"Yes, of course! Please, follow me!"
Black Star and White Star led the two into the bar’s back room. A bedroom had been set up with a medical bed, a respirator, and other life support equipment. A teenage boy, who resembled Black Star, lay unconscious on the bed.
Shi Jingyi sat by the bed and gently placed her palm on Lun’s forehead.
A faint glow emerged, gently seeping into the boy’s body from her palm.
Black Star and White Star stood to the side with tense expressions, not daring to make a sound and disturb her.
After a short while, Shi Jingyi withdrew her hand, a thoughtful look on her face.
Guan Tong asked, "How is he?"
Shi Jingyi shook her head. "Not good. I can feel that he’s still conscious, but his Psychic Power isn’t responding to mine. It seems to be in a chaotic state."
A look of despair crossed White Star’s face. "Does that mean... he can’t be cured?"
Black Star said nothing, just pressed his lips together tightly, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists.
Shi Jingyi told the two, "If we can find a way to strongly stimulate his consciousness, and I coordinate it with my Psychic Power guidance, we might be able to pull him out of this chaotic state. He could start developing the subjective will to wake up. That might give him a chance to recover."
"Stimulate his consciousness?" Black Star asked hurriedly. "White Star and I call his name and talk to him every day, but it’s completely useless. We’ve never seen any reaction from him."
"That level of stimulation isn’t enough."
"Then what will work? We’ve even tried electroshock, but it had no effect at all!"
Shi Jingyi shook her head slightly. When it came to stimulation on a mental and conscious level, she was also at a loss.
Just as the three of them were at their wits’ end, Guan Tong suddenly spoke up. "As long as it’s a strong-enough conscious stimulus, it doesn’t matter if it’s ’good’ or ’bad’?"
Shi Jingyi looked at him. "You have a way?"
"I don’t have a ’good’ method of stimulation," Guan Tong said. "But I have a ’bad’ one."
He was referring to the new title ability he had just acquired, [Crimson Furnace].
When activated, it could forcibly drag another person’s consciousness into it, tormenting them with horrific, corrosive images.
Compared to the familial stimulation Black Star and White Star were using—just talking to him—this was naturally a "bad" method of stimulation.
Shi Jingyi said, "Good or bad doesn’t matter, as long as the intensity of the stimulation is high enough."
"Then it shouldn’t be a problem."
This ability could unearth a person’s deepest fears and manifest them as realistic scenes, enough to drive someone mad or scare them to death. The intensity wasn’t just ’high’—it was off the charts.
Although there were risks, given the current situation, they had to fight fire with fire.
At the very least, Guan Tong felt this was more reliable than taking the boy to Soloma to upload his memories.
Black Star urged them impatiently, "Then I’m begging you both to help! If you can make Lun better, we... we will be eternally grateful!"
Guan Tong nodded slightly. Shi Jingyi took hold of both of Lun’s wrists. "Guan Tong, let’s begin. If the conscious stimulus you create is effective, his internal Psychic Power should start flowing again. I will help it circulate throughout his body to accelerate his self-healing."
"Okay."
Guan Tong leaned down and lifted the boy’s eyelid.
The [Crimson Furnace] ability required eye contact to activate. Even if the target was currently unconscious, it probably wouldn’t affect the outcome.
He opened Lun’s eyelid, and upon seeing the lifeless pupil, he activated the ability.
Instantly, deep within the boy’s dark and chaotic consciousness, a streak of red appeared, then rapidly expanded!
It dug through the boy’s memories, continuously generating terrifying scenes based on what it found.
Under the intense stimulation of these scenes, the boy’s slumbering consciousness quickly reacted. The moment he felt terror, he broke free from the chaotic state and began to perceive a profound weight on both his mind and consciousness.
Shi Jingyi’s eyes lit up. "His Psychic Power is starting to activate!"
She immediately channeled a large amount of her Psychic Power into the boy’s body, creating a resonance with his own as it began to circulate.
As an instructor, she had taught thousands of students and encountered countless types of Psychic Power, good and bad. Assisting others with their Psychic Power Flow was second nature to her.
