Chapter 132 On the Ceiling
When Cuiqiao stepped into the door of the Strategy Bureau, just as she had seen before, there was not even a trace of light around, and everything was silent in the darkness.
Unlike the usual darkness caused by lack of light, in the deep space of the Strategy Bureau, even with the eyesight of a magical girl, she couldn't see anything clearly and could only vaguely distinguish the outlines of objects.
This further proves that something is wrong with the Yi Ce Bureau.
Delphinium stood in place and threw the detection spell that was flashing with magical light into the hall in front of her. After confirming that there was no ambush hidden in the darkness, she put on several layers of barriers and officially stepped in.
She walked forward, her footsteps echoing in the empty hall.
Click, click, click.
As she moved forward, a sound came from the darkness.
Rustle, rustle.
The subtle and chaotic noises never stopped.
This made Delphinium stop in the empty hall and look around in some surprise.
Why did she feel that all this was familiar? She continued to move forward, the crisp sound of her heels hitting the ground dispelling the surrounding noise, and after a brief silence, it was replaced by some whispering sounds.
Among them were men and women, young and old, and the only thing they had in common was that they were all laughing.
The laughter awakened Delphinium's memory, and finally made her recall the source of this familiar feeling - it was the dream she had experienced before.
The dark hall, the laughter from unknown sources, this scene was exactly the same as in my dream.
But after realizing this, Delphinium's brows furrowed even more.
She didn't understand what the connection could be.
There is no doubt that what she is experiencing now is reality, so what was the dream before? Was it a premonition? A warning? Or some kind of trap?
No one answered the doubts in her heart, but this did not stop her. She just quickened her pace and continued to move forward.
She was not afraid of danger or enemies. The only thing she was worried about was not being able to find clues or solve the problem.
As she continued to move forward, the surrounding snickers mixed with the echoes of her footsteps and overlapped. These sounds gradually became sharper and finally, like in Delphinium's dream, began to evolve into a noise.
Delphinium had a blank expression on her face and was indifferent. She just raised her hand to strengthen the barrier around her to isolate herself from the sound waves brought by the noise.
"A boring trick." She said, not allowing herself to be attacked by the noise as in the dream, but reaching out, holding the azure wand in her hand, and chanting in a low voice: "Magic power construction, extraction."
Countless blue magic threads appeared around her as she spoke. They were densely packed and trembling, and after Delphinium raised her hand with her fingers hooked, they began to spread out in all directions.
These magic threads quickly cut towards the surroundings. Each thread was as sharp as a blade, making a uniform sound of breaking through the air and cutting into every corner of this space.
As long as the enemy has a physical body, it is impossible to dodge such an attack.
And as long as she responds to Delphinium's attack, whether it is counterattacking or blocking, she can quickly locate the enemy.
Delphinium did not believe in the dream, but she would not ignore the warning signs in it. She was inclined to believe that there were indeed enemies in this space.
However, right now, Delphinium didn't have time to play hide-and-seek with the enemy. She needed to be quick, the quicker the better. She knew she didn't have that much time.
So she had to use her magic suit to force the enemy out of the darkness.
The magic threads spread out in all directions, and as the attack reached every corner of the space, echoes, voices, and laughter all disappeared, as if they had never existed.
However, the feeling transmitted back from the silk thread made Delphinium open her eyes slightly.
“…You must be joking.”
She hasn't said this in a long time.
The threads did attack the enemy. They actually cut into something that was not a building, something different from a dead object. Judging from the feel, it was obviously a living thing.
However, every thread hit the enemy.
Every one.
In order to confirm the feedback he received, Delphinium increased the output of magic power, causing all the magic threads to burst out with stronger magic power. While the powerful destructive force further damaged the target, the light of magic power finally illuminated the originally unclear darkness.
Delphinium raised her head toward the top of the hall and felt her breathing stop.
She couldn't believe her eyes.
If one really had to give an analogy for what she was seeing now, it would have to be traced back to a long time ago, when Lin Yun's home was infested with clothes moths and she searched everywhere for the source of these insects.
