Chapter 487: A New Derivative Witch

Chapter 487: A New Derivative Witch

Moser felt a deep frustration, but he decided not to look back at Zheng Yichen again… Yet, this guy had not spoken for a while, making Moser even more uneasy. He had an urge to ask what Zheng Yichen was thinking at that moment. Such distraction made it hard for Moser to focus.

Wait! This was supposed to be an important task. Why was he having such random thoughts? Could it be because of the man behind him? Was that too reassuring? This thought was truly frightening. But then, he considered Zheng Yichen’s achievement of casually defeating the Evil God’s main body while chatting and laughing.

Nervousness? He couldn’t feel nervous. This person, in serious situations, had many thoughts as long as he wasn’t feeling tense. Although he could maintain a calm exterior, giving off an unapproachable vibe, and since Executors from Henan usually worked alone, a single assignment could last a long time… To avoid feeling empty, lonely, and cold when alone,

his mind naturally became busier. For Dark Executors who hadn’t run into trouble or problems, there were two tendencies: either their hearts were silent, or they were like him, always leaning one way. Balance? If one were truly that balanced, they should consider whether something was wrong with themselves.

“You’re not zoning out again, are you?”

After a while, feeling this was unacceptable, Moser couldn’t help but speak up.

“No, I’m checking the offline video recording from earlier.”

“!?” Moser’s mouth twitched. This was even worse than continuing to zone out. Checking video recordings? And that word “offline”—they were popular terms on the Forum, so Moser didn’t find them confusing, but now he wished he didn’t know these words. It was too embarrassing.

“So you like dancing? I have quite a few good dance videos here. We can exchange notes when we have time. Spice things up?”

“… Don’t, don’t say that. I was just stretching my body.”

“But… I’ve seen related dance videos on the Forum…”

“I just thought those poses were more efficient for body movement!”

“You’re looking down on radio calisthenics!”

“What’s that?” Seizing the flaw in Zheng Yichen’s words that could change the topic, Moser immediately pressed!

“Special dance.”

“I was stretching!”

“…”

After a while with no response from Zheng Yichen, Moser quickly glanced back. Zheng Yichen’s Alchemical Avatar had gone offline again. Moser stayed silent for a moment, wisely deciding not to attempt any more unnecessary antics. Suppressing the distracting thoughts in his mind, he continued searching for any clues nearby.

When he truly needed to focus on something, he could easily push aside his random thoughts and concentrate fully. The ‘Zheng Yichen’ behind him had clearly left. With only himself remaining, entering a focused state was really easy.

In his focus, Moser actually found some unusual traces. It was a strand of hair buried in the ground, very fine, with only a small part showing. Moser gently pulled this strand of hair, and it tugged at something connected below!

He slapped his hand on the ground. The dirt exploded, revealing what the hair was attached to—a mass of pale flesh. Scattered hairs grew on this piece of meat, hidden before. Exposed to the air, the flesh twitched violently, like a small animal feeling the cold. But this thing… was definitely not good.

Moser glanced back at Zheng Yichen, who was in a managed state, and carefully sealed this mass of flesh, placing it into a sturdy bag. He continued searching for related traces. After finding one, discovering new ones became easier. However, these things were scattered in chaotic locations—not just underground, but even on some plants, some buried deep within tree trunks.

So, how did these things grow?

Yes, grow!

“Hey, are you still here? I’m heading back…” Seeing the unresponsive Alchemical Puppet, Moser shook his head and started back. But his eye twitched slightly. He stopped, threw the bag he was carrying aside, and pulled out a black short sword hidden under his cloak. Unnoticed, a dense crowd of figures had appeared all around him in the bushes!

These figures had no Mana Fluctuation or aura, so Moser hadn’t noticed them immediately. He had even been surrounded without realizing it.

“No way…” Looking at the appearances of these figures, Moser’s eyes darkened slightly. He whispered to the Alchemical Puppet behind him, “Hey, can you fight? If not, he might lose you.”

“Yes,” an inorganic voice came from the Alchemical Puppet behind Moser. The voice was still Zheng Yichen’s, but it carried a cold, mechanical feel. Wait, so this guy could talk after all!

Moser glanced back, his mouth twitching. The Alchemical Puppet’s eyes were glowing bright red, like a Terminator… Ahem. Not only that, it had somehow produced a six-barrel… firearm-like thing? But it looked incredibly imposing and rugged. Moreover, it was wrapped in coiled belts of ammunition.

Then, the Gatling gun held by the Alchemical Puppet began to warm up. The six barrels spun rapidly, and half-meter-long blue flames erupted from the muzzle with a “rat-a-tat-tat” sound. Under the mechanical pressure control of the Alchemical Puppet, a stream of bullets swept out like a whip, mowing down the approaching zombie-like figures like wheat!