Soon, under her guidance, the boy’s own Psychic Power began to circulate, activating his body.
When Black Star and White Star saw their brother’s eyelid twitch slightly, they both clasped their hands over their mouths in excitement, their eyes turning red.
"That’s enough," Shi Jingyi said to Guan Tong after a moment. "You can stop the stimulation. His Psychic Power has begun to self-circulate."
Hearing this, Guan Tong withdrew his power. In less than two short minutes, his Flowing Psychic Power had been completely depleted. The drain from [Crimson Furnace] was clearly astounding.
But judging by the results, it seemed to have worked well.
"Lun’s eyelid just moved! We both saw it!" White Star said, her voice choked with emotion as she wiped the corners of her eyes. "Does that mean he’ll wake up soon?"
Shi Jingyi let go of the boy’s wrist and stood up. "Now that his internal Psychic Power has resumed activity, I think he should wake up soon. During this time, you should talk to him more. It should help."
"Okay! We will!"
"Thank you so much!"
Black Star and White Star immediately sat by the bed, each taking one of the boy’s hands.
Seeing this, Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi took their leave, exiting the back room and stepping outside the bar.
"That ’bad’ stimulation ability of yours... did you get it from destroying the ’Demon’?" Shi Jingyi asked curiously.
Guan Tong was a little surprised. "How did you guess?"
Shi Jingyi smiled faintly and pointed to her eyes. "It only works through sight, isn’t that a characteristic of ’Crimson Fear’? Plus, you also destroyed the ’Demon’ and ended the Apocalypse Rules ahead of schedule... There aren’t that many coincidences in the world."
"...That’s true."
By lifting the boy’s eyelid, he had essentially told everyone that this ability required sight to activate.
"Since those two are brokers, I imagine that even if they’re too emotional over their family member to think about it now, they’ll surely figure out the source of your ability once they’ve calmed down," Shi Jingyi said.
"Black Star and White Star have worked with me for a while; they’re trustworthy enough. Besides, if they’re as smart as they seem, they should know the consequences of turning on ’Shadow’ after receiving his help."
Guan Tong’s threat made Shi Jingyi smile faintly. Since she was curious, she asked again, "Speaking of which, is there really a ’Demon’?"
She had hit the nail on the head.
"Honestly, I don’t know either. The whole story about a ’Demon’ came from that guy Robert and some of the earlier astronauts. Maybe they really did encounter something on Terra Star," Guan Tong said. "But in the Consciousness Space, all I saw was a fog-like lifeform. That was the culprit behind the terrifying scenes."
Shi Jingyi understood. "So, all this talk about retaliation from the ’Demon Race’ can’t be taken seriously, and the criticism against you is naturally baseless."
Upon hearing this, Guan Tong hesitated for a moment before saying resolutely, "Actually... I can’t be sure either. But even if everything Robert said was true, I wouldn’t regret it. And I certainly wouldn’t feel guilty."
Shi Jingyi just hummed in acknowledgment, offering no opinion.
Just as the two were about to leave, Black Star ran out and called to them, "You two! Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. My sister and I haven’t thanked you yet!"
Shi Jingyi said, "If you’re going to thank someone, thank him. I only helped a little." After speaking, she looked at Guan Tong. "I’ll head back first."
"Alright, see you."
After Shi Jingyi left, Black Star said to Guan Tong with utmost seriousness, "You saved Lun, which means you saved me and White Star. I know you’re not short on Sublimation Coins, but I hope you’ll give us a chance to thank you!"
Guan Tong looked at Black Star, and an idea popped into his head.
"I’ve started an organization," he said. "Its purpose is to explore the truth behind the Apocalypse Rules and the Fire Thief. There aren’t many members right now because I only want people with curiosity and a desire to explore to join, to work together toward a common goal. I was wondering..."
Before he could finish, Black Star immediately said with excitement, "I want to join! White Star too! The three of us siblings have always been curious about the Fire Thief. If it weren’t for what happened to Lun, White Star and I would never have become brokers just to earn Sublimation Coins to save his life!"
Guan Tong smiled upon hearing this and extended his hand. "Welcome to the ’Origin-Tracing Expedition’."