Chapter 316: The Result of Evolution
"You're awake, Xu Huo!" Yan Jiayu happily leaned in. "How do you feel? Can you see people's skin and blood vessels now? Wait!"
She said this while hiding her hand behind her back, making a fist, then extending it. "Guess what I'm holding in my hand?"
"Roasted sunflower seeds." Xu Huo pushed aside the Painting Woman's hand and looked around the warehouse. Professor Lan, Tang Guangbo, and the others were all there, and there were more people outside the door. Yuan Yao wasn't among them.
"You can really see through things!" Yan Jiayu stared at him in shock. "Professor Lan was right!"
Xu Huo looked at the few medical workers holding notebooks, looking somewhat excited. "I'm sorry, but I can't see through things."
"Then what about hypnosis? Mind control?" a doctor asked.
"None of that either." Xu Huo shook his head. "None of the superpowers you see in sci-fi movies have appeared."
"Ah?" Yan Jiayu's disappointment was visible. "I thought you could see through my hand."
Xu Huo smiled wryly. "Roasted sunflower seeds have a smell."
"That's true." Yan Jiayu stuffed what she was holding back into her small pocket and asked again, "How do you feel physically?"
"Tired." Xu Huo rubbed his temples.
"The external symptoms have lessened considerably," Professor Lan observed him. "You've mostly returned to normal, but to be safe, it's best to run some tests."
Xu Huo also wanted to see the changes in his brain before and after, so he cooperated. Two hours later, Professor Lan and the others looked at the reports with disappointment mixed with a sense of inevitability.
The thing they cared about most, the EEG, showed his brain activity only ranked in the top five among recorded players. Although he had also passed the test questions drafted by the expert panel, it wasn't outstanding.
"Generally, players with higher brain evolution exhibit phenomena like hypermnesia, accelerated computation, and increased IQ. Efficiently learning different languages, working across fields, being better at picking up on others' emotional states—these are all very intuitive manifestations. Xu Huo's situation is different." A doctor said to Professor Lan, "He has also shown enhanced memory and faster reaction times, but he can't compare to those few players in Jing City. Moreover, he was already smarter than the average person. This evolution hasn't brought about a substantial leap."
The people present were disappointed, but Professor Lan said, "I don't think so. You've forgotten what happened in the sealed ward. Other players were there at the time, but only he discovered the truck outside the wall in advance. I've already asked the players from the Special Defense Department. That truck appeared out of thin air; it was a trait or item power. Under circumstances where other players couldn't detect it, how did he know?"
"This is precisely the leap in brain evolution. It breaks away from humanity's inherent understanding of brain development. He can sense fluctuations in space without seeing or hearing them, and can even penetrate what we perceive as solid objects—that wall."
"How did he do it?" someone murmured after a long while.
Professor Lan shook his head slightly. "Assuming my hypothesis is correct, Xu Huo's evolutionary direction has already surpassed the current level of human understanding. There's no way to even begin researching it."
All they could do was deconstruct the human brain from a biological perspective. This kind of mutation was something they had never encountered before.
"It's a pity we can't make phone calls. Otherwise, we could immediately contact Jing City to start a discussion," another professor said.
Professor Lan waved his hand. "That would also require his cooperation."
Did Xu Huo really not know about the changes in his body? He just didn't want to say.
In the next ward, Xu Huo was talking with Yan Jiayu.
"I don't really know what happened either. Anyway, after the power outage, a lot of people disappeared—Yuan Yao, the doctors in the hospital, and most of the people from the Special Defense Department," Yan Jiayu said.
Xu Huo looked out the window. On Team Leader Wu's side, it was *their* people who disappeared, but from *their* perspective, it was Team Leader Wu and the others who had inexplicably vanished.
"Are you feeling more stable now?" Tang Guangbo came in from outside, smiling as he handed him a glass of water. "The hospital's water dispenser is broken. Only cold water is available."
Xu Huo held the cup. "All the large medical equipment in the hospital is usable. How could the water dispenser break?"
A doctor had made tea before the power outage.
"It's hard to say. The more inconspicuous things are, the easier they break," Tang Guangbo said.
"Five water dispensers on one floor all broke at the same time?" Xu Huo looked up at him. "Could it be because some physical objects didn't cross the space to get here?"
Tang Guangbo asked in surprise, "What crossing space?"
Xu Huo squinted, carefully scrutinizing this middle-aged man. He had suspected he was a player back in Jing City. Tang Guangbo, who repeatedly made the same gestures in the fog zone hospital, was actually a suggestion Xu Huo had implanted in his own memory. He had lost consciousness before and after entering this hospital, and the first thing he heard when he woke up was Tang Guangbo's voice.
"Actually, you don't need to hold such deep hostility towards me," Tang Guangbo said. "I came here not only at the request of the Special Defense Department, but also because of your mother. She cares about you very much. I want to make her happy, so naturally, I harbor goodwill towards you."
"Professor Tang?" A nurse pushed the door open. "Professor Lan is asking for you."
Tang Guangbo straightened his coat and left.
Xu Huo stared at his back, murderous intent surging in his eyes.
"Hey." Yan Jiayu nudged him.
Xu Huo reined in his emotions and turned to her. "Thank you for this. I know you stopped those doctors."
"We're friends, aren't we?" Yan Jiayu smiled shyly. "Friends should help each other. I help you now, and you help me later."
"And me, I'm a friend too." The Painting Woman propped up her phone.
After that, Professor Lan, Tang Guangbo, and the others didn't come back to the ward. About half an hour later, the sky gradually brightened, and it became noisy outside.
"The people from the Special Defense Department are back," Yan Jiayu said, standing by the window looking out.
Xu Huo closed his eyes. Sure enough, without the medium, he couldn't use his spiritual power freely. But as Professor Lan said, his perception had undergone a qualitative change. Even staying in the room, he could clearly sense the people moving around outside.
"They're back." He looked at the door. The next second, Yuan Yao pushed it open, followed by Zhou Ning and the other three.
Except for Shen Xin, everyone else knew Yan Jiayu. After Yuan Yao made the introductions, he said, "I was just worried you might have kicked the bucket, Brother Xu. Was that a new trait? Coming and going without a trace, not even a sound. Even better than my 'Hide and Seek'."
Seeing that no one was injured, Xu Huo said, "No traces left, right?"
"Don't worry," Zhou Ning said softly.
Leaving Dai Wenqian aside for now, those players were from the Special Defense Department and couldn't be brought out into the open.
With the Flower City matter settled, Xu Huo planned to return to Ting City.
"In such a hurry to leave?" Team Leader Wu and Team Leader Song walked in together. Team Leader Song looked at the others and said meaningfully, "Xu Huo, you have quite a few friends, don't you."