At that time, he opened many dark corners that were usually closed, just to find where these ubiquitous little bugs gathered. The place he finally found was in a completely neglected corner of the storage room, under an abandoned mattress.
There he saw swarms of insects so dense that they would make someone who was afraid of insects scream.
Now, this is roughly the scene in Delphinium's vision.
However, what she saw were not insects, but the remains of animals. The ceiling of the Strategy Bureau was densely packed with countless moving and roaring remains of animals.
Most of these crippled beasts are only the size of ordinary humans, and can be said to be like young children compared to ordinary crippled beasts, but their number is so large that it is chilling.
The noise in the darkness was not anything else, but the roar of these remaining beasts gathered together in the darkness.
At this moment, the remaining animals that were cut by the silk thread became obviously restless, and the pain made them uneasy. They were unwilling to continue to squeeze in the same place, and many of them had already moved their bodies, trying to get away from the crowded ceiling.
As these beasts surged, something fell from the ceiling and hit the ground.
Delphinium walked forward in silence, and with the help of the magic light, she looked at the object on the ground - it was a square, small object like a card.
The object was moved with a silk thread, and after it was picked up, its true identity was revealed: an identity card of an employee of the Strategy Bureau.
The ID card was well preserved, and the plastic shell on the surface was not damaged at all, so Delphinium could clearly see the ID photo and personal information on it.
However, the owner of this ID card is probably in danger.
Delphinium stared at the ID card quietly for two seconds. When she looked up again, there was no emotion on her cold face.
She raised her hand, and the silk threads in the air began to buzz with her movement, responding to her actions. The next moment, she would be able to start a massacre of the monsters on the ceiling.
Kill these monsters and make them pay for their sins of killing humans.
It was as if a voice said this in her heart.
Yes, kill these monsters, they deserve—
Delphinium suddenly let go.
No, that wasn't what I felt just now.
She covered her heart and said.
It was a voice that suddenly appeared in her mind, and its first sentence was to ask her to kill the beasts on the ceiling.
Something is wrong, Delphinium told herself.
It was natural for the magical girl to kill the remaining beasts. Why did it encourage me to do this? The dream I had in the afternoon seemed to have some kind of inductive effect. It was making my mentality unbalanced. Why? Thinking of this, Delphinium raised her head again. She finally realized that these remaining beasts were also wrong.
Normally, the beasts act on instinct and have no rationality. The instinct of the beasts is to destroy and eat. If a target full of magic power like the magical girl enters their field of vision, they will definitely attack.
In other words, if there were no other abnormalities with these beasts on the ceiling, Delphinium should have been subjected to endless attacks from the first second she walked into the Strategy Bureau.
But they didn't.
Even though they were injured by Delphinium's magic armor, they still had no intention of attacking. They just moved their bodies and tried to leave the place where they were attacked.
These remnants of the beasts just huddled on the ceiling, hissing, screaming, and threatening, as if they had no urge to destroy or eat, but were... afraid? Why were they afraid? What were they afraid of? At this moment, Delphinium felt that she was closer to the truth than ever before.
She lowered her head again and looked at the mucus-stained ID card on the ground. Looking at the extremely clear employee photo on the ID card, she pondered for a moment and suddenly remembered something.
An incident that happened not long ago.
At that time, she went to Bai'an City and fell into a crippled beast's lair. She found an office in a lair that looked like the Bai'an City Strategy Bureau's lair. In the office were the bodies of the Strategy Bureau's employees and a crippled beast.
This incident was not that uncommon. It was normal for the employees of the Strategy Bureau who mistakenly entered the nest to be killed by the beasts.
But there are some details that are very strange.
First of all, the door of the office was ajar.
There is no reason for a brutal beast with only brutal instincts to keep the door intact, and there is no reason to close the door politely after entering the office; similarly, if an employee of the Strategy Bureau discovered that there was a brutal beast inside the door, there is no reason for him to go in or even close the door.
In that situation, there was no reason for either the beasts or humans to close the door.
Secondly, in the lair in Baian City, Dengzhan once told herself that she had protected the employees of the Strategy Bureau and asked them to find a room to hide.
In other words, those employees of the Strategy Bureau must have taken the initiative to find that office and finally hid in it together.
