Recap
It was a person, or something human-like.
The footsteps stopped, fifty steps away. Ji Xinghai slowly turned his head, his face melted in the shadow of the backlight, only the wolf-like amber-gold eyes silently stared at the visitor behind him.
A person wearing a mask.
Or not a person.
The wind stopped breathing, and it seemed that the sun also became cold. Ji Xinghai’s eyes stayed on the visitor, and his lips hooked into a kind shape:
“Hello, are you alone?”
___
As the masked man appeared in the game, the Ninth State Command Center was silent. The cigarette on the minister’s finger broke into ash, burning his fingertips red.
“The human shape is abnormal.” He muttered to himself, and his calm face could not show his true emotions.
Before student Ji Xinghai encountered Zhang Ziqing, who was looking for trouble, he encountered a human-shaped anomaly.
The anomaly that suddenly appeared in the forest was human-shaped. From the appearance, it was a “person” who was also wearing black clothes and black pants, wearing a hat with ethnic characteristics, but his face was covered by a strange mask.
It did not have a strong aura of an abnormal monster but there was no such person among the students, hence the viewers was not able to judge whether it was a student or an abnormal creature.
As far as they know, there are four types of abnormal creatures. One is common biological anomalies, such as insects, fish, birds and beasts. The second is common daily necessities anomalies, such as food, clothing, housing, and shelter. The third is human-shaped anomalies. The fourth is the rule-based anomalies that are called unsolvable nightmares.
Except for rule-based anomalies, the other three are not human but look human, and the more human-like they appear, the more dangerous they are.
However, the abnormal creatures that appear in the examination room have their special motives, and they cannot be simply regarded as villains.
Sometimes the “abnormal” that appears is a guide or a decryptor, similar to the examination room teacher or the reminder bell, which can increase the survival rate of students and the degree of exploration of the instance. Sometimes they are hunters and will randomly eliminate some students.
At the same time, the role positioning of abnormalities is not static. They are moody and can change their identities at any time. They are trustworthy teachers in the last second and ruthless hunters in the next second.
In the instance world, any abnormality cannot be completely trusted or completely distrusted.
“Are you looking for me?” Ji Xinghai in the instance greeted the visitor cordially. He looked natural, gentle and polite.
The minister subconsciously glanced at Ji Xinghai’s mental value and fear value.
The viewers across the screen had a soaring heart rate because of this sudden change, but Ji Xinghai’s mental value and fear value did not change when facing the abnormality.
“Assuming that the students do not realize that this is an abnormal creature, the fear value may be zero.”
Ji Xinghai is a “child” whose memory was preserved at nine years old. He does not know about world pollution or abnormal natural disasters. People in the command center guessed that he had no concept of “abnormal monsters” at all.
Not knowing fear can prevent fear.
“This is a good thing. The effective value of the damage to the students is proportional to the fear value. The fear value is zero, which means that even if it attacks now, the damage to student Ji Xinghai is extremely limited.”
“But it’s only the first time. The fear value will definitely fluctuate afterwards. With his mental state, the fear value may soar to fifty or even higher after one attack. He doesn’t even need to do anything, he would have scared himself to death.”
“Which country are you supporting?”
“I’m just stating objective facts.”
The people in the command room quarreled about this. The minister glanced at them and didn’t say anything. He focused on the picturesque mountains and people.
Due to the perspective, the camera focused more on the visitor, leaving the student with only a side view of the face with bangs hanging down. Ji Xinghai stopped talking and his expression was calm after two proactive greetings.
The masked man opposite was silent, neither speaking nor moving. There was a subtle aura between them that ordinary people could not understand.
Suddenly, a very subtle rustling sound was heard on the other side.
This sound mixed with the sound of the wind was easily overlooked, but the visitor and Ji