Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Psychological Counseling Is Okay, but Not Sleeping and Resting

"The Immortal Surgery is somewhat based on a parasitic principle, which creates a certain immune effect."

"The form of energy corresponding to the directional movement of charged particles is electrical energy."

"The heart doesn’t need to be completely modified; we can start with the plasma and blood cells that constitute the blood."

Qi Suian multitasked, neglecting neither his studies nor his research. When half an hour was up, his body began to fail, his head lolled to the side, and just like that, he died.

Within the next thirty seconds, he began to reconstitute, and he recovered quickly.

At the same time, the effects of the death potion also vanished.

’Multitasking is fine in the short term, but doing it too much will cause psychological and mental problems.’

’Dying so much has already caused plenty of problems. If this keeps up, am I going to go crazy?’ Qi Suian pondered this question after he recovered.

He had multitasked before, but never this intensely.

’My hyper-adaptability also affects me psychologically and mentally, but the effects aren’t as direct or efficient as they are on my body.’

"Smart Brain, do you have a solution?" Qi Suian hadn’t yet delved into the psychological realm, so he could only ask the AI. It was a long shot, but he had to try.

[Insufficient modules. Unable to resolve.]

[Recommendation: One hour of daily psychological counseling can effectively alleviate symptoms.]

In other words: grind less, rest more, and get some talk therapy.

The Smart Brain could handle the psychological counseling. Back when the power grid was still active, it had downloaded all the useful data from the internet.

So, it was more than capable of temporarily playing the part of a psychologist.

Except the Smart Brain didn’t charge, and real psychologists were not cheap.

"An hour..." Qi Suian was conflicted. An hour wasn’t a lot to him, but an hour a day added up to more than a full day over the course of a month.

It didn’t seem like much at first glance, but with an average of thirty days in a month, it was equivalent to him spending one full day on recuperation.

It was a worthwhile trade-off, though, considering it was all to alleviate his own issues.

"Alright, then. We’ll go with your plan for now. One hour a day. When’s a good time?"

[Recommendation: Conduct the session when you are overly fatigued. If necessary, you can attempt eight hours of sleep for optimal recovery.]

Qi Suian didn’t sleep. Whether it was fatigue or hunger, he recovered by dying and being reforged.

Of course, he rarely reached that state, since he had to die once every thirty minutes.

"I’d have to reduce the death potion’s concentration for that. Not happening." Qi Suian rejected the suggestion without hesitation.

"Just the one hour of psychological counseling. Nothing else."

His plan was to try it for seven days. If it was effective, he’d continue. If not, it didn’t matter. It’s not like he could die from it, anyway.

Only the living earn the right to decide what to do with the future.

Hearing the decisiveness in Qi Suian’s tone, the Smart Brain offered no further suggestions.

It was, after all, just a Smart Brain. Its primary function was to assist. If Qi Suian had a need, it could help, but it wouldn’t insist if he didn’t.

"Let’s start today’s session now. Give me a trial run."

Since Qi Suian had made up his mind, he decided to start right away. The timing was perfect; he hadn’t taken his death potion yet.

[Of course. However, some preparation is required. Please wait for a moment...]

After speaking, the Smart Brain began to build a counseling model.

After all, Qi Suian’s psychological and mental state required a specialized model, not just something recited from a script.

In this regard, the Smart Brain could be considered a professional.

-----------------

Chunyu Hu’s expression was stormy. The team he had dispatched to capture Qi Suian, the "Mutated Zombie," had returned empty-handed.

They reported that they hadn’t found the special zombie. Furthermore, evidence at the scene indicated that the target had not turned into a zombie from the high concentration of Abyssal Virus.

Of course, there was no trace of high-concentration Abyssal Virus at the scene either, yet the missile had clearly detonated.

This meant the target had used some unknown technology to neutralize all of the Abyssal Virus and had then swaggered away.

And now, he had completely lost the target’s trail. Even if he wanted to launch another strike, it was impossible.

As for using the AI, Dawn, in conjunction with satellites? That was just wishful thinking.

The entire world had indeed fallen, but there were also all the survivors who had suddenly appeared. Locking onto a single enemy across such a vast area was simply impossible.

Dawn wasn’t omnipotent. Even though Watchman Dawn had supplied it with immense computing power, making it an unprecedented supercomputer, it still couldn’t possibly calculate for such an enormous number of variables.

So, the target was gone, couldn’t be found, and he couldn’t even eliminate the lingering threat.

Chunyu Hu had witnessed Qi Suian’s abilities. Needless to say, if the target was allowed to lie low for three to five years, he would absolutely come back for revenge.

The enemy was in the shadows while he was out in the open. And that enemy might even possess powerful weapons. This was a huge liability.

Because of this incident, the board of directors at Watchman Morning Company had already begun to put pressure on him.

They even wanted to hold him accountable.

He had only just barely managed to suppress their efforts.

That was only because the matter hadn’t been exposed. Once it was, his position as a major shareholder would be on shaky ground.

To protect his status, he had silenced the entire task force he had sent out, preventing any leaks.

As for how to handle the aftermath, Chunyu Hu had no good solutions for the time being.

He could only cover it up for now and hope to downplay it as much as possible.

And, in secret, he had to figure out how to deal with Qi Suian’s future revenge.

’Actually, it’s not like there isn’t a solution...’ Chunyu Hu murmured to himself. ’As long as everyone who dares to oppose me is dead, everything can be settled.’

An image of a certain object involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

The source of the Abyssal Virus, the catalyst for the global zombie crisis. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The fact that the zombie crisis had erupted in an instant and plunged the entire world into chaos was inextricably linked to the Watchman Morning Company.

The cause, of course, was an error during the research into the source of the Abyssal Virus, which ultimately led to the biohazard crisis.

Chunyu Hu was also puzzled by this. Logically, all precautionary measures had been perfectly sound, and there had been no problems during the experiment itself.

Yet, it had somehow mysteriously leaked and caused such dire consequences.

The post-incident investigation showed that all the data and procedures were normal, yet something had still gone catastrophically wrong. It was a complete mystery.

As for how it was ultimately resolved? Naturally, by silencing witnesses, destroying the evidence, and cleaning up the mess. The only ones who knew were shareholders of the Watchman Morning Company, so of course, they wouldn’t talk.

Therefore, very few people knew the truth.

’If I could obtain the power from the source of the Abyssal Virus, I would be a god in this new world.’

’But the price...’ A heavy sigh escaped him.

The price was, simply, turning into a zombie.