manynovel Chapter 322: Special Mechanism, Shadow Puppet World!
Chapter 322: Special Mechanism, Shadow Puppet World!
The sheer terror of an Infection Tide, no matter how many written records or photos one studied, or even how many video recordings one watched through a screen, paled in comparison to the breathtaking horror of witnessing it firsthand.Cheng Ye stood stunned for a moment before turning and walking toward another small building.
Pushing open the door, the same sight greeted his eyes. Dense piles of skeletal remains choked the hallway.
Some had embraced in their final moments, some were curled up hugging their knees as if weeping, and others still clutched their weapons, seemingly ready to make one last desperate stand.
Forcing down the heavy thumping in his chest, he ascended step by step to the second and third floors.
The higher he climbed, the smaller the bones scattered across the floor became.
Upon reaching the top floor, what should have been the safest level, he even saw a few skeletons still wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Haa.
Standing by the window, Cheng Ye let out a long sigh, his heart instantly clouded by a heavy, oppressive gloom.
How absolute the despair must have been for the residents who had hidden here, holding each other tightly as they awaited their final moments.
They never even saw the true face of the Infection Tide, nor did they clash directly with the monsters, perishing here in complete silence.
What kind of terrifying Infection Source had created this living hell before his eyes?
The records contained no mention of it.
An Infection Tide with no survivors was just this brutal. Wherever it passed, not a single blade of grass survived, turning everything into a purgatory.
He pushed open the window and leapt down from the third floor. The moment he hit the ground, his feet shifted slightly to absorb the impact, and he stood firmly.
"Brother B, I am going to scout the area and see if I can find materials to repair the front and back doors."
"Go ahead, be careful," Liu Bi nodded in agreement.
Although splitting up in such a dangerous environment was not the best strategy, a mature Inspector always had to undergo such trials.
Only by witnessing the truest perils of the Wilderness firsthand and surviving them could one achieve genuine growth.
And right now, facing a bizarre Infected Body with known details was clearly much safer than stumbling into an unknown, high-risk Infection Source.
Leaving the courtyard, Cheng Ye mounted his flashlight onto the top of his Protective Helmet and grabbed the Red Blade in his right hand.
The bright beam pierced the darkness, illuminating the ruined pavement beneath his feet. Dead silence reigned all around. There were no insect chirps or bird calls, only endless darkness churning in the night.
At this moment, he suddenly felt as if he had transmigrated into the world of I Am Legend. Everything around him exuded an air of desolate stillness.
He casually stepped into an abandoned courtyard and kicked open the rotting wooden door.
The room was fully furnished with a wooden bed, table, stools, and wardrobe. It was clear that the former occupants had been quite a wealthy household in the Red River Gathering Place.
There were even a few posters pasted on the walls. Because the door had been kept shut year-round, the ink had yet to completely fade.
Cheng Ye walked forward, his gaze sweeping over the yellowed pages. A thick atmosphere reminiscent of the Great Reclamation Era washed over him.
"Add a person, add more strength! The Gathering Place guarantees enough rations!"
"Work more, earn more, hoard more! Give the settlement the confidence to survive the winter!"
"Build high walls, prevent infection, unite to annihilate foreign enemies!"
"Participate in infrastructure to claim supplies, all bricks and timber fully reimbursed! Hand over surplus grain for medicine, the old, weak, sick, and disabled will have support!"
"Form a team to mine, halve the danger, double the dividends!"
"..."
In the center of this uniform array of propaganda slogans was a portrait poster.
The poster depicted a woman with sharp, piercing eyes and a commanding presence, making one instinctively want to describe her as "handsome."
'Is this Lord Liu?'
Cheng Ye memorized this striking face, withdrew his gaze, and reached out to pull open the wooden wardrobe.
The clothes inside had long weathered and decayed into dust, and the magazines stacked beneath them were so brittle they crumbled at a mere touch.
However, the wooden boards of the wardrobe were still fairly intact. He weighed it in his hands, strapped the Red Blade back to his waist, gripped the upper half of the wardrobe with both hands, and turned to drag it toward the security office.
Repeating this process several times, it wasn't long before he had dragged back over a dozen thick wooden wardrobes, along with a few sturdy wooden tables and beds. They were all excellent materials for reinforcing their defenses.
Digging out a claw hammer and a handful of four-inch nails from the Armored Vehicle's toolbox, Cheng Ye first stacked all the wardrobes neatly at the back courtyard gate before summoning his action interface.
