Chapter 66: Purification

Xia Mi put down her phone and let out a long sigh.

Over five thousand Zhuo Coins, and she couldn’t touch any of them. This was absolutely maddening.

If she didn’t absorb the Zhuo Coins, she wasn’t sure she could win against Xiao Feng in a solo fight.

Based on the plot the game had revealed, Xia Mi believed that Xiao Feng had already dispersed most of his body’s energy among the Fake Zhuo Humans, leaving him with relatively little power. He probably wasn’t her match anymore—one or two punches should do it.

The problem was, Xiao Feng was mentally controlling Mi, Qiu, and Liao.

According to the game’s first ending, Mi Xiangyan was the only one who died in the explosion. She’d been on the 16th floor, closest to the blast, and her body was only as strong as an ordinary person’s—dying in the explosion made perfect sense.

But Liao Tianhua and Qiu Hailan were both on the third floor. One ended up in a vegetative state, the other with amnesia. Both suffered brain damage, and all of it could have been caused by Xiao Feng’s mental control.

Xia Mi could have everyone hide in the Confidential Archives Room to avoid the explosion, but she couldn’t stop the mental damage the three of them would suffer.

She was facing two possible outcomes right now. One: save herself, let her teammates die, survive alone, and get demoted to Second-class Police Officer.

Two: die while her teammates live, receive a posthumous promotion to Deputy Section Chief, and earn a First-Class Merit citation.

Neither was a good ending.

Xia Mi thought it over seriously and figured she might be able to try cutting into the connection channel between Xiao Feng and the three of them, severing the mental control ahead of time.

But she had tried this before in the game. The resistance had been immense, like she just didn’t have enough energy.

At the time, she’d assumed the boss’s control was simply too powerful—that her total of over six thousand Zhuo Coins was still somehow not enough. Now that she thought about it, the problem was probably that the Zhuo Coins she’d absorbed didn’t truly belong to her at all, which was why she couldn’t shake Xiao Feng’s mental control.

If only there were a way to neutralize these Zhuo Coins.

Xia Mi wanted to try other approaches, but she’d already used her third game attempt. There wouldn’t be another one.

Thinking this far, Xia Mi let out another long sigh.

She was gaming in Liao Tianhua’s office. Only the two of them were in the room. Xia Mi’s expressive face as she played beside him had long since caught Liao Tianhua’s attention, and he’d made several mistakes while drafting his plans.

Now, with her constant sighing, Liao Tianhua found it completely impossible to work. His efficiency had never been this low. He had no choice but to drop his mouse and keyboard, shut down his computer, and stare at Xia Mi.

Feeling Liao Tianhua’s gaze on her, Xia Mi remembered that this was her newly appointed boyfriend. She turned to meet his eyes. “What? Miss me already?”

Liao Tianhua was utterly defeated by Xia Mi’s confidence.

He sighed. “Your presence is just too overwhelming. I can’t focus on my work.”

Xia Mi scooted closer to Liao Tianhua, delighted. “You like me that much?”

Liao Tianhua said, “It’s that you’re either stomping your feet or sighing, and occasionally you kick the chair. The noise is a lot.”

Xia Mi glanced over. The leg of the guest chair in Liao Tianhua’s office was already bent from her kicking.

“I just hit a really hard part, alright?” Xia Mi sighed.

“The game you’re playing is that difficult?” Liao Tianhua couldn’t stand seeing the new officer unhappy, so he volunteered. “Want me to play a bit for you?”

“How would you help? All you ever do is steal money from me—huh?!” Xia Mi shot to her feet and stared fixedly at Liao Tianhua, like she’d just stumbled upon buried treasure.

Liao Tianhua’s face flushed under her stare. He instinctively leaned back, only to be blocked by his chair’s backrest. He looked a little helpless.

But Xia Mi seemed to have discovered a whole new world. She studied Liao Tianhua in detail, her face lighting up with surprise. “I almost forgot what you can do!”

What could Liao Tianhua do? He could snatch away the Zhuo Coins Xia Mi had painstakingly absorbed, and transfer them to other people to treat their injuries and replenish their lost life force.

That was why Xia Mi had always treated Liao Tianhua like a walking Medical Kit. With Liao Tianhua around, she could charge ahead and hack at monsters without a second thought. If she hit the wrong target, Liao Tianhua could just heal them afterward.

