Chapter 135: “These guys love dead bodies.”
Found it.
Zhong Yirou’s mind buzzed. The moment she heard this person’s voice, an immense fear spread from the bottom of her heart to her entire body. She instinctively clenched her trembling hands, and the scene of Yang Erci being killed flashed through her mind once again.
The current situation left An Wujiu with no time to think too much. He glanced at Shen Ti and said, “Protect Yirou.”
After giving this instruction, An Wujiu walked out from behind the container alone.
Shen Ti wanted to pull him back, but his outstretched hand grasped at empty air. Behind him was Zhong Yirou, who had just lost her lover. Despite his lack of empathy, he couldn’t leave her behind at this moment to ensure An Wujiu’s peace of mind.
The opponent had come through the front door, and the outside was so quiet that it was highly likely Nan Shan and Wu You were already dead.
Yang Erci, although a woman, was not an ordinary person. For her to be killed so quickly this time, after having silently ambushed and killed Wu You at the factory in the previous round, indicated that the masked man’s combat skills were extraordinary.
Shen Ti didn’t know if the opponent had a gun. If he launched a direct attack now, he might have a chance of winning, but if the opponent truly had preemptive knowledge of their actions, as Zhong Yirou suggested, a surprise attack could endanger An Wujiu, who had already walked out.
He looked back and glanced at the hidden steps behind the container.
The masked man stood outside the door, staring at An Wujiu through his mask, seemingly not intending to act immediately.
An Wujiu walked forward step by step, calmly asking him, “Who are you, and what do you want?”
It was highly likely that this person was someone they knew; otherwise, he wouldn’t wear a mask and use a voice changer, probably to conceal his identity.
Alternatively, he could be a seasoned killer who knew he might be seen, so he habitually covered any identifiable traces.
His head displayed two parameter bars, one for sanity, which was full, and the other for health, which had hardly changed.
If he could also reincarnate, why hadn’t his health changed?
The masked man’s processed voice was deep, devoid of any emotion, and as cold as a machine.
“You don’t need to know.”
“Don’t you want the email?” An Wujiu proactively mentioned, “Yang Erci’s email, right?” As he spoke, he took down the assault rifle from his back, placed it by his feet, and walked towards the masked man, “Maybe we can make a deal.”
The opponent sneered, “You?”
He seemed to find it amusing, thinking An Wujiu unworthy, but An Wujiu wasn’t offended by his mockery. He was merely probing for more possibilities and trying to buy time.
What Yang Erci wanted to do was actually simple: find her father and figure out what the Altar and Sha Wen were really up to.
Since this person wanted Yang Erci’s email, it had to be related to these two matters.
“She’s already dead,” An Wujiu said calmly. “You should know that there are very few people in this world she trusted. At least I have the intelligence she shared, such as… her father being one of the members of the Human Revolution Project.”
The opponent fell silent.
It seemed he truly knew these internal details and also knew Yang Erci’s father.
“So what?” The masked man asked coldly, “I advise you not to play tricks in front of me. I know exactly what you’re thinking.”
With this probe, An Wujiu understood a lot.
Yang Ce was already dead, having died in the game. If this email was sent by him, it could only have been sent within the game.
As for the others, An Wujiu thought it was unlikely that the masked man would go to such great lengths if it weren’t for a particularly elusive recipient, hence the desperate questioning of the recipient.
“I’m not thinking about anything else,” An Wujiu said relaxedly. “There’s no need to beat around the bush. Let’s be frank. I know you want her father’s email. I can try to help you get it.
Similarly, there should be many more valuable targets outside waiting for you to kill, right?”
The opponent didn’t respond. The mask covered all the clues An Wujiu could observe. He couldn’t see the expression, couldn’t read the demeanor, everything relied on guesswork.
An Wujiu guessed he was right. The email the masked man wanted should be sent by Yang Ce, but he couldn’t obtain more information.
The opponent’s silence made it impossible for him to explore further, nor could he determine if the person in front of him truly had the ability to reincarnate like himself.