Then the crippled beast must have appeared later. It must have appeared in front of the victims after they had hidden themselves, so that it had a chance to catch everyone in one fell swoop.
These two facts are contradictory.
If the staff of the Strategy Bureau first found the vacant office and hid in it, then how did the remaining beasts manage to enter the office without destroying the door? Could she speculate that the half-open door was not originally ajar, but was opened from the inside by the innocent victims who tried to escape from the office before they died?
So, what does this mean? -- Did the beast suddenly appear in the office due to some kind of opportunity?
Appear suddenly?
The word sent a chill down Delphinium's spine.
Even a pupa-level remnant beast cannot move through space at will, so a remnant beast certainly cannot appear suddenly. If it really "appeared suddenly", then what form would it take?
Looking up at the ceiling and seeing the remaining beasts moving around, Delphinium slowly opened its hands again.
However, this time she did not use the magic suit to kill the monsters, but let the magic threads flow and scrape among the monsters, as if looking for something.
As expected, her actions received feedback. As the silk thread disturbed the herd of remaining beasts, more and more unidentified objects began to fall from the sky and landed on the ground, making crisp sounds.
Delphinium walked forward and checked one by one, and found that these were all various human personal belongings: ID cards, glasses, watches, mobile phones, gel pens, etc.
What is even more surprising is that, apart from the damage caused by falling from a high altitude, these things are preserved exceptionally well.
Delphinium looked at the objects on the ground for a long time in silence.
——"Why don't you do it?"
A voice came from behind her.
"I can't kill them," replied the Delphinium.
"But they are crippled beasts." the voice continued.
This question was asked with a kind of genuine doubt, as if it was really being asked to Delphinium, and along with this question, Delphinium discovered that there was a shadow under its feet.
One is much longer than his own shadow, completely covering his own shadow.
“They are remnants of animals, but they are not remnants of animals either.”
Delphinium did not look back, but continued to look at the personal belongings on the ground, and said in a low voice:
"They were supposed to be...human beings."
Her answer also caused the person who asked the question behind her to fall into silence.
This was the conclusion that Cuiqiao finally came to: the beasts on the ceiling were humans. In fact, a considerable number of them were former employees of the Fangting City Strategy Bureau.
The same goes for the Strategy Bureau in Baian City. The tragedy in that office was not caused by enemies from outside, but because... someone among them turned into a beast.
Among the employees hiding in the office together, one person turned into a beast and attacked other companions who were caught off guard, leading to the tragedy.
She should have thought of it earlier.
Black Cinder Dawn has mastered a technology called "Beast Viscera", which allows humans to gain the power of residual beasts and even control them in turn. Then, this technology must have other applications.
For example... turning ordinary people into beasts.
However, this technology is probably not as perfect as their "Beast Viscera". It is impossible for it to retain the user's will like the Beast Viscera and be able to turn back into a human being after use.
Delphinium could feel that the monsters above its head were actually just the products of simple stitching.
Humans and remnant beasts were sewn together, like zombies, with neither consciousness nor fighting ability.
It is even a stretch to call them crippled beasts, because their weak bodies and magic power are simply not enough to support them fighting like crippled beasts. They are not even as good as the lowest egg level.
At this moment, these things on the ceiling are just a group of pathetic "monsters".
"But now they are crippled beasts."
The voice behind Delphinium said, "If they are not killed, they will eventually take the first step towards hunting out of hunger. As they begin to devour living things and gain more magic power, they will begin to become stronger and become a real danger."
"But they are human beings." Delphinium muttered, "Innocent human beings."
"They are monsters, monsters that must be destroyed."
The voice behind the lily stated, "We have no ability to change them back to their original form. The human parts of them have been completely sewn together with the remnant beasts. These parts will eventually become their own nutrients, turning them into true remnant beasts."
"I know."
Delphinium's tone was calm, but her hands gradually clenched: "I...know."
"You promised me, 'No matter what kind of beast it is, you can destroy it.'"
The voice continued, gradually approaching Delphinium: "Now, it is time to fulfill this promise. These things are no longer human, but monsters."
--"senior".
(End of this chapter)
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