Chapter 50: So That's What I Really Thought

After being amazed by the series of anti-physics performances during Luo's first battle, the experts quickly discovered the Main Point once again from these actions.

That was his shield.

Professor Miyazaki was the first to propose a relevant viewpoint. He believed that while the Hero with the Shield's physical fitness undoubtedly challenged common sense, his most astonishing performances—taking a rocket launcher to the face and bungee jumping from the sixth floor—were not solely reliant on his robust physical abilities.

Especially that beautiful freefall.

Professor Miyazaki paused the video, and the camera showed Felix standing by the window, overlooking the ground from a first-person perspective. Professor Miyazaki pointed out that when the smiling man hit the cement road upon landing, it cracked to a considerable extent. However, the shielded man, after landing, didn't leave a single crack on the ground.

This phenomenon, which would make Newton do sit-ups in his coffin, clearly couldn't be explained by physical fitness alone. Therefore, Professor Miyazaki believed that the problem lied within that shield.

"Perhaps it can somehow neutralize the impact," Professor Miyazaki said. "Whether it's resisting bullets or high-altitude falls, that shield is the key. When he landed, he used the shield as a cushion, and the impact force was eliminated by the special power contained within the shield, hence leaving the ground undamaged. This also explains why he didn't experience any kinetic energy effects when blocking bullet attacks with the shield."

The attendees remained silent for a moment, seemingly digesting and accepting this explanation.

Soon, someone turned their gaze towards Minister Shi Jinqiang from the Equipment Department.

"Minister Shi..."

"We don't have it, I don't know, and I haven't heard of it," Minister Shi immediately denied the claims without waiting for them to ask about the Third Company.

Shi Jinqiang was also frustrated. He thought to himself that he was just a department head in the Equipment Department. Why did these people keep tormenting him with these damn questions?

"Why don't you go ask the miraculous conch?"

Continuing the discussion on this matter would yield no results unless we can get our hands on that shield and study it. Without that, we can't determine if there's any way to research its secrets.

Initially, after that Batman-like figure and the magician-like characters pulled out a bunch of fancy gadgets, the various units of the Equipment Department under Shi Jinqiang had been working tirelessly, trying to analyze the feasibility of those flashy weapons from a modern scientific perspective through videos.

It felt as if someone had given you the answer to the final math problem and asked you to reverse-engineer the process. Maybe the difficulty hadn't decreased much, but you would still be scolded by superiors, saying, "Can't even find the answer in an open-book exam? What the hell are you doing?" It was simply torture for the entire department.

At the beginning of this meeting, Shi Jinqiang was thinking that this time it was a soldier, not a magician, and if anyone was going to be tormented, it should be Professor Miyazaki. At least he wasn't involved.

But now, he realized that certain individuals, who seemed like soldiers on the surface, were actually just shields. The key was still that shield. In the end, he was the one being tormented.

Moreover, Batman's gadgets at least had some starting points to research, such as maneuverability, propulsion power, freezing effects, and other performance aspects. But this thing here, it's just a bare shield. It's hard to figure out where to even begin.

Minister Shi was at his wit's end.

Fortunately, the others didn't continue tormenting him about the shield for too long and quickly moved on to the next topic.

The discussion shifted to the source of the infection.

In this incident, the primary source of infection undoubtedly seemed to be Xu Wenhan. Under the influence of the infection, he suffered from mental instability and attacked Dr. Li at the Central Hospital, as well as some other random victims. However, investigations revealed that the victims were all women who had a similar physique to Guo Xiaoyun.

However, there wasn't any apparent spread of the infection this time. The most significant impact was some residents in the same building reporting a sense of eerie fear recently, causing a certain level of negative emotional impact. It wasn't a major issue.

Lastly, there was the sudden appearance of the smiling man.

From the video footage and Felix's description, it's highly likely that the smiling man who appeared this time is related to the previous infection source named Guan Ye. It could even be said that they are the same person behind the scenes.

The identity of the smiling man was quickly determined.

