Chapter 341: [Talent Skill: Memory Storm]
Nurse looked at Xia Shang on the Hospital Bed, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said, "If you're willing to keep my secret, I'm doing this to help you and your family, but I can't lose my job to help you. I hope you can understand."
The moment he heard this sentence, Xia Shang realized that Mindstorm was tampering with his memory, because he remembered very clearly that Nurse had never said the latter part of that sentence to him.
If it were an ordinary human with vague memories of the past, they would likely find it difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood in a short time.
But Xia Shang was no ordinary human. After fusion enhancement across multiple worlds, his memory capacity had long surpassed that of ordinary people.
In fact, he could browse his memories like flipping through a book. Unless the opponent's mental power or psychic ability was ridiculously strong, it was almost impossible to tamper with his memories without him noticing.
"I swear to keep your secret. No matter what you say next, I won't reveal a single word to the Outside World."
The Xia Shang in the memory vowed solemnly.
"Are you sure?" Nurse frowned, seemingly troubled.
"Shut the fuck up!" Xia Shang, standing beside them, reached out without hesitation to grab Nurse's neck. However, his right hand passed directly through the other person's body, as if touching a mirage-like phantom. And the people in the memory seemed unable to see his existence.
"I can't interfere with my own memory? Not even I am an exception."
Xia Shang felt somewhat unexpected about this. It seemed Mindstorm's superpower was even stronger than he had anticipated.
"I'm sure."
The Xia Shang on the Hospital Bed nodded with a firm gaze. Rather than facing the endless torment of waiting for death, it was better to give him an accurate answer or a date of death.
"Alright, due to the damage to your cranium, spinal cord, and surrounding important nerves, you will gradually lose sensation in your limbs until this feeling spreads throughout your whole body. Medically, we call this Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome, commonly known as a vegetative state.
Your consciousness might remain clear, but your body will become stiff, atrophy, and lose control, like a plant.
By that time, your annual treatment costs will be sky-high, something an average family cannot afford, and it would even bankrupt wealthy families."
Nurse shook her head and walked out of the Hospital Room.
Upon hearing the bad news, Xia Shang's gaze was numb, staring blankly at the ceiling. Perhaps for him, staying conscious and waiting for death was far more terrifying than dying directly.
"Mindstorm wants to use this method to lure the past me in the memory into committing suicide. That way, once I wake up, the two segments of memory will overlap, and the modified memory will replace the original memory." Xia Shang roughly understood Mindstorm's means.
Assuming this memory repeatedly played out, even if it was fake, if it happened enough times, it might actually overwrite his original memory.
By then, even if he shattered the memory and returned to reality, he would likely become a madman or commit suicide due to cognitive disorder.
"It's a pretty good superpower, but unfortunately, the time is a bit short." Xia Shang walked to the Hospital Bed and patted his past self's shoulder. The real touch made the corner of his mouth curl slightly upwards.
Thinking about it, Mindstorm's superpower could at most affect Soldier Boy for one to two minutes, let alone him whose strength had already surpassed Soldier Boy.
However, for ordinary humans, especially those with severe psychological trauma, and some weak supes, this superpower is truly somewhat impossible to deal with.
Xia Shang closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them. Instantly, two terrifying purple heat vision beams shot out from his eyes. Boom! The heat vision directly pierced through the wall, exploding Nurse's head in the Corridor. Then, he slowly rose into the air, using the heat vision to wantonly destroy everything in the surroundings, tearing through everything like dry weeds and rotten wood, cutting the entire Hospital into a pile of Ruins amidst the fake wailing.
In reality, Xia Shang, lying on the mud, suddenly opened his eyes and raised his right arm, summoning two tentacles to stab through Mindstorm's eyes.
Mindstorm, who was digging a pit to bury Xia Shang, had no defense whatsoever, and his eyes were directly stabbed blind by Xia Shang.
"Ah!" The intense pain caused Mindstorm to cover his bleeding eyes, letting out heart-wrenching screams incessantly.
"Shut up."
Xia Shang, who had been tricked, felt very annoyed. If the analyze hadn't finished yet, the tentacles wouldn't have stabbed Mindstorm's eyes, but his heart.
Invisible tentacles tied Mindstorm up tightly, making him unable to make a sound anymore.
After waiting for roughly less than five minutes, the panel finally popped up the "analyze completed" window.
[Analyze Successful]
[Talent Skill: Mind Probe]
[Fusion Condition: Cause Mindstorm's emotions to fluctuate greatly]
[After fusion, the player can probe what others are thinking within a range of twenty meters, but note that the player cannot specify whose thoughts to probe, and once this ability is fused, it will always remain in use and cannot be turned off]
Now Xia Shang finally understood why he had been tricked. He estimated that as soon as he appeared behind Mindstorm, Mindstorm sensed his existence through mind probe, which was why Mindstorm suddenly turned his head to look at him.
"A superpower that's practically useless." Xia Shang looked at the panel floating in front of him. The description of mind probe on it made him unable to help but shake his head.
Although it had some merit, the side effect was too great. It even reminded him of Professor X among the mutants. In his early days, Professor X was unable to bear the torment of various sounds and was forced to take medicine to suppress his superpower to get relief.
And Mindstorm at this moment was also a good example. No wonder he hid in the Deep Mountains and Old Forests, probably just to avoid crowds.
Furthermore, Xia Shang suspected that Mindstorm's delusion and bipolar disorder were also related to this superpower.
To put it bluntly, mind probe, rather than being a superpower, was more like a curse.
"Forget it, the next talent skill is the main event." Xia Shang had no attachment to mind probe and directly looked at the next talent skill.
[Talent Skill: Memory Storm]
Just looking at the name made Xia Shang's eyes light up.
After all, he had just personally experienced the power of this ability. Although it wasn't obvious for people with great strength and willpower, one must know that as long as they are human, they have weaknesses, especially for those who have had painful memories. The effect of this ability would be even more significant.
For example, Magneto, who witnessed his Daughter being killed. If he were pulled into a memory, he probably wouldn't even want to break free himself for a while.
(End of this Chapter)