Spending 3 Action Points, the wooden wardrobes seemed unchanged to the naked eye, but in reality, every joint had been firmly nailed shut with wooden planks.
As long as it wasn't a Fusion Entity with terrifying Combat Power, even a Crab-man with its exaggerated individual strength would not be able to break in quickly.
As for the front gate, simply reinforcing the joints of the original Defensive Facilities would be enough.
Cheng Ye had originally intended to use Action Points to get it done directly, but to his surprise, Liu Bi walked over, rolling up his sleeves to lend a hand.
The two of them busied themselves for over half an hour, stacking layers of rotted logs and iron spikes in front of the gate. They completely blocked the main entrance where Infected Bodies might intrude, leaving only a spiked passage in the middle that could be moved from the inside.
With Defensive Fortifications established at both the front and back, an indescribable sense of security quietly spread through everyone's hearts.
"Thank goodness we're moving with Inspectors. If we had followed the trade caravan to Guangdong Province, the grass on our graves would already be a meter high," Fatty Zhang Daping muttered, leaning against the vehicle's window and gulping nervously as he watched the two men working tirelessly.
The other three deeply agreed, but since the danger hadn't truly passed, no one was in the mood for idle chatter.
Each of them gripped their weapons tightly, their eyes locked onto the outside through the windows, unwilling to miss even the slightest rustle of the wind against the courtyard walls.
Cheng Ye brought over a few more wooden stools and a table, placing them in the center of the courtyard. He laid out the Red Blade, his Defense Terminal, and his Bison Combat Pistol on the table one by one.
Seeing this, Liu Bi casually walked over, pulled up a stool, and sat opposite him.
With one sitting and the other standing, the two of them waited silently in the gloomy night.
They had arrived at the Red River Gathering Place at six-forty. After all their hard work, it was now approaching eight o'clock.
The night deepened, and time slipped away minute by minute.
Neither spoke or chatted. They simply rested with their eyes closed, storing up as much Stamina and Vigor as possible in anticipation of the upcoming clash.
After an unknown amount of time, Cheng Ye suddenly snapped his eyes open, his gaze locking precisely onto the direction from which the Armored Vehicle had arrived.
Out of nowhere, a bone-piercing Chilling Dread quietly crept up his spine, as if a pair of eyes were intensely scrutinizing him from the darkness.
Little Flame also emerged from the Spiritual Body Space, landing steadily on his shoulder. Sharp light flickered in its small eyes as it vigilantly scanned their surroundings.
Strangely, however, the owner of that prying gaze remained entirely untraceable, and it was impossible to even determine the direction it was coming from.
The only certainty was that the entity was steadily closing the distance, and the prickly sensation of being watched was growing stronger by the second.
"Brother B, it's... here!"
"It's here?"
Liu Bi abruptly opened his eyes and tapped the screen of his Defense Terminal. The time displayed was already 8:40 PM.
The cold autumn wind whipped up dust as it swept through the dead Ruins of the Gathering Place. The wind whimpered, sounding like countless vengeful spirits wailing in the dark.
Both men simultaneously rested their right hands on the weapons upon the table, their solemn gazes locked onto the main gate of the courtyard.
About a minute later, a limping silhouette slowly emerged from the darkness.
It was... an old woman!
Her back was heavily hunched, resembling a piece of dead wood bent by a fierce gale. Her tattered gray cloth shirt fluttered wildly in the night breeze, its hem stained with dark brown mud that looked suspiciously like dried blood.
Her exposed wrists were little more than skin and bones, with dark blue Blood Vessels knotted like spiderwebs, swaying gently with every limping step.
Her face was hidden in the shadow of her hood; only the loose, sagging skin around her jaw and a faint, eerie smirk at the corners of her mouth could be seen.
She clutched a cracked locust-wood cane in her hand, striking the ground to produce a muffled "Tap, tap" sound. Every dull thud seemed to strike directly at one's heart, heavy and spine-chilling.
Aside from Niu Fu, who was still half-reclined in his seat resting his eyes, Yin Ruofeng and the other three all swallowed hard in nervous tension.
The Wilderness, the dead of night, an abandoned Gathering Place, and an old woman appearing out of nowhere.
Even the most thick-headed person could instantly guess her identity.
The old woman hobbled all the way to the front gate of the courtyard, slightly raised her hunched back, and slowly pulled down her hood.
Surprisingly, the face revealed looked exceptionally kind. Wrinkles crinkled around the corners of her eyes, devoid of any malice.
