Lan Jin was so frightened that she immediately pulled her hand back, while Lao Gao and Huang Jinghe hurriedly shut the door again.
This was truly a case of cleverness backfiring. Lan Jin said in disbelief, "How is this possible? How can someone not fear electric shocks? The voltage must have been too low."
Just as she was about to try again, Huang Jinghe quickly stopped her. "Don't, Sister Lan. These are people, still alive. What if you raise the voltage and fry him? Or worse, kill him? That's a burden none of us can bear."
Lan Jin had no choice but to give up on the thought.
The glass door had been closed once more, but the iron bars inside that had already been bent open were close to breaking apart completely. Lao Gao asked anxiously, "What do we do now? Why are they still so crazed?"
Ling Jiang suggested, "If electricity doesn't work, will ice work? They're burning hot, aren't they? I could freeze them in place."
Lao Gao shook his head. "That won't do. Ice is too cold. If you freeze them solid, the damage will be worse. Instead, why not just reinforce the bent bars with ice so they can't break out?"
Brother Li thought it over and found it reasonable. "Good idea. Freeze the bars inside, and also lay ice along the hallway outside to lower the temperature. Then freeze around this glass door as well. No matter what, we must hold this door."
Lan Jin's lips twitched. Even lightning did nothing. And Brother Li thought this flimsy glass door could hold them?
What troubled Lan Jin most was her own shaken confidence. She had always believed lightning to be almost invincible, unless facing something utterly immune to it. But the reality had struck her hard. In the morning she had claimed as much, and by afternoon she had already met a human who felt nothing from her power. For the first time, Lan Jin began to seriously consider seeking out non-ability weapons. If her lightning was useless and she had nothing else to rely on, that would be truly terrifying.
Ling Jiang acted swiftly, sealing the weakened spots with her ice ability.
Yet even with the reinforcements, watching those people howl and thrash madly inside was deeply unsettling. They had faced many mutated creatures before, but these humans, drenched in blood and insanity, were somehow more frightening.
Lan Jin murmured, "I'm suddenly glad that the people outside only took the insect powder."
But the mention of insect powder stirred up the doubt that had long been buried in her heart. That doubt was this: how exactly had plant powder been mixed into the insect powder they had been consuming?
According to Brother Zhang, the plants only grew deep inside dense forests like this one, nowhere else. The closest such forest to humanity was in H City. Other places were inaccessible to ordinary people.
Yet in H City, most people had no vehicles. Without cars, they couldn't possibly reach such places, not with so many dangerous creatures along the way. Lan Jin believed firmly that most H City residents didn't even know the dense forest existed.
If ordinary people couldn't reach it, then who had taken the plant matter and added it to the insect powder?
The most likely answer was those in power above.
But that raised another question. Did those above intentionally mix the plant matter into the powder to sell to civilians, or had someone betrayed them and leaked it by accident?
Brother Zhang had said before that insect powder had been sold during the insect disaster period, and back then eating it caused no problems. Only after the Extreme Cold did these altered powders appear, bringing disaster to those who consumed them.
Thinking back to the situation in the marketplace, Lan Jin's suspicions leaned toward those in power having full knowledge. After all, insect powder had circulated for quite some time and in large quantities. With so much supply, it was impossible for no one above to notice. Unless, of course, it had been deliberately provided to civilians by those very people. Viewed that way, everything began to make sense.
As for the consequences of eating the altered powder, perhaps no one had foreseen it. But the temptation of abilities was too great. Gaining powers was like gaining a weapon against death. Who would not want that?
Perhaps it was precisely because of the bloodshed caused by this desire that private use of abilities had later been forbidden.
Still, all of this was nothing but speculation. Lan Jin had no proof. Yet if her guesses were true, then behind all this lay a secret of staggering scale.
Lan Jin was only a speck in the ocean. She had no intention of risking her life to fight for some so-called righteous cause. Even if someone needed her to, what could she alone do against those in power?
A person must know their own limits. Whatever thoughts stirred in her heart, she pressed them down, again and again.
…
Thanks to Ling Jiang's ice, the frenzied people remained contained, unable to break through the bars.
After raging for a full day and night, they gradually grew quiet, drained of every ounce of strength. They stood dazed for a long moment, then collapsed and fell unconscious.
Seeing them calm, Ling Jiang lifted her ice to avoid causing illness. Brother Li ordered heating installed inside.
After another day and night of unconsciousness, the first of them began to stir awake.
Looking down at his blood-covered body, one man cried out in shock. "What happened to me? Why am I covered in blood?"
Another gasped, "Me too. So much blood. Did I… did I kill someone?"
Brother Li called from outside, "No, no, it's your own blood. Check yourselves first. Tell me if you notice anything unusual."
A weak voice responded, "Body has no strength. I'm freezing, but my forehead is burning. Fever. Must be a high fever."
"Thirsty. My lips are cracked and bleeding. Bitter too."
"Can we bathe? Do you have clothes we can change into?"
"The blood on me is dried. When I move, it flakes off. It's disgusting. I want a bath."
Listening to their weak voices, Brother Li suddenly laughed. "You'll have to wait. After the fever breaks, then you can wash. What if you relapse into madness again? Who dares to let you out now?"
By this point, it seemed the worst had passed. But Lan Jin still asked, "Then why can those outside vomit out a worm, yet these ones cannot?"
Brother Li froze, at a loss for words.
Before he could come up with an explanation, the people who had just spoken suddenly let out new howls and descended once more into madness.
Everyone's heart sank in unison. They sighed with relief at one thing: "Good thing we didn't let them out. Otherwise, we'd be finished."
A few who had awakened late looked around in confusion at their companions' sudden transformation. "W-what's going on?"