sovbooks Chapter 7 Utopian Syndrome
Chapter 7 Utopian Syndrome
If you were to ask what the most terrifying disease in the world is...
No one will say it's cancer; instead, they will all mention something called "delusional syndrome."
The so-called "Daydreaming Syndrome" is a fatal mental illness that appeared thirty years ago at the same time as "The Door of the Past".
The symptoms of this disease are so bizarre that they can affect a patient's mental state and impact their reality.
This results in all sorts of bizarre and unpredictable strange scenes in reality.
The first patients with "delusional syndrome" can be traced back to thirty years ago.
Let's trace back to Emily, the female journalist who was among the first to report on the mysterious giant gate.
At the time, Emily was a UN-appointed frontline international correspondent.
She and the first joint investigation team arrived near the Giant Gate to conduct interviews at close range.
During that live broadcast to all of humanity, Emily, who was usually articulate, began to stutter and her eyes lost their sparkle.
Just when the whole world was wondering if the female reporter was under too much pressure and was therefore overly nervous.
Her body suddenly began to swell rapidly! She instantly turned into a pool of unidentifiable flesh inside the fully isolated protective suit!
When that mass of rotten flesh squeezed the sturdy protective suit from the inside, forcing it to burst like an overstuffed sausage, the whole world was stunned.
From that moment on, people realized that the mind can kill.
And because billions of people witnessed this horrific scene at the same time.
This bizarre mental illness has spread like wildfire across the world.
Countless residents died from the disease due to mental breakdowns, and their deaths were increasingly gruesome.
Some goat horns grow out of their foreheads, constantly growing and curving inwards until they pierce through their own heads.
Some people have bones that mysteriously disappear, turning into a lump of flesh without any external injuries.
There are also cases of people suddenly suffocating and drowning in a completely enclosed, safe environment, their entire lungs filled with green mucus.
In short, the various ways people die are like mental bombs, once pushing human society to the brink of extinction.
Fortunately, researchers from various countries did not stop their efforts, and they quickly named the condition "delusional syndrome".
It also outlines several key principles and treatment methods for this fatal mental illness:
First: Delusional syndrome is closely negatively correlated with the patient's mental stability; the more unstable the mental state, the more likely the patient is to develop the syndrome.
Second: Delusional syndrome is highly contagious, meaning that patients can easily infect those around them when they develop symptoms, causing a large-scale chain infection.
Third: In cases of delusional syndrome, the mortality rate is as high as 99%, and the very few surviving patients seem to have developed some degree of connection with the world inside the "door".
The solution to this disease is quite simple: release mental stress through various means.
This solution also gave rise to a new profession: "Heroes".
Strictly speaking, "extraordinary heroes" are not "extraordinary people," but rather a professional term.
If one only awakens superpowers, one can only be called a "superhuman".
Only after registering with "Hero Media Company" can one be called an "Extraordinary Hero".
In the initial awakening phase, superhumans existed primarily as secret weapons of the military.
Ordinary people don't know who they are, and the military won't make their deeds public.
But researchers discovered that scenes of superhumans defeating monsters help relieve mental stress.
The extraordinary individuals were no longer the secret weapons of the Federation army, but became a remedy to uplift the human spirit.
As long as there are extraordinary heroes, the world will not be destroyed, and we can live normal lives.
To convince people of this, the television station began to broadcast the battles between the superhumans and the paradoxical demons and gate beasts with all its might.
Their deeds were widely publicized, which led to their enthusiastic popularity.
Later, a company called "Hero Media" emerged that specialized in packaging extraordinary individuals as idols.
Through the promotion and packaging of "Hero Media Company", the extraordinary heroes have gained a large number of fans and social influence.
Furthermore, people have found spiritual sustenance in these heroes, which has further reduced the incidence of "delusional syndrome".
Today, the five federations have more than a thousand hero media outlets and tens of thousands of registered extraordinary heroes.
All of this was originally intended to combat the two Damocles' swords hanging over humanity: the "Utopian Syndrome" and the "Paradoxical Demon."
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A moment later, the cacophony of sirens and ambulance bells rang out simultaneously.
The once bustling Baigang Wharf has been turned into a chaotic restricted area.
Watching as Xiao Liu, whose face was completely disfigured, was stuffed into a packing bag and carried away by a group of doctors in protective suits.
Li Qiang sighed as he recounted the events to Gu Qian, the sheriff who had come to investigate.