Because the masked man seemed unfamiliar with the previous iteration of himself and hadn’t mentioned killing Wu You.
The mask was too confusing. Excluding the possibility that this person could reincarnate like him, another possibility was that there were multiple masked men, allowing for ambushes at both ends, one at the abandoned factory and the other blocking Zhong Yirou and Yang Erci.
Too many questions, too many doubts. An Wujiu felt trapped in a dark fog, unable to find an exit.
“Are you sure you don’t want to try?”
An Wujiu tried to get more information from him, but the result was unsatisfactory.
The opponent laughed, suddenly turned around, and stabbed with the knife in his hand, targeting Shen Ti, who had quietly circled behind him.
But it was a step too late, as Shen Ti’s gun was already pointed at the masked man’s forehead.
“Take off your mask,” Shen Ti commanded coldly.
An Wujiu’s long knife was pressed against the spine of the masked man behind him.
Faced with an attack from both the front and back, the masked man didn’t resist. With a flick of his wrist, he dropped the dagger, slowly raised his hands, reached to the back of his head, and with a click, the mechanical clasp of the mask opened.
In the next second, the masked man whistled.
An Wujiu frowned, sensing something was wrong. Suddenly, heavy and dense footsteps sounded outside the door, along with the noise of some solid objects being corroded.
Sure enough, within these short ten seconds, countless pollutants appeared both outside and inside the door. Attracted by the masked man’s whistle, they approached quickly, like a pack of wild animals finding their prey, converging on this stronghold.
With a bang, a tentacle as thick as a bowl smashed against the door, rolled it up, and flung the iron door away!
Without this door, everything became clearer.
The countless pollutants weren’t just lurking here; they were also coming from farther away, swarming like a zombie horde.
“What did you do?” An Wujiu looked at the masked man, only to find that his health bar had decreased.
Could it be that he used a card and had the ability to control these pollutants!
What was originally a situation where they had the numerical advantage was now completely reversed. They became the surrounded, weaker party, with no room to maneuver.
The masked man calmly re-fastened the clasp of his mask. The metallic electronic voice sounded particularly indifferent as he said to An Wujiu, “Now do you understand?”
An Wujiu frowned slightly, “Understand what?”
“You are not worthy of making a deal with me.” The masked man said coldly, “You can kill me now; it would only take a shot. If I remember correctly, there are two barely alive outside the house.”
He said this while turning to look at Zhong Yirou, “Inside, there’s another living person and a corpse.”
These terrifying giant pollutants seemed about to tear the house apart with their immense strength.
“These creatures love corpses the most.”
Why…
It was just one step away.
An Wujiu gripped the knife tightly, wishing he could kill the person in front of him right now, but…
But.
“Shen Ti, put down the gun.” An Wujiu lowered the knife he had pressed against him.
He had to compromise.
Shen Ti was obviously unwilling, but he also had no choice. He immediately turned and rushed into the swarm of pollutants, heading towards Nan Shan and Wu You.
When he reached them, the truck’s glass was completely shattered, and those tentacles were reaching in. Shen Ti fired his machine gun, barely driving the monsters back.
Through the broken window, he saw Nan Shan, with a knife in his back, using his body to shield Wu You in the passenger seat.
There was no sound from either of them.
“Nan Shan, Nan Shan?”
Shen Ti desperately tried to open the car door. The pollutants kept coming, those disgusting tentacles and mucus corroding his last bit of patience, testing his ability to remain sane.
Why won’t it open?
The tentacles swarmed towards him as he turned his back, their tips opening like a blooming flower, revealing a gaping maw lined with sharp white teeth, each covered in slimy liquid.
Impatiently, Shen Ti turned and fired, nearly exhausting his ammunition against these troublesome monsters.
The more he attacked, the more mucus the monsters spewed and the more they gathered, endlessly surrounding him. He and the truck seemed like pieces of rotten meat, constantly attracting those predatory birds.