Now her mind expanded, and she suddenly realized—Liao Tianhua’s ability might be usable to wash Zhuo Coins!

She could absorb the Fake Zhuo Humans in this building first, transfer those Zhuo Coins to Liao Tianhua, and then have him channel them back into her in the form of life force.

On the surface, the energy would just be making a loop through Liao Tianhua’s body. In truth, the energy would have been purified by him.

It was worth a try!

Xia Mi immediately grabbed Liao Tianhua’s hands in excitement. She gazed at him with deep emotion. “Can you help me with something?”

“Help with what?” Liao Tianhua wanted to pull away. He felt that being this intimate with Xia Mi would betray the one he loved in his heart. But then, when the image of Old Jiao’s face—like a dried-up tangerine peel—surfaced in his mind, he found it hard to feel any love at all.

What was there to hold on to? Deputy Director Jiao already had a family. Wasn’t it time for him to find his own place to belong too?

With that thought, Liao Tianhua stopped resisting. He met Xia Mi’s gaze, looking into those amber eyes burning with the fire of hope, and suddenly felt that maybe liking Xia Mi wasn’t so difficult.

Xia Mi said, “Here’s the thing. I’m going to absorb some energy, but I can’t use it yet. Could you pull that energy out of me, and then transfer it back?”

Liao Tianhua didn’t ask why it had to be so complicated. His daily work was already full of complicated and tedious procedures. He understood that some steps were absolutely necessary.

He only asked one question. “If I absorb your energy, will it hurt you?”

Xia Mi said, “It won’t, but the energy might hurt you.”

That energy carried Xiao Feng’s mark, and Xiao Feng already had some degree of mental control over Liao Tianhua. Xia Mi couldn’t guarantee that channeling this energy through Liao Tianhua’s body as a converter wouldn’t harm him.

“It doesn’t matter.” Liao Tianhua’s voice was calm. “I’ve been in this line of work long enough to know that taking risks comes with the territory.”

As he said this, that handsome face of his took on an added layer of heroic resolve, like a man ready to lay down his life. It made him look even more captivating.

Xia Mi had long since brainwashed herself into believing Liao Tianhua was her boyfriend. The brainwashing had worked remarkably well. Seeing him like this, she couldn’t resist planting a kiss on his forehead.

Xia Mi was lightning fast – a single touch and she was gone. Liao Tianhua couldn’t even dodge before she’d stolen a kiss.

“You…” Liao Tianhua touched his forehead. Embarrassed as he was, a small part of him felt pleased.

At the same time, he sensed something in his mind beginning to crack.

For as long as he could remember, Liao Tianhua had felt like his brain was trapped under a glass dome. He could see what lay beyond the transparent cover, but there was always that layer in between, keeping everything hazy.

Everything around him felt deeply, irrevocably fake – yet he could never find proof.

Not until Xia Mi appeared did he finally catch a faint glimpse of something real.

And just now, after that kiss from Xia Mi, Liao Tianhua felt a crack open in the glass dome. Light streamed through the fissure, and the world didn’t seem quite so false anymore.

Xia Mi knew her plan was dangerous. If things went wrong, she could easily end up back under Xiao Feng’s control, and it would cost Liao Tianhua his life. There was even a chance Xiao Feng would discover what they were doing mid-process and destroy the minds of Liao Tianhua and the others entirely.

Even so, Xia Mi still wanted to try.

If she tried, there was a possibility of breaking free. If she didn’t, the only ending was tragedy.

Slowly, she began walking in a figure-eight pattern across the office floor. After three continuous loops, countless fine threads appeared before her eyes – a dense, interwoven tapestry.

Xia Mi didn’t rush to absorb the energy of the fake Zhuo-fied humans. Instead, she first located the pink threads belonging to Liao Tianhua and the other two, along with Xiao Feng’s pale yellow threads.

Earlier, when she had drawn the figure eight with her finger, she had accidentally read fragments of Xiao Feng’s memory. That meant her consciousness level was actually higher than his. She’d simply fallen into his trap after absorbing the fake Zhuo-fied humans, and the net he’d long ago woven had ensnared her abilities.

Now, without having absorbed any fake Zhuo-fied humans and without that burden weighing her down, could she tap into the channels connecting these four?

