Chapter 996 - 560: Pollution of the Underground Human Base

"Alright, what I wanted to say is just this." The monster spoke in a clumsy language, "For other matters, you should ask No. 5."

Then, Xu Xin noticed that the chair was emitting a purple-black glow.

Following this, the monster, which looked extremely discomforting, leaned backward and instantly seemed to merge with the chair, disappearing completely.

Before it vanished, Xu Xin heard it mutter in that peculiar language: "Earthlings are truly disgusting..."

Shi Wanyun, kneeling on the ground with her hands on the floor, didn’t realize the monster had already left.

She only felt a warm sensation flowing inside her, feeling somewhat...comfortable?

She hadn’t heard any movement from the monster for a long time, so she cautiously raised her head to glance over there.

The monster was long gone, and the eyes on the blue-black armrests of the chair had closed.

She suddenly felt her body go weak, slumping to the ground, gasping for air heavily.

The sensations just now were truly...too terrifying.

At this moment, the images in Xu Xin’s mind suddenly turned black.

He felt Shi Wanyun no longer pressing her forehead against him and had let go of his arm.

He opened his eyes and saw Shi Wanyun now completely drenched, with strands of hair sticking to her forehead, sweat sliding down her cheeks, her gaze filled with exhaustion.

"Let me...rest for a bit." Shi Wanyun whispered.

"Okay." Xu Xin nodded.

She looked rather pitiful now.

It seems she really overexerted herself just now.

"...I never thought, from the depths of my heart, I would be so afraid of something." Shi Wanyun was silent for a while before suddenly speaking.

"You..." Xu Xin wanted to say something but didn’t know how.

In his view, this thing surely had a psychological impact on people.

To compare, it’s akin to the sensation of...

A cockroach, spider, or mouse crawling into clothes through sleeve or collar.

But for Xu Xin, rather than fear, it’s more a discomfort, a nausea.

Something you’ll get used to with time.

It’s like someone who lives in a meticulously clean environment seeing a cockroach for the first time might even scream.

But for someone living in a less clean environment, frequently in contact with cockroaches, it doesn’t cause much shock; they can easily grab, crush, or step on it.

Although he had only seen the monster in Shi Wanyun’s memory for a few minutes just now, he was already accustomed to it.

Thus, he somewhat couldn’t understand Shi Wanyun’s fear.

His thoughts at the moment were...

Is it really that frightening?

Of course, he didn’t speak those thoughts out loud.

It would be rather impolite.

Moreover, he wasn’t experiencing it himself, the difference is significant; watching a horror movie and experiencing a real horror event are completely different in terror levels.

"I know what you’re thinking." Shi Wanyun lay weakly on the sofa, staring wearily at the ceiling, "You must think I’m exaggerating or that I’m quite cowardly."

"Well, not really." Xu Xin shook his head.

"Hehe..." Shi Wanyun laughed helplessly, "I’m really scared. This kind of fear isn’t the kind where you fear death because the other party is strong, but it’s a...spiritual fear towards the monster itself."

Xu Xin indeed observed it.

The monster clearly didn’t do anything to her; despite its disgust for Shi Wanyun’s appearance, its overall attitude could even be considered polite.

Not to mention, there wasn’t even a trace of arrogance.

Additionally, after somehow understanding the monster’s muttering, he even felt that the monster could communicate normally, coexist normally.

Hmm...after all, it’s an advanced intelligent species.

"I also don’t know what’s going on; I just...feel extremely afraid."

Shi Wanyun probably felt that she had already lost face before Xu Xin, so she completely abandoned the pride of a Rank 1 expert, speaking to Xu Xin like pouring out her emotions.

Her voice was somewhat choked.

"I initially thought that after injecting this gene therapy, after escaping its control, I wouldn’t be so scared of it anymore, but...it’s still like this..."

She used one arm to cover her eyes.

She began to doubt whether she had really escaped control.

"...Can’t you tell if you’ve escaped control yourself?" Xu Xin asked.

"I...feel like I have escaped it." Shi Wanyun wiped her eyes with her sleeve and sat up. Her eyes were slightly red.

"Didn’t you say earlier that you couldn’t tell me these things, or you’d also become a monster?" Xu Xin looked at her, "But now you’re still perfectly fine, doesn’t that explain everything?"

"But..." Shi Wanyun sat up, hesitating.

"Also, you feel scared during recollection because your ability records the feelings at that time too, right?" Xu Xin continued, "You felt this way then, so you feel scared during recollection. Perhaps next time you meet the counterpart in reality, you won’t be as afraid."

"...Hmm, what you said...makes sense."

The shadow originally covering Shi Wanyun’s face gradually dissipated.

She stared blankly at her hands for a few seconds, eventually relaxing her brows and looking at Xu Xin: "Thank you."