Chapter 21: Azalea Bird

From Zhao Bainiao’s expression, which showed no obvious fluctuations, Xu Dengming received a message that the other party had not detected the aura of fate emanating from the paper.

She didn’t intend to hide her curiosity and asked straightforwardly, “What is this paper, and what does it do?”

Zhao Bainiao examined the pristine test paper for a while longer, confirming that the tool truly showed no changes, before answering with a hint of disappointment,

“It’s a ‘test paper’ specifically used to determine the category of someone’s abilities.”

He added, “Most college students have read novels or watched movies from Rose City, so you’ve probably heard of superpowers, right?”

Xu Dengming: “I don’t watch many movies, but I’ve heard of superpowers.”

Zhao Bainiao spoke in a very serious tone: “Superpowers actually exist, but not many people know about them.”

Xu Dengming thought for a moment: “If it’s just bending spoons, I can do that without superpowers.”

Zhao Bainiao twitched his mouth: “…I’m talking about real special powers, the kind that don’t appear in public reports. You’ve now experienced something extraordinary yourself, so you should understand that there are indeed phenomena in the world that science can’t explain.”

Xu Dengming nodded with a polite smile: “Unfortunately, I’m well aware of that.”

Zhao Bainiao: “Some people awaken special powers because of this. The bureau has spent many years collecting data on relevant individuals and eventually discovered that different people’s abilities can be categorized into a limited number of types.”

“To make it easier to identify the type of ability a person has, we developed this test paper for classification.”

Xu Dengming: “What are the usual categories?”

Zhao Bainiao smiled, this time not giving a direct answer, and only said,

“Why don’t you try imagining it yourself based on the tropes of literary works?”

Since literary works were mentioned, Xu Dengming thought there would at least be healing and combat professions, and within combat professions, there might even be further divisions like warriors and mages.

But why hadn’t the test paper detected that she was also an ability user?

Xu Dengming asked again, “What about situations like Nest Park? Can they be categorized too?”

Zhao Bainiao: “They can, but instances are more complex.”

He added, “Actually, based on our judgment, someone as mentally resilient as you has great potential to awaken.”

Xu Dengming first thanked Zhao Bainiao for the compliment, then said, “I’d like to hear more.”

Zhao Bainiao: “Take Nest Park, which you’ve experienced, as an example. When you were inside, you felt your cognitive abilities gradually weaken. This is because the Nest instance erodes the rationality of its participants. But if an ability user enters, the instance will prioritize eroding their abilities.”

This was more or less in line with Xu Dengming’s speculation.

After all, the reason she had been able to realize something was wrong was because [Observer’s Eye] and [Box of Fate] had taken the brunt of the instance’s damage to her mind.

Xu Dengming leaned back on the soft pillow and commented,

“I don’t really like instances that affect cognitive abilities.”

Hearing this, Zhao Bainiao immediately felt that Xu Dengming was truly a young person full of love in her heart.

-After all, most people dislike all instances.

Zhao Bainiao: “Actually, if you don’t want to keep encountering such things, try to stay in densely populated areas more often. It’ll be safer.”

Xu Dengming raised her eyebrows: “I originally thought that E University’s campus wasn’t too desolate.”

She had entered the dungeon three times.

Except for the first time, which was in the suburbs and gave her a chance to reshape her worldview, the other two times had enough passersby to help her adjust her understanding of the world.

Zhao Bainiao coughed dryly: “…I was speaking in general terms.”

Xu Dengming forced a slight smile from the corner of her lips: “Thanks for the reminder, I’ll keep that in mind in the future.”

She then added, “I also wanted to ask, why are densely populated areas safer?”

Zhao Bainiao vaguely replied: “You could say that the city management has taken some necessary measures.”

-Ever since some awakened individuals skilled in crafting invented the [Suppressor], a device that reduces the risk of dungeons appearing and can suppress specific types of abilities, such tools have been widely used in various cities.

Unfortunately, items with extraordinary powers must be made from special materials and consume a massive amount of energy when activated, making mass production currently impossible.

After finishing her explanation, Zhao Bainiao stood up and checked the time on his phone.

There were still forty minutes left before he was off duty.

The Seventh Hospital was too far from Azalea Street, and he was too lazy to go back to the bureau, so he simply sat down again by the hospital bed and chatted with Xu Dengming.

After all, communicating with survivors was also an important part of the Special Affairs Bureau’s work, so it didn’t count as neglecting his duties.

Zhao Bainiao twirled the recording pen in his hand.

The Special Affairs Bureau had many confidentiality clauses, and he didn’t want to accidentally leak any crucial secrets during the conversation, so he decided to firmly control the direction of the discussion by saying:

“Can you share your thoughts on this dungeon?”

Actually, the Special Affairs Bureau had specialized personnel responsible for dungeon analysis, and survivors usually only needed to describe their experiences.

When he asked the question, Zhao Bainiao didn’t expect to get any particularly constructive opinions from Xu Dengming.

However, Xu Dengming seemed like a very serious and outstanding student, which piqued Zhao Bainiao’s interest, and he decided to test the other’s logical abilities.

