This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!
Chapter 347: Harmonica

Chapter 347: Chapter 347: Harmonica

The illusions that surrounded them were dispersed by candlelight, and the door of Research Lab 0451 turned into a descending elevator, with a safety staircase going down adjacent to it.

"There’s something trying to interfere with us," Parker said, unfazed by such oddities.

"It doesn’t matter, I didn’t come all this way from Opportunity City just to get stuck on the fifth underground level, there’s always a way out," Chen Ke said.

"Indeed..." Wang Ailin muttered to herself.

The three of them followed the staircase down, protected by the candlelight, and arrived at the true containment level.

This layer was divided into many small white rooms, each composed of three walls and a glass shield, not very spacious with an area of no more than six square meters, containing a cement pedestal on which the contained items were placed.

In front of each small room, there were also four devices similar to satellite dishes, constantly swinging and emitting a "zzzz" mechanical sound.

Rows of rooms interlinked with the circular corridor formed a containment maze, where under normal circumstances, one could imagine researchers moving through it, muttering to themselves while holding tablets or notebooks.

In front of Chen Ke, the glass shield of a small room bore the ID: 9832. He looked through the glass and saw a harmonica placed on the cement base inside.

"This... is just a harmonica... Why does it need to be contained?" Parker asked, as the harmonica seemed harmless, and he couldn’t imagine why it would need to be contained.

"This... Object Number 9832 was just retrieved from Wind Harbor last month; it’s considered extremely dangerous," Wang Ailin said.

"Anything infected by Spiritual Energy is dangerous," Chen Ke explained, convinced that the actions of national-level powers definitely had their reasons.

"This harmonica was taken from the hands of a fisherman’s corpse in Wind Harbor. Before that, the harmonica went through dozens of owners, all of them died without exception," Wang Ailin continued.

"Is the harmonica poisonous?" Chen Ke asked.

Wang Ailin shook her head; she had seen the case file for this contained item and proceeded to inform them of the truth.

The harmonica was indeed cursed; it allowed any owner who lacked the ability to play musical instruments to instantly master the skills of playing the harmonica and reach master level proficiency.

However, the owner had to play fifty different tunes each day to please the harmonica, and none of the tunes could be repeated—the harmonica would not be satisfied with played tunes.

If the owner did not play enough tunes, or if the length of the tunes was less than two minutes, it would also be considered invalid.

The day an owner failed to meet the harmonica’s demands, their oral cavity would rapidly deteriorate to the state of advanced oral cancer, leading to a painful death from the disease.

"So, just by holding it, you get cursed...?" Chen Ke asked.

"No, it’s not as bad as that, but the moment you blow into it, even if it’s not a tune... you’ll be cursed. The principle of this curse is somewhat similar to meme transmission, yet not quite the same. When one owner hands it to another and makes them blow into it, the curse is transferred," Wang Ailin explained.

"How can you know all this so clearly...?" Parker abruptly asked.

"Because we’ve conducted experiments on people," Wang Ailin revealed.

"People? Where did you get these people?" Parker asked cautiously.

"I don’t know; that’s not my concern. The research institute receives national support, and there’s no shortage of laypeople for experimentation," Wang Ailin replied, her tone matter-of-fact and her expression unchanged as if she were discussing something utterly mundane.

Chen Ke knew full well that the research institute had been experimenting on death row inmates, testing various Spiritual Energy research projects, naturally including the contained objects.

In the eyes of scientists like Wang Ailin, scientific achievements were likely most important, with experimental subjects being mere tools, and those who could be used as such were no exception.

"Did they sign the voluntary agreement?" Parker was still bothered by this.

"I don’t know... Parker, that’s not for me to worry about. Besides, I’m not part of the containment research team, my topic is the Great Void. If it weren’t for studying you, I wouldn’t even be at the containment site." Wang Ailin shook her head.

"You guys are really..." Parker’s voice grew louder, but he was interrupted by Chen Ke.

"That’s how the world works, Parker... which is why we need to get out of here before the Administration Bureau arrives," Chen Ke said.

Parker nodded and moved to stand in front of Chen Ke.

"The candle... it’s almost gone," Wang Ailin reminded them at that moment.

Chen Ke looked and saw that the candle in the candelabrum had already burned down nearly 80%; the consumption was too great.

Chen Ke immediately realized that this candelabrum was not meant for long-term use, it was just that his intelligence was too low, failing to fully utilize its intended effect, which is why he could use it for so long when he was with Fan Hede.

"You just said there’s a phonograph that’s emitting memes, let’s destroy it first, at least to sober up the others," Chen Ke said.

Wang Ailin nodded, raised her hand to point down another corridor, and said, "That phonograph is a Meme Converter, all thoughts it captures turn into memes and spread out."

Chen Ke decided not to share with Wang Ailin the fact that he could hear a voice in his head, and the three of them followed the path she indicated, all the way to a small room with a shattered glass cover.

On a concrete platform sat an antiquely designed phonograph, a vinyl record slowly spinning. No sound emanated, but in truth, it was broadcasting something else’s memes to the outside world.

"Destroy it," Parker said.

Chen Ke pulled out his suppressed Type-67 handgun and fired four shots at the vinyl record, shattering the wooden phonograph into pieces and punching four holes in the disc.

"Is it done?" Chen Ke looked at Wang Ailin and asked.

"I don’t know, I’ll take off the Meme Blocker to check, and if you notice anything odd about me, help me put it back on," Wang Ailin said.

She reached for the headphones and looked at Chen Ke again, saying, "Make sure to help me put it back on, okay?"

"Got it, got it... now check," Chen Ke assured her.

Wang Ailin closed her eyes and ripped off the headphones abruptly. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes to look at Chen Ke, a mysterious smile appearing on her face.

"You..." Chen Ke frowned, uncertain of Wang Ailin’s condition.

"Oh, no problem now, meme transmission is gone, everyone should also be..." Wang Ailin paused mid-sentence.

"They should all be back to normal now, right?" Chen Ke asked.

"I don’t know, there might be symptoms of brain damage, and the severe cases are probably dead," Wang Ailin said with a laugh.

"Um...?" Chen Ke pursed his lips, somewhat surprised.

In the world of 2006, the memes spread by that great black column only turned people to ash, but everyone still had their normal senses, so how could this one...

At this point, that unclear voice came through Chen Ke’s mind again.

"Friend/companion, you + me, below, below."

Chen Ke was startled... why was that voice still there...