# 487
Chapter 487
Do You Want to Live Forever?
An Qingyu stood in the corner of the room, focused on the mangled corpse. With his fingertips he guided nearly invisible threads, stitching flesh and bone back together until a complete body took shape.
Jialan, taking in the gruesome sight, quietly turned her head away; she couldn’t bear to look any longer.
Not because the sight disgusted her, but because she was thinking of Jiang Er. No girl would want anyone—let alone a roomful of people—gawking at her body in such a state.
She glanced back and saw Cao Yuan and Lin Qiye still watching. “Turn around, all of you!” she snapped.
Only then did the others realize their lapse; they spun about, awkwardness written on every face.
Jiang Er stared at Jialan for a moment, gratitude flickering in her eyes, then shifted her gaze to the quiet boy suturing her corpse, lips pressed together.
…He really isn’t disgusted?
Any normal person would already be retching in the corner.
As if sensing her thoughts, An Qingyu lifted his head and offered a gentle smile.
“This magnetic-field state can’t last forever, can it?” he asked, breaking the uneasy silence while continuing to sew.
“Mm.” The girl’s distorted voice came from the television. “I exist only because the magnetic field of my brain hasn’t dissipated. Once the brain rots completely, the Forbidden Ruins will shut down—”
She didn’t finish, but everyone knew the consequence.
“After death, doesn’t the brain die at once…?” Cao Yuan wondered aloud.
An Qingyu shook his head. “Physiologically, yes, but the magnetic field lingers for a while. That’s why people say the dead sometimes retain brief awareness. For ordinary folk without mental power the field fades fast, and even if it lingers they can’t do anything. But someone with the Psychic Field is different.
“That ability can slow—or even reverse—the field’s decay. With mental energy you can amplify the field and manifest it as… well, a ghost.”
He lifted the now-whole corpse, laid it gently into the coffin, and went on.
“Problem is, Psychic Field is still a Forbidden Ruins, rooted in a hidden region of the brain. As time passes the brain will rot; when it does, the Ruins collapses and the magnetic consciousness vanishes.”
Lin Qiye frowned. “How long does she have?”
“For an average person, a few days. Our brains, nourished by mental power, decay far slower. From the look of things… she can hold about three more days.”
“Three days…”
Lin Qiye turned to the white-gowned phantom floating mid-air, his gaze heavy.
She would only “live” another three days…
A wave of sorrow swept the room. Jiang Er was the youngest among them, a junior who’d joined Night Watch barely a year ago, now reduced to this…
Jiang Er had prepared herself, yet the number still stung; a flicker of sadness crossed her eyes.
She looked from face to face, felt the weight in the air, bit her lip, then smiled.
“I held on long enough to tell you what happened to Team 008. My mission is complete… I can fade without regret.”
Her voice, crackling with static, sounded thin and mournful.
An Qingyu watched the gloom settle and gave a wry laugh. “What faces are these? I was talking about the natural course…”
Everyone froze.
He turned to Jiang Er, a faint smile on his scholarly features. “Do you… want to live forever?”
…
Lintang City, outskirts.
A black van stopped before a two-story house. Cao Yuan and Baili Pangpang carried a black coffin inside.
An Qingyu chose a spacious empty room, cleared the furniture, and began setting up his lab bench.
“Qingyu, you can really save her?” Lin Qiye asked, astonished.
“Her problem is simple: loss of brain function. Keep the brain fresh and the Forbidden Ruins keep running—she won’t disappear. Preserving corpses… is my specialty.”
From the van roof a white figure drifted out. Jiang Er gazed at the sunlight, eyes dazed.
It was the first time in ten days she’d seen the sun… she had almost forgotten its shape.
Without a body, she could stare as long as she liked; eyes never sore. After a long moment she drifted through the wall into the room where her body lay.
The coffin now rested on the lab bench.
“How long will you need?” Lin Qiye asked.
An Qingyu pondered. “Five hours.”
“All right.” Lin Qiye nodded. “We’ll leave you to it and go hunt for clues.”
He paused. “Can you bring your rat swarm here?”
“Too far from Cangnan; they can’t arrive in time. But I can seed new ‘fish-eggs’ here and let them spread.”
“To blanket the whole city?”
“Forty-eight hours.”
“That fast?”
“I improved the eggs while we were in the warehouse.” An Qingyu smiled.
“Good. Set them loose. If our search stalls, we’ll unleash the sky-net.” Lin Qiye clapped his shoulder and left.
An Qingyu shut the door, flicked on the lab lights, and from a black case produced an array of odd instruments, lining them up. He slipped on a lab coat, flicked his fingers, and invisible threads lifted the coffin lid, transferring the body to the dissection table.
Turning to the white-gowned girl drifting beside the bookshelf, he adjusted his glasses and asked gently:
“Ready?”