Chapter 76 The Enemy's Shadow Emerges 2
The monster was originally a goat-headed demon monster about three meters tall. Even after its limbs were severed and it lay pitifully on the ground, its enormous body still gave people a very direct sense of oppression. Facing it was like standing in front of a heavy truck loaded with cargo, making people feel that they would be crushed by its giant body at any moment.
Once he returned to being an ordinary human, the oppressive feeling quickly shifted from tangible to abstract and then receded. It didn't disappear, it simply faded away. It was as if an unseen hand had unloaded and carried away the cargo from a heavy truck, even dismantling the truck itself into a pile of parts, most of which were then transported away. All that remained was a bewildered driver, clutching the burning fuel tank.
We couldn't even remove the burning fuel tank for him, because he himself was the burning fuel tank.
Zhu Shi is still the fastest among us.
Just as the opponent showed signs of self-destruction, a silver sword light, shaped like a round fan, decisively severed their head. This sword strike felt very strange to me. If the unseen hand was still drawing something away from the opponent, this sword strike severed that unseen hand.
Almost simultaneously, I couldn't tell whether Zhu Shi threw a punch or a kick, because her movement was too fast. My eyes could only vaguely catch a blurry afterimage hitting the opponent's body and sending him flying.
In the blink of an eye, the headless body was sent flying more than twenty meters away like a baseball, and then exploded in mid-air.
The head spun and fell through the air, trembling slightly as if it were about to explode. Zhu Shi sheathed her sword and caught the head with her palms together. As soon as she squeezed the head between her hands, the shaking stopped, as if she had forcibly suppressed it with her strength.
"It seems to be just as the data predicted..." Lu Youxun looked at the series of changes and seemed to understand something. He said in a calm tone, "The reason why the monsters self-destruct is not because they were programmed to do so. Rather, it is because when the source of their power leaves, the power inside their bodies loses control, causing them to go berserk and explode from the inside."
Seeing that he made no comment on Zhu Shi's swift reaction, I felt I should praise him myself: "Zhu Shi, you're really quick."
"Really? Hehe..." Zhu Shi seemed flattered and smiled shyly.
She was holding the head of a monster in her hand; the scene was indescribably bizarre. But I like the bizarre. The contrast between a beautiful woman dressed in a martial arts style holding an enemy's head and smiling is totally my cup of tea.
"It's a pity we didn't have time to ask him more questions, and we don't know what the conditions are for triggering the monster's self-destruction. Why didn't he self-destruct when we forced him to answer the questions, but suddenly self-destructed after his resistance failed?"
Lu Youxun looked thoughtful, then glanced at the head in Zhu Shi's hand. His expression became even stranger. He asked, "Speaking of which, Zhu Shi, why did you keep his head? Didn't I tell you before you set off that even if the head you left behind was intact, I wouldn't be able to extract any information from it?"
"That's not necessarily true." Zhu Shi shoved the head into Lu Youxun's arms. "I sealed the remaining power inside the head, so it won't explode for now. Take it and have a look."
Lu Youxun did not understand the meaning, but simply followed Zhu Shi's instructions and looked down to examine the head.
God knows what he observed from what angle, but after only two or three seconds, he stood there stunned and exclaimed in astonishment, "The information inside the brain tissue hasn't been destroyed?"
“When the source of his power left his body, I severed the connection between him and it. In this way, the source of power could no longer destroy the spiritual information in his body at the same time as it left.” Zhu Shi seemed to have said something extraordinary.
Lu Youxun was taken aback: "You can actually do something like this? None of the other impermanent beings who have fought against the monster have ever done it."
I was also deeply surprised. Severing the connection with the source of power—it sounds like something out of a fantasy novel, where a sword immortal can not only sever tangible things but also the intangible connections between things. Zhu Shi actually possesses such a powerful ability?
She just stood there making a fuss about my fire abilities, which sometimes gave the impression that she herself was nothing special, when in fact she was clearly quite extraordinary.
"Instead of me, you should focus on this head first. Can you find any information from it?" Zhu Shi urged.
"Alright, alright, I'll take a look, I'll take a look." Lu Youxun wasn't annoyed at all; on the contrary, he seemed very happy, shifting his attention back to the head. "The brain tissue is basically undamaged, very fresh, and even retains sufficient activity. Hmm... it seems your strike just now severed and trapped some of the spirit inside. Good, in that case, I can do more things."
“More things?” I realized he seemed to be planning to do more than just gather information.
Yes, just like this—
He threw his head forward and then raised his right hand, pointing it out into the air.
The head seemed to be frozen in mid-air, as if it were held in place by his fingertips. Then he reached into his pocket with his free left hand and pulled out a yellow talisman that appeared to be drawn with cinnabar pigment, which he then slapped onto the head's forehead.
