Pretending To Be A Boss

She kept it to herself, only feeling that Constantine's woman was quite interesting.

"Tell me about the others, will you? After all, they were all childhood associates of Tang Xian..."

"Associates?"

Li Xiaoyu hadn't finished her sentence when Ju Mang interrupted her, her gaze meaningful as she looked at Li Xiaoyu.

"If Tang... if Tang Xian heard that word, he probably wouldn't like it much. We weren't his associates, we were just the people who bullied him since we were kids."

Ju Mang asked for a cigarette, her fingers slender, her dark green hair draped over her shoulders. As she smoked, there was a bewitching quality to her, as well as a sense of having a story to tell.

"Li Xiaoyu, we just share a common stance, but throughout history, there have been many instances where differences in fundamental beliefs eventually led to differences in standpoints. I'm probably just on the passing line, which is why I was accepted by Tang Xian."

"But the others were not the same. Including Prometheus, every single one of them had extremely vile behaviors. The one I know best is Xi He."

Ju Mang exhaled smoke slowly and said:

"Xi He was also the first to die among the seven of us, but his achievements were far from insignificant. In earlier years, because I had some accomplishments in brain surgery, Xi He once sought me out, wanting to collaborate with me on a project."

"What project?" Li Xiaoyu became genuinely interested this time.

She really wanted to know what these self-titled gods were up to inside Pyramid.

Ju Mang did not mind and was quite open:

"Controlling emotions. I remember there are a few of Xi He's former subordinates here, what are their names? Akali? Oh… Akasi. Number 19, and Zero. Even though I don't pay much attention to the Evolution Zone, I'm familiar with them because Xi He's plan was to control their emotions."

Ju Mang smiled, thinking back to certain events. If they had actually done it, perhaps Xi He would not have died, and Tang Xian would not have met Akasi. A butterfly's small flutter of wings, and everything in front of them could undergo a tremendous change.

"I was interested in this project. Not long ago, I heard the owner of the smithery tell a story, saying that creators can control human emotions. This matter doesn't need to be elevated to the level of a creator. If given a bit more time and materials, I could unravel these mysteries."

By materials, she meant human brains. Li Xiaoyu's expression remained unchanged as she continued to listen intently to Ju Mang's words.

"Xi He was an absolute opportunist, but he believed that the most worthwhile thing to exploit in this world was the human body itself. Even though the true god in the seat of the gods is a mechanical being."

"I was interested in Xi He's plan, so I agreed and let Xi He send over test subjects to start working on brain bridge surgery, attempting to remove some emotions. But the attempt failed."

Li Xiaoyu shuddered.

Seeing Li Xiaoyu's reaction, Ju Mang said with a laugh:

"It seems you know whom I'm talking about."

"Yuan… Yuan Mist?"

Regarding the people around Tang Xian, Li Xiaoyu might not be very close to some, but she definitely knew about them.

"Yes, the one who seems timid and sad, the test subject codenamed Zero. I told Xi He that human emotions can't be taken away, they can only be suppressed. But when one set of emotions is suppressed, for instance, anger is suppressed, then all responses relating to anger will be redirected toward other emotions. For Zero, it was redirected to fear."

"Do you... have no guilt whatsoever?" Li Xiaoyu didn't voice this question; it just crossed her mind.

By the time the thought arose, she already had her answer.

Ju Mang felt absolutely no remorse.

"Yuan Mist's joy and anger were suppressed. When he was supposed to feel joy, he would instead feel sadness, and when he was supposed to be angry, he would feel fear."

Li Xiaoyu thought it over; Yuan Mist did indeed seem to be like this. Shy, often perplexed, not good at communicating with others. Although Lingyi was very enthusiastic toward Yuan Mist, Yuan Mist's response was always a bit odd.

"I thought the experiment was a failure. I should have suppressed fear, joy, and sadness, leaving all the emotions to anger. Because the 'tyrant' that Xi He mentioned requires extreme anger to complete the transformation."

Li Xiaoyu didn't know what to say, feeling somewhat sympathetic towards Yuan Mist. Fortunately, that child met Tang Xian; otherwise… would he really have turned into a monster?

"But Xi He was not disappointed because of this. A coward who only feels fear when he should be angry should not be of interest to him, yet Xi He thought my theory was wrong."

With an elegant flick of her cigarette ash, Ju Mang's eyes held a hint of confusion as she said:

"Xi He said that anything suppressed for too long will eventually burst. Emotions are connected like a pipeline linking two containers—grief, joy, terror, bittersweet experiences… these complex emotions are human intricacies, because emotions can be converted into each other. When one type is suppressed and eventually gets released one day... it is bound to be very interesting."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's take a simple example. When you see Tang Xian, what's your emotional reaction?"

"Joy," Li Xiaoyu didn't hesitate to respond.

"And what if someone killed him right before your eyes?"

Li Xiaoyu's face instantly darkened.