Chapter 10: Passivity

Upon returning to the real world, Nie Yiyi had already returned to her original petite appearance. Despite the massive disparity in her figure, there was no change at all in her disposition.

"This is gonna take some getting used to!"

Adam was looking at Nie Yiyi while thinking back to his own appearance in the psychic world. There wasn't much of a disparity between his form in the real world and that of the psychic world, perhaps due to the fact that he was a blank slate.

"I don't like it when people look at me like I'm some type of dwarf. This is your first warning. If you get three strikes, I'll attack you."

"Alright, alright."

When it came to girls who were short and petite, they never failed to look at least a little cute, even when throwing tantrums.

"That's strike two."

"... Sorry." Adam hurriedly looked away and turned his attention toward Hook. "Alright, let me examine your abilities now and see if you're worth 150,000."

"Go right ahead!" An excited look appeared on Hook's face as he grabbed onto Adam's arm with his greasy hand. "It's about time I showed off my abilities to you!"

As they were speaking, Hook dragged Adam into his psychic world.

They appeared at the entrance of a pub, and the décor of the pub was quite ordinary, but it had a very strange name.

"Perspiration Pub? What a disgusting name!"

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

While Adam's attention was focused on the entrance of the pub, a mechanical voice suddenly rang out behind him, the type that was even more stiff and robotic than an electronically generated voice.

"Everyone has different pastimes, and there are always some people with niche hobbies. My family earns a living by running this pub."

"I see. It looks like..."

As Adam turned around, he was greeted by the sight of a strange-looking steam robot. The robot possessed all of the characteristics of the steam age, with a rusty brass exterior and a row of "chimneys" on the back, which were releasing plumes of steam. The robot was standing at around three meters tall, and what was particularly unsettling about it was that it had a human face on its head, namely Hook's face.

.

"What the hell is this?"

"It's me, Hook. My psychic body is a little strange, but it's really not that weird compared with psychic mutants."

"You look just like a psychic mutant to me! You don't look human at all!"

Adam made a lap around Hook, discovering many details about his psychic body in the process. The steam robot was equipped with many tools, the largest of which was a magnifying glass that was strapped to its waist.

"Alright, show me all of your abilities so we can work together effectively later tonight."

It was always a good thing to know more about one's allies.

"Let's start off with my search ability." Hook pulled out a telescope from the parts on his chest as he spoke, then placed it in front of his own eye. "With this ability, I'm able to track down targets more quickly."

"That's a very practical skill." Adam nodded in approval. Thinking back to his last venture into Kim's psychic world, it had taken him quite some time to track her down, and he had to ask many of her fellow students for her whereabouts in the process.

If they had been in the wilderness instead of in a school, it would've been even more difficult to find her.

"This is my main ability: inspection." After stowing the telescope away, Hook pulled out his largest tool, the magnifying glass, before aiming it at Adam as he introduced, "Through this magnifying glass, I'm able to see psychic lines..."

"What's a psychic line?"

Adam peered carefully into the magnifying glass, but he could only see normal objects being magnified through it.

"You can interpret psychic lines as psychic leads. They can only be seen by me, and through these psychic leads, I can track down the source of the subject's fear as quickly as possible."

Adam nodded in approval. "So that means you'll be able to find the anomaly that dragged Kim into space? In that case, your abilities are definitely worth more than 150,000. You have yourself a deal."

"I still have other abilities. For example, I can be operated by someone else." Hook put the magnifying glass away, following which a door sprang open on his round stomach, revealing a greasy cabin. "While being operated, I can enter berserk mode and access many new abilities. For example..."

"Is there no way to use those abilities unless someone enters your body?"

"What can I say? I'm into that passive stuff! You know how it is, a psychic body is closely related with one's personality!"

"Piss off! This is a useless ability! No one's going to want to enter your body!"

Adam kicked the cabin door shut before leaving Hook's psychic world.

Having assembled a team and developed an understanding of their abilities, Adam decided to spend the rest of the day until the time of the mission on his own.

The first thing he had to do was recover his psychic energy, and after that, he had to perform some pre-battle drills.

He arrived at the training hall before attempting to invoke his two emotional anomalies over and over again, but the outcome was rather lackluster. Most of the time, he was unable to invoke the anomalies as he pleased.

However, as he continued to practice over and over again, his success rate also improved slowly, yet steadily.

Through this exercise, he was practicing his invocation, as well as recovering his psychic body.

Psychological damage also required time to heal, but in contrast with physical injuries, minor psychological trauma could recover faster.

By the time night arrived, Adam's psychic body had already recovered from its broken arm, and Red Spider also just so happened to contact him at the same time.

"Have you found some allies yet, kid?"

"I have."

"Alright, I'll see you at the academy's entrance soon."

10 minutes later, everyone was gathered beneath Layton Academy's signboard, which was riddled with squiggly lines.

"The writing is so ugly! It looks like it was designed to ward off evil psyches!" After her arrival, Red Spider made a point to insult the design of Layton Academy's signboard, then directed her attention toward the trio gathered before her. "You're only going with a team of three? I thought you'd round up a team of seven or eight. I'm not sure this is going to be enough!"

"Just take us to the subject, we'll look after ourselves if anything happens." Nie Yiyi stepped forward and looked up at Red Spider's chin, then said in a cool voice, "This is a paid job. If we don't get it done, I won't ask for payment."

"Oh, what a cute little girl you are!" Red Spider wanted to pat Nie Yiyi's head, but the latter swatted her hand away, and Red Spider couldn't help but chuckle. "Such a cute girl, but such a cold personality! I feel like I'm seeing a mirror image of my younger self. Get in the car then. Let me see if you have the ability to back up your confidence."

Red Spider entered the car as she spoke, and after Adam's trio had also taken a seat, she drove them toward the affluent part of town.

Once again, she was habitually driving over the speed limit, and an hour later, Adam made his way into that luxurious courtyard once again. On this occasion, there were far fewer guests, and the scent of the stimulating compound in the air had also become a lot lighter. It was clear that the events that had taken place the day before had made Deranged Pig realize just how serious the problem was. For a normal person who hadn't witnessed the anomalies in the psychic world of a PTSD sufferer, most would only assume that it was some type of common mental illness. Even one's closest loved ones couldn't completely empathize with the pain of mental illness.

"You're finally here!"

Deranged Pig came out to greet them in person on this occasion.

"Yep."

"You only brought two more people this time? They don't look very strong at all!" Deranged Pig was sizing up Hook and Nie Yiyi with a skeptical expression. "You're telling me that this sleazy-looking kid, this little girl, and that clueless boy from yesterday can get the job done? I'm telling you, if you can't cure my daughter today, I'm going to issue a report to the pawn shop to have you replaced, do I make myself clear?"

After that, Deranged Pig led them to Kim's bedroom on the second floor without waiting for a response.

Even after a day of toil, Kim still hadn't woken up. Her face was covered in sweat, and it was clear that she was still suffering from the symptoms of her PTSD.

On this occasion, Adam didn't waste any time. From the experience that he had gained the day before, he knew what he had to do, and after exchanging a glance with Nie Yiyi and Hook, they latched onto one another's hands and entered Kim's psychic world together.