope you can treat him and relieve his worries. That's all."

"Huh?"

Li Yao was dazed. "Wait. What do you mean? Isn't it a test? Why is it treatment now? Besides, I'm not a psychiatrist. How can I treat your patients? What's going on?"

"Don't ask me. I don't know, either. It was Red Pole's instruction.

"Red Pole Star said, 'If you are really you, you must know how to treat the patient.'"

Li Yao was even more confused, but the grey mist lady was equally confused.

Everyone entered the building and took the elevator to the 'mindspace' on the thirteenth floor.

This place was not a professional mental treatment facility. It was only set up to relieve the stress of modern people and vent their negative emotions. It looked more like an elegantly decorated house. On the two sides of a long corridor that was filled with bright green lights were five or so " decompression chambers" in different styles. At this moment, most of the rooms were empty. Only in the innermost room was a middle-aged man with dark eyebrows, swollen eyes, and restless restlessness. He was both anxious and excited.

If not for his absent-mindedness and blurred eyes, this middle-aged man could be said to have a dignified appearance. His every movement was filled with a solemn and scholarly temperament. According to Li Yao's guess, he should be engaged in an educational profession and was quite successful.

As expected, according to the information that the grey mist lady handed over to him, this middle-aged patient named 'Zhang Jiashu' was the head instructor of the No. 12 High School of the city. Before he became the head instructor, he had been the head teacher of the school for many years. His work was serious and responsible, and he treated the students strictly yet with care. The student's enrollment rate was very high, and he had received the title of city-level outstanding educator multiple times. He could be considered to be a well-acknowledged good teacher. He was upright, resolute, and had principles. His family was also very happy and happy. He was the object of envy for his colleagues and leaders. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any psychological problems.

Of course, mental illnesses were unreasonable in the first place.

"What's wrong with this Teacher Zhang?"

Li Yao looked far ahead through the door and noticed that Zhang Jiashu, the head instructor, was craning his neck and observing the ventilation tube above the " decompression chamber" with all his concentration. His eyeballs were rolling up and down. He did not have the demeanor of a teacher at all. On the contrary, he looked like a thief.

This kind of very… wretched temperament was very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

"Teacher Zhang has awakened. It's just that his awakening is very strange. It's completely different from the regular awakened ones we've discovered. It's more like… he's been corrupted by something from the outside and awakened memories and souls that don't belong to him."

The grey mist lady handed over a medical record and said, "As you can see, Teacher Zhang was originally a very decent, kind, and traditional person. He had a happy family and a successful career. He could be considered a winner in this life. Generally speaking, such people rarely awaken.

"However, according to Teacher Zhang's narration, one day, when he was patrolling the classroom, he confiscated one of a student's cell phone. At that time, the student was secretly using the cell phone to read a novel in the classroom. Naturally, this kind of thing was absolutely forbidden. There was nothing to say even if his cell phone was confiscated. In any case, it would be returned to the student at the end of the semester.

"However, after Teacher Zhang confiscated the student's cell phone, for some reason, he took a glance and was immediately attracted by the novel inside the cell phone. In his own words, it was like he had entered a devil's den. He used approximately a week's time to finish reading the several million words of the novel.

"Naturally, the novel that the student was reading in secret was not a world-famous novel, but a web novel. Teacher Zhang himself graduated from the Chinese Department and taught Chinese literature. Usually, he would rarely read these things… In his original words, these were things that were 'roughly made, made to fool gods and ghosts'. But this time, I don't know why, but this novel seemed to possess a terrifying magical power, causing him to forget to sleep and eat day and night. He didn't even have the mood to do his job.

"Of course, this is not enough for Teacher Zhang to seek help from psychiatrists and psychologists.

"The few days after reading this online novel, Teacher Zhang had a small fever and had nightmares for two to three days. Then, he had many very strange habits."

Li Yao was fascinated. He couldn't help but ask, "What habits?"

"Drilling sewers and ventilation tubes.

The grey mist lady said, "According to Teacher Zhang, after this fever, he seems to have the problem of sleepwalking. In the middle of the night, he would often sneak out of the house, open the manhole cover in the neighborhood, and crawl into the sewer to run and explore. It was as if he was like a fish in water in the narrow, dark, and suffocating space. He felt extremely comfortable.

"Later, not just at night, even when he was fully conscious during the day, he could not help but wonder about the ventilation system of every building and how he could crawl in without alarming anybody.

"Teacher Zhang told us that he had really crawled into the ventilation ducts of several buildings in an attempt to avoid everyone's eyes and ears from invading the most secure space. Every time he retreated, he would break out in cold sweat. With his identity as a teacher, if he was caught in the ventilation ducts, he wouldn't be able to explain himself even if he had a mouth all over his body. It was really possible that his reputation would be ruined. But he just couldn't hold back the impulse that came from the depths of his soul."

"Well…" Li Yao stammered.

"Also, temperament.

The grey mist lady continued, "Teacher Zhang was originally very popular with the students in the school. Although he held the position of 'Director of Teaching', a position that had to be strictly enforced, he still won the admiration of many students with his integrity and elegance. However, according to his own narration and our secret investigations, there were indeed many students who believed that Teacher Zhang had become… sleazy, treacherous, and cunning recently. He would use many despicable and shameless tricks to deal with the students. He had a clear understanding of the tricks of the 'bad students'. He was even worse than the 'bad students', causing many students to complain incessantly.

"But sometimes, his brain seemed to be insufficient. His IQ suddenly dropped, and he would blurt out some very childish words. He simply changed from a dignified high school head instructor to a brainless middle school student."

"Is—is there such a thing?"

"Also, those nightmares, although his fever had long gone, were still haunting him, making him unable to sleep well for several days and nights. Often, when he closed and opened his eyes, he would find himself in the ventilation ducts or the sewers. Teacher Zhang had no choice but to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said that he was middle-aged and his wife's life was not very harmonious. He could not vent his desires, so subconsciously, he found the sewers and ventilation ducts as… substitutes for his wife. You know."

The grey mist lady said, "Teacher Zhang scoffed at such a theory, but the disease did exist and had to be treated. After searching for a while, he finally found us."

"Wait—"

Li Yao frowned. "Let me ask you first. What was the name of the online novel that Teacher Zhang read before his illness acted up?"

"You should've guessed it."

The grey mist lady looked at Li Yao. "It's '40,000 Years of Cultivation' written by Master Lie Niu."