Chapter 17: Could it be that Deep Divers actually speak of science in this way?

Zhou Mo had many questions he wanted to ask, but after much thought, there was only one suitable question to pose. The rest concerned his mind, and if he asked those, he feared it might unsettle the sensitive woman even more. It was better to ask something unrelated to himself but still intriguing.

Zhou Mo had searched online for the keywords “subconscious monster” and “Deep Diver,” but it seemed all related content had been deleted. The online speculation was so wild and varied that it was impossible to discern truth from fiction—there were all sorts of absurd theories.

Xia An looked at Zhou Mo with suspicion. “You really don’t know what a Deep Diver is?”

Zhou Mo shook his head blankly. “No, I didn’t find anything online.”

Xia An’s temple twitched. “This is a well-known secret. You’re telling me you don’t know?”

Zhou Mo frowned and pointed to his head. “Captain Xia, don’t forget, I have amnesia.”

“Hey!” Xia An laughed. “Nice try.”

Amused by him, she wanted to see how long Zhou Mo would keep up the act. “Fine, if you want to know, I’ll tell you. But first, sign this agreement.”

Xia An picked up a document and slid it in front of Zhou Mo.

He glanced at it and saw it was a cooperation agreement. After reading carefully, he found no traps; the terms were actually quite generous.

During the cooperation period, Zhou Mo would receive a monthly salary and even a bounty bonus after solving cases. The only stringent condition was that he must cooperate unconditionally with the City Guard’s work.

“Once you sign this, you’ll be considered a collaborator of the City Guard. If you truly want to find the culprit who attacked you, cooperation is the way.”

“Besides, you’re currently unemployed, and our investigation suggests you’re struggling to make ends meet. Under such circumstances, trying to retrieve what the Brain-Eating Demon stole from you would be quite difficult, right?”

Xia An’s eyes burned with intensity, finally gaining the upper hand.

This was Xia An’s calculated move.

If Zhou Mo accepted, he must cooperate unconditionally with the City Guard’s investigation, which could focus on either the Brain-Eating Demon or Zhou Mo himself.

Given his current status, Zhou Mo had no reason to refuse.

If he did refuse, it would prove he was lying.

But unfortunately, after a brief hesitation, Zhou Mo picked up the pen and signed his name. “Done.”

Zhou Mo’s only blemish was that his brain had killed two people, but whether he signed or not, the City Guard would not abandon the investigation of these two cases.

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Following a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” principle, Zhou Mo resolutely signed the document.

After all, if he were caught, he couldn’t run. It was better to secure his basic needs first—maybe this opportunity would help him recover his lost mind.

Xia An glanced at his signature, nodded in satisfaction, and tucked the document into the drawer. Then she asked, “What do you want to know about Deep Divers?”

Without hesitation, Zhou Mo replied, “Everything. I know nothing about Deep Divers.”

Xia An rolled her eyes silently. “Alright, I’ll start from the beginning.”

“Deep Divers aren’t really a secret. Years ago, the concept spread among civilians. Later, it was discovered that Deep Divers are closely linked to subconscious monsters, which led to information control.”

“It’s more of a case of locking the barn after the horse has bolted—everyone who needed to know already does.”

“If you don’t know what Deep Divers are, don’t believe those online superhuman theories.”

“Even as Deep Divers, they’re still human—just a bit stronger than average, but only to a limited extent.”

Zhou Mo’s eyes widened. “Limited strength? If you kicked me with those legs, I’d probably be dead. How is that ‘limited’ strength?”

He had seen firsthand the power in Xia An’s kicks—such force took at least twenty years of training to achieve.

Xia An smirked. “You wish. I’m not rewarding you. You college students just mess around.”

“That’s because it’s a family tradition, got it?”

Zhou Mo blinked in confusion.

Xia An dropped the subject and continued, “Let me make it clear: Deep Divers don’t have supernatural powers, at least not yet.”

“Their strength is quite scientific.”

“Scientific?”

Zhou Mo looked skeptical.

Seeing his doubt, Xia An smiled faintly. “Have you heard of the iceberg theory of the subconscious?”

“Human consciousness has three layers: self-awareness, subconsciousness, and collective subconscious.”

“The part of the iceberg you see above sea level is self-awareness. The ice layer just below the surface is the subconscious. But the abyss hidden beneath the water is the collective subconscious.”

Zhou Mo nodded but looked more puzzled. “I know that, but what does it have to do with Deep Divers?”

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Xia An made a calming gesture. “This is necessary to explain the principle behind Deep Divers. Why do babies suckle? Why do newborns cry to communicate with their parents? These are experiences given by the collective subconscious.”

“In other words, it’s the survival experience etched in our ancestors’ bones—stored in the collective subconscious.”

“You must have noticed suddenly adopting habits similar to your parents, or heard the saying that nephews resemble their uncles?”

“That’s actually the collective subconscious experience being accessed.”

“Deep Divers enter the collective subconscious to obtain these experiences.”

“The experiences accumulated by your ancestors can be digested and accepted by you without any side effects. In short, the stronger your relatives are, the stronger you become.”

Hmm…

It actually sounded quite scientific!

Zhou Mo looked at Xia An curiously. “So your leg skills and knitting come from learning through the collective subconscious?”

Xia An’s eyelid twitched at the mention of knitting. “Yes.”

Zhou Mo scratched his head. “That ability doesn’t seem like something that needs to be classified, though. It doesn’t sound like it would disrupt city order.”

Xia An sighed and shook her head. “At first, we all thought so. But as we delve deeper into the collective subconscious ocean, we found our relatives are only in the shallowest layer.”

“Deeper down, it expands to distant kin groups.”

“Going further, the experiences a Deep Diver can access spread to the entire human society.”

“Can you imagine an ordinary person suddenly gaining firearm skills? Or possessing the physique of a world-class athlete?”

“A Deep Diver can artificially create a genius—or even a monster. And we have no control over whose experiences they absorb. What if it’s a criminal?”

“You must understand the survival experiences in the collective subconscious are morally neutral.”

“Sigh, Dr. Liu Tianyou probably never imagined so many issues arising when he created this system.”

Wait!

This was created by Dr. Liu Tianyou?