Shen Ti’s coat was corroded, his flesh exposed and covered in wounds, and his entire body was injured. The green in his eyes deepened under the moonlight and the blood.
In that instant, the monsters seemed suddenly stunned, ceasing their assault.
Meanwhile, An Wujiu, who was leading Zhong Yirou through another swarm, felt a sharp pain in his heart.
Like a telepathic connection.
Shen Ti quickly realized that in that moment, he had lost his sense of self-control, or rather, his human consciousness. He witnessed the retreat of the pollutants, knowing these ugly creatures were once ordinary people, now regressing to their current state due to the same kind of power that polluted them as him.
Feeling indescribable emotions, Shen Ti turned around and continued trying to open the door. This time, he finally managed to open it, but he knew Nan Shan was likely beyond saving.
“Nan Shan?”
Nan Shan’s injuries were severe. His right arm was gone, as if it had been bitten off by some monster, his back was pierced, and there were bruises on his neck from being strangled by tentacles.
It seemed he was right. The masked man had attacked them before coming into the house.
Shen Ti reached out, tugging on Nan Shan’s remaining arm, trying to pull him away. Unexpectedly, a piece of paper fell to the ground. Looking down, Shen Ti saw it was a useless talisman.
Nan Shan was no longer breathing.
In the end, he still tried his best to protect Wu You.
Time was running out. Shen Ti had no choice but to move Nan Shan off Wu You, only to find that Wu You was still moving!
“Wu You!”
But in just a second, this joy turned into shock.
Wu You, who he thought was still breathing, had changed into another form.
His throat was slit, and the wound was deep. For some reason, this kind of wound felt familiar to Shen Ti, as if he had seen Wu You’s throat being slit with his own eyes.
Wu You’s skin had turned purple, his eyes had lost their black pupils, leaving only two white eyeballs, and his hair had turned completely white.
His arm had transformed into twisted tentacles, countless in number, like a cluster of deformed snakes, writhing and extending over Nan Shan’s body, enveloping him in a grotesque embrace.
Shen Ti saw clearly that Wu You’s sanity value had dropped to zero, completely polluted.
So this is how the talisman worked.
“Shen Ti!”
Hearing An Wujiu’s voice, Shen Ti turned around, unsure how to explain this to him, or whether he should just tell him that Wu You was already dead.
The current Wu You was more troublesome than death. He was no longer human, and if left alive, would only cause more destruction. Moreover, the masked man could control these pollutants.
Shen Ti wanted to end Wu You’s life himself and then go help An Wujiu.
At least An Wujiu shouldn’t have to kill his own companion.
There was only one bullet left in his gun.
Shen Ti aimed the gun at Wu You’s head.
Suddenly, a strange feeling arose within him, as if he had formed an unprecedented connection with the polluted Wu You in front of him.
He could even hear Wu You’s voice.
[Hey, what’s happening to me?]
[Am I dead? Shen Ti, why are you pointing a gun at me?]
Wu You in front of him hadn’t opened his mouth and was incapable of speaking, but Shen Ti heard his voice, as if it came from his mind.
Shen Ti lowered his gun and reached out. As his fingers touched Wu You’s forehead, Wu You blinked, even though his eyes were still entirely white.
“Wu You?”
He tried calling out, and to his surprise, heard a response in his mind.
[What happened? Am I really dead?]
“You…”
Wu You’s whole body seemed to come alive. His limbs moved in a twisted manner, like a doll with mismatched arms and legs, every action stiff and bizarre.
“Can you hear me?” Shen Ti asked.
[Yes, I can hear you.]
Shen Ti understood.
At least there was some good news, no, two pieces of good news.
One, Wu You wasn’t dead, and two, perhaps because of him, Wu You’s humanity was being awakened.
Unlike other pollutants who had completely lost their humanity, Wu You hadn’t gone mad and could communicate, though his body had become a pollutant.
[But I can’t see clearly. I can feel Nan Shan beside me, I can smell him…]
[How is Nan Shan? Is he okay?]
