Fear of food

Chapter 105 Five minutes? You're way too fast!
Chen Qi looked through Baozi's tablet, which contained information about Bian Zihan, Xia Huiyun, and others.

"Xia Huiyun is suspected to be completely dead, having lost the chance of being resurrected."

"The female student I attacked first is named Yan Xue, and she actually survived!"

"And Bian Zihan, they didn't die, but survived in a state of mental instability... What does that mean?"

Besides these three, there were also two teachers from Jinghai Medical College, one in a coma and the other mentally unstable...

Chen Qi compared the situations of the others and pondered and analyzed the situation in his mind.

"I didn't really attack Yan Xue and Bian Zihan's bodies at the time. I mainly devoured the abnormalities growing inside them, which is equivalent to just eating the Nightmare Devouring Elements inside them..."

"So they had no physical injuries, and that's why they all survived."

"But is my mental breakdown because I ate the Nightmare within me? That shouldn't be the case... It's probably caused by a lack of humanity!"

These are all people who have been completely parasitized; their humanity has long been stripped away and sent to the morgue.

A person who has lost their humanity will naturally appear abnormal.

"So it seems that my ability might really be able to remove the Nightmare Eater from their bodies and free them from their parasitic state."

"But to fully restore them to normal, we need to find the humanity they have lost."

Chen Qi summarized that those who survived but became mentally unstable were people whose bodies had not suffered fatal injuries and whose internal nightmares had been eaten by him.

Xia Huiyun was only devoured by him after suffering a fatal injury, which essentially deprived her of the chance to revive.

If the Nightmare Eater were still alive, she could recover no matter how severe her injuries were, and she could even be resurrected if she died.

Those who died from gunfire, and the parasites mentioned by the food protection brigade, were not included in this casualty list.

This is similar to the parasites that were killed before, because they can all revive and reappear unharmed after a period of time.

"There's still no news about the head of teaching at Jingquan Elementary School, but if I'm not mistaken, he should end up like Xia Huiyun."

The head of the teaching department also suffered a fatal injury, after which Chen Qi ate the Nightmare within his body.

After reviewing the information, Chen Qi pushed the tablet back in front of Baozi: "Please continue to monitor the situation of these people."

Baozi nodded and said, "Actually, Jingzi will visit Bian Zihan and the others this afternoon to check on their mental state."

The mirror's ability is indeed very suitable for observing these people's self-awareness... No matter how Chen Qi analyzes it, it's just a guess. It's safest to use the ability to confirm it.

Chen Qi said, "Then I'll go with you."

Since he had nothing better to do, he figured he might as well go to the city to find some wild food.

Moreover, since we've decided to save Coffee, we definitely need to take action. Perhaps we can get some useful information from Bian Zihan and others.

"Okay, you can schedule a time with Mirror on your phone... Chili's phone is with you, right?"

"Hmm." Chen Qi nodded and took out the chili-themed custom phone.

"You can use this phone from now on. I'll reset your password and the built-in chat software on the phone, so you can contact Jingzi directly."

Chen Qi asked in confusion, "Has Jingzi gone out?"

"I drove to Yushan City next door for dinner... Dream Thieves are essentially the same as us Phantom Eaters; we can both detect anomalies in food, but they don't have the ability to obtain their own food, so they can only eat out."

Chen Qi was taken aback: "That's quite troublesome."

"Yes, so in areas contaminated by food-fear, the higher-ups will prioritize sending out those who eat other foods, while in areas contaminated by dreams, they will prioritize sending out those who steal dreams to carry out missions."

"What if the dream thief accidentally eats some strange food..."

“They will be contaminated just the same!” Baozi affirmed. “Not only that, Dream Thieves can also be parasitized by Nightmares, and similarly, Nightmares can also parasitize us Pessimists.”

"Understood." Chen Qi took the phone and, under Baozi's guidance, learned how to use various official internal software. He successfully contacted Jingzi and arranged a time to act together that afternoon.
-
Around 1 p.m., Jingzi, who had just finished lunch in a neighboring city, picked up Chen Qi in his car and drove straight to the Fourth People's Hospital of Jinghai City.

Jinghai Fourth Hospital is a relatively old mental hospital in Jinghai City. Chen Qi was also hospitalized there for a period of time before being transferred to the Affiliated Hospital of Jinghai Medical College.

Bian Zihan, Yan Xue, and others are currently hospitalized at Jinghai Fourth Hospital.

Jingzi is about the same age as Chen Qi and has a rather outgoing personality.

At first, he was somewhat afraid of Chen Qi, mainly because he had almost been eaten in his dream, which had left him with psychological trauma.

But perhaps because driving was too boring, he started to try to find some topics to chat with Chen Qi, and found that Chen Qi didn't seem difficult to get along with, so he gradually opened up completely.

"I visited Yushan City two years ago, and when I went back today, it felt like everything had changed. The whole city was so much quieter!" Jingzi said with some emotion.

Chen Qi was slightly taken aback. As a native of Jinghai City, he was naturally familiar with Yushan City, which was next door.

Yushan City is a very famous internet celebrity city with a highly developed tourism industry. How could it be associated with the word "desolate"?

