Chapter 120
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Chapter 120: Identity Confusion
El had been busy playing a role in the outer city lately.
This was the description given by Lin Qingliu.
An orphan who could fight, roaming the night to punish criminals, accompanied by a reliable Middle-aged Man partner (subordinate).
Does this combination sound familiar?
It’s you! Batman!
Whenever El sent back news, this strange sense of déjà vu always flashed before Lin Qingliu’s eyes.
This kid, apart from having superpowers and lacking money, was almost a young version of Bruce.
He just awakened a bit too early.
As for why Lin Qingliu always received news from El?
Because he got hurt.
So, we return to the original question:
How many doctors are left in the eastern outer city?
Lin Qingliu had his own thoughts on this:
Oh no, I’ve become Alfred.
Thus, the development of events often turned out to be magical, as El and Li Rui walked down a path they had never imagined.
A small-time boss who had long been mixing in the outer city, making a living by injuring himself to earn a little money for culture solution, and a boy under thirteen who just a few months ago was a gray-faced fugitive unexpectedly became the biggest nemesis of crime in the outer city.
For the past half month, the security bureau of Hope City had been living a life of ease and comfort.
Every morning, they would find one or two lost thugs outside their workplace.
Even though the clean-up plan for unemployed individuals had reached a pause, there were still significant gaps in the unpaid specialized production line.
And these sudden achievements felt like barbecue brought right to the mouths of the peace officers.
According to the principle that whoever picks it up owns it, the recent peace officers even started competing to arrive at work early…
They didn’t know who the kind-hearted people were, but they understood the principle of not passing up free food.
For El, just a few tricks to exchange weapons and throwing objects were enough to make these untrained individuals run away in a panic.
As for the stubborn leaders, he would deal with them alongside Li Rui.
Those people were usually the source of his wounds, but while El only got hurt, those people lost their precious lives.
Though he had been injured several times, El still decided to continue this way until those with guilty consciences trembled upon hearing his name.
El was aware that his management skills were nearly nonexistent, and it was uncertain whether anyone would genuinely follow him.
The days he spent recovering from fever in the wounded soldiers camp were his best opportunity for redemption; as long as he wanted to, Zhuang Mian could easily validate his identity as an informant, allowing him to regain true identification and no longer remain an unregistered resident in the outer city.
But El didn’t want that, not just because that kind of life seemed unsuitable for him, but also due to a bit of adolescent pride.
After all, it was El who carried Zhuang Mian, who was about to die, to Lin Qingliu’s clinic in the pouring rain.
Now, being asked to be her subordinate, El found it hard to swallow.
After a brief yet resolute mental preparation, the young man made his decision.
El chose to dominate the outer city rather than fully integrate into it or cleanse his reputation.
A simple truth of the outer city:
People adhere to the rules not because the rule-makers are benevolent, but because the rule-makers wield power.
—
Everyone had their own tasks to attend to. Lin Qingliu, stationed in the military camp, had already passed the first round of theoretical knowledge assessment and moved on to the practical phase.
The military’s recruitment of this batch of psychologists was indeed eager for more candidates, but those who were too inexperienced would be eliminated, as not everyone could serve as a trash can for the soldiers’ overwhelming negative emotions.
The assessment was divided into three parts: theoretical knowledge, hands-on practice, and… compatibility with the military (referring to lifestyle habits and physical fitness).
To be honest, the words deity, otherworld, and exam rarely appear in the same storyline about the same person.
But reality often defies logic.
Since acquiring the ability from the [Dream Illusion] pathway, Lin Qingliu found it increasingly effortless to recall the knowledge he had studied before.
The pathway, designed for understanding everything, acted like a bottomless whirlpool before knowledge, and Lin Qingliu had long since imprinted the necessary knowledge for the assessment in his mind.
While other psychologists were still pondering and recalling, he had already begun to output answers with the speed of a typewriter, even spotting two punctuation errors on the exam paper during breaks.
As expected, he passed the assessment and even easily defeated two veterans in the camp that night, proving that his claims of formidable fighting skills were not mere boasts.
Lin Qingliu earned extra points from the resentful glances of the two veterans as they were punished for their loss.
The next day, the final wave of practical assessments began.
This was genuine hands-on practice, paired with patients carefully selected by the upper military command.
These individuals had either been traumatized during battles against the beast tide or had seen their family or friends among the Infected, leaving their mental states highly unstable; even broadcasts filled with encouraging messages were of no help.
The time was set for two hours, during which a panel of judges would score based on the level of treatment.
Assigned to Lin Qingliu was a man who had fallen into deep isolation; his eyes resembled an unfathomable ancient well, remaining silent no matter how other doctors tried to guide him.
Lin Qingliu was very confident in handling such a patient.
His mental health clinic had been performing quite well lately, due to various factors.
The panic caused by El led many doctors to flee, the chaos among the Infected brought in patients with mild psychological issues, and the most crucial point—
The superpower of the [Dream Illusion] pathway.
Some things are deeply buried in people’s hearts and reluctant to surface, but Lin Qingliu could effortlessly penetrate the depths of the mind, identify the issues, plant a seed of suggestion, and wait for the effect.
In this process, he didn’t even need to say a word; the only strict requirement was that the patient must fall asleep, and as for the method, physical or chemical anesthesia didn’t matter.
At this moment, Lin Qingliu had gained a good level of proficiency in the suggestion abilities of the Dream Illusion pathway.
According to the logic of traditional narratives, he should be close to advancing to the next level by now.
Unfortunately, Lin Qingliu had no such concept; all his abilities came from the diligent followers, and even if he reached full proficiency, as long as Zhuang Mian remained at the Second Level, Lin Qingliu’s Dream Illusion pathway would not progress.
Stopping his unfounded thoughts, Lin Qingliu looked at the silent man seated before him and, with a sense of certainty, prepared to begin his speech.
