by <unknown>
"How did it happen?"
Li Jialing couldn't help but touch his own head. "Such abnormal expansion of the head usually happens only when one is practicing powerful techniques or advancing into a new level, right? This officer was carrying out a mission. How on earth was he mentally deranged for no good reason?"
"It's not exactly 'for no good reason'. Look, it was this cluster of brain tissues that had abnormalities. Many brain specialists and Meditation Healers believe that this is the area responsible for memories. They are known as 'memory cells'."
Long Yangjun opened the abnormal brain cells with the forceps softly and said, "Focus your spiritual energy on your eyes and set the resolution of your eyes to the highest. What can you see from here?"
Li Yao took out a pair of hazel glasses from his Cosmos Ring and handed it to Li Jialing. With the glasses, Li Jialing narrowed his eyes and observed carefully for a long time before he remarked in surprise, "Bleeding points! So many bleeding points!"
"Yes. Those bleeding points were not formed recently. They were formed because somebody repetitively stimulated the area of memory cells over the past few days, if not months."
Long Yangjun said, "The memory cells of this officer had already been ravaged and riddled with holes. They were essentially a mess, even more vulnerable than the memory cells of the ordinary people. When something went wrong, it was possible that the repair genes of the memory cells would be triggered, leading to abnormal expansion and internal bleeding. Eventually, they caused mental derangement."
"Human beings boast a rather powerful self-recovery system. The recovery functions of the trainers are even more impressive."
Li Yao explained, "The memory cells of the officer have been repetitively stimulated and traumatized. So, his brain sent a special order to the cells, asking them to 'repair the damaged cells and proliferate more cells'. However, when the order was carried too many times, things went out of control, and the crazy repair and proliferation became unrestrained, making him end up like this.
"In fact, the proliferation of body tissues is commonly seen on ordinary people too, as could be seen by the scars after wounds heal. However, for the Immortal Cultivators, their speed of metabolism and cell recovery are dozens of times higher than that of the ordinary people. Once the cells lose control, the consequences will be much more severe.
"Not just the memory cells, there's also this spot."
Long Yangjun began to dissect the brain tissues on the other side. "Similar phenomena of swelling and proliferation can be found here too. Some of the brain cells have been expanded more than ten times its normal size. How can he not go mad?"
Chapter 2603: A Full Purge |
"I know that."
Li Jialing said, "This is the right hemisphere of the human brain that controls feelings. The left hemisphere and the right hemisphere of the human brain have different functions. The left hemisphere is responsible for memories, logical thinking, and analysis, while the right hemisphere is responsible for feelings, music, painting, and other functions. Since the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere both have abundant bleeding points and abnormal swelling, it means that the man's memories and feelings are controlled, or at least under the effect of high-intensity stimulation."
"It's basically correct, but I need to slightly rectify something."
Long Yangjun nodded her head and said, "I know that many brain experts and Meditation Healers have proposed the asymmetric functionality of the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere in their masterpieces, and they have divided the brain into many different modules such as 'memory zone' and 'emotion zone', but as a matter of fact, human beings' memories, feelings, and self-awareness are all very mysterious and unpredictable. 'Control' does not even begin to describe their purpose."
"It must be noted that even if the brain is completely destroyed and the human turns into a ghost, as long as more than 50% of the soul is retained and accommodated by an anti-radiation shell and a high-precision crystal processor, most of the memories and feelings before their death will be kept. Therefore, the theory that the brain tissues have complete control over the soul is not necessarily true.
"In my opinion, the brain is to the soul what the soil is to a tree or even to the fruits on the tree.
"The quality of the soil will certainly decide the quality of the tree and whether the fruits are sweet or sour. However, once the tree grows up and yields abundant fruits, even if the soil is removed, it will be possible to transplant the tree to a certain 'soilless' environment or to pick the fruits and preserve them in a vacuum environment with cooling rune arrays. They will not go bad in decades.
"That is to say, the brain is the soil to gather the soul as well as the consciousness. However, once the soul and the consciousness take shape, their demands on the brain tissues will not be as strong.
"We can only say that stimulating this area on the left hemisphere can interfere with the memories to some extent, and stimulating that area on the right hemisphere can briefly alter one's personality.
"If the two areas are completely wiped out through surgeries, human beings will lose their memories and feelings, turning into numb, emptyheaded machines."
Li Jialing thought for a moment and asked, "Like the people of the Covenant Alliance?"
"Judging from the density of the bleeding points and the qualitative changes of the brain, he hadn't reached the point where his feelings were entirely excised. The two areas in the brains of the people of the Covenant Alliance are shrunk but not swollen. This officer must've rather intense feelings. However, about to whom his feelings are aimed at, I have no idea."
Long Yangjun thought for a moment and said, "The changes are similar to the Nepenthe believers who practiced Serenity Arts. The degree is more or less the same although the directions are different."
Li Jialing was stunned. "Will the Serenity Arts cause qualitative changes to the brains?"
"Even if they hadn't practiced the Serenity Arts, their brains would still go through qualitative changes given the fact that they lived in extreme fear every second!"
