Chapter 486: How Foolish I Was!

Chapter 486: How Foolish I Was!

An alluring little temptress in a desolate wilderness, surrounded by concealing shrubs, plus her tattered clothes and the large patches of exposed skin on her body… It was too arousing for them. All the blood in their bodies rushed downward. Did what they intended to do next even need describing?

Halt—!

Hmm… what is this? A knight from the Sanctuary Church who was on patrol stopped. A small creature sitting on his shoulder anxiously hopped up and down, its sesame seed-sized eyes fixed tightly on one direction. This small creature’s sense of smell was very strong. Although it was an ordinary creature, it was quite valuable to keep.

Plus, it wasn’t heavy. Usually, you could just set it on your shoulder. It was very light. Taking them on patrol allowed you to easily detect unusual odors from afar, including the most obvious one: the smell of blood. Judging from this little creature’s reaction, the direction it was staring at intensely had the scent of blood emanating from it.

And it was extremely fresh.

“Hank! Bring a few men. There’s something unusual over there!” This Sanctuary Church knight didn’t act recklessly. Instead, he cautiously called out to his teammate. The young knight named Hank nodded and immediately led several men over.

“This way?” One knight in the squad frowned slightly and said softly.

“What is it?”

Hank asked.

“A small mercenary team came this way not long ago. This matter might be related to them!”

“Hmm, be careful.” Hank cautiously nodded. When they became Sanctuary Church knights, they received a lot of training. The most emphasized point during training was that if they encountered a special situation, even a seemingly minor one, they must not be careless. Even though most turned out to be truly minor, encountering just one truly unusual situation could cost them their lives!

Plus, this area was connected to witches, giving them even less reason to be careless. Arriving at the spot from where the blood scent emanated, one knight, under the cover of his teammates, parted the grass obstructing his view and saw a scene that made them all feel sick!

“…”

Piled before them were some flesh and blood fragments. The skin clinging to these fragments was partly smooth, partly rough, with the rough parts making up the majority and the smooth parts being very few. From experience, they could tell those rough skin parts belonged to men…

These flesh and blood chunks wriggled slightly, as if still alive even though they had been torn to pieces.

“This looks like it was torn apart…” Hank looked at the piled fragments and then at the scattered pieces on the ground, analyzing, “There’s no magic fluctuation either. How are they retaining signs of life…”

“Secure this area. Find a spellcaster from the Church.” The knight beside Hank said. It was best not to handle things they didn’t understand on their own, especially since there were enough spellcasters at the campsite. There was no need to show off.

Soon, a spellcaster from the temporary camp rushed to the scene. Seeing the slightly wriggling flesh on the ground—which had even begun to fuse over time—his eyelids involuntarily twitched. The pile of stuff before him was truly an eyesore. Especially while wriggling, you could see a hand or an eyeball being squeezed out from within it. It was mental pollution.

“Why not just burn this eyesore… ahem, just kidding.”

The speaking spellcaster noticed Hank’s strange look, coughed lightly, and immediately cast a detection spell. His brow quickly furrowed. “Strange. The life energy in these flesh chunks is perfectly preserved, not lost due to the shattering. This isn’t magical.”

If a person were torn apart like this, their life energy would quickly dissipate, and the flesh would become dead meat. But the life force in these chunks was intact, with no loss at all. Any absence was due to natural depletion, like human aging. That would be one thing for a normal person, but this was a pile of meat chunks!

“What about the souls?” Hank asked. He had some professional knowledge too.

“Souls?… They still exist!?” The spellcaster changed to a different spell, and his eyelids twitched violently. Not only was life force preserved within the flesh chunks in a non-depleting state, but even the souls remained. However, the souls had become as twisted as the flesh chunks, making it impossible to gather any complete information. Souls existed, life force intact…

Although the spellcaster didn’t want to admit it, strictly speaking, this pile of meat chunks before him meant: “They are all still alive!”

“…This counts as being alive!?” Hank looked at the large lump of stuff, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably. Living like this was worse than death!

“Whether you believe it or not, it is indeed alive.” The Church spellcaster said helplessly. The problem was identified, but unfortunately, he wasn’t a researcher in the Life Domain, so his insights were limited. “Look at that eye.”

The spellcaster pointed at an eye squeezed out from the large pile of flesh. Most of this eye was exposed to the outside, yet it still wriggled slightly, as if observing its surroundings.

“This seems to be a woman’s eye…” Hank looked for a moment and said with some confusion. The reason was this eye was far too clear compared to the others. Although it had no eyelid, the single eyeball itself conveyed a sense of expression—a look that made him instinctively think it was a woman’s eye!

“I think so too. This eye can be collected. It’s different from the others. Also, those smooth skin parts—I suspect they are the reason these flesh chunks are still alive.” The spellcaster said. Although he wasn’t a Life Domain researcher, he had some relevant experience. “You go collect them.”

“Why don’t you go!?” Hank raised an eyebrow.

