Chapter 173 Collection
Siberia, Buryat Oblast.
Deeply infected area, Base No. 3.
A young man wearing light-colored work clothes walked out of the repair station.
The man carried a drawing board and pencil case on his back, and held a palette in his hand. His body was covered in various residual colors, and his eyes were lazy and tired.
He freed his hand to light a cigarette, then walked toward the soldiers on duty near the station.
At first, the other person acted quite naturally. When Merlink stood in front of him, the man greeted him and nodded slightly with a very respectful expression, just like a real soldier. However, his eyes remained fixed on the cigarette the other person was holding, as if hoping that he would share one with him.
But the next second, Merlink raised his hand and flicked some cigarette ash into the hand holding the gun.
Just as the soldier was wondering if he was hallucinating...
"Do you know how you were exposed?" Merlink actually spoke to him first.
The man looked bewildered, seemingly not understanding what was being said. Perhaps to be wary of being tricked, he simply replied, "Sorry... I don't quite understand what you're saying."
“I don’t know if there are still soldiers stationed inside Heaven’s Gospel. Maybe there are some unlucky ones who didn’t have time to evacuate.” Before he could explain further, Merlink said directly, “But you guys are too normal.”
"Huh? Sir... For us, isn't it a good thing to remain unaffected by infection and maintain a normal mental state?" The soldier countered, following the line of thought, secretly relieved. He thought, "Damn, that scared me. I thought we'd been discovered. He was just bluffing..."
Unexpectedly, Merlink changed the subject again, took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "No, no, no, soldier, you don't understand what I mean at all."
"While the shielding devices you're wearing can resist some mental pollution, that equipment is way too new. Eoubs isn't going to be so kind as to replace them periodically. What, are you guys pretty popular in the industry?"
"We're not a unit sent from headquarters, so the treatment and perception of subordinates might be different in other places." The soldier was startled by this, but still replied casually.
“Is that so? Well, that’s a possibility.” Merlink chuckled, took a few more puffs of his cigarette, and continued to casually flick ash into the other person’s hand. “I started observing you guys at the repair shop, for about thirty minutes.”
"During this time, all you guys did was stand still, or occasionally glance at our area. Eoubs doesn't have the habit of raising clones, and besides, your breathing rate and heart rate are all unusually similar. Have you ever read any martial arts novels from Dongxia? If you went to the martial arts world, you would definitely all be innate masters."
As he spoke, he glanced back at the base a few more times: "What's interesting is that when my mentally challenged partner deliberately brought out the 'Rules of Fate' fragment just now, the colors on your bodies almost instantly became ten times more intense—so I'd like to ask, does the military, which is in regular cooperation, have the right to know about that stuff? Why were you so excited? My partner can't turn into some super hot girl for you to play with."
"Alright, alright, Mr. Detective." Seeing this, the soldier also raised his hands in surrender, and chuckled, "I admit we are somewhat different, but that doesn't conflict, does it? Everyone who stays inside Heaven's Gospel knows that to have the means to survive, you have to pay a price... We are also here to assist you in completing your mission, haven't you thought about that?"
“Of course I’ve considered the possibility that you might be a secret team sent by Eoubs or something,” Merlink replied calmly. “So, to verify this somewhat absurd guess of mine, ten minutes ago, I used a special ability to scrape out all your hearts and take a look.”
"What..." At this moment, the soldier was completely stunned.
“Of course you can’t catch my actions; the time of ‘canvas graffiti’ is relatively still,” Merlink continued. “I’ve ripped all of you out of your wits, just patched up the wounds. But you’re not dead at all… you didn’t even realize you’d lost your hearts.”
By this time, he had finished smoking all the cigarettes in his hand and tossed the cigarette butts into the other person's shirt pocket.
“There are a few forbidden items in the Eoubs database that can turn people into the living dead, but you don’t have any of those things on you. I’ve been testing you, and you… are clearly not very smart.”
Having said all that, the man dropped all pretense, his smile instantly turning into a ferocious expression.
“You operatives from the original nodes have too much to say,” the soldier said, retreating to what he considered a safe distance. “Since you’ve already discovered our anomalies, why don’t you just attack me directly? What the hell are you talking about?”
"Sigh... It's because I can't wipe you all out in one go, so I have to cooperate with my partner to get the job done." Merlink shook his head and slowly picked out a sketching pen from the pen tray.
Upon hearing this, the soldier suddenly realized something and tried to turn around. However, at that moment, an arm reached out from behind him, grabbed his neck, and pulled him away.
Melink watched as Carlos pulled them one by one into the notebook, then turned to the empty space around him and said, "Anyone else want to come out and try?"
There was no response.
"Well... how about we all join in? We're all colleagues who arrived at different times; it wouldn't be very polite to just sit in the shadows and watch, would it?"
There was still no sound.
Merlink sighed helplessly. What kind of temper do they have? Look how Eoubs has spoiled them.
He raised his hand holding the sketch pen and made a few quick taps in the air. Then, fluffy ink marks bloomed from the mist, and the ink spread and swirled like hanging threads. In just a few breaths, it covered the entire block. Those who were lying in ambush suddenly found that they could not get rid of it and their whole bodies were covered with ink marks.
What the hell is this thing?
Merlink removed the easel and rested his chin on his hands: "You're not saying a word, and you're not even going to fight. You're putting me in a difficult position."
"Since everyone is having such a difficult time, why don't you stay here and enjoy the paintings with me?"
In the blink of an eye, all the guys lurking in Base No. 3 had become figures in the painting.
About five minutes later.
Inside the garrison, Carlos emerged covered in blood.
"Here, there's another one." As he spoke, he was holding a few tattered scrolls he had just found, and he was using them to wipe the blood off his hands.
“Hey…that’s the key prop we sent to this place.” Merlink felt a chill run down his spine and stepped forward to kick it.
"Look at you, so pathetic. Anyway, you'll always have a chance to get it." Carlos rolled his eyes.
However, at this very moment—
At midnight, I'm too strong (approval).
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