Chapter 192: Capturing the Ghost-Faced Man (Part 1)
...If you think about it carefully, the fact that he just came with those sacks of offerings can also be described as "rushing to deliver food to the dead."
The whistleblower's mouth twitched, and he suppressed his overflowing empathy and continued to inquire of the undead: "Where is that person now? What is he doing? How strong is he?"
After asking, he took out a bunch of offerings and stuffed them into the hands of several dead souls.
The undead closed their eyes, lowered their heads, and communicated with their companions in the distance for a moment, then pointed out the direction for him: "Go in this direction all the way to the city square. The ghost-faced man is exploring there now."
"He's fast and can slip into shadows, but overall he's not that strong," said the smaller undead. "He smells like enough for me to eat three times."
Whistleblower: “…” What kind of counting method is three bites?
He pointed at himself and said cautiously, "Then how many bites do I...smell good enough to eat?"
The little undead sniffed and said decisively, "Two and a half bites."
Whistleblower: “…” Isn’t it still impossible to win?
"You probably can't defeat them alone." The small undead pointed at them with a tentacle and gestured, "A group of you will definitely be enough!"
"If it's not enough, I can help." Bolin rubbed the two tentacles on his chest diligently. "As for the reward, just send me another bag of offerings."
The whistleblower rolled his eyes in frustration, but ultimately accepted the offer. The Evil Moon bandits they'd previously captured were all low-ranking members of the sect, tricked into doing minor labor and unaware of their superiors' plans.
This time, the ghost-faced man seems to be of great importance. He might be a middle or high-level official. We cannot let him go easily.
The delivery team instantly transformed into a capture team. They pulled swords, axes, and spears from under the carts, strapped them on their backs, and, using the undead as cover, advanced in the direction they indicated.
The sinister aura of East City was already quite dense, and even the undead's constant cultivation of soul grass hadn't significantly diminished it. Now, four or five undead surrounded the capture team, slowly moving around them. A faint purple-black mist spread outward, obscuring the sight and perception of outsiders.
"That ghost-faced man smells like an ordinary man, probably a necromancer, with a hint of the Netherworld." Bolin explained to the whistleblower as they walked, devouring a Netherworld scone held in one of his tentacles. "He can use his shadow as a portal to the Netherworld, but he can't stay there for long. He has to jump out for air after a while."
Although the undead are transformed from dead people, they are actually strange creatures from the underworld. They can tell the wealth and status of the "humans" who enter their food chain just by smelling them, which is also a wonderful racial skill.
"...What about the half-alive and half-dead woman? What is she? A lich?" The whistleblower asked curiously while still some distance away from the target.
"No, she's not as great as Boss Yu." Bolin's tone was filled with reverence, and he clearly liked Boss Lich very much. "No, no, I don't smell any connection to the phylactery in her. She's more like a zombie that has awakened and transformed from her own corpse."
The Whistleblower struggled to recall his knowledge of these spectral creatures. In his limited knowledge, a completed lich with a phylactery was probably the pinnacle of existence. Once a lich possessed a complete body, it could even use magic to simulate breathing and heartbeats, appearing virtually indistinguishable from ordinary humans.
The second is a lich like Boss You, who, although lacking a body to match her soul and appearing plain on the outside, possesses nearly unlimited life and powerful abilities thanks to a life box preserving her soul.
Then there are the living corpses and zombies, ghostly creatures whose souls are bound to their own corpses. Lacking a phylactery, these zombies use their original bodies as containers, making it difficult for them to retain sufficient soul energy. Their energy constantly dissipates, and their memories of their human lives, along with their rationality, gradually fade, leaving only their deepest obsessions.
If their relatives, friends, lovers and children in their lifetime are not part of their obsession, then they are no longer important to them. Even if they meet again, they will be no different from strangers.
After the separation of life and death, even species change, and emotions and ways of thinking naturally change. It can be said that zombies are merely mindless, moving corpses, while living corpses are slightly stronger, being corpses that barely retain some obsession and act according to obsession and instinct.
The zombies were capable of using necromancy and controlling zombies. Their methods of extracting human soul energy were quite brutal, making them quite formidable to deal with. Not to mention that Mi Funa was a potion master in her lifetime, so perhaps she still remembered how to mix potions. Fortunately, she had left East City, otherwise the Whistleblower would have had to worry about how to deal with her.
The whistleblower felt his scalp tingling when he thought of the report sent from the royal capital.
The undead are another type of spectral creature. They lack physical bodies and are often trapped in places of excessive negative energy and resentment, often in the form of soul fire. As their soul power continues to dissipate, they lose their sanity and become hungry, ultimately becoming ultimate black holes that automatically absorb energy from all living and dead things around them.
The more energy the undead absorbed, the stranger their appearance became. Tentacles, limbs, eyes, heads... all kinds of parts would grow from their original souls, and just one look at them would make people question their lives.
The more gluttonous the undead are, the more strange souls they are mixed with. The more strange souls they are mixed with, the less rational they become. The less rational the undead are, the more they will follow their instincts and keep eating... This is a completely vicious cycle.
Until Boss You interrupted this cycle with even stranger purple-black offerings, the undead here even sucked the soul energy from zombies and living corpses. Even if a complete lich came here, it would probably be bitten by the undead.
For the creatures of the underworld, soul energy is food, magic power, and lifespan. No one wants to painstakingly consume hundreds of souls to obtain soul energy, only to have it sucked clean by the undead...
However, the whistleblower glanced at the undead who were devouring the offerings. For the undead, only offerings could whet their appetite. If they wanted the undead to nibble on the Evil Eye Moon's people, they would have to pay an extra bag of offerings...
The whistleblower scratched his head, suddenly feeling a bit strange about this deal—so, now they had to pay a special 'offering', asking the undead to nibble a few bites at the humans who were already on their diet? While it didn't seem like they were losing out, it still felt like the undead were making a killing...
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