"Lin... Brother Lin, is it a ghost... ghost? Is that you? This crawling gesture, it’s like Zhenzi reincarnated," said Zhou Botong, half scared, half excited.
He was scared because he had never seen a ghost before; he was excited because at last, he had the chance to encounter one. The thing crawling out from under the bed was clearly human-shaped, its face obscured by disheveled hair, making it impossible to see clearly.
Lin Tian was speechless about his complicated feelings. As for whether the thing under the bed was human or ghost, that was irrelevant to him; not even King Yanluo could reach him now.
Lin Tian glanced at the sealed room and suddenly had an idea. He couldn’t help saying to Zhou Botong, "Brother Zhou, it’s better to extinguish the fire, otherwise, don’t say I didn’t warn you."
"Why extinguish it? It’s pitch dark and we can’t see anything..." Zhou Botong still wouldn’t listen.
But before he could finish his sentence, an unexpected change occurred. The thing that had been crawling under the bed suddenly leaped at Zhou Botong. Caught off guard, Zhou Botong was imdiately pinned to the ground.
"Brother Lin, save ..." Zhou Botong, terrified out of his wits, imdiately called out for Lin Tian’s help.
"Well, if you don’t listen to advice, you’ll suffer right in front of your eyes," sighed Lin Tian. He didn’t rush to his rescue; instead, he walked to the window and violently drew the curtains open.
The bright, beautiful sunlight imdiately filtered through the window glass into the room, illuminating it. The strange person seed to be stimulated by sothing and hurried to the farthest end of the room, huddling in a corner where the sunlight couldn’t reach, shivering violently as if extrely afraid of the light.
Zhou Botong quickly scrambled up and hid behind Lin Tian, his voice trembling as he said, "Why did that freak co at ? You were clearly right next to just now. But I can be sure that he’s not a ghost, look—he has a shadow."
"Do you see what that freak is holding in his hands? Isn’t it your lighter?" Lin Tian pointed at the hands of the person, waiting for Zhou Botong to nod before he continued, "So, it wasn’t you he was after, but your lighter."
"But why would that be, huh? Does that freak smoke?" Zhou Botong still couldn’t figure it out.
Lin Tian shook his head helplessly, looking at him with disdain and said, "Brother Zhou, you’re usually pretty sharp. How co you can’t see the obvious now? This freak is clearly afraid of light. You were lighting your lighter; the fla stimulated him, so he pounced on you trying to extinguish the lighter, got it?"
"I get it, but how did you know?" asked Zhou Botong curiously.
"The heavy black curtains covering the window in broad daylight—it’s obvious that he’s afraid of light, isn’t it? Look at him now, he’s obviously very sensitive to light," explained Lin Tian.
Looking back and forth between the curtains and the freak in the corner, Zhou Botong suddenly had an epiphany and nodded in understanding.
"You don’t need to guess anymore. This is Mr. Qi we’ve been looking for. Sigh, it’s such a pity, so tragic—a handso guy turned into sothing neither human nor ghost," Lin Tian said as he shook his head in sorrow.
With the situation clarified, Zhou Botong cald down and also sighed, "What exactly is he suffering from? Look at his hair; it seems to have been cut short not long ago, and now it’s grown longer than a woman’s hair. And those nails and hands, they’re almost indistinguishable from a ghoul’s claws."
"That’s why I’m here. First, we have to confirm whether his mind is still sound," said Lin Tian.
He turned and partially closed the curtains, letting in just enough light for Zhou Botong to barely see inside the room. After the curtains were drawn, Mr. Qi’s shivering form noticeably relaxed.
"Mr. Qi’s symptoms remind of rabies, that’s also an incurable disease," Zhou Botong said thoughtfully.
"In Western dicine terms, rabies is caused by the rabies virus damaging the central nervous system. In Huaxia dical terms, it’s due to the evil madness toxin spreading from the exterior to the interior, causing a disturbance in the Inner Strength and organs. That’s why there are such bizarre symptoms and the mortality rate is nearly one hundred percent. But this shouldn’t be rabies," Lin Tian analyzed in detail.
"The only symptom resembling rabies is the fear of light, but rabies cannot explain the abnormal growth of hair and fingernails. Let’s go have a look," Lin Tian said, pointing at Mr. Qi’s long hair, and continued.
He walked over, and Zhou Botong followed, curious.
Lin Tian squatted down beside the strange man and asked softly, "Mr. Qi, do you still recognize us?"
Mr. Qi turned around, his face pale, but it was still unmistakably him. He swept his hair aside with his hand, glanced at Zhou Botong, then shook his head.
Although he shook his head, Lin Tian felt a surge of joy inside. Mr. Qi didn’t rember Zhou Botong, but he could understand Lin Tian’s words, which ant his mind was relatively clear, and they could communicate.
Mr. Qi turned to look at Lin Tian. This ti he didn’t shake his head but frowned, as if trying to rember sothing, then ventured, "Lin Tian?"
"Damn it, why doesn’t he rember , but rembers you? Am I that bad?" Zhou Botong complained.
"Because, Brother, I’m handsor than you," Lin Tian said with a hint of amusent. Mr. Qi wasn’t a beauty, so who he rembered and who he forgot wasn’t that upsetting. He then explained, "I’ve thwarted him several tis, so he probably has a more profound impression of . From this, we can tell that Mr. Qi is suffering from partial amnesia, which surely ans there’s sothing wrong with his brain."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Mr. Qi lunged at him again, this ti aiming for Lin Tian. He spoke desperately to Lin Tian, "You’re Lin Tian, you’re Lin Tian, save , please save , I don’t want to turn into a monster!"
Lin Tian was no Zhou Botong. Even though Mr. Qi had alarmingly increased strength after falling ill, Lin Tian effortlessly pried off Mr. Qi’s clawing hands, lifted him up, and then threw him onto the bed.
"If you don’t want to die, quiet down!" Lin Tian shouted deeply.
Mr. Qi got up, and although he didn’t lunge again, he was still kneeling on the bed, continuously kowtowing to Lin Tian in a pitiable manner.
"Do you know who did this to you?" Lin Tian asked.
"I don’t know," Mr. Qi answered.
"Have you encountered any strange strangers recently?" Lin Tian continued.
Mr. Qi furrowed his brow and thought for a mont, then said, "It doesn’t seem so, I usually hang out with a bunch of familiar friends, no strange strangers."
"No, that’s not right, there was soone. I t soone recently who said he was from the Sun Shadow Association. He wanted to introduce to the society, and I figured why not since I was bored, so I went with him to join. But I can’t rember where it was," Mr. Qi shared the sudden recollection with Lin Tian.
It was the Sun Shadow Association again, how could everything be linked to this gang? Similarly, not rembering the process of joining, Lin Tian’s eyebrows furrowed. The Sun Shadow Association was silent and elusive, known only to a very few, but seed omnipresent, having even alard the military.
"Stretch out your hand, I’ll diagnose you first," Lin Tian said.
He couldn’t deal with those matters for the ti being; finding out the cause of the sickness was most important since Su Qingqing’s brother had also joined the Sun Shadow Association. If he fell ill, it was essential to have a strategy in place.
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