Or better yet – could she use this connection to seize control of Xiao Feng’s mind and issue commands from the very top?

Xia Mi looked at Liao Tianhua. This time, she could clearly see the thread pulling at the center of his brow – the force controlling him.

She extended her hand, and from her palm emerged the Silkworm, which she gently laid upon the Consciousness Thread controlling Liao Tianhua.

Just the lightest touch, and she was flooded with an intense, overwhelming love.

This love was originally meant to flow toward Xiao Feng, but Xia Mi intercepted it midway. It poured into her consciousness instead.

Xia Mi couldn’t help but look at Liao Tianhua – and Liao Tianhua was already looking at her.

Liao Tianhua felt as though the thin veil clouding his vision had finally lifted in that moment. His love had, at last, flowed to its rightful destination.

He gazed at Xia Mi, his heart pounding – thump-thump, thump-thump – wild and relentless.

Connected to his Consciousness Thread, Xia Mi heard his heartbeat.

In an instant, her own heart began beating at the exact same rhythm.

Xia Mi quickly withdrew the Silkworm from the Consciousness Thread, afraid her emotions would be swept away by Liao Tianhua’s.

The thin veil descended over Liao Tianhua’s eyes once more. His stirring feelings for Xia Mi vanished. When he thought of the one he loved, the face that surfaced in his mind was once again Jiao Xingjian’s dried-orange-peel visage.

He was bewildered.

Maybe I should find some herbal medicine to sort myself out? Liao Tianhua thought.

For the first time, he began to question his own feelings.

The experiment had shown Xia Mi that as long as she was willing and had enough energy, she could completely sever Xiao Feng’s control over the three of them. That realization filled her with immense confidence.

Taking into account that Liao Tianhua could only hold a maximum of 300 Zhuo Coins at a time, Xia Mi kept it light and absorbed only three fake Zhuo-fied humans.

She walked up to Liao Tianhua, took the initiative to grasp his hand, and said, “I promise I won’t hit you this time.”

The 300 Zhuo Coins flowed smoothly into Liao Tianhua’s body. He transformed the energy and then channeled it back into Xia Mi.

Xia Mi immediately sensed that this energy was different!

The previous energy had felt turbid and murky. After passing through Liao Tianhua’s purification, it now felt clean and refreshingly crisp.

Xia Mi noticed the weariness on Liao Tianhua’s face and asked, “How’s your body holding up?”

“A bit tired,” Liao Tianhua admitted honestly.

He hadn’t looked like this when absorbing Xia Mi’s Zhuo Coins before. Apparently, purifying them drained his own energy as well.

Xia Mi took hold of Liao Tianhua’s hand again and said, “Absorb some more energy. Stop once your body feels recovered.”

Following Xia Mi’s instructions, Liao Tianhua absorbed roughly 30 Zhuo Coins to restore his strength.

Purifying 300 Zhuo Coins required expending 30 Zhuo Coins’ worth of energy – a 90% conversion rate. Xia Mi found that quite satisfactory.

When she tried absorbing another fake Zhuo-fied human, Xia Mi secretly laid the Silkworm upon Xiao Feng’s pale yellow Consciousness Thread, attempting to read his thoughts and see whether he had detected her little maneuvering.

She sensed a surge of smug satisfaction.

Xia Mi could almost hear Xiao Feng saying, Big sister is walking step by step right into the trap I so carefully prepared for her. How wonderful.

It seemed Xiao Feng could sense when she absorbed the fake Zhuo-fied humans and was pleased to see it.

What Xiao Feng hadn’t noticed, however, was that Liao Tianhua was painstakingly converting that energy for her.

Xia Mi withdrew the Silkworm and discovered that the 270 Zhuo Coins she had just absorbed had dwindled to 220. She had burned through 50 Zhuo Coins in an instant.

Apparently, reading Xiao Feng’s consciousness undetected required a massive amount of energy.

Once she confirmed the plan was viable, Xia Mi said to Liao Tianhua, “Keep going. Base it on your physical condition. The moment you feel like you can’t hold on, stop immediately.”

Liao Tianhua pressed his lips together. Lacking confidence, he said, “Can I make one request?”

“Say whatever you want,” Xia Mi replied. “As long as you’re not asking me to hand over my paycheck, everything else is negotiable.”