His real name was Nagao Katsumi. He was framed and imprisoned, and upon his release, he found himself divorced and without a job. He lived in melancholy, and three months ago, he passed away due to illness.

Guan Ye from the previous incident, Xu Wenhan who appeared this time, and Nagao Katsumi—they all shared one common point: they were supposed to be dead.

"I proposed this hypothesis last time, and this incident confirms my theory," Professor Miyazaki said. "The mastermind behind all this, I believe he possesses some special ability to infect the dying or even the deceased."

"Infecting individuals born from the deceased as raw materials would make it easier for them to gain powerful abilities. Moreover, when these infected individuals and those they infect are eradicated, there is a greater chance of leaving behind spiritual entities. These spiritual entities may gather and potentially transform into unknown monsters, just like what happened last time."

"You mean," Li Changcheng fell silent for a moment, then spoke, "we are facing an infected individual with enhanced infection abilities. He can infect the deceased and turn them into even more terrifying sources of infection."

Everyone realized that if this was true, it meant that the severity of the problem had escalated once again.

If there was anything scarier than a madman, it was a madman with ideas and power. To make matters worse, if that madman had wealth and influence.

However, saying it like that made it sound like Batman. If there was anything scarier than a madman with ideas, wealth, and power, it was if he could infect others.

The room fell into silence for a while, and everyone appeared deep in thought. After pondering for a moment, Felix finally spoke up.

"I think,"

As soon as he spoke, all eyes were drawn to him.

"That person, I mean the mastermind behind all this, he's a twisted madman. He claims to be the embodiment of 'Nothingness,' which people fear. He believes that everyone is just as dark inside as he is, and he is determined to prove it."

Professor Miyazaki nodded when he heard this. "People with strong negative emotions are more susceptible to infection. It's a fundamental principle of these incidents."

"So even among the deceased, only those who harbored intense resentment, regret, anger, fear, and other negative emotions are more likely to be manipulated."

"Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to say," Felix cleared his throat. "I heard that person say that in this incident, he initially wanted to infect the girl who died, but he couldn't do it."

"Because the girl didn't have any resentment, anger, or even fear when she died."

He took a deep breath and raised his voice as he continued.

"That's where the mastermind behind all this is wrong. He wanted to prove that everyone is as dark as he is, but this incident precisely proves him wrong."

"I think, perhaps this is also what Batman and the organization behind him are trying to tell us. Our inner darkness is the perfect breeding ground for infection, especially in the current era. To some extent, demons are created by ourselves."

"Since that's the case, as long as we, um... I don't know how to put it exactly, but if we can ignite the goodness in people, teach them to confront their fears and eliminate that 'Nothingness' within everyone, then the infection will be severed at its source."

After finishing his previous statement, Felix thought for a moment and added further.

"I believe this is also what they are doing, what they are trying to tell us. Just like the significance of the signal light that appeared that night."

His words not only made the leaders deep in thought, but even Chu Cheng, the sole spokesperson of the "Batman Behind-the-Scenes Organization," was taken aback.

So this is what I've been thinking?

But surprisingly, I find his words somewhat reasonable.

Grove Group Tower.

A long-legged maid with a handheld computer walked into the office beside Felix. Galadin Grove, Felix's uncle, sat behind the desk and reached out to take the computer handed to him by the maid.

He unlocked the screen, and the displayed image was none other than footage captured by Felix in the recent combat. The towering hero in a tight suit held a shield, effortlessly overpowering the laughing infected individual, and after knocking them down to the sixth floor, he gracefully followed through to finish them off.

"A new mysterious figure? Interesting," Galadin Grove smiled.

"Didn't expect that joining the organization would bring such convenience to the young master," the maid bowed slightly. "These are top-secret recordings from Special Intelligence Division Nine. Without him, we wouldn't have been able to access them."

Galadin glanced up at her and smiled gently.

"This isn't just luck."

The maid tilted her head, puzzled.

"Felix believes that he earned the right to join Division Nine through his own will. But the truth is, it's a path that the family arranged for him from the very beginning."