Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 718 23: Lin Lun's Story

"What is it?" Sun Hang followed up on the other person's words.

"Before that, could you listen to a story of mine first?" Lin Lun asked sincerely.

"Are you trying to buy time?" Sun Hang tried using Mind Reading Technique on Lin Lun but found that Lin Lun's will was extremely strong. The mind reading could glean very little, and Lin Lun's memories were sealed tight, like a solid, seamless iron block.

There are two types of people who are highly resistant to mind reading. One is those with chaotic thoughts like madmen or blank-minded fools, and the other is like Lin Lun, who can precisely "control" their brains like manipulating a computer storage unit.

This level of "control" is quite advanced. To ordinary people, controlling one's brain seems as simple as eating or drinking, but in reality, a vast majority of the brain's "operational processes" are not under human conscious control.

This brings us back to the topic of "don't think of an elephant."

The person in front of Sun Hang can control his brain to a degree where he can limit his thoughts to a tiny scope and can use a form of "pseudo-forgetting" to seal away the memories he doesn't want others to see...

Sun Hang even suspects that he could commit suicide by ordering his brain to forcibly shut down... something that over 99.99% of carbon-based lifeforms would find impossible to do.

Suicide isn't hard, but doing it just by "thinking" is not just contrary to a biological survival instinct. This kind of brain control can bypass all sorts of self-preservation systems in the body, precisely and effectively pulling down the "switch" surrounded by numerous danger signs.

"I'm not stalling." Lin Lun shrugged. "I can feel you probing my mind, so you should know I'm telling the truth."

"A psychic?" Sun Hang couldn't help but reassess the dignified middle-aged man before him.

"Yes." Lin Lun nodded. "I'm a psychic."

"What are your abilities?"

Lin Lun pointed to his head with his finger and then to his eyes.

"I can control my brain, and I can see things that others can't with the naked eye," Lin Lun said.

"You can... see those materialized negative emotions?"

"It seems you can see them too." Lin Lun's smile grew wider. "It seems we're of the same kind... I think you must understand my actions."

"Not necessarily. You should tell your story." Sun Hang said, "But I suggest you keep it brief and don't waste too much time."

"Alright."

Lin Lun made a gesture to Sun Hang: "Please sit."

At the entrance hallway, there was a bench. Sun Hang plunked himself down on it, legs crossed, watching Lin Lun with interest.

Before Lin Lun began his story, Sun Hang couldn't read anything related to it, which only heightened his anticipation, as he couldn't be spoiled.

"Thirty-five years ago, in Cangshui City, Jizhou, a boy named Lin Lun was born in the delivery room of the Cangshui Maternal and Child Health Hospital," Lin Lun began. "Please allow me to narrate this story with me as the protagonist in the third person."

Sun Hang nodded. "Please continue."

"He was different from other children from the start. He didn't like toys, and he never cried or fussed, often sitting quietly in a corner for an entire day. His parents thought he was congenitally dumb and didn't like him. When he was four, they had another son."

"In kindergarten, the child never played with others and never engaged in unnecessary communication. Kindergarten teachers often suggested his parents take him to the doctor—but the teachers didn't know his parents had consulted many doctors before his enrollment, all to no avail."

"When the boy turned eight, aside from being taciturn and seemingly disinterested in everything, he showed no intellectual deficiencies."

"He smoothly went to elementary school. His grades weren't outstanding but remained steadily between the tenth and twentieth in class, avoiding the attention of teachers and parents. In his classmates' eyes, he was just a reclusive oddball who didn't like to talk."

"But no one knew that this child could see things that others couldn't... he could see shadows clinging to people like monsters..."

"Even before he fully formed his cognitive recognition, he could see these things. At first, he didn't know what fear was... But as he matured and realized this was an 'uncommon' phenomenon, he was already numb to such sights... even if those shadows bared their fangs and claws in front of him, he wouldn't feel any fear."

Sun Hang looked at Lin Lun seriously and said, "There's no shadow behind you."

"Neither do you," Lin Lun replied. "That's why I think we might be the same kind."

"Continue with your story," Sun Hang said. "It's quite interesting."

"When the boy was very young, he told his parents about this, but they, being superstitious, thought their child was tainted with some 'unclean thing'—they didn't report it to the local Public Security Bureau or the Anomaly Investigation Bureau but instead invited a group of long-robed Taoists to perform rituals around the boy for days."