Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 503 - 98: Beautiful Soap Bubble (Part 2)

Sun Hang couldn't see Zhao Ming's negative emotions because Zhao Ming, immersed in his fantasy world, truly had no negative emotions—despite the hard work, just thinking about going home to see his obedient and cute daughter filled him with immense happiness and satisfaction, and all negative emotions dissipated...

Although all of this was fantasy, it was precisely these fantasies that allowed his mental world to restore itself to completeness after collapsing.

As for the hidden personality, it was merely some "residue" scattered after the initial mental collapse.

But the problem lay in this fantasy.

Zhao Ming was convinced that Zhao Xuan was still alive, almost as firmly as a mental steel seal... but not long ago, this strong mental seal was shattered by "someone" as easily as bursting a soap bubble.

Shattering fantasies, severing hope, twisting perception... combined with some small tricks, a "normal person" was instantly reduced to a desperate semblance.

He was pitiful and pitiable, but even if Sun Hang knew all this beforehand, he would still unhesitatingly kill Zhao Ming after his transformation.

He might even preemptively strike before Zhao Ming's transformation.

In a situation like Zhao Ming's, transformation was almost inevitable; his cognitive distortion was irreversible, and psychological counseling was useless—leaving him with only two choices: either desperately maintain that beautiful soap bubble or burst it open and show him the bloody reality.

A lie requires more lies to cover it up, and the day the soap bubble bursts will eventually come.

Even if not today, he would still transform into a semblance at some future point.

It was just that some presence had noticed Zhao Ming's problem and took advantage of it in advance.

As to whether this presence was Chimera 17, that's hard to say. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Sun Hang is more inclined to believe it is—and otherwise, Zhao Ming wouldn't have targeted Song Yarong.

If one wants to hinder the progress of PFDA development, he could attack any engineer, which would be easier to accomplish; yet, he chose Song Yarong—the second most difficult to kill among all the people present besides Sun Hang—which is very suspicious.

Chimera 17 likely eavesdropped on Sun Hang and their conversation through this guy, realizing there was a secret known to few—among those present, besides Sun Hang, there's just Song Yarong (Shinkata Misaki disguised as Tang Jing was overlooked), leaving Song Yarong as the only choice.

The only question is how Chimera 17 controlled Zhao Ming...

Sun Hang suddenly thought of the girl with the sinister smile he saw in Zhao Ming's memory image...

Suppose Chimera 17 used some ability to slightly alter Zhao Ming's perception and memory, making herself Zhao Xuan... then given Zhao Ming's obsessive love for his daughter, he would probably unconditionally agree to any unreasonable demands from his daughter...

"Damn, case solved." Sun Hang muttered softly.

"What did you say?" Song Yarong asked on the other end of the phone.

"I said, we lost the lead." Sun Hang said, "Zhao Ming is a mentally ill person, his daughter Zhao Xuan was a tragically deceased infant, a pitiable family, the whole incident has no direct connection with other semblances… it was simply him suddenly realizing his daughter was really dead, unable to withstand the shock, plunging into madness and thus transforming… it's just this process later was exploited by Chimera 17..."

"Exploited? What do you mean?"

"Without Chimera 17, Zhao Ming would have indiscriminately attacked all living things after his transformation." Sun Hang said, "But Chimera 17 used Zhao Ming... Do you guess why Zhao Ming suddenly went mad at that moment? There was nothing around him to trigger thoughts of his deceased daughter."

"You mean Chimera 17 shattered his fantasy?"

"Exactly, Zhao Ming in this state will sooner or later become a semblance, but Chimera 17 accelerated this timeline and used the transformed Zhao Ming to attack you." Sun Hang said, "Besides, I suspect Chimera 17 targeted Zhao Ming early on and used him to eavesdrop on our conversation."

"Oh..." Song Yarong involuntarily gasped.

"I know this is nearly impossible to defend against, but if it can be defended, we'll try to do more of it, strengthen personnel checks and confidentiality work, and refrain from discussing non-work matters whenever possible... after all, if there's one Zhao Ming, there will be a second and third..." Speaking of this, Sun Hang suddenly paused, "Ugh, disgusting."

"What is disgusting?"

"I suddenly realized Chimera 17's tactic was a double-edged strategy, and perhaps its other purpose was the main one... and it's an open conspiracy, one we can't unravel even if we see through it." Sun Hang frowned.

"Are you talking about the crisis of trust between people?"

"Yes... When everyone starts to suspect their colleagues, how do you think the progress of the pesticide project will be slowed?"

"Then... should we still disclose this matter?"

"It's up to you? Perhaps ask the bunch of old folks at Dubhe Tower on how to solve it... they should have quite some experience in this area." Sun Hang handed the law enforcement recorder back to the Sheriff, "I'm tired, I want to go home and rest now."

"Alright... I'll contact Dubhe Tower immediately." Song Yarong finished and decisively hung up.

Sun Hang turned around, looking at the Sheriff and another investigator standing in the room.

The two looked at each other, and after a few seconds of daze, they simultaneously shook their heads: "We'll pretend we heard nothing, we know nothing."

"Logically, I should ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement, but that thing is troublesome and not necessarily effective... Oh, don't get me wrong, it's not that I think you can't keep quiet, but some things don't need your voluntary action to extract the memory out of your brains... So, the safest way is still..."

A trace of horror flashed in their eyes.

"Pa."

Sun Hang snapped his fingers, and the trace of horror quickly turned into confusion in their eyes.

Sun Hang handed the glass jar in his hand to the Sheriff and said, "Get the evidence, record it, and after completing this go burn the specimen at the incineration station, and find a clean place to bury it."

"Okay, okay." The Sheriff dumbfoundedly took the glass jar, "Should we continue investigating Zhao Ming's residence?"

"For me, this matter is over. But if you have some procedural tasks to complete, suit yourselves." After saying this, Sun Hang shoved both hands in his pockets and walked toward the door.

He was puzzled, ever since the Chen Hongjuan incident, he had been pondering one question—why do humans transform into semblances because of "negative emotions" that seem to have no effect on the real world?

What are the transformation conditions of semblances? What is the essence of semblances?

Mr. Pei talked to Sun Hang last time about human malice, but those words seemed to say nothing... he rambled on without explaining how this malice transforms people into semblances...

Malice leads to crime, leads people to act in defiance of morals and ethics... but how does malice make a person's throat grow a tongue with sharp teeth?

This is a damn change of species, right?

Sun Hang was in a daze; he suddenly thought about his own ability.

Mind over matter?

Those people thought of various ugly things, so they became hideous monsters?

Hmm??