Long Yangjun glanced at Li Jialing and said, "Respect the brain, but don't imagine the brain to be too enigmatic. Getting to the bottom of it, the brain is just a regular organ on one's body.
"Consider such an example. If a person grows up in famines and feeds on grasses and rinds eight out of ten days, will his body suffer qualitative changes? Will he be emaciated, skinny, and have all kinds of diseases?"
Li Jialing blurted out, "Of course!"
"Therefore, if it is perfectly normal that your stomach shrinks when there is not enough food, is it something to be surprised at that some areas inside the brain also shrink and mutate?"
Long Yangjun said, "The so-called Serenity Arts merely guided and helped them to adapt to the changes peacefully and safely."
"Alright, you are both the god and the devil. You have left nothing for me to say."
Li Yao said, "There's no need to embroider yourself. We'll talk about your problem later. Let's focus on Wuying Qi for now. The cause of this officer's madness has been found. It seems that he was brainwashed, and he went mad because of the side effects and the sequela of the brainwashing. I wonder what's the situation with other people. Let's take a look at the healthy soldiers."
Li Jialing was rather shocked. "Brother Yao, you are not cutting the heads of the four living soldiers, are you?"
"What are you thinking about?"
Li Yao flicked Li Jialing's forehead. "Aren't there quite a few bodies? Here, this body's skull has been broken in the first place. Not much extra work is needed!"
The two of them carried the second body to the floating disc. Long Yangjun dissected him again and found the target areas accurately.
"He's the same. There are dense bleeding points on both sides of the brain. Also, the brain tissues had slightly expanded, like the proliferation of body tissues when the same spot is wounded a hundred times."
Li Jialing obse
rved carefully and drew the conclusion. "However, it seems that the soldier's conditions were not as serious as the mad officer's. He was still controllable."
"It means that all of the officers and soldiers in Wuying Qi's secret weapon base have been brainwashed by him to different degrees."
Li Yao summarized, "The damaged areas in the soldiers' brains are exactly the same areas that Wuying Qi attacked me back in the Seven Seas Grand Market. It is exactly the technology of the Covenant Alliance.
"The short-time, high-intensity 'hard brainwashing' causes huge damage to the brain. However, whether or not one is mentally deranged depends on his body quality, his level, and his luck. This officer must've had a lot of injuries in his brain during the high-intensity training beforehand. He had been suppressing the injuries by force, but after he was repetitively brainwashed, his cerebral vessels exploded, and his brain cells proliferated, resulting in his death."
"Such a terrifying brainwashing method!"
Li Jialing was rather shocked. "This is rather unbelievable."
"Nothing is unbelievable here. Brainwashing is not anything bizarre or mysterious. It is a real thing that can be studied, analyzed, and duplicated."
Li Yao pointed at Li Jialing's head and said, "Since Wuying Qi's ultimate weapon base is more and more related to 'brainwashing technologies', we must figure out what the so-called 'brainwashing' is first.
"In my opinion, there are two kinds of brainwashing, namely 'soft brainwashing' and 'hard brainwashing'.
"What is 'soft brainwashing'? Let me give you the simplest example. The two of us have been in each other's company for a long time. During the time, I preach to you every day and hum like a fly, trying to imprint the beliefs of the Cultivators into your head, and I set up a role model for you by saving the people from disasters often. The mighty and glorious image of the Cultivators is deeply stamped in your heart. As a result, a couple of years later, you are really transformed into a Cultivator. Then, can I say that I performed certain brainwashing on you?
"In my opinion, that is certainly true. However, this is a kind of soft brainwashing whose influence is very insignificant. It's like the ads you see every once in a while on the Spiritual Nexus, telling you how interesting an item is or how intriguing a game is. They are all the softest brainwashing methods."
"I understand it now if you put it that way, Brother Yao!"
Li Jialing clapped his hands. "The soft brainwashing is the gentlest and worst brainwashing method that is like the bite of a mosquito. Brother Yao has brainwashed me for such a long time but still cannot set up a glorious image in my head. You can say whatever you want, but I often find you hilarious!"
Li Yao: "… Okay, let's forget the details. Another example is when children learn the mainstream values and worldviews of the society in school. They are taught with the beliefs of the Cultivators or the Immortal Cultivators over a period of decades. Is that a kind of brainwashing, too?
"I think it is, if we are being strict. It all depends on whether or not everything is told truthfully and nothing is hidden during the education, and whether or not the children are forbidden from accessing different opinions through other channels.
"If the advantages and disadvantages of all beliefs, as well as their serious mistakes and glorious achievements in the past, are all told to the children with an open mind, such brainwashing will be soft. If the facts are twisted or hidden, and the education comes with physical abuse or material stimulation, then such brainwashing will be harder and more violent.
"Think about it. It has been inculcated into the heads of multiple generations of the Imperium that Wuying Qi is supreme and invincible during the past hundreds of years. That definitely counts as brainwashing too. However, we are not very concerned about that, are we?
"The brainwashing methods above have two things in common. First of all, the time cost is too huge. It sometimes takes decades before someone is completely fooled.