During bureau meetings, it had been emphasized that when researching dungeons, it was important to gather clues from different perspectives.

Xu Dengming’s calmness made Zhao Bainiao curious, and he wanted to know if the student’s perspective on the dungeon would differ from that of the Special Affairs Bureau staff.

Xu Dengming leaned quietly against the pillow, her gaze slightly unfocused, as if she was reminiscing.

After a few seconds, she softly uttered two words:

“Azalea.”

Zhao Bainiao was momentarily stunned and instinctively asked: “What?”

Xu Dengming: “I think some of the participants in the dungeon remind me of azaleas.”

Azaleas are a type of bird with a very wide distribution, and they have survived even after the Great Catastrophe.

They don’t build their own nests but instead lay their eggs in the nests of other birds.

Azalea eggs hatch very quickly, usually breaking out of their shells earlier than the host’s eggs.

Once hatched, the azalea chicks push the host’s eggs out of the nest.

The eggs fell from a high altitude, the yolk and egg white mixing together, the fragile shells shattering all over the ground.

The splattered flesh spread like a carpet on the cement ground, the vibrant lawn stained red.

Xu Dengming: “…When we first entered the dungeon, there wasn’t much difference among the preparatory employees, but some of them were influenced…”

The sound echoed, transforming from a host bird into a cuckoo.”

Halfway through listening, Zhao Bainiao once again turned on his recorder.

Xu Dengming: “Just like different schools have different rules, cuckoos have their own rules, and host birds have theirs. The difference is that students know which school they belong to before they follow the rules, but bird eggs don’t.”

At this point, she smiled again, her voice softening: “The prospective employees entering the park don’t even know they might be a bird egg.”

Zhao Bainiao gripped his pen, suddenly feeling that his name was a bit unfair to the mental state of the student before him.

If he had known, the Special Affairs Bureau should have sent a team member with ‘cat’ in their name to ward off bad luck.

Xu Dengming: “The park is full of many forks in the road, each with a signpost, some with notes. I later noticed that the notes on the signposts could be contradictory.”

“For example, when we first entered the park, a light blue note told us not to enter the supermarket without lights, but a light red note told us we could enter without lights.”

Zhao Bainiao realized: “Following the notes of different colors would turn them into different types of bird eggs.”

Xu Dengming’s voice was soft: “That’s what I think.”

She added, “There must be many people who saw the red notes. Those employees, influenced by the cuckoo, would try to hatch themselves. I guess that to successfully hatch and prove they’ve truly become cuckoo chicks, they need to meet certain conditions-like completely clearing out the other eggs in the nest.”

Cuckoos have their own habits, and following the red note rules only puts the prospective employees in a state between cuckoo and host bird.

When the sound of the host egg breaking is heard, a new cuckoo is born.

Zhao Bainiao recalled Xu Dengming’s description of the dungeon experience and solemnly confirmed:

“You mean, those who fell were actually pushed out by their roommates?”

He didn’t realize that she now looked exactly like he did when discussing issues with experienced colleagues at the Special Affairs Bureau.

As a seasoned investigator, Zhao Bainiao shouldn’t have so easily accepted the views of an ordinary resident, especially one so young and completely new to dealing with abnormal events.

But Zhao Bainiao could also sense that Xu Dengming’s words were filled with convincing power, her hypotheses bold yet reasonable.

To not want to learn more after hearing this would be a disservice to his career prospects.

Xu Dengming: “I heard the sound of windows closing. When someone first fell from a window, many people opened their windows to look. Actually, you could see the situation on the cement ground from inside the room, but the prospective employees were too panicked and curious, so they all leaned closer.”

“After knowing what happened outside, they quickly closed their windows. Later, everyone gradually became numb and no longer opened the windows to look at the ground.”

“But when I stood by the window, I could still hear the sound of nearby windows closing.”

Zhao Bainiao: “…So you think that those who closed the windows were the ones who pushed the deceased out?”

Xu Dengming nodded, “The possibility is quite high.”

She remembered that someone had also fallen onto the cement ground at night.

Upon hearing the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground, Xu Dengming immediately walked to the window and then heard someone nearby closing their window.

If the person who closed the window, like Xu Dengming, had approached the window after hearing something unusual outside, she would have first heard the sound of the window opening, followed by the sound of it closing.

However, Xu Dengming only heard the latter sound.

So, once her thinking ability returned, she immediately realized that this meant a nearby window had already been opened before she approached her own window.

The person who opened the window wasn’t doing so to observe the situation outside but rather to reduce the number of occupants in the dormitory.

As for the possibility that the person had been standing by the window to get some fresh air and only closed it upon seeing someone fall, Xu Dengming dismissed this as well.

In a more normal company, there might be employees who couldn’t sleep at night and got up to vent their negative emotions under the night sky.

However, the Nest Park had thoughtfully added a debuff to all newcomers, causing mental sluggishness and a lack of motivation to do anything other than follow the company’s demands. 

Xu Dengming found it hard to imagine that these employees would choose such a silent and normal way to express their happiness.