"You mean, he received his salary for the month, then spat out a huge pile of banknotes and choked to death?"
Gu Qian is the most famous female sheriff in Baigang City. She always wears a neat women's suit with a long-sleeved trench coat and a slender menthol cigarette in her mouth, looking very capable.
"Yes," Li Qiang nodded, and said somewhat sadly, "..."
"It's all my negligence. I didn't notice that Xiao Liu's mental state was off lately... This kind of thing could have been avoided."
Because the onset of "delusional syndrome" is closely related to the patient's mental state.
Theoretically speaking, as long as everyone can maintain a good mindset and not be troubled by worries and stress, everything will be fine.
The probability of contracting this mental illness would always be zero, and everyone could live a happy and fulfilling life.
Unfortunately, reality is not a fairy tale, and no one can maintain a good mindset forever.
According to Li Qiang, Xiao Liu's family has been struggling financially lately because his wife gave birth, and he is under considerable pressure.
If he had received some appropriate emotional and material support, this young man probably wouldn't have contracted delusional syndrome and died so tragically.
To make up for his oversight at work, Li Qiang has arranged for his coworkers to start a fundraising campaign.
He himself took the lead and donated 30,000 yuan as a resettlement allowance to Xiao Liu's wife, hoping that she and her son could get through this ordeal.
"We just need to do our job."
Seeing that Li Qiang seemed very remorseful, Gu Qian shook her head and said:
"As for fate... heh, to hell with fate, who can say for sure about that?"
After saying that, Gu Qian turned to look at the door floating in the distant sky.
Since that ancient door appeared, the whole world has been in chaos.
Every day, one must worry about being attacked by the paradoxical demons that may appear at any time.
They also have to worry about excessive stress leading to delusional syndrome, and deal with all sorts of trivial matters in life.
Living in such an environment, it's normal for stress to occasionally lead to a mental breakdown.
Thinking of this, Gu Qian flicked the ash off her menthol cigarette and instructed Li Qiang:
"Let's gather all the workers who witnessed this together first. We need to check their 'sanity' to make sure they're okay before letting them go."
"Yes, I completely understand. I'll go and summon them right away."
The so-called sanity is a mental state-related indicator that appears alongside "Daydreaming Syndrome".
According to the results of tests conducted by specialized instruments, the rationality value of a normal person usually fluctuates between 0 and 100.
If the number drops to negative, it means that the mental state is very dangerous and "delusional syndrome" may be triggered at any time.
Therefore, residents often need to have their sanity levels checked, and if someone's sanity level drops to a negative number, they need to be isolated and treated.
Li Qiang was naturally aware of this, and through his efforts, the workers quickly gathered together.
Then, the security guards brought by Gu Qian held up a special device for testing rationality, ran it over each worker's eyes one by one, and recorded the displayed values.
"Tian Wei, sanity level 68."
"Zhou Chuanxiang, sanity value 51."
"Zhao Yi, sanity value 43."
......
Because I had just witnessed the "hundred-dollar bill suffocation incident".
The workers present were clearly not in good spirits, and their rationality was generally low.
However, as long as it doesn't fall into negative territory, there's not a big problem, and things will eventually recover.
Among the crowd, Lin Jue's figure was in the last row, clutching a heavy round iron block.
He gripped the smooth, round iron with one hand from the top, his wrist moving up and down slightly, clearly training his grip and wrist strength.
This round iron block was a forging tool made by Lin Jue by hammering together scrapped parts from a cargo ship.
It looks only the size of a pomelo, but it's solid and surprisingly heavy.
Most people wouldn't even be able to lift that weight, let alone grip it with one hand.
Upon discovering that Lin Jue was still persisting in training under these circumstances, Li Qiang felt both amused and exasperated.
Goodness, Kobayashi is addicted to training... But judging from this, his mental state is definitely fine, so there's nothing to worry about.
Besides Li Qiang, Lin Jue himself clearly thought so too.
After all, ever since I discovered yesterday that a dungeon had appeared in my house.
His heart was filled with confidence and composure, so his rationality level couldn't be too low.
But just as the crowd in front gradually dispersed, it was Lin Jue's turn to stand in front of the scanning machine.
The instrument, which looked just like an optometry machine in an eyeglasses shop, swept across his eyes and then emitted a sharp, loud bang!
"Lin Jue, sanity level... 0!"
As the security guard read out the data from the detector.
Everyone around was stunned, including Lin Jue himself.