"Young men, this old lady has nowhere to stay tonight. I wonder if I might come in and make do for the night?"
Her gaze fell upon Cheng Ye, and her voice was clear and gentle, making one instinctively want to drop their guard.
"Where did you come from?" Cheng Ye asked in a deep, composed tone, his expression unreadable.
"Me... I came from the Shayu Gathering Place," she replied, tilting her head up slightly as if earnestly trying to recall.
'These shadow puppets... actually have independent intelligence?'
'Or is the Seamless Shadow Puppet controlling her speaking through her mouth?'
Cheng Ye's mind stirred, and he bluntly asked, "What is the condition for you to leave?"
"Oh?" The old woman paused before her face lit up with joy, her wrinkles scrunching together. "Kind young man, you really do know the rules. It's quite simple to make me leave—"
Saying this, she suddenly waved at the shadows behind her.
The next second, a row of shadowy figures stepped out from the impenetrable darkness.
They were all about the same age as Liu Yi. There were eight of them in total.
The eight children held hands, identical bright smiles plastered across their faces as they hummed an unknown nursery rhyme.
The tune was light and airy, but if one listened closely, the lyrics would make their blood run cold.
"The moon is round, the plates are set, sweet tender livers are what babies get."
"Crispy bones, and flesh so sweet, take a bite of this tasty treat!"
The singing mingled with the whimpering autumn wind, drifting into the courtyard.
The smiles on the eight children remained completely unchanged, but their unblinking eyes stared straight into the yard, as if they were already staring at a plated "delicacy."
"You see, these eight grandchildren of mine haven't eaten for days. They keep pestering me, demanding I find them some meat to eat."
The grandmotherly kindness on her face deepened as she stared straight ahead. "As long as you feed them and give each of them a piece of meat so they stop pestering me, I will leave immediately."
'Meat?'
Seeing the confusion in Cheng Ye's eyes, the old woman's wrinkles smoothed out slightly, her smile growing even more benign. However, her withered, bony finger slowly lifted, lightly pointing through the air at the silent Liu Bi.
"A slice of shoulder, a slice of thigh, a piece of heart with a bit of marrow by."
She sang leisurely, her tune blending seamlessly with the children's nursery rhyme. "A piece of palm, a piece of rib, two crunchy cheeks for the baby's bib..."
Her finger finally settled on Liu Bi's throat, twirling gently.
The voices of the eight children suddenly rose, shouting in unison, "Still missing a good piece of tongue root, fetch all eight for a feast to boot!"
Their smiles were still radiant, yet their eyes roiled with a greed that betrayed their youth. They stared collectively at Liu Bi, as if appraising a chunk of meat waiting to be butchered on a chopping block.
'They're coming for Brother B?'
Cheng Ye was taken aback for a moment before instantly realizing just how cunning and ruthless this Seamless Shadow Puppet truly was.
The condition to dispel this first shadow puppet was incredibly steep.
It required directly carving eight pieces of flesh from a companion just to satisfy its requirement.
"My meat is too tough. If you feed it to your grandkids, I'm afraid it'll break their teeth," Liu Bi scoffed softly, clearly not expecting to be the first target.
"Not tough at all." The old woman waved her hand earnestly, her gaze still sweeping up and down Liu Bi's body. "A young man's meat is too tender, an old woman's meat is too tough, but yours is chewy just right."
"Brother B, there's no way we can fulfill this shadow puppet's condition. I'll go send her 'grandchildren' on their way."
Cheng Ye stood up and firmly grabbed the Red Blade from the table.
Liu Bi's expression faltered slightly, but he didn't voice any objections to this seemingly reckless move. Instead, he gave a faint nod.
This was also part of probing the enemy, a test to see if they were truly shadow puppets or if some other trickery was at play.
Seeing Cheng Ye stride forward, the old woman didn't dodge or flinch. She remained standing in place, the kindly expression on her face Perfectly Still.
"Young man, you've heard the conditions clearly. Are you intending to deny our request?"
"Of course I'll accept it." Cheng Ye let out a cold laugh and reached out to move the spiked barricade at the gate. "However, I need to check if your grandchildren's teeth are healthy first."
The eight children remained holding hands in front of the gate, humming their song. Seeing him approach, they truly made no attempt to dodge.
"Come, open wide. Let Uncle check your teeth."
Cheng Ye stepped up to the child at the front, who obediently opened his mouth wide.
The next second, Cheng Ye raised his hand and delivered a vicious slap, sending the child flying seven or eight meters away.
