Why did you provoke me?

Yu Meng really wanted to ask what they had just said that made Xiao Wen and Secretary Wu think Yan Lei had something wrong with his head.

Yu Meng looked at Yan Lei and said, "Close your eyes, sit still, and don't move."

"Okay." Yan Lei obediently did as instructed, just like a very well-behaved child.

Yu Meng carefully examined Yan Lei's brain. There really was something inconspicuous there.

"Don't resist, my wires need to go in and process what's in your brain," Yu Meng whispered to Yan Lei.

"Huh? I've been parasitized by an alien? I didn't notice anything unusual?" Yan Lei muttered to himself.

"I told you not to talk, didn't you hear me? Shut up." Xiao Wen kicked his shin from the side.

Yu Meng's lines entered Yan Lei's brain, and a strange thing happened: her lines couldn't sense the existence of that thing.

But her eyes clearly saw the anomaly.

With a smirk, Yu Meng revealed her enormous figure. Xiao Wen and Secretary Wu's eyes widened as they saw what she was looking at. They then tightly covered their mouths with their hands, afraid to make a sound and let Yu Meng know that they had seen something they shouldn't have.

The massive lines slid into Yan Lei's mind without any hindrance.

As expected, a heavy-duty tool was needed; the suction cup on the line landed precisely on that unusual spot.

Yan Lei's expression changed, and sweat streamed down his temples.

"Bear with it, it'll be over soon," Yu Meng comforted her softly.

When the suction cup detached from its position, Yan Lei's body fell to the side.

Xiao Wen quickly stood up and hugged him tightly. Then, looking at Yu Meng, she asked, "Will there be any lasting effects?"

"Uncertain. This is a new substance; there are no precedents. Let's observe it first." Yu Meng looked at the lines in her hand. She had a vague feeling that it was an evolved alien, but she hadn't obtained a physical form. The behemoth swallowed it whole, skin and bones.

Xiao Wen left, and Secretary Wu sat down. "Um, could you give Yan Lei the thing you gave me to try?"

"Have Aunt Qing collect some data. She should be able to help. Your thing is very rare, you can keep it for yourself. That's all, you can have it all."

Yu Meng rubbed her temples. "How did you find out?"

Secretary Wu smiled wryly, "We were talking about the supplies we gave them. His reaction was a bit too superficial; he wasn't like this before."

He also asked if, if they caught him, he would tell them about the secret forest.

Yu Meng nodded, "Only a fool would do that."

"So, Xiao Wen and I both figured it out, so we brought the person over together. Turns out, something really did happen," Secretary Wu sighed.

"What about other people? Have they experienced this?"

Secretary Wu shook his head. "Haven't they investigated yet? But it's highly likely. This kind of alien is too powerful. It changes people's thinking silently, and the key is that you don't even realize it. If this continues, won't all of humanity be in great danger?"

"Don't be so pessimistic, there's always a way."

"Teacher Yu, do you think the lines drawn by the Jia family's bone painters are also caused by some kind of anomaly? Otherwise, how could they be like that?"

Yu Meng also knew that this matter would be difficult to handle. Her ordinary lines could not detect the abnormality. But thinking about it, how many bone artists nowadays could have her giant lines? She only had one.

If this is indeed an evolved alien, it will be a catastrophe. It is silently changing the human world. Detecting it is difficult enough, let alone preventing it.

Secretary Wu had clearly considered this as well, and he sat there sighing. Why is it so difficult? Aliens plus man-made disaster—is this even meant for human survival?

Yan Lei woke up in less than half an hour. He lay in bed, looking at Xiao Wen, "What did I do wrong in broad daylight? Why are you still here?"

Xiao Wen squinted at him. "We're about to leave. Do you know where we're going?"

"Missions are always in the same few places, what's wrong? Is this one special?"

"Do you remember what happened in the dense forest?" Xiao Wen asked tentatively.

"Dense forest? What dense forest?" Yan Lei sat up, looking at Xiao Wen. "Are we going to the dense forest this time?"

Xiao Wen closed his eyes briefly. "How does your head feel right now?"

"I don't feel anything, everything's fine." Yan Lei stood up. "Aren't we going on a mission? Aren't we going to get ready?"

Xiao Wen also stood up. "We need to go see Teacher Yu. You're in a bit of a special situation right now, so I can't really say for sure."

"Okay." The two left the room and went straight to Yu Meng's place.

"Amnesia?" Yu Meng looked at Xiao Wen in surprise.

"He doesn't remember anything about the dense forest," Xiao Wen nodded affirmatively. "Teacher Yu, will he remember later?"

"Who knows? This is the first time I've encountered this myself," Yu Meng said honestly.

"Teacher Yu, have I really forgotten some things? But I don't feel that way. I don't think I have any blank areas." Yan Lei squinted and thought carefully for a while before giving his conclusion.

"That's even more serious. No, let's do a test and see how much you remember from before?" Xiao Wen was getting anxious. If he had forgotten everything, they probably wouldn't even be able to remain friends.

Yu Meng waved her hand, "You should go find Aunt Qing. I can only remove the alien. For the rest, you'll have to go to Aunt Qing. She's the expert."

Without hesitation, Xiao Wen grabbed Yan Lei and left.

"Let go, I know how to get there." Yan Lei shook off Xiao Wen's hand.

"Okay, then you go ahead, I'll follow." Xiao Wen didn't insist.

Experimental Garden.

Qian Chuan fiddled with the test tube in his hand. "Aunt Qing, this stuff was extracted from blood. Why do I feel like it's a living organism?"

"A living organism? Isn't it just a mass of energy?"

"The activity of energy is different from that of living organisms." Qian Chuan stared at the test tube. "I did several experiments to get this. Aunt Qing, do you think this thing might be an alien?"

"Alien? Alien in the blood?" Qingyuan suddenly remembered something. Aliens that live in the blood really do exist, but are they this small?

"You perceived it using lines?"

"Aunt Qing, how would I know how to use those lines? Besides, can these distorted lines even sense other creatures? I've never tried it. I trust experimental equipment and data more."

"Bring it here, let me see. Xiao Wen and the others haven't collected any aliens these last few times they went out. I thought they'd all disappeared!"

"Isn't that alien that can make eyeballs an alien?" Qian Chuan asked casually.

Qingyuan shook her head. "It's also an alien, but it can't parasitize. As long as we stay far away from it, it can't harm us."

"Oh, I see." Qian Chuan replied casually. "Aunt Qing, be careful with this alien in the blood. If it can parasitize, it will be very dangerous."

"What danger could I possibly be in? I'm a bone painter!" Qingyuan said nonchalantly.

"But Aunt Qing, I obtained this from the blood of the Bone Painter."

Qingyuan was stunned for a moment. Qian Chuan was right. This thing was indeed in the blood of the Bone Painter. Could it be that it was not an alien, or a kind of alien that even the Bone Painter could parasitize?

Qingyuan looked at Qian Chuan and hesitated. She didn't want to become like the bone-drawing master of the Jia family—it was too terrifying. She didn't even know how Qian Chuan had managed to persevere.

Just then, Xiao Wen and Yan Lei walked in.

Qian Chuan stood up. "What brings you all here?"

"You're here too, that's perfect. Let's help Leizi remember the past." Xiao Wen looked at Qian Chuan and Qing Yuan, who were both acquaintances, so there shouldn't be any omissions.