“I am a spellcaster, you know. Can I do this?” The spellcaster said quite bluntly. The term “Spellcaster” had also spread from the Forum. Hmm, the Creator sure had a lot of novel and characteristic vocabulary. Using “Spellcaster” to describe a magic user—considering their destructive power, many magic users felt this title was fitting.

“…”

“And also, I am a spellcaster. What if that thing suddenly goes berserk? Can you expect me to counterattack violently like a warrior?”

“Got it, got it.” Hank said with a headache and approached the pile of flesh chunks on the ground. Then, from within that pile on the ground, a mouth forcibly squeezed out. This mouth let out a miserable scream—

“Save me!!!”

As this cry fell, the entire pile of flesh chunks erupted into turmoil!

“Engage!!” Hank shouted, drawing his weapon. He and the other knights stood in front of the spellcaster, staring intently at the now berserk flesh mass. The berserk flesh mass tumbled on the ground, rolling toward them like a ball. Several different types of mana even surged from its body!

That mana, forced together by the amalgamation of the flesh chunks, combined violently, turning the flesh ball into a wheel of wind and fire!!

However, this wheel of wind and fire crashed directly into an earth wall that appeared before all the knights. Splat! Hank and the others didn’t need to look back to know this was the work of the spellcaster behind them. After summoning the earth wall, the spellcaster summoned a Magic Arms: Staff of Destruction. It was a staff, but its appearance was quite striking and had clearly become the staff of choice for most regular spellcasters.

As for those who followed the weapon path… tsk, did they really think both ends of this staff were flat? Stabbing someone with it hurt just the same, and it could still pierce armor!

“No need to be nervous. Its mana is chaotic. Although the quantity has increased, that’s about it. Just find the right angle, one Fireball Spell… oh, better use Freezing Spell.” The spellcaster said, pointing the Staff of Destruction at the earth wall. The wall shattered, and the flesh chunks embedded in it fell to the ground, frozen and ceasing all movement.

“Alright, take it back and let the more specialized folks have a headache over it. How on earth was such a bizarre thing created?” The spellcaster dispersed the Staff of Destruction. On the way back, he was still muttering. A series of detection spells hadn’t detected any evil power. It probably wasn’t brought about by some evil magic. That was weird. Not only was there no detectable evil magical power, there wasn’t even any proper trace of magical residue.

Meaning those flesh chunks merged together spontaneously?

What did that imply? Like someone committing suicide, putting their head in a box for people to see… Well, the former possibility was even lower than that. After all, the latter was actually possible in this world!

This little incident concerning the shrubs soon ended. One knight cleaning up the scene looked at the gathered fragments and couldn’t help but frown. By spotting the differences, he deduced the flesh chunks came from at least five to six individuals. However, from the collected clothing fragments, after a simple integration, there were only enough for about three or four sets of clothes. One set was missing!

Although it was an insignificant detail, he still reported it. After all, many things went wrong precisely because details were overlooked.

Regarding what happened at the shrubs, people in the campsite knew by evening. The Sanctuary Church didn’t hide the matter. Concealing it held no benefit. Letting everyone know allowed for some prevention. If people remained unaware… if whoever created these traces wanted to cause more trouble, someone might fall victim due to lack of defense.

Better to disclose it early.

“A dismemberment case?” Hmm… Zheng Yichen looked at the pictures posted on the Magic Weapon Forum. He was quite satisfied with the Sanctuary Church’s public sharing. Besides the pictures, the post included a short video and corresponding later-added commentary. In short, the Sanctuary Church was becoming increasingly skilled in handling such matters. Nothing more to say!

With this video, anyone who saw the post could understand what happened at the scene. Editing and such… could be done with the power of magic!

Don’t underestimate the wisdom of Otherworlders.

Zheng Yichen stared at the pile of flesh chunks. Initially recorded while still scattered, later, after that spellcaster arrived at the scene, the places where the flesh chunks touched showed signs of melting… That wasn’t important. What was important was Zheng Yichen saw an eyeball squeezed out from the pile. That eyeball unscientifically conveyed an expression that looked all too familiar to Zheng Yichen!

He must have seen it before, but operations like ‘confirmed the look, it’s XXX’—Zheng Yichen indicated he couldn’t tell from just a single eyeball!!

Adding some eyebrows and facial contours would have been better than the current effect. Also, that pile of wriggling flesh chunks was truly a form of mental pollution. It was really an eyesore. Then there was that mouth that squeezed out from the flesh pile, screaming ‘Save me!’—a complete case of playing dead. If this happened on Earth, and those Sanctuary Church knights were replaced by ordinary people, it would absolutely have been a team wipe.

Unfortunately, the result was the flesh pile got utterly thrashed. Not only was it taken down by a single earth wall from the backline spellcaster, it was even frozen and packed away. The video ended abruptly here, with no follow-up. The follow-up probably had to wait until the Sanctuary Church researched and disclosed something.

