As Qiu Shui moved forward, he examined the electronic devices on the wall and the dry, uninteresting liquids.
“They’re all very old; they must have been here for several years,” she thought to herself.
Meanwhile, behind her, a black shadow followed her silently, staying close in the dim light.
Where there is light, shadows can be seen, but the corridor was dark and gloomy, so Qiu Shui did not notice him.
Walking down the corridor—the shadow followed her for a while, just a few minutes later, Qiu Shui reached the end of the corridor and discovered a strange place, which was the largest of these factories.
The red light in the shadowy figure's eyes lit up.
Pushing open the door, Qiu Shui walked in quietly. The intense light shining from inside made the shadow behind her feel uncomfortable.
He hid to the side, and the door closed with a click.
Shadow watched her walk into the gleaming factory, a red light flickering in his eyes.
He slipped into a dark room on either side of the corridor and woke up another terrifying shadowy figure just like him.
The two dark figures did not follow Qiu Shui into the factory building in front of them. Instead, they remained hidden in the wall, waiting for their chance to strike.
In the factory
As soon as Qiu Shui entered the factory, she smelled a musty, decaying odor. It was like the stale smell of an elderly person in her family, a smell that she found unbearable.
In front of her was a tall, transparent glass jar, hanging vertically to the ground, filled with liquid.
Qiu Shui glanced at the cans, then chose to walk around them and head deeper into the factory.
There is light deep inside the factory.
Walking past the empty glass jars, Qiu Shui slowly entered the factory building. Above, thick pipes crisscrossed and converged, through which white liquid flowed.
Following these pipes downwards, one can see a series of glass jars.
Those glass jars contained more than just the clear liquid she had seen before; they contained something else entirely—something bloated, grayish, with brown residue slowly flowing within the liquid…
Startled, Qiu Shui quickened her pace, preparing to approach and examine them more closely. The distance was too great for her to discern what they were.
She quickened her pace, skirting around glass jars until the glass jars carrying the objects came into view.
Those things...
Snap!
A clear sound came from beneath my feet.
Qiu Shui looked down and realized that she had accidentally bumped into a small button on a glass jar as she passed by...
Bending down to pick up the button, Qiu Shui stood up and looked up, her gaze falling on a glass jar diagonally behind her.
There was also something grayish soaking in the glass jar, which looked somewhat disgusting, like a bunch of blurry things lumped together.
"Mushrooms? Are they fungi... or maybe they're the 'Tai Sui' from the ground?" Qiu Shui wondered to herself.
As she carefully examined the "thing" in the glass jar in front of her, a ray of light suddenly appeared in a strange circular depression on the "thing." The depression opened up, revealing a small black piece inside the white flesh.
Seeing her own reflection in her eyes, Qiu Shui suddenly realized!
My eyes opened...
This is a person!
Crackle!
An arc of electricity crackled overhead, and in the next instant, all that remained in my eyes was darkness.
Qiu Shui's whole body tensed up. In the darkness, she could feel countless clear breaths coming from all around her!
She quickly placed her hands on her head and instinctively curled her body into a ball, Qiu Shui doing her best to assume a defensive posture.
The next second, a swallowing sound came from behind. Qiu Shui was startled, and before she could react, light reappeared before her eyes—
The lights in the factory came on, and everything around returned to calm. The faint breathing sounds that could be heard disappeared along with the fear in her heart.
Slightly relieved, Qiu Shui turned around and saw a black monster standing behind her, its mouth wide open, letting out a huge roar.
The scream seemed to contain excruciating pain, so much so that the monster's ugly face was completely distorted.
This unusual scene terrified Qiu Shui. Her legs went weak, and she immediately turned and fled into the densely packed glass jars.
As she moved further away, the dark figure went berserk, then desperately ran towards the door. But the light severely restricted his movements.
Finally, he turned into a cloud of black dust and landed next to the glass jars.
...
Qiu Shui rushed into the glass jar, too exhausted to run any further. She bent over, bracing herself against a glass jar with both hands, panting for breath.
Looking back, she saw that the alien monster wasn't chasing her. She breathed a sigh of relief, rested for a moment, and then looked up to assess her situation.
Without realizing it, she ran into these glass jars. These glass jars contained the "people" she had seen before.
Even now, she still can't believe these things are human.
Now, it's even more terrifying than if someone had told her that these distinctive creatures in front of her were mutants or beastmen!
Although she shook off the monster, she may have entered an even more dangerous situation. Are the people in these glass jars capable of moving?
With that thought in mind, she moved closer to a glass jar, took the detection system into the liquid, and directly tested the "person" inside.
Beep...beep...
The test results came back quickly: the people in the glass jars were still alive.
Their bodies are filled with formalin, a special chemical agent rich in nutrients, which keeps their bodies in a state of optimal comfort and mental alertness.
However, due to a lack of exercise, they constantly receive excessive amounts of nutrients that their bodies cannot tolerate, and even liquids that are like "preservatives," making their bodies abnormally cumbersome.
At the same time, nothing in the world is immune to oxidation, and they are no exception.
Even though they have almost no contact with air, their bodies are oxidizing and deteriorating because water and other liquids still contain small amounts of oxygen.
Based on the three results above, the detection system provides an answer: human flesh canned food.
"Beep beep, these canned human flesh products still have a long shelf life, estimated by the system to be five years. Their meat has very poor elasticity and taste, and even if they are taken out of the can, they will lose their texture and melt instantly."
Furthermore, canned human flesh generally shows signs of spoilage inside, therefore it is not recommended for human consumption and should be discarded.
Finally, the detection system categorized these items as "junk".
Qiu Shui stared in disbelief at the result, not wanting to think about anything else; she already understood.
Those emotionally sensitive shikigami aren't artificial intelligence or emotional systems developed by humans; they're actually living, breathing people!
Some people have trapped them here, using a special method to keep their bodies immortal, while extracting their spirits and placing them into a virtual world!
Such people may have a soul, but at the same time they have lost their soul!
His gaze fell blankly on the nearest glass jar. The figure inside was very small; it was a child, not very old...
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