“Threat eliminated. Enemy casualty rate… 0%!”

Moser’s eyes widened as he stared at the Alchemical Puppet giving him a thumbs-up. Regardless of what core Zheng Yichen had installed in this Alchemical Puppet, could this performance get any more outrageous? A 0% casualty rate and you’re giving a damn thumbs-up?!

Wait, with that blue-flaming “rat-a-tat-tat” sweeping around just now, even trees were easily severed. Bullets that cut through trees still had enough force to charge forward. All the approaching enemies were hit—some, Moser saw clearly, were cut in half at the waist. How could the casualty rate be zero?

There must be something wrong here!

Soon, Moser heard dense, spine-chilling sounds of flesh churning. Each sound was faint, but with hundreds layered together, that subtle, dense noise was quite disturbing.

“What are you going to do now?” Moser decided to act himself this time. But just as he gathered his strength, the Alchemical Puppet beside him pulled out a red bomb from a small bag it carried and tossed it into the distance. Dark red flames burst into furious flames.

“This is a forest…” Moser watched speechlessly as this Alchemical Puppet—whose core was definitely problematic—set fires here. What a brilliant idea. Wouldn’t it be better if I took action? Before Moser could finish his sentence, the Alchemical Puppet had already pulled out more red bombs and tossed them around.

Soon, Moser noticed a detail: those dark red flames showed no sign of spreading… After taking a slight breath, he remembered the skull bomb Zheng Yichen had given him before. Was this thing also some kind of Magic Scroll?

It seemed related to Fire Magic. These flames only affected flesh… So, not only was this Alchemical Puppet’s core problematic, but even the things it carried were this dangerous? This stuff was perfect for killing, plundering, and cleaning up traces, leaving no excess evidence. So why carry this?

Wait! The Alchemical Puppet was previously controlled by Zheng Yichen, so these things must have been carried by Zheng Yichen. Now this Alchemical Puppet was using them. Well, a dragon is still a dragon, with inherent danger, no matter how harmless it might seem…

“Threat eliminated again. Enemy casualty rate… 0%!”

Ugh!! At this point, Moser didn’t even want to say anything. Still zero!? Or maybe these things weren’t even alive? He looked at the Alchemical Puppet’s eyes, which had turned black again. The earlier change in eye color was probably due to some Alchemical research modification—like being able to see traces of life activity. Now that the color had returned, was everything fine?

“Your eyes are back to normal. Is the problem solved?” Moser asked quietly.

“Solve your leg, it’s me, I’m back,” Zheng Yichen blinked his eyes, looking at the surrounding flames. “I was gone for less than five minutes… and you’ve already started setting the forest on fire?”

“I’d rather know what you’ve been doing, leaving repeatedly?”

“If I left, it must be for something. Want to know about Witch matters?”

Before Moser could nod, Zheng Yichen continued, “Even if you want to know, I won’t tell you.”

Why had he disappeared earlier? It was related to Witch matters. The strange problem he had found for Irene was now solved. That weird woman, who could regenerate even after her body was crushed—according to Irene’s analysis, she was likely another out-of-control contingency left by the Undying Witch.

Just like that fleeing Derivative Witch, this was also a Derivative Witch, but her ability characteristics didn’t resemble the previous one. Irene even speculated that this Derivative Witch hadn’t inherited the Undying Witch’s Soul-related abilities!

These Derivative Witches’ abilities were all incomplete. But incomplete didn’t mean bad. Even if incomplete, what manifested was still whole. Like allocating skill points: if you lack points in intelligence, the total points remain the same, but you have one fewer attribute to allocate points to… Hmm, meaning other attributes must be stronger than a normal attribute panel.

The points from intelligence were moved elsewhere!

Incompleteness represented extremity in singular aspects. So, this Derivative Witch, who hadn’t inherited any of the Undying Witch’s Soul abilities, having displayed unique characteristics, would likely have even more extreme enhancements in her ability traits.

These were all Irene’s analysis. For specifics, she needed to obtain a sample… Based solely on the footage and the information Zheng Yichen described, the available details were too scarce.

This was the main reason for Zheng Yichen’s departure… He wasn’t gone long, so why had things gotten so chaotic here?

“So, were they dealt with?” Moser asked.

Zheng Yichen rolled his eyes, “How would I know? I just got back.”

“Your Alchemical Puppet’s eyes turned red earlier…”

“That was a special effect, to distinguish whether I was in control of combat after going offline. Nothing else.”

Moser looked expressionlessly at Zheng Yichen. So, what was all that nonsense the Alchemical Puppet spouted earlier? “I think you should thoroughly check this Alchemical Puppet’s core. It might have a major problem.”