He then realized something and asked, "Is the government evacuating people from Yushan City?" "Yes, the Yushan Group has moved away. You haven't heard?"

Chen Qi has been so busy these past few days that he hasn't had a moment to spare, so he hasn't really paid attention to these news reports. However, Yushan Group is a leading enterprise in Yushan City, and with this relocation, many people will have to move away for work.

"It's not just Yushan Group; all the major companies that are well-known in Yushan City have collectively moved out of Yushan City. In addition, all air and train tickets to Yushan City have reduced the number of flights and increased prices. Furthermore, there are a series of other measures... The country is trying to clear out Yushan City in the most gentle way possible."

Chen Qidao: "Then the cities surrounding the other polluted areas are also clearing out people, right?"

Mirror nodded: "We've actually been doing this all along, but after yesterday's crushing defeat at Corning, the intensity has increased many times over."

Chen Qi understood that this was not good news, indicating that the authorities were losing confidence in resolving the disaster.

Suddenly, the mirror said mysteriously, "I think our superiors are probably observing the situation."

"What are you observing?" Chen Qi asked, puzzled.

“Let’s observe other countries.” Mirror had a mysterious expression on his face. “You don’t think this pollution is only happening in our country, do you? When other countries realize the situation is out of control, someone will definitely be tempted to use ‘mushroom bombs.’ Then we can see the effects.”

"Of course, these are all just my guesses, so don't tell anyone else," Mirror said, trying to make amends for her slip of the tongue.

The two chatted along the way and finally arrived near the Fourth Hospital of Jinghai.

"Aren't you going in?" Chen Qi asked, noticing that Jingzi hadn't driven the car into the hospital but had instead parked it in a nearby parking lot.

"The hospital is so dangerous, why go in? Of course, we should have them brought out!" Mirror struck a senior pose and advised, "Biscuit, in the future, you should make good use of our official status and privileges, and have faith in the power of the organization."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Qi saw an ambulance drive into the parking lot.

Two people got out of the car and were looking around, seemingly waiting for someone.

"Biscuit, you stay with me. I'll come into your dreams and talk to them." After saying that, Mirror leaned back in the car seat and closed her eyes.

Chen Qi looked at the ambulance compartment... Were Yan Xue and Bian Zihan inside?
Chen Qi waited for about five minutes. During this time, Jingzi woke up once, but immediately closed her eyes again.

"Let's go, let's get out and take a look." Mirror woke up again, pushed open the car door and got out.

Chen Qi quickly followed.

The two men who got out of the ambulance looked to be in their forties or fifties and both had an air of leadership about them.

Upon seeing Chen Qi and Jingzi, two young men, the two middle-aged men hesitated for a moment, but ultimately remained silent.

Mirror walked straight up, took out an ID card, and handed it over.

The two middle-aged men carefully checked the documents, and their expressions instantly became polite: "So it really is you two. You look so young, I almost didn't recognize you."

Mirror said, "Thank you both for your cooperation. This bombing at Jinghai Medical College involves many people, and the investigation must be conducted in secrecy. I hope you will not reveal today's events to anyone else."

The two assured him, "Don't worry, we've been comrades for many years, we still have this much discipline."

Mirror nodded: "Open the carriage and let me see."

One of the middle-aged men was responsible for opening the car door, while the other middle-aged man said worriedly, "As you instructed, we gave them sedatives before we came, and they're still not fully awake. I'm afraid we won't be able to get anything out of them."

"It's nothing, I just wanted to check on the injury."

The rear door of the car opened, and Chen Qi entered the carriage first.

Inside the ambulance, Bian Zihan and Yan Xue lay on two stretchers.

Chen Qi directly pulled on Yan Xue's neck and found a clear teeth mark on her snow-white neck.

This is probably the only obvious wound on Yan Xue's body. If Chen Qi's teeth were placed next to it, they would fit perfectly with the tooth mark.

Bian Zihan had multiple external injuries, mostly bite wounds, but the injuries were not serious.

After a quick check, Chen Qi and his companion got out of the car. After dealing with the two hospital leaders, they drove away from the parking lot.

"So? Did you find anything in the dream?" Chen Qi asked directly.

The mirror nodded: "The two of them behaved in a way that was completely inhuman; they only showed animalistic instincts and no humanity whatsoever."

"In their world, it seems there are only three things left: eating, sleeping, and mating and procreation."

Chen Qi said thoughtfully, "Then it seems my guess was right. However, losing humanity doesn't mean becoming an idiot. They should still have their previous memories and be able to communicate, right?"

“That’s right. They still retain the intelligence of normal humans,” Mirror said helplessly. “So, there are only two ways to get anything out of them.”

"Which two?"

“One method is coercion and threats. They still have a will to survive, and they will naturally compromise when faced with threats.” Mirror coughed. “The other method is transactions, satisfying one of their three major needs. Currently, it seems that their needs for food and sleep are being met, leaving only one…”

Chen Qi's eyes widened in surprise. "Is it what I thought? But you only stayed in the dream for five minutes. That's too fast!"

(End of this chapter)