Most of the sensitive psychotropic drug components that the police focus on naturally metabolize within 5 to 10 days. However, Ronan completed this metabolic process in just half an hour from his arrest to boarding the ship. Coupled with the fact that the prepared agents themselves were designed to dissolve sensitive components, when samples were taken, Ronan only slightly controlled his urinary System, making a standard urine test negligible.
As for other test samples, such as blood, hair, etc… Frankly, Ronan wasn't confident.
So, from the moment he was forcibly detained, he never spoke again, showing no intention of dragging Xie Junping into it. Not only was it meaningless, but he also had to rely on that guy to help him escape later!
Choosing this path would inevitably come at a cost.
Due to accelerated metabolism and massive energy consumption by internal organs, Ronan effectively fasted for over a week in just over an hour.
To ensure nutrient supply to his brain and central nervous System, fat consumption and muscle decomposition accelerated, and the repeated excitation and inhibition of neurons left Ronan feeling terrible now.
Pain, numbness, itching, and even slight hallucinations constantly assailed his senses.
Ronan sat motionlessly on the cold cabin floor. In reality, every muscle in his body was being tormented, subtly twitching.
This was a symptom of nervous System dysfunction.
He closed his eyes, completely ignoring the complaining rich kids around him, and silently recited the sixteen-character mantra.
Initially, it was a smooth, rapid recitation, with a buzzing sound vibrating in his cranial cavity. But the recitation speed grew slower and slower, the sound lower and lower, until finally, his lips and teeth no longer made a sound, and only brief phrases gurgled in his heart:
My heart is like a prison, my heart is like a furnace;
My heart is called a mirror; my heart is called a kingdom.
As the silent words flowed, Ronan gradually gathered his thoughts, cleared away distracting thoughts, and naturally entered the visualization stage.
In the Void Realm, silver-thread-like lines constructed the structure of a regular tetrahedron and its inscribed and circumscribed spheres, like some wondrous celestial body, rotating alone in the dark Universe space.
The concurrent “drug sculpting” and “mantra breathing” of the past five years had created a subtle correspondence between the “Container” and the visualization diagram.
Changes in the “Container” would immediately affect the operation of the visualization diagram; conversely, by mentally adjusting the visualization diagram, one could roughly sort out the “Container” structure, thereby adjusting the rise and fall of Qi and blood, and influencing organ function.
Ronan found that “Container” damage relied on the former, while accelerating metabolism and controlling the urinary System relied on the latter.
Of course, the latter amounted to interfering with the operation of the autonomic nervous System, a practice that went against natural physiology, and the cost was to suffer a backlash.
Just like now, there were some issues with the operating rhythm of the visualization diagram. It took Ronan half an hour to accelerate his metabolism, and now it would take at least three times that long to recover.
Ronan had some experience with this and maintained a good mindset. Since he was already detained, there was no need to worry about external matters; he just needed to slowly recuperate.
But it wasn't long before he discovered that the situation was not simple.
The visualization diagram operating in the Void Realm began to experience noticeable stuttering, becoming increasingly severe, as if a large game were running on an underpowered machine, never achieving smooth, full, perfect graphics, and as the machine overheated, the situation was getting worse.
Eventually, even the rhythm of mantra recitation was affected, and visualization became almost impossible to sustain.
The backlash was actually this severe?
Ronan didn’t believe it. He paused his visualization, pondered for a moment, adjusted his body, and changed his sitting posture.
Ronan sat cross-legged, like the monks and Daoists of ancient times who practiced meditation, firmly fixed on the cabin floor. From the top of his head, dividing to both sides, his shoulders, elbows, and knees formed two straight diagonal lines that then connected to the ground, creating a shape like a solid pyramid.
This “pyramid” sitting posture was a visualization technique his grandfather had taught him years ago. It perfectly matched the visualization diagram on the flyleaf of the notebook.
The pyramidal regular tetrahedron, like the boundaries of the limbs;
The inscribed circle encompassed the internal organs and the circulation of Qi and blood;
The circumscribed circle symbolized the external environment of heaven and earth.
Such integration of body and mind, with internal and external correspondence, enhanced the visualization effect.
Ronan usually used it to replace sleep when resting at night, but now he was using it to strengthen the visualization effect.
He silently recited the mantra again to enter meditation, successfully initiating the visualization. The silver threads constructed the complete geometric structure, which began to slowly rotate.
At this moment, Ronan was not an observer but a participant. As he recited the mantra, the boundary between him and the visualization diagram began to blur.
He seemed to have arrived in boundless darkness, transformed into a majestic pyramid, rotating in the Void Realm.
In a trance, he also felt that he hadn’t moved at all; what moved were the internal organs, wriggling with flesh and blood; what moved was the seemingly dark Void Realm outside.
Between motion and stillness, coordinating and uncoordinating elements peeled away and exposed themselves layer by layer.
“What is that?!”
In the surrounding Void Realm darkness, there was clearly a force, not large in volume, but very solid, like a hand hiding in the darkness, always trying to twist the visualization diagram, interfering with its stability and balance.
Ronan tried to grasp this hand, but he completely failed to understand the form of existence on the other side. His perception became clearer and clearer, yet he couldn't touch it at all. It was like a mosquito buzzing by one’s ear at night, sometimes near, sometimes far, making one feel disgusted.
Or, more precisely, this was simply a ghost circling and wandering inside and outside his body, wantonly devouring his vital essence, yet leaving him helpless.
Stuttering? After all this, it turns out he’s been infected with a virus…
Ronan tried several times to deal with it but found it difficult. Instead, his mind became chaotic, distracting thoughts arose, and anxiety gradually set in, forcing him to withdraw from his meditative state.
But withdrawing from the meditative state made things worse. Instigated by anxiety, the various sensations of numbness, pain, and even slight hallucinations caused by hunger earlier transformed into surging distracting thoughts, leaping from his heart, launching a fierce counterattack, with the strong possibility of regaining dominance.
Or rather, it was more like a ball of poisonous fire rolling through his internal organs.
Ronan’s lips and teeth moved slightly, and what came out was no longer the sixteen-character mantra, but simple and illogical vulgarities. His current state was terrible—knowing it was terrible, yet unable to control it, undoubtedly made it even worse.
As his mind became unstable, external interference was no longer so easy to block, and yet, someone still came over.
“Hey!” Someone chuckled by his ear, “Kid, are you scared silly, or deaf?”
Ronan slightly raised his head, his eyelids barely opening. His current state had consumed too much of his energy, making him less sensitive to the outside world. He had no idea what had happened before, nor was he interested in knowing.
However, the other party persisted: “So young, why are you playing hard to get?”
Ronan finally lifted his eyelids and looked at the person. Coincidentally, this was the only person he recognized in the room:
Lian Yu.
