Chapter 108: Moral Decline

Chapter 108: Moral Decline

Zhou Yun had no time to stop it. Qisha was already charred black by the full-force thunderbolt in a fit of rage, and then turned to ashes by a burst of fire from Comet.

Zhou Yun was speechless.

Guan Yuanfeng cut the parachute rope with a single slash of his knife and was by his side in a few steps: "How are you?"

Up close, he could see the fine, sand-like abrasions on half of Zhou Yun's face and neck, his shirt torn and soaked with blood. The newly regenerated skin on his shoulder was noticeably different in color from the surrounding area, and his body was covered in bloodstains.

His heart sank as he removed his coat and draped it over Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun, unaware of his disheveled appearance, had already healed his shoulder in the heat of the moment and felt no pain. However, his head was still dizzy from the sudden fall, and his blood hadn't fully replenished. He tightened the coat to cover his messy shoulder and smiled: "I'm fine, just a minor injury. It's already healed."

"I seldom encounter a high-level water-type, so I wanted to observe his skills. I underestimated them and didn't expect them to have an earth-type either," Zhou Yun explained somewhat sheepishly in a low voice. "I also wanted to give Comet some actual combat experience. I was careless."

Guan Yuanfeng supported him with one hand and waved his other hand to conjure a whirlwind, sweeping through the entire neighborhood in search: "Is there anyone else?"

Zhou Yun shook his head: "No one else." Earlier, under the pretext of gathering data upstairs, he had already manipulated the plants to capture and tie up each member of the small groups in the neighborhood, throwing them into the underground garage. The only one he missed was a high-level earth-type psychic—where had he been hiding all this time?

He looked up at the steel-clawed man hanging motionless in the air, his head drooping: "This earth-type must be at least level five... It's unbelievable..." How could someone reach level five so quickly at this stage? Advancing beyond the fourth level is extremely difficult. Could there be some trick to single-type leveling?

He slowly lowered the unconscious steel-clawed man to the ground using the thorny tendrils. Seeing the familiar steel claws, he frowned and bent down to remove the goggles. But his waist was suddenly pulled back as Guan Yuanfeng, with a cold expression, moved him aside. The battle knife in his hand flicked open the goggles, revealing a twisted, cyanotic face contorted by lack of oxygen.

Zhou Yun recognized him. Was his surname Wei? It had been so long. When he treated him, he was only at the third level... He was still trying to recall the man's name when Guan Yuanfeng recognized him as well.

"Wei Anguo."

Zhou Yun looked at Guan Yuanfeng: "You know him?"

Guan Yuanfeng's expression remained tense and serious: "He was a special operations team member from the previous term, not in my team. He was also discharged due to injury—apparently, he had been recalled."

His gaze fell on the steel claw: "It must have been equipped with a mechanical prosthetic weapon."

He frowned deeply: "Adding weapons to prosthetics is supposed to be banned."

Zhou Yun understood. In his previous life, Wei Anguo had been a patient suffering from genetic collapse, transferred from the military to Dark Valley for treatment... but it was useless. Neither light psychics nor wood psychic abilities could heal him.

He had been injected with large doses of stimulant-like drugs to forcibly enhance his psychic ability, leading to genetic mutation and eventual collapse. His body tissues could no longer regenerate.

That drug was later banned, but at the time, Zhou Yun was too low-ranking to know where these illegal human experiments were being conducted. He was filled with righteous anger.

Back then, the Psychic Research Institute had a good reputation. That drug wasn't developed by the institute, and no academic journals had ever mentioned it. The people who sent Wei Anguo were evasive and secretive.

Wei Anguo was the first psychic to suffer from genetic collapse. He was taciturn, his body rotting and his organs failing, spending most of his time in a coma.

Zhou Yun couldn't save him, no matter how hard he tried. Each time he used his regeneration ability, Wei Anguo would briefly regain consciousness, only to fall back into a coma soon after.

He once smiled and said to Zhou Yun: "Dr. Zhou, don't worry about me. It's too painful, and I can't be cured. I've already applied for euthanasia."

Zhou Yun was deeply saddened, frustrated by his own lack of research expertise and insufficient psychic level. He couldn't alleviate Wei Anguo's suffering.

But Wei Anguo comforted him: "I volunteered for this. If I can contribute to the development of drugs for future psychic enhancement, that's good."

So, it seems he had already been forcibly elevated to the fifth level back then.

But during the fight earlier, he didn't seem to be able to use any stronger spells. It was likely due to that banned drug, which only temporarily boosts psychic levels. Did the entire psychic team use this drug? Or was it just Wei Anguo?

"Jumen" is the second star of the Big Dipper, his codename for killing. His real name was "Anguo."

Zhou Yun lowered his gaze and suddenly crouched, reaching out to cast a healing spell on Wei Anguo's chest.