Under Cheng Ye's watchful gaze, the child hit the ground, rolled twice, and twitched slightly. Then, like an image with a weak signal, the boy slowly faded from view until he vanished completely.
"Dead just like that? Truly pathetic."
His mind racing, Cheng Ye immediately repeated the process, raising his hand and swatting the remaining seven children away one by one.
Yet, even after the last child's silhouette dissolved into the night, the Collector never lit up with a Trait collection notification.
'Could it be that this method can't gather any relevant information about the Seamless Shadow Puppet?'
Frowning, Cheng Ye shifted his gaze to the old woman standing nearby. Even though all her "grandchildren" were dead, she had merely watched with cold indifference from beginning to end, as if the scene unfolding before her had nothing to do with her.
"Young man, you've beaten all my grandchildren to death. Whatever shall I do?" the old woman finally spoke. There wasn't a trace of sorrow in her tone; instead, it carried an unspeakably grim chill.
"Don't worry," Cheng Ye replied, twisting his wrist as the Red Blade erupted with a brilliant, chilling light. "I'll send you to see them right now."
The fierce blade light tore through the night, fast as lightning.
Before the old woman could even react, her Head went flying into the air.
In a split second, the hidden, prying gaze intensified to its absolute peak. It felt as if an invisible entity was clinging to his back, draining his life force strand by strand. A faint wave of dizziness washed over him, but Cheng Ye simply sniffed in dismissal. Having long grown accustomed to his life force being siphoned by the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse, this minor loss was nothing. At most, it had drained about five percent—a toll he could easily endure.
What's more, he still carried the blessing of the Fir Tree, giving him the equivalent of an extra life. He had more than enough capital to afford this war of attrition.
At the same time.
The Collector finally flashed with a notification.
[The Collector has detected Diffused Biological Information. Auto-absorbing...]
[Absorption complete. New entry added to Biological Compendium: Seamless Shadow Puppet]
"It's here!"
Cheng Ye swiftly hauled the Defensive Facilities back into place, turned around, and sat back down in the courtyard. With a mere Intent, he rapidly opened the System Panel to check.
The Illustrated Handbook flipped open, and the entry for the Seamless Shadow Puppet prominently appeared in the animal category.
Two illustrations were clearly displayed: one of a ghostly carriage in the Wilderness, and the other of the old woman who had just been standing at the gate.
Below them, rows of text slowly materialized:
[Seamless Shadow Puppet]
[Description]: A special Infected Body capable of commanding the dead, reviving them as unique living entities to serve as its minions. Killing a shadow puppet will drain the killer's life force. Once the target's life force drops below 50%, the Seamless Shadow Puppet can turn them into a new shadow puppet from afar. Upon reaching the Fusion Entity stage, it masters the ability to craft shadow puppets using special materials.
[Current Control Probability]:
Life force at 50% (Reduction in Life Level; Zero risk)
Life force at 30% (Control probability: 50%)
Life force at 20% (Control probability: 100%)
[Currently Collected Traits]:
Shadow Puppet Crafting* (12.55%)
"Only one Trait?"
As Cheng Ye's gaze swept over the Trait column, he couldn't help but pause.
In the past, he had always collected Infection Sources. This was the first Infected Body recorded in his compendium.
He hadn't expected the gap between an Infected Body and an Infection Source to be so massive, yielding only a single core Trait.
However, looking back up at the description, a hint of surprise colored his face. The Collector had directly revealed the control conditions of the Seamless Shadow Puppet.
'Good heavens, this mechanism is far too sinister!'
'No wonder Humans were never able to determine its control method. It turns out the key lies entirely in total life force.'
'And this thing relies entirely on exploiting its mechanisms. Once your life force drops below the threshold, it's an instant kill with absolutely no room for resistance.'
Connecting this to that lingering Chilling Dread that even Little Flame couldn't track down, Cheng Ye's heart sank.
"It's likely in another dimension, much like the Spiritual Body Space. I can't observe it, let alone attack it.
""
Troublesome. Far too troublesome.
If it had a tangible, physical form, he might have been able to find an opening using the Earth Fire Power provided by Little Flame.
But right now, he couldn't even touch the enemy's shadow. Taking the initiative to attack would be as difficult as scaling the heavens.
More importantly, this Trait wasn't showing up on his System Panel. Was it because he hadn't killed enough shadow puppets, or could an Infected Body simply not drop the core Trait of an Infection Source?
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Cheng Ye's mind.