He took two steps back, raised his finger and gestured in the air several times before finally lowering it. The head's face suddenly trembled, then slowly opened its eyes, looking at us with a blank expression.
Upon seeing this scene, Zhu Shi gave Lu Youxun a deep look.
"I...I should be dead..." The head was initially blank, then filled with surprise, "...I'm not dead!?"
He spotted us immediately, and with a mixture of fear and anger, he said, "What else do you want to ask me? Let me go right now!"
Lu Youxun actually revived this head? After my initial shock, I thought for a moment and then said to the head, "Haven't you realized what's happening yet? You're already dead."
"Dead? How is that possible? I'm perfectly alive!" He shouted at first, then paused, stunned. "Wait, why can't I control my shadows anymore...? You've sealed my power!?"
Looking at the other person's reaction, Lu Youxun sighed to himself, "My skills still seem to be lacking..."
"What did you do to him?" I asked curiously.
"Yes, that's right. His head was just severed. Although his consciousness was dead, his brain tissue was still alive, and there were even some fragments of his soul remaining. So I used this brain as a medium, combined with psychic magic, to reawaken him." Lu Youxun seemed to be saying something quite outrageous. "However, he seems to have some mental problems now. I don't know if it's because he was shocked by death and is trying to escape reality, or if it's because my skills were not up to par and I didn't awaken him properly, which is why he can't recognize reality."
"This can be considered a resurrection, right..." I said.
“Not really, he’ll still die in a little while.” He shook his head. “So if you have any questions, you’d better ask them as soon as possible.”
The questions I most wanted answered have been answered to some extent, as for further questions...
"How did you become a monster?" Zhu Shi asked the head that had returned to a normal human appearance. "You're not a civilian demon hunter from Saltwater City, are you?"
“I’m also very curious about this.” Lu Youxun also showed his curiosity. “I am a patrolman of Xianshui City. I know all the cultivators in Xianshui City, whether they belong to Luoshan or to the common people. But I have no recollection of your face.”
"Cultivator?" I heard a new word.
Zhu Shi glanced at Lu Youxun with displeasure.
"Oh, sorry, it was a slip of the tongue, it should be 'Demon Hunter'..." Lu Youxun corrected himself quickly, then continued speaking to the head, "If I'm not mistaken, you used to be an ordinary person, right? Where did you get the power to rival a level-one Demon Hunter?"
Upon hearing this, the head initially seemed unwilling to answer, but having been "awakened" by Lu Youxun, it was likely unable to resist the question and could only honestly answer as before: "It was the monster maker... the monster maker turned me from an ordinary person into a monster."
“The creator of the weirdo…” Lu Youxun frowned.
I put aside my doubts about the word "cultivator" for the time being, and then asked the head, "You mentioned this title in the labyrinth space as well. How did the monster creator turn you into monsters?"
“I don’t know the detailed principle, I only know that he implanted something called ‘Heart Seed’ into my body, and then I was able to transform into a monster.” The head seemed to not only be unable to control its answer, but also involuntarily revealed more information, “Heart Seed can give us power, but it can also make us have a desire to devour human souls. And once we die, or fall into despair, Heart Seed will leave our body.”
"No wonder you didn't self-destruct when we first captured you, but only after your resistance failed. It's because you hadn't given up on survival and struggled at the beginning..." I suddenly realized.
Lu Youxun suddenly asked, "What does the creator of the monster look like?"
"He... was wearing a white suit." The head showed an expression of trying hard to recall. "He should be a man in his forties, thin and tall. He might have had some kind of etiquette training; sometimes he seemed pretentious when he spoke. As for what his face looked like... I don't know, because he was wearing a mask, a silver mask..."
"You mean... a silver mask?" Lu Youxun's face suddenly twisted, his fists clenched so tightly they made a cracking sound.
"Lu Chan, what's wrong?" Zhu Shi asked in surprise.
Lu Youxun ignored him, took out a blank photograph from his pocket, stepped forward, grabbed the head, and shouted, "Try to remember his appearance in your mind!"
His head stared wide-eyed, seemingly only able to desperately recall the appearance of the monster's creator, as Lu Youxun had instructed.
Lu Youxun looked down at the blank photograph in his hand, and Zhu Shi and I leaned over to look as well. Perhaps Lu Youxun had gleaned some information from the skull through contact, and that information manifested in the blank photograph. Gradually, a portrait of a person emerged from the blank photograph.
It was a person wearing a white suit and a silver mask.
Upon seeing this person, Lu Youxun's eyes widened in fury. He crumpled the photograph into a ball and let out a low growl filled with hatred: "Humanitarian Affairs Department!"
(End of this chapter)
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