A green glow surrounded Wei Anguo, and the bones that had been pierced and torn apart by the green vines slowly healed, the bloody wounds closing up.

Guan Yuanfeng watched him perform the powerful wood-type healing spell, still without saying a word.

Soon, Wei Anguo's chest began to rise and fall with breath, and he was no longer in immediate danger.

Zhou Yun withdrew his hand and explained to Guan Yuanfeng, "We need to keep him alive to interrogate him about their situation—when I fought him, he clearly didn't exhibit the skills expected of a fifth-tier user. I suspect he might have taken some kind of drug. Also, we need to check the Nanshan Herb Garden. I'm worried Qin Mu might not be able to handle it." He had initially planned to lure everyone here, but the other side was clearly experienced, casually deflecting while waiting for their own message to establish trust.

Guan Yuanfeng said, "I'll go check it out. You stay here."

Zhou Yun stood up, but he stood up too quickly and felt dizzy. Guan Yuanfeng immediately steadied him, his brow furrowed tightly as he stared intently at Zhou Yun's pale face. "Go back and rest. Stop using your psychic abilities! Is Yao Lao here? I'll go get him to examine you."

Zhou Yun reassured him, "I'm really fine. I just stood up too quickly, and the blood didn't reach my brain fast enough. All the teachers have gone to Nirvana Manor to take shelter from the typhoon."

In the distance, a helicopter finally touched down, and Jiang Rongqian got off and ran over, asking with concern, "How is Dr. Zhou? Is he okay?" Guan Yuanfeng had only brought one other person with him.

Guan Yuanfeng said, "You look after him. I'll go check on the Nanshan Herb Garden."

Jiang Rongqian looked worried. "Captain, you've been using your psychic abilities for so long. Are you sure you can keep going?"

Zhou Yun glanced at Guan Yuanfeng, who frowned and said, "I'll manage."

Suddenly, Zhou Yun looked up and reached out into the air, grabbing a black shadow sphere that bounced playfully in his palm. "Qin Mu is here."

Qin Mu drove up in an off-road vehicle, bringing Master Xinhai to Yunding Mountain Villa. He was all smiles, but his expression darkened when he saw the scratches on Zhou Yun's face. "What happened? You should get those wounds treated right away."

Guan Yuanfeng supported Zhou Yun by the waist. "Let's go inside to talk. Cuff him and bring him inside."

Zhou Yun said, "There's a whole group in the basement, and another team is stuck on the 30th floor. Qin Mu, you can drive a bus later to take them back."

Qin Mu nodded. "I knew you'd be okay. We took care of things on our end as well. As soon as I saw your message, I understood what you meant."

He asked Guan Yuanfeng, "How did Team Guan and Team Jiang get here so quickly? I heard it was snowing up north."

Jiang Rongqian pointed to the sky. "When we heard the Sky Wolf Special Forces were deployed, the captain rushed over right away. He controlled the wind the whole way, blowing the snow and ice aside. He was worried about the danger, so he only brought me as the driver."

Zhou Yun looked at Guan Yuanfeng in shock. "Over two thousand kilometers! That would take at least five or six hours!" With heavy snow in the north and a typhoon in the south, how could he take such a risk? No matter how strong his psychic abilities were, it was hard to defy natural disasters. A wave of fear washed over him.

Guan Yuanfeng glanced at Jiang Rongqian, signaling him to stop talking. "It didn't take long. I found a trick to make it faster."

Jiang Rongqian stifled a laugh. "The captain was so anxious the whole way, constantly telling me to drive faster. I used every driving skill I've ever learned."

The group entered the villa, and Zhou Yun went upstairs first to clean and tend to his wounds. When he looked in the bathroom mirror, he realized why Guan Yuanfeng had been so angry earlier, his expression still tense.

He had indeed overused his psychic abilities today, feeling drained, but it had been a long time since he had fought so fiercely.

After healing the scratches on his face, washing his hair and body, and changing into clean clothes, he took a ginseng honey pill to replenish some energy. Checking his reflection and seeing that his complexion was no longer so pale, he went downstairs.

As he descended, he heard Qin Mu enthusiastically recounting, "First, we took the wood-type team and Master Xinhai to deal with the ambush squads one by one. The tree cages summoned through the resonance of natural energy were incredibly effective. Master Xinhai organized and invented the thorn cage formation."

Master Xinhai humbly said, "Amitabha. We merely adapted the president's natural energy spells. It really saved a lot of effort. And we only temporarily trapped them. The real credit goes to Manager Qin's shadow frog."

"The shadow spells were incredibly effective."

"We subdued all four of their squads one by one."

Jiang Rongqian asked in surprise, "Didn't they have wireless communication?"

Qin Mu said, "Zhu Zhu brought a powerful signal jammer and jammed all their communications."

Jiang Rongqian looked utterly dismayed: "Without satellite communications, the individual radios are really..." As a communications soldier, he couldn't help but feel a sense of shared misfortune.