"Secondly, those brainwashing methods will not result in qualitative changes in the brain. Or rather, the changes are slow and gradual. During the prolonged brainwashing process, even if the brains had been damaged, they would've recovered by themselves.
"Therefore, the ways of brainwashing that I have listed above can all be categorized into 'soft brainwashing'. In many cases, it is even barely possible to distinguish 'soft brainwashing' from 'education'.
"The Imperial Guards who have been killed miserably before us, on the other hand, are clearly not the victims of 'soft brainwashing', but have received high-intensity 'hard brainwashing'. Some of the areas inside their brains received excessive radiations or were exposed to powerful magnetic fields in only a couple of days or weeks at most, which resulted in serious qualitative changes inside the areas inside their brains. Their memories and feelings were affected, and their self-awareness was twisted. This is the brainwashing of the most narrow sense, and it could even be called the real brainwashing!"
Chapter 2604: The Impossible Truth! |
Li Yao asked Long Yangjun and Li Jialing to step aside. As he took a deep breath, his eyes immediately spread out like crimson pools of blood.
Focusing his spiritual energy on the tip of his finger, he stabbed one of the unconscious soldiers softly by using the finger as a needle, waking up the guy.
"Look at my eyes."
Li Yao first mumbled with a voice as gentle as a feather, before he repeated it in a high-pitched cry, "Look at my eyes!"
The soldier shuddered, and his eyes that just became clear fell into confusion again, as if his entire soul had been absorbed into Li Yao's eyes.
"Now, you are lying on a fluffy and fragrant land. The sky is blue, the clouds are white, and the sun is shining warmly. You feel extremely comfortable…"
Weird brilliance beamed out of Li Yao's eyes, and his hands drew glamorous patterns like unpredictable flowers.
The anti-epidemic soldier was completely hypnotized by Li Yao. As Li Yao talked, the look of corresponding feelings popped up on his face.
When Li Yao spoke of the blue sky and the white clouds, his face was full of relief and ease. When Li Yao described beautiful girls, there was nothing but greediness there. When Li Yao talked about carrions and skeletons, it was replaced by disgust and fear.
"What is Brother Yao doing?"
Li Jialing asked Long Yangjun in a low voice.
"He has deeply hypnotized the target to test if the target still has the normal abilities to feel and think logically."
Long Yangjun explained, "If his feelings had been completely wiped out, like the people of the Covenant Alliance, he would not react so obviously to the illusions that Li Yao constructed. At the very least, his face would be showing a blank expression.
"Also, Li Yao is now asking him questions that can only be answered with a strong sense of logic, and he can answer them without any hesitation. It is evident enough that his feelings, thinking ability, and memories are not entirely destroyed. Wuying Qi only disrupted and modified a tiny area inside his brain.
"It does make sense. Those Imperial Guards are loyal to Wuying Qi and ready to die for him in the first place. Therefore, there is no need to brainwash them deeply."
Li Jialing pondered for a moment. "But there's still no telling what tricks Wuying Qi has played on their brains."
Long Yangjun smiled and said softly, "You will know it soon enough."
At this moment, Li Yao had finished the basic test on the anti-epidemic soldier. Thinking for a moment, he snapped next to the guy's ear to let him regain consciousness.
The light in the eyes of the anti-epidemic soldier was clear and bright again.
Based on his companions and the dead bodies lying next to him, he immediately realized what was going on. He struggled to lunge at Li Yao. Although he was blocked, he still cursed relentlessly and fearlessly that Li Yao and his lot must be the false Immortal Cultivators from the four families, and that they were the traitors, garbage, and worms of the Imperium of True Human B
eings and even the civilization of mankind!
Judging from his rather quick deduction and his fluent profanities, he undoubtedly possessed complete thinking abilities and abundant feelings.
"You traitors and worms!"
The anti-epidemic soldier cursed aloud, "I will not say a word! Just kill me! But even if you do, you will not stop the arrival of the new Imperium and the most glorious future of mankind! Hehehehe, the future is already here! Mankind will reach the unreachable lands and achieve an eternal enterprise under the command of His Majesty! Nothing can stop it! Nobody!"
Li Yao wiped the saliva that the guy had spurted out and said coldly, "'The most glorious future of mankind'; well said. Do you know that the future must be traded with the sacrifice of the entire capital planet? A hundred billion people live on the capital planet and the space towns around. Do you know that you will push those people into the abyss of death by doing what you are doing?"
The anti-epidemic soldier was stunned for a moment, but then he howled like a rabid dog with frenzy beaming out of his eyes, "Even the sacrifice of a hundred billion people is just a price that has to be paid. They are the fuel to propel the civilization of mankind; the sacrificial offerings for the future before mankind embarks on a brand-new quest!"
"Judging from your accent, you are a native of the capital planet, aren't you?"
Li Yao continued, "Your family—your parents, your wives and your children—all live on the capital planet, don't they? The four families' ace fleets have blocked the entire Empyreal Terminus Sector. Therefore, your family doesn't stand any chance to escape.
"Then, the destruction of the capital planet means that your family will die. You will be murdering your own family—your parents, your wife, and your lovely children. Have you realized that? Do you not care about your family at all?"