"During this period, we have been observing you; your performance can be described as 'excellent.'" The woman said, "But these are just the surface. Whether your deeper mental state is stable still requires a series of specialized assessments. Only by passing these assessments can we grant you the identity of 'Mysterious Creature Hunter.'
"What kind of assessment is it? What do I need to do?" Sun Hang asked.
"Follow them to the room specifically designed for testing, and you'll find out." The woman extended a finger and tapped on the floating holographic screen in front of her, and immediately, a pathway appeared on one side of the room's wall. Four people in complete heavy protective gear walked in.
Soon, they helped Sun Hang change into a "test outfit"—this so-called test outfit consisted only of a pair of pure white shorts and a large white cloth with three holes cut into it. Sun Hang just needed to put his arms and head through those three holes to be fully dressed.
"Is this intended to dissect me?" Sun Hang asked suspiciously, scrutinizing the test outfit.
"Rest assured, the entire assessment process will not harm you in any way," the woman shook her head, "not even a blood draw."
…
After Sun Hang left with the four people, the woman turned to look at the old man sitting in the wheelchair, asking softly, "Teacher, there's something… I'm not sure if I should ask."
"Speak," the old man looked up at his student, finally showing a kind expression.
"I've always been puzzled; did the Deceit Virus 0420 contracted really originate from Taotie?"
"Where is your confusion?"
"Taotie, as a unique individual among Type C mysterious creatures, is most notable for devouring all living creatures it comes into contact with, but it never releases Deceit Virus externally. If other mysterious creatures release viruses carrying their own 'memes' to infect and assimilate things they contact, then Taotie does the opposite—only swallowing the carriers of those 'memes,' embedding these 'fragments' into its own 'meme.' Because of this feature, every year at academic conferences, someone suggests changing Taotie's code name to symbolize 'only intake, no output'—'Pixiu'..."
"Do you suspect the mysterious creature that infected him was not Taotie?" the old man interrupted his student.
"Yes, I do, teacher," the woman nodded, "So far, including avatars, there have been 314 incidents of mysterious creature attacks directly or indirectly caused by Taotie. In these 314 incidents, there has never been an infected person. Even if other mysterious creatures appear in the incidents, they are completely devoured by Taotie. Precisely because of this, after confirming the attacking mysterious creature is Taotie's avatar, the rescue team skips the routine infection verification process..."
"Because individuals infected by the Deceit Virus would become the highest-priority prey in Taotie's eyes, they subconsciously believe survivors cannot be infected," a middle-aged man said, "Those responsible for the rescue operation have been punished; I assure you this won't happen again."
"But..." the woman wanted to say more, but the old man in the wheelchair raised a hand to stop her.
"Whether it is his infection process, detected 'meme' sequence, or the abnormalities shown when contacting mysterious creatures, all can be matched with 'Taotie'... Yang Qi, you made a very serious mistake: never judge mysterious creatures based on past experience."
"Te-teacher..." the woman hesitated for a moment, showing a trace of shame.
"Sometimes, you can't even trust what you see with your own eyes, so how can you trust those things recorded in literature?" the old man said slowly.
"Teacher, I know I was wrong," the woman bowed her head.
"Remember, if investigators or hunters make a mistake, the worst result is merely mission failure. But if we make a mistake, it will lead to catastrophic consequences."
…
…
Sun Hang was taken to another room filled with obviously high-value precision instruments. The staff asked him to lie down on the large surgical chair in the center of the room, and then they attached hundreds of electrode pads to Sun Hang's body.
After placing the electrode pads, two staff members worked together to push a camera to the front of the surgical chair. The camera's stand was extended, and the rainbow-hued glass lens came straight at him, just less than two centimeters from Sun Hang's nose.
After securing the stand, these staff left the room, and the lights went out, leaving only a beam from the ceiling illuminating Sun Hang.
"Test template, standard, test content, custom 01, test subject number, 0420." An emotionless electronic synthesized voice emanated from the speaker next to the camera, "Please do not be nervous, and try to maintain emotional stability and calm breathing. Before the test begins, you will have ample time to relax as much as possible."
"Does being emotionally tense affect the test results?"
"No."
"Then let's start now, I'm quite relaxed," Sun Hang said, lying back and staring at the lens just inches away.
"During the test, segments of a particular long poem will be played. What you need to do is recite the verses during the intervals between each line. Additionally, some random questions will be interspersed between the poem lines; you do not need to answer these questions, just recite the poem lines," the electronic synthesized voice continued.
"How will I differentiate which sentence is a poem line and which is your question?"
"All poem lines are statements, and all random questions are interrogatives. It's very easy to distinguish. If you accidentally recite a question, it won't affect the test content," the electronic synthesized voice said.
"Alright."
"Test begins."
After a burst of meaningless white noise, the brightness of the light beam surrounding Sun Hang began to increase, making the room's periphery appear even darker in contrast.
The indicator lights on those devices, originally flashing continuously, uniformly extinguished. Sun Hang felt as if he was floating in the deep and boundless space, his sense of spatial boundaries gradually blurred.
"The blood-black void begins to weave a network," the electronic synthesized voice seemed no longer to come from the ear but from that distant dark space, ethereal and elusive.
"The blood-black void begins to weave a network," Sun Hang recited.
"Are you afraid of the dark? Have you ever imagined yourself in an environment completely devoid of light?"
As per the test requirements, Sun Hang did not answer the question.
"Cells connect again and again,"
"Cells connect again and again," Sun Hang recited.