Recalling how the old woman's eight 'grandchildren' hadn't triggered any life force drain or Trait collection notifications when killed, he subconsciously tapped his finger against the table as a bold theory took shape in his mind.
Right at that moment, Liu Bi's voice abruptly rang out: "Cheng Ye, she's back!"
Cheng Ye instantly closed the System Panel and looked toward the gate.
The hunched old woman was actually walking over completely unscathed, showing not a single trace of the weakened cooldown period described in the records.
"Do you have a plan? If not, it's my turn this time," Liu Bi spoke up again, gripping his short blade.
"I do. Just wait a moment."
Cheng Ye abruptly stood up, jogging over to meet the old woman's bewildered gaze, and pulled back the Defensive Facilities.
"Where are your grandchildren?"
"They... aren't they right here?" The old woman blanked for a second before stretching her lips into a ghastly grin, her bony finger pointing at the dense shadows behind her.
The eight children who had been sent flying earlier wobbled out hand in hand once more. They hummed that bizarre nursery rhyme, their bright smiles still as bloodcurdling as before.
"Have you perhaps figured things out and want to..."
Bam!
Before the old woman could finish her sentence, Cheng Ye abruptly pushed off the ground, his body launching upward and spinning like a bolt of lightning.
The Red Blade carried a biting gale, kicking up a terrifying storm of blade light.
A frigid flash swept past. Before the eight children could even cut off their humming, they were all chopped to pieces, turning into specks of twisted black shadows that dissipated in the night wind.
Once again, no life force was drained, and there was no Trait collection notification.
Cheng Ye grew increasingly certain of his previous judgment. He turned his head back to the old woman and asked again, "Where are your grandchildren?"
The old woman's pupils violently contracted. She froze for several full seconds before stiffly repeating, "They—aren't they—"
Before she finished speaking, a bizarre ripple suddenly flared within the shadows.
Those eight children, their feet entirely off the ground, floated straight over. Their pale little faces stared at Cheng Ye, their smiles growing increasingly grotesque.
"Still smiling? You still need your teeth checked even if you smile~"
Cheng Ye gripped the Red Blade tightly. With a flip of his wrist, another chilling flash flared up.
Where the blade's light passed, the dark shadows Collapsed once more.
"Where are your grandchildren?"
"They—are here!"
Having had them minced three times already, the old woman spoke with exceptional difficulty this time. It sounded as though the words were forcefully squeezed through her teeth, every syllable trembling.
But before the sinister grin on her face could fully form, the eight floating children were once again slashed apart by Cheng Ye, not even leaving behind a single Afterimage.
"Where are your grandchildren?" Cheng Ye's voice rang out for the third time.
The sinister grin on the old woman's face completely froze, replaced by total bewilderment.
Muttering to herself, her voice grew quieter and quieter: "That's right—where are my grandchildren?"
The instant her words fell, her body suddenly began to twist and disintegrate. Just like the vanishing children, she transformed into countless fragmented black shadows, swept away entirely by the night breeze.
At the same time, the System Panel popped up with a Trait collection notification.
But this time, just as expected, there was no life force drain. The shadow puppet had actually been directly dispersed by him!
"Her dispelling condition wasn't eating meat?" Liu Bi abruptly stood up, staring in astonishment at the spot where the old woman had vanished.
"No, her condition must have been to make her grandchildren stop pestering her. Well... now that her grandchildren are gone, they naturally don't need to eat anymore."
Cheng Ye pulled the Defensive Facilities back into place and walked back, speaking while still carefully mulling over what had just happened.
'So the rules actually work like this?!'
'If one only focused on the information in the records, solely intent on satisfying the demanded conditions...'
'They would probably just be led by the nose by the old woman, agonizing over how to scrape together those eight pieces of flesh. They would never realize that the true crux of the issue lay with those eight children, rather than the meat itself.'
Recalling the old woman's initial words, her grandchildren hadn't eaten in days, were far too hungry, and were pestering her.
And that statement itself was the key to dispelling her. As long as the grandchildren were stopped from pestering her, it would suffice.
One could choose to feed them meat until they were full, or... just like now, eradicate them completely, which naturally satisfied her condition to leave.
Opening the System Panel, the Shadow Puppet Crafting Trait surged upward, instantly reaching 27%. The collection speed was astonishingly fast.
But what truly made Cheng Ye's heart skip a beat was that, beneath the Trait column, a brand new Trait had prominently appeared!
Shadow Puppet World (1.25%)