Qin Mu was grinning from ear to ear: "Then we continued using their communication equipment to set a trap, luring their captain over. We dug a pit using earth-based shadow hemp. Their captain, Pojun, is a lightning user! Just like Team Guan! If we hadn't prepared a shadow bag, a wooden cage, and the shadow frog's sound wave attack, we definitely wouldn't have beaten them!"

Zhou Yun sat in silence. He sat down next to Guan Yuanfeng, handed him a ginseng honey pill, and thought to himself that after using his psychic ability for so long, Guan must be at his limit too. Comet, drawn by the scent, immediately came over, and Zhou Yun gave it a pill too.

Guan Yuanfeng took the pill, carefully checking Zhou Yun's complexion. Seeing that Zhou Yun looked much better and not as pale as before, Guan finally relaxed. He casually cracked open the wax coating, popped the ginseng honey pill into his mouth, and kept listening to the conversation.

Jiang Rongqian said, "You guys are way too sneaky... and totally unpredictable. Even though we knew you were a shadow user with a shadow frog, we probably didn't expect you to also have a sound wave skill, plus shadow hemp to unexpectedly restrict psychic abilities. Not just them, even our team would be caught off guard and unsure how to react if we ran into it."

Master Xinhai said, "Indeed. Speaking of which, I had heard the captain's codename was Pojun. According to Ziwei Dou Shu, Pojun is associated with the water element, so I thought he was a water user. I didn't expect him to be a lightning user. The codename is meant to throw people off."

Zhou Yun asked curiously, "Master, do you know Ziwei Dou Shu? I thought only Taoist Master Yunyin would know about such things."

Master Xinhai replied, "Taoist Master Yunyin is really knowledgeable about it. In Buddhism, there's the 'Sutra of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper for Prolonging Life' in the Esoteric section of the Tripitaka, closely related to the 'Sutra of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper for Longevity' in the Taoist canon. We've talked about it before."

Zhou Yun then asked, "What about Qisha, Tan Lang, and Jumen? What elements are they linked to?"

Master Xinhai answered, "Qisha is linked to metal, Tan Lang to wood, and Jumen to earth."

Zhou Yun said, "Jumen fits then, being earth-based."

Master Xinhai added, "It seems to be a mix of truth and lies, making it hard to tell."

Zhou Yun said, "We can grill them later, especially to figure out their abilities, and then send them all to Nirvana Manor to grow herbs."

Jiang Rongqian was startled: "Huh? Aren't we sending them back to the military for trial and punishment?"

The room fell silent.

Everyone instinctively looked at Guan Yuanfeng. Zhou Yun explained, "Now is not the right time to bring this to light, is it? Even Deputy Commander Tan has to consider the newly unified situation."

Qin Mu laughed, "Jiang, you're too naive. These people might be silenced if sent back. With us, they can at least live and grow herbs. Besides, as long as their fate remains unknown and they're in our hands, it serves as a deterrent. Otherwise, with these endless schemes, who can handle it?"

Qin Mu looked at Guan Yuanfeng meaningfully: "Whether it's the Psychic Research Institute or this so-called Tianlang, the most disgusting thing is that you think killing these people or the masterminds behind them will clean things up. But in reality, they will keep coming, whether it's Zhang San or Li Si. As long as we have something they want, these targeted attacks won't stop."

He turned to Zhou Yun: "This time, it's clear these people were targeting Dr. Zhou. The entire psychic team, with all its main forces, was here. It's too strong. From our initial interrogation and search of the captives, we found they brought a lot of heavy weaponry. Zhu Zhu mentioned they had vehicle-mounted small mortars and incendiary bombs in their off-road vehicles. Except for Yao Lao and Dr. Zhou, they didn't plan to leave anyone alive. Their orders were to burn the herb garden, destroy the buildings, and capture the accomplices of the drug lord from Cangshan."

Everyone's expressions changed.

Qin Mu shrugged: "The reason given was the illegal cultivation of mutated poppies and the production of banned drugs—they even prepared evidence of collusion with the Gong family. We'll investigate further later. Right now, Zhu Zhuan is organizing the interrogation over there."

Guan Yuanfeng said gravely, "I'll handle the military side."

The bitter taste of the ginseng honey pill spread in his mouth. He didn't even dare to turn and look at Zhou Yun, afraid to see his gentle, forgiving, and ever-supportive gaze.

Zhou Yun hadn't even thought about seeking justice. Even though Guan had put him in such danger, he still didn't want to cause him any trouble.

Guan carried secrets he couldn't reveal, carefully hiding groundbreaking research that would attract envy. He was extremely insecure, constantly hoarding and concealing his psychic abilities, living in obscurity in a small town, yet he had still been dragged into danger.

The world was in decline, justice was obscured, and morality was absent.

He had never hated himself more for not being able to protect Zhou Yun.