Dude, something's really wrong with your abilities.

Chapter 15 The Man from 5 Years Ago

Chen Shi told them exactly what he had seen.

A long silence fell over the laboratory, and the sound of the server fans suddenly seemed particularly loud.

Zhuang Wen slowly began, "You've seen everyone's emotional state completely. This isn't ordinary empathy; it's a visual upgrade of empathy. Your ability is to identify the underlying emotional tone of others through a visual spectrum. But what you can see now is only the current state, not specific thoughts, memories, or secrets; it's that person's core emotional tone at this moment."

Chen Shi nodded. He knew the answer in his heart, but he didn't know why it was this answer.

"And the range is limited," Zhuang Wen continued. "You can't see people who are far away. The triggering conditions are also unstable; you can't control when you can see them or when you can't. Currently, it seems that it can only be triggered when your psychological defenses are relatively weak."

He paused for a moment, then picked up his pen. "Could you tell me what you were thinking about that would allow us to see the light above us? I need to record the triggering conditions."

Chen Shi stole a glance at Sun Tiemei.

"Teacher Zhuang, can we not tell you this?"

Zhuang Wen was taken aback, then nodded. He put down his pen without asking any further questions.

"Your ability isn't release-type," he changed the subject. "At least for now, it's receptive. You don't send out signals; you receive others'. This also explains why the instruments can't detect your ability fluctuations—you're essentially invisible. But this ability does exist. The independent reactions of Wei Sheng, Lao Yuan, and Zhao Zhiqiang couldn't all be coincidental."

He quickly rummaged through the table and pulled out a photocopied file from a folder. The pages were yellowed, and most of the text was obscured by black bars, leaving only one line at the bottom: Ability Mechanism Undefined. Instrument detection showed no fluctuations.

"A case from fifteen years ago." Zhuang Wen placed the file on the table. "The people in the bureau also have psychic abilities. The process of arresting the wanted criminal was very similar to your situation. There was no fighting, no clash of abilities. Shortly after he went in, the wanted criminal came out and surrendered on his own."

Chen Shi looked at the file cover. "Where is he now?"

"Missing."

"When?"

"After that arrest operation," Zhuang Wen pushed up his glasses, "his files were sealed overnight. Many people in the bureau who knew him were also reassigned to field stations in various places within three months."

He paused, his tone becoming very cautious.

"What I can't understand the most is something else. Some of the older employees in the bureau can still remember the name, but they can't remember what he looked like, what his abilities were, or what he did. It's as if something has ripped out that part of their memories of him."

A chill ran down Chen Shi's spine. "His memories have been stolen?"

"This is just my speculation." Zhuang Wen opened a page, and the screen displayed the system log of an old instrument. Most of the data was corrupted, with only a few surviving records remaining. "Although the instrument was old back then, it would still leave traces after it was used. This log contains a fragment of that person's ability's operating mode. The results are very similar to yours, but he was highly proactive, with energy fluctuations. You, on the other hand, are completely passive, requiring specific conditions to trigger."

He looked at Chen Shi.

"Although that old analyzer can't be turned on, the hard drive is still spinning. The General Administration's Technical Department inspected it back then and said that the remaining information was all corrupted noise and had no value for recovery. But when they wrote that in their report, they didn't know that another new machine would one day also be unable to read another person's data. Your ability to read data is exactly the same as his, just in the opposite direction."

Out of the corner of his eye, Chen Shi saw that Sun Tiemei had been standing still in the same spot, without moving.

Sun Tiemei stood there, listening carefully to every word Zhuang Wen said.

When this person disappeared, she felt as if a piece of her heart was empty. But at the time, she didn't feel anything special; the emptiness was like the slight disappointment of forgetting her keys in the morning and only remembering them halfway through the journey. For many years afterward, she didn't even realize that she was missing a part of her memory.

But in recent years, that person's image has gradually become clearer. Especially after Chen Shi joined the police force, she truly understood the pain of losing someone. It wasn't because the pain was new, but because, for some reason, her memories suddenly returned little by little, and the pain came back with them.

"His name is Yan Guang," Sun Tiemei said. "Yan as in meticulous, Guang as in bright."

Her voice remained calm, but Chen Shi inadvertently noticed that the white light above her head trembled slightly.

"He's the one who got me into this industry. Then he disappeared."

Zhuang Wen turned around, his tone carrying a restrained confusion: "Team Leader Sun, you still remember Yan Guang? Then why do the other senior staff in the bureau say they can't remember?"

"This is something I've never been able to understand," Sun Tiemei said. "I used to be like everyone else. He was the one who brought me into the industry, taught me step by step for three years, and cared for me as much as a father. But I still couldn't remember what he looked like. Even when I saw his picture, I couldn't match the face with him. It's not face blindness, it's something deeper. You can see his features, but you can't recognize who he is."

She paused for a moment.

"But in the past two years, my memories have been slowly returning. His appearance, his voice, his speaking habits, are coming back little by little."

Zhuang Wen was silent for a moment. "Is there a timeframe for this recovery? For example, when did it start to become noticeable?"

Sun Tiemei glanced at Chen Shi.

Zhuang Wen noticed the look in his eyes. He didn't press further, but simply nodded. "Team Leader Sun, I need to know a few things about this senior. The more specific, the better. How he uses his abilities, his habits, whether he said anything unusual before going on a mission. This will help my investigation."

Sun Tiemei nodded gently. "I'll find some time to sort things out. There are some things I need to re-organize myself." She looked at Zhuang Wen, "Thank you."

After she finished speaking, she turned to Chen Shi.

"If your abilities are similar to his, then I need to remind you of something. Empathy is a skill, but it also comes at a price. You will connect with the pain of others. You will feel their emotions. Only by feeling can you truly understand. But no one can bear this negativity forever."

"Team leader, what will happen then?" Chen Shi asked.

Sun Tiemei did not answer. Zhuang Wen took it for him.

"This cannot be accurately predicted at the moment. It could have physiological or psychological effects. In milder cases, one might experience frequent nightmares and more intense mood swings than the average person. In severe cases," he paused, "one might find that they can no longer distinguish which emotions are their own and which they have adopted from others. This process is irreversible. You don't have a switch to turn it off."

Chen Shi was startled. Then he silently made a rule for himself: he must talk to Fatty and Brother Biao more often from now on. The very existence of these two was a source of joy, and it would definitely offset any negative feelings. If all else failed, there was always Wang Jianlou. A dog who got his position through political acumen; seeing him always made him feel a little better.

Just then, Sun Tiemei's phone rang.

She answered the call, listened for a few seconds, and then hung up.

"Zhao Zhiqiang died in the detention center."

Chen Shi's heart skipped a beat.

"According to the guard, he suddenly slammed his head against the wall violently, and by the time the guard rushed in, his skull was already fractured. He died ten minutes earlier."

The laboratory was so quiet it felt like someone was choking you.

The face flashed through Chen Shi's mind. Those bloodshot eyes. The man who held a knife to a little girl's neck in the mall. He had spoken to him. He had asked, "Are you one of them?" He had said, "Many times, so many times."

The color of that fear and despair, a dark red, churning, is still vivid in his mind.

He was a pitiful person, and he died just like that.

"No, he didn't hurt himself even when he was having such a breakdown in the mall, so why would he commit suicide now?" Chen Shi suddenly raised his head. "His death is definitely not that simple."