“What problem could there be with a core I designed personally?” Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue. Hearing this, Moser’s face darkened further. So, this meant the Alchemical Puppet’s control core had no issues, and the problem was with himself?

Could he say that out loud?

The dark red flames soon burned out, including those ‘women’ who had encircled the area. Moreover, the flames and earlier commotion had attracted many people’s attention. After the fire disappeared, figures of others could already be seen here. However, apart from some signs of destruction, they found no remaining traces. The flesh parts were all burned clean.

All they could find were those useless bullet casings.

After waiting a while, Moser confirmed there were no more zombie-like women. He reached for the bag beside him again, but grasped empty air… Huh!? Where’s my bag?!

Without looking aside, Moser immediately looked over. The spot where he had thrown the bag was empty. Thinking of something, he sharply turned to Zheng Yichen. Sure enough, the flesh pieces with hair he had painstakingly collected were now in Zheng Yichen’s hands. Could you be any more shameless?!!

“I’ll just take a few, okay?” Zheng Yichen pulled out several pieces of flesh covered in hair that were still gently squirming from the bag. His eye twitched. These things looked like embryos; if they grew a bit more, they’d give the impression something was about to burst out. “Consider it payment for my efforts earlier. After all, throwing bombs costs money.”

“… Should I thank you for not taking everything?”

“Am I that kind of person?” Zheng Yichen stuffed the noticeably lighter bag into Moser’s hand and patted his shoulder. “Pleasure working together. Let’s do it again next time~”

When Zheng Yichen was offline, he didn’t know what Moser was collecting. But after watching the playback, he immediately understood. These things were probably related to those ‘Derivative Witches’ the Alchemical Puppet had eliminated earlier. Now that he had the physical samples, he could let Irene and Annie, who were already interested, handle them.

Though Zheng Yichen also felt an itch to try, since he was out and about, and there were more experts at home, he should focus his main efforts on the Stone Forest. The core issue of the Stone Forest… he had only been here a day. Any leads? Nonexistent… Couldn’t just say the core must be in the very center of the Stone Forest, right?

Uh, possibly. He’d go check tomorrow.

Zheng Yichen’s departure naturally drew a lot of attention, especially the bag in his hand. Many people felt covetous, but remembering he was a dragon—dangerous—they suppressed improper thoughts… Then they turned their attention to Moser. But seeing Moser head straight towards the Sanctuary Church, well, that was off-limits too. So, some couldn’t help shifting their focus to the bushes here.

They felt an urge to curse. This Stone Forest was already mostly destroyed, making it hard to hide anything. What else could be found? Besides, these two had been active here for so long; anything findable was probably already found…

Better wait for the Sanctuary Church to figure things out and release information.

Of course, some had other ideas. Looking at the destruction here, the entity that had killed those mercenaries earlier using unknown means didn’t seem too difficult to deal with?

So, could they also proactively try searching around?

Zheng Yichen didn’t pay attention to what these people thought. Back at the Temporary Camp, he glanced at the spot where Oss had pitched his tent. It was empty, with only Dan Marina there. At night, the Temporary Camp had Sanctuary Church personnel patrolling. Even though they were gone, no one would likely cause trouble.

Like the cliché scenario of seeing a beautiful woman waiting alone and some men, unable to bear their loneliness, approaching her. The Church didn’t interfere in state affairs or certain matters, but if they encountered bullying or harassment, did they think the Church was blind?!

Church members were also Humans. If they saw such things, they would definitely intervene—not only intervene, but intervene extensively!

“Hah, found something new again?” Dan Marina glanced at the tightly sealed bag in Zheng Yichen’s hand.

“Shouldn’t you know that immediately?”

“That was before. Unfortunately, my abilities are affected now. I’m just an ordinary girl…”

“An ordinary girl who can slap a High-tier Professional to death—how can you say that without shame!” With no outsiders around, Zheng Yichen’s tone became much more casual with Dan Marina. Although she couldn’t use her abilities temporarily, Dan Marina still had her skills. With her around, speaking freely was fine; if there was an issue, she’d remind him.

“That’s just because you’re amazing, creating such an Avatar,” Lena lightly clenched her hand, which others saw as delicate and dainty, never having done manual labor. The clasped hand made a slight creaking sound. With such grip strength, even a large bone could be easily crushed in her hand!

“Don’t praise me. Praise from Witches always makes me feel… like a child being taken care of by adults,” Zheng Yichen said. Many people desired Witch knowledge, especially when praised for certain things. Thinking of Witches’ accumulated knowledge and abilities, such praise made Zheng Yichen feel rather awkward. Maybe due to some male ego psychological reason?

“This time, it’s another Derivative Witch, and seems to be a particularly troublesome one… Let’s discuss that later. I want to ask about some things regarding the Stone Forest…”