Chapter 95

Chapter 97: The Thorny Issue

In order to quickly resolve the spreading phenomenon of the Swamp People, the Hunter Association mobilized all available manpower.

The Detana Restaurant incident, due to its connection with the Swamp People, led to Piaoyun, who was closest to Laxiang City, being assigned to investigate the scene.

On the other hand, a team led by Qiduo was tasked with conducting a thorough investigation into the known family of three Swamp People.

The team, besides Qiduo, included two other members of the Twelve Earthly Branches: one-star Treasure Hunter Yinhux Kangjie and two-star Troublesome Hunter Wuma Saqiu.

"How annoying, how can there be such a disgusting ability?"

Yinhux Kangjie's eyes seemed to spout flames as he angrily said, "It's hard enough to find them, why can't we just take them out once we do?"

"Kangjie, weren't we all asked to read about the Swamp Man during the meeting?"

Wuma Saqiu looked at the angry Kangjie and asked, "You haven't read it yet, have you?"

"..."

Kangjie glanced at Saqiu and fell silent.

Saqiu raised an eyebrow.

Qiduo, who was with them, raised his hand in an inviting gesture and sighed softly, "Making Kangjie read about the Swamp Man is undoubtedly asking too much of him."

"True, Kangjie can't even remember simple idioms. Asking him to read about the Swamp Man is indeed too much for him."

Saqiu thought for a moment and agreed.

Kangjie's forehead veins bulged as he loudly rebutted, "I just don't understand idioms, that doesn't mean I don't understand anything. Besides, it's just reading a book, what's so difficult about that!"

"You mean 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.'"

Saqiu shook his head slightly, thinking pessimistically: Kangjie's flaw is like being directionally challenged; it's not a disease, and it seems incurable.

Hearing Saqiu's correction, Kangjie was first taken aback, then looked at Saqiu with confusion.

"Hey, why do I feel like you're insulting me?"

"Clearly a delusion."

Saqiu said calmly.

Kangjie stared at Saqiu for a moment, couldn't figure it out, and then thought of something, asking in confusion, "I was talking about the ability, why did you bring up a book?"

"..."

"..."

Qiduo and Saqiu fell silent for a moment.

After a while,

Qiduo explained helplessly, "If you read about the Swamp Man, you would understand the principle of this ability. Besides, abilities can be removed, right? So it's not impossible for the Swamp People to return to their original form."

As he said this, Qiduo glanced at Kangjie's head.

"Huh? What, is my hairstyle messy?"

Noticing Qiduo's gaze, Kangjie touched his tiger-striped hedgehog hairstyle, which he was proud of, in confusion.

"Nothing."

Qiduo withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "I understand your desire as an Enhancer to solve everything with your fists, but I still suggest you read about the Swamp Man patiently."

"No, it's too troublesome."

Kangjie shook his head.

Actually, he had tried to read the book about the Swamp Man and attempted to understand its content, but...

There was too much he couldn't understand. It felt like a bunch of principles were crammed into his head, making him dizzy and uncomfortable.

So he gave up.

Saqiu looked at Kangjie and sighed, "Sometimes I envy you, Kangjie."

"Huh? Envy me for what?"

"Envy that you don't have to use your brain most of the time. If everyone were like you, my 'Troubles Fly Away' psychological counseling office would probably go out of business."

"Stinking donkey, do you want to fight?!"

"Not having to worry is great."

"You stinking donkey, if you don't want to be troubled, lend me the two knives on your waist, and I'll cut away your troubles for you!!!"

Kangjie glanced at the two knives on Saqiu's waist and then glared at Saqiu.

As a two-star Troublesome Hunter, Saqiu could only shake his head in envy and say no more.

The three of them soon arrived at a surveillance room adjacent to the interrogation room.

Through the transparent glass on the wall of the surveillance room, they could clearly see the family of three in the interrogation room.

Although it was an interrogation room, it was set up like a common reception area.

However, since the family of three was suddenly "invited" over, even though the interrogation room looked no different from a reception room, the two parents were still somewhat uneasy and restless.

"So far, everything seems normal."

At the control panel in the surveillance room, a man wearing a hat turned to look at the newly arrived Qiduo, Kangjie, and Saqiu.

Kangjie said irritably, "How can it not be normal? It's precisely because it's too normal that it's troublesome."

"..."

The man in the hat looked at Kangjie and initially judged him to be the type with a short temper and an impatient nature, so he ignored him and turned to Qiduo and Saqiu.

Qiduo's gaze passed through the glass and landed on the little girl in the interrogation room, who looked no more than six years old.

"Saqiu, let's start."

"Okay."

Saqiu followed Qiduo's gaze and also looked at the little girl, saying calmly, "Let's start with the child."

"Saqiu, can't your 'counseling room' have an observer position?"

Qiduo withdrew his gaze and turned to Saqiu, saying, "Being alone with a Swamp Person is always a bit risky."

"Not possible."

Saqiu shook his head at Qiduo and explained, "Although I only want to use the 'hypnosis stage' of psychological counseling to extract the most genuine memories, once the ability is activated, it must meet the 'one-on-one' condition."

Kangjie inappropriately interjected, "Then if you're unfortunately turned into a Swamp Person, we won't be able to tell, right?"

"Don't worry about that. During psychological counseling, no one else can be present, but the counseling process will be recorded. If I am turned into a Swamp Person, you can confirm it through the recording."

Saqiu said calmly, "You also don't need to worry about me tampering with or deleting the recording. After leaving the counseling room, I will even take the initiative to provide the recording."

"???"

Kangjie looked at him in disbelief.

Seeing Kangjie's reaction, Qiduo sighed helplessly.

Saqiu's reasoning was not problematic.

From the perspective of abilities, the transformation from a normal person to a Swamp Person retains the soul, memory, and body intact, so there is no difference between the two.

The only difference is that a Swamp Person has an operational ability switch planted inside them, which activates under certain conditions.

When the Swamp Person triggers the ability activation condition, they are controlled by the operational ability and begin to transform others into Swamp People.

If Saqiu were turned into a Swamp Person, as long as he did not trigger the controlled ability condition, he would still be Wuma Saqiu of the Twelve Earthly Branches, and he would continue to work on resolving the Swamp Man incident.

Therefore, Saqiu said he would not damage the recording and would even take the initiative to provide it.

This is the thorny issue of the Swamp Man phenomenon beyond its spreading ability...

Kangjie's straightforward fist mentality, in this situation, is equivalent to hitting a teammate, aiming to knock out Saqiu, who is working together to resolve the Swamp Man incident.

It's like this—

A user of an operational ability randomly controls an innocent bystander and makes this bystander, who has lost their autonomy, commit a crime.

After the crime, the operational ability user withdraws the ability, and the controlled bystander returns to normal.

Due to the nature of the operational ability, the bystander has no idea what they did.

Then Kangjie jumps in, knowing that the bystander was controlled by the operational ability user, but still holds the crime against the bystander and sentences them to death.

That's why Qiduo suggested Kangjie read about the Swamp Man, so that communication wouldn't be hindered.

However, this example also highlights the potential dangers and uncontrollability of the widespread use of abilities.

A glimpse of a part reveals the whole...