A faint blush crept across Liao Tianhua’s face. “After each time I convert the energy… could you kiss me on the forehead?”

He pointed to the spot between his brows, where the Consciousness Thread connected.

Xia Mi felt like saying that Xiao Liao had finally figured things out. A kiss was no problem at all.

But seeing exactly where Liao Tianhua was pointing, Xia Mi sensed this was more complicated than it seemed.

“Why?” Xia Mi asked.

Looking rather awkward, Liao Tianhua said, “It’s not that I’m trying to take advantage of you. It’s just… doing this helps ease my sense of betrayal.

“While I’m converting energy for you, this overwhelming feeling of betrayal rises up inside me. I feel like I’m betraying the most important person to me. If you weren’t right here in front of me influencing my mind, I’d honestly have the urge to put a gun to my head and end it all.”

“Kiss me here, and this guilt of mine will ease a great deal.”

Clearly, Liao Tianhua had been fighting hard against the mind control himself while helping Xia Mi, and the toll on him was not small.

“That’s no problem at all.” Xia Mi readily kissed Liao Tianhua.

Her kiss was like a key that broke a curse, and Liao Tianhua’s mind grew much clearer.

He said to Xia Mi, “Continue.”

And so, Xia Mi would absorb 300, Liao Tianhua would return 270 to her, and Xia Mi would offer a kiss in return. Working in perfect sync, they quickly converted 6,250 Zhuo Coins into 5,625 Zhuo Coins. After deducting 50 Zhuo Coins for reading Xiao Feng’s consciousness, Xia Mi now had 5,575 clean Zhuo Coins.

She spent another 50 Zhuo Coins to read Xiao Feng’s consciousness again. This time, his mind was brimming with confidence.

Xiao Feng also felt a trace of anticipation, growing restless as he waited for Xia Mi to come to him.

Xia Mi wanted to play the game once more, to prepare in advance, but when she opened it this time, she received a prompt from the game: [You have barely absorbed five thousand Zhuo Coins’ worth of energy. The Drone, in order to accommodate the Queen Bee, has secretly siphoned energy from who knows how many people. Are you certain you want to squander your already limited Zhuo Coins at a time like this?]

The game did still give her the option to play again, but Xia Mi knew the game would not warn her about this without good reason.

This warning meant that defeating the Drone would require at least five thousand Zhuo Coins. She currently had only 5,525. If she spent 1,000 Zhuo Coins to play the game again, her total would drop below five thousand, and she might not be able to defeat the Drone after all.

Since the game had already issued a warning, Xia Mi decided to stop relying on it and go all out.

Just as she was about to head for the 17th floor, she suddenly felt as if she had forgotten something very important.

Xia Mi asked Liao Tianhua, “Did I forget something?”

Liao Tianhua, having converted so many Zhuo Coins all at once, was pale and his head ached as if it were splitting. He no longer had any fighting strength left.

It was hard for him to think about anything now, and he shook his head. “You reminded me to go underground for shelter, and you said you would tell Mi Xiangyan and Qiu Hailan.”

“Right,” said Xia Mi. “I’ll use the landline in your office to call them.”

The moment she picked up the receiver, she remembered that Mi Xiangyan and Qiu Hailan were already suspicious of Liao Tianhua’s identity. Using his landline seemed like a bad idea.

So she took out her own phone, intending to make the call with it.

Back when she was hiding in the small meeting room, she had silenced her phone to evade Xiao Feng’s pursuit. After that, she had been so absorbed in the game that she had turned on Do Not Disturb mode, so no incoming calls would connect.

Fortunately, her phone had a secretary function that sent text alerts for missed calls.

The moment Xia Mi unlocked her phone, she saw over a dozen unread messages.

Xia Mi could not stand the little red notification bubbles on apps; she always opened every unread message. Normally, her text inbox had no unread messages at all.

Now, inside the hive, she suddenly had over a dozen unread messages, which was clearly abnormal.

Before making the call, Xia Mi tapped open her SMS inbox.

Aside from the first two being from Xiao Feng, the rest were all from the Confidential Archives Room landline and a mobile number Old Jiao had borrowed from a police officer.

Xia Mi: “!!!!!”

She had completely forgotten about Old Jiao! In the game, Old Jiao was in the Confidential Archives Room, turning Zhuo!