Chapter 9

Most of the sensitive psychoactive drug components that the police are concerned about naturally metabolize in the body over a period of 5 to 10 days. In just half an hour from his arrest to boarding the ship, Luo Nan completed this metabolic process. Moreover, the drug formulation itself was designed to facilitate the breakdown of sensitive components. When the sample was taken, Luo Nan only made a minor adjustment to his urinary system, which could be easily overlooked by a routine urine test.

As for other test samples, such as blood or hair... to be honest, Luo Nan had no confidence.

So, from the moment he was forcibly detained, he remained silent, not even hinting at Xie Junping. Not only was it meaningless, but he also needed that guy's help to get out of this situation.

Choosing this path came with a price.

With his metabolism accelerated, his internal organs consumed a large amount of energy. In just over an hour, Luo Nan was equivalent to having fasted for more than a week.

To ensure the supply of nutrients to his brain and nervous system, his body fat and muscle breakdown accelerated. The repeated excitation and inhibition of neurons left Luo Nan feeling terrible.

Pain, itching, and mild hallucinations continuously assaulted his senses.

Luo Nan sat on the cold deck, motionless, but every muscle in his body was suffering, twitching slightly.

This was a sign of nervous system dysfunction.

He closed his eyes, completely ignoring the wealthy young men around him who were complaining to each other, and recited the sixteen-character mantra.

At first, he recited it fluently and quickly, the "buzzing" sound vibrating in his brain. But the recitation gradually slowed down, and the volume decreased. Eventually, his lips and teeth made no sound, only the short phrases flowed quietly in his heart:

My heart is like a prison, my heart is like a furnace;

My heart is a mirror; my heart is a country.

As the inner voice flowed, Luo Nan gradually calmed his mind, eliminating杂念, and naturally entered the visualization stage.

In the void, silver threads formed the structure of a regular tetrahedron and its inscribed and circumscribed spheres, like a wondrous celestial body rotating alone in the dark universe.

Nearly five years of simultaneous "drug sculpting" and "mantra recitation" had created a subtle correspondence between the "container" and the visualization figure.

Changes in the "container" would immediately affect the operation of the visualization figure; conversely, adjusting the visualization figure with his mind could roughly organize the "container" structure, thereby regulating the flow of qi and blood and influencing organ function.

Luo Nan found that the damage to the "container" relied on the former, while accelerating metabolism and controlling the urinary system depended on the latter.

Of course, the latter was equivalent to interfering with the autonomous nervous system, a method that went against natural physiology, and the price was to endure the backlash.

At this moment, the rhythm of the visualization figure's operation had some issues. Luo Nan had spent half an hour accelerating his metabolism, and now it would take at least three times as long to recover.

Luo Nan had some experience with this and maintained a positive attitude. Since he was already detained, he didn't need to worry about external matters; he just needed to slowly adjust himself.

However, it didn't take long for him to realize that the situation was not simple.

The visualization figure in the void began to show obvious lag, which became increasingly severe, like running a large game on a low-spec machine, unable to achieve smooth and perfect graphics. As the machine overheated, the condition worsened.

Eventually, even the rhythm of the mantra recitation was affected, and the visualization became almost impossible to maintain.

Could the backlash be this severe?

Luo Nan didn't believe it. He paused the visualization, pondered for a moment, adjusted his body, and changed his sitting position.

Luo Nan sat cross-legged, like the monks and Taoists of old who practiced meditation, firmly fixed on the deck. From the top of his head, two straight diagonal lines extended to his shoulders, elbows, and knees, connecting to the ground, forming a solid pyramid shape.

This "pyramid" sitting position was a visualization technique his grandfather taught him early on, matching the visualization figure on the first page of his notebook.

The regular tetrahedron of the pyramid was like the boundary of the limbs;

The inscribed sphere encompassed the internal organs and the flow of qi and blood;

The circumscribed sphere symbolized the external environment.

By combining the body and mind, the visualization effect was enhanced.

Luo Nan usually used this technique to replace sleep at night, and now he used it to strengthen the visualization effect.

He recited the mantra again and smoothly entered the visualization. The silver threads formed the complete structure, beginning to rotate slowly.

At this moment, Luo Nan was not just an observer but a participant. As he recited the mantra, the boundary between him and the visualization figure began to blur.

He seemed to have entered boundless darkness, transforming into a majestic pyramid rotating in the void.

In a daze, he felt that he wasn't moving; it was the internal organs, the flesh and blood, that were moving; it was the seemingly dark and void external world that was moving.

Between movement and stillness, the elements of coordination and discoordination were stripped away, layer by layer, exposed.

"What is this!"

In the surrounding void, there was a force, not large in volume but very solid, like a hand hidden in the darkness, always trying to turn the visualization figure, disrupting its stability and balance.

Luo Nan tried to grab this hand, but he couldn't figure out the form of the existence on the other side. The sensation became clearer, but he couldn't touch it, like a mosquito buzzing around his ear at night, annoying and elusive.

Or more precisely, it was like a ghost wandering inside and outside his body, devouring flesh and essence, leaving him helpless.

Lag? After all this, it turned out to be a virus...

Luo Nan tried several times but couldn't handle it. Instead, his mind became chaotic, filled with杂念, and he grew increasingly anxious, forcing him to exit the meditative state.

Exiting the meditative state made the situation worse. Under the influence of anxiety, the itching, pain, and mild hallucinations caused by hunger transformed into surging杂念, rising from his heart, fiercely counterattacking, as if reclaiming the throne.

Or more like a poisonous fire rolling through his organs.

Luo Nan's lips and teeth moved slightly, but what came out was not the sixteen-character mantra, but simple and illogical curses. His current state was terrible—knowing it was terrible but unable to control it, undoubtedly making it even worse.

With his mind unstable, external interference became harder to block, and someone was deliberately approaching.

"Hey!" someone whispered in his ear, "Kid, are you scared stiff, or are you deaf?"

Luo Nan lifted his head slightly, barely able to open his eyes. His current state had drained him of too much energy, making him less sensitive to the outside world. He was unaware of what had happened and had no interest in knowing.

However, the other person was persistent: "At your age, why act so aloof?"

Luo Nan finally lifted his eyelids and looked at the person. It happened to be the only person he recognized in the room:

Lian Yu.