But even reaching this point was enough to serve as a warning. Not to let people understand how weak the combat power of this flesh pile was, but to let people here understand how bizarre the unknown existence capable of causing such an effect was!!

If you didn’t want to end up like this flesh pile, indistinguishable from others, then pay more attention and don’t wander around here idly. Of course, those who thought themselves awesome could participate in solving the problem. But if you got killed, it was your own fault.

“Is it related to the Stone Forest?” Zheng Yichen mumbled. The power of the Stone Forest was leaking, so it should be normal for strange things to happen… right? Thinking this, Zheng Yichen walked out of his house, glanced at the White Moon in the sky, and lightly clenched his raised hand… as if trying to grasp the entire White Moon in his palm…

Huh!?

Noticing the strange looks from others in the temporary camp, the corner of Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitched. He decisively withdrew his claw, scratched the back of his head, and walked towards the outskirts of the camp. Why did he foolishly act so silly…

Walking out of the temporary camp, Zheng Yichen encountered Moser, dressed in black cloak and clothes late at night. Additionally, his Dark Power seemed to be slightly released in the darkness, making his aura appear even darker. Wispy dark aura emanated from his cloak. Those who didn’t know better might feel ‘Holy crap, what kind of boss is blocking the newbie village gate’.

“Yo! Moser, can’t sleep either?”

“…” The dark aura emanating from Moser, who was looking towards the shrubs, instantly vanished. He turned around and caught something Zheng Yichen threw over. Looking down, it was a pair of black sunglasses. “These are??”

“Thought they’d suit you. A gift.”

“Oh.” Moser nodded and put on the sunglasses. Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but curl the corner of his mouth. So he had also met someone wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night. Moser gave Zheng Yichen’s curled mouth a slightly odd look, his expression somewhat strange.

What did this satisfied smile mean? Could it be he thought his current appearance was cool? Oh, and you, an Alchemical Puppet, shouldn’t go around at night telling people you can’t sleep. As if a body like yours needs rest. Building such a house was practically a waste. Since you are an Alchemical Puppet, just set up a Magic Barrier or find a place to put yourself under a body bag for the night, wasn’t that enough?

“Are you planning to go to the shrubs?” Moser asked.

“Let’s go together.” Zheng Yichen said. Moser had been staring over there for so long, even giving himself special effects—his intention to go there was obvious!

“Alright…” Moser was silent for a moment before nodding. He regretted a little. Why did he have to show off with special effects after coming out? He should have just gone over… As a result, he encountered someone—or rather, a dragon—he’d rather not have met.

Although the existence that created that pile of flesh chunks during the day was bizarre, since it was done sneakily, the threat shouldn’t be too great. Could it be greater than the Evil God’s true form encountered before?

Although that Evil God died in quite a pathetic manner, encountering someone like Zheng Yichen who possessed methods specifically countering Evil Gods—it was truly disastrous luck. Otherwise, given the situation at the time, Moser felt there was a seventy percent chance he would have perished there… Of course, this was assuming Zheng Yichen slacked off the entire time.

Arriving at the shrubs, Moser first went to the spot where the daytime incident occurred and checked the scene. Many people had been here, and the traces were severely damaged. Moser frowned slightly. Well, the first discoverers were the Church. Later, he’d have the Church people send him more detailed information.

He did have that level of clearance…

“Did you find anything?” Moser glanced at the silent Zheng Yichen behind him and asked.

“Nothing. I was spacing out.”

“…” The corner of Moser’s mouth twitched. He felt like a fool! Continuing forward, he heard somewhat abnormal footsteps behind him. Looking back, the current ‘Zheng Yichen’ had dull eyes, following him like a genuine Alchemical Puppet.

Moser was silent for a while, then suddenly took a quick step forward. The Alchemical Puppet followed him with a rapid step forward. Then Moser quickly took a step back. The Alchemical Puppet mirrored the action with perfect timing. Moser thought for a moment, recalling some videos uploaded by dancers with special identities on the forum. Moser struck a pose. This Alchemical Puppet, presumably in a managed state, imitated Moser’s pose exactly.

Moser couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. So it could follow and mimic his actions to a certain extent? This kind of mimicry could indeed prevent many accidents while following, like the possibility of falling into a pit. But… he looked around and performed the next action he could remember. The Alchemical Puppet copied it.

Moser performed a third action, then a fourth, fifth, sixth… He even completed a whole set. He found it somewhat amazing—he actually had a rare talent for dancing?

Do it again?

Just as he began the second action, the Alchemical Puppet’s eyes immediately regained awareness. Zheng Yichen gave Moser a strange look, then looked at his own fixed posture. This had nothing to do with him; it was purely the Alchemical Puppet’s internal core’s doing. “So what were you doing to me?”

“My body was a bit stiff. Just stretching.” Moser’s expression naturally returned to normal. He turned and quickly walked forward, searching and observing for any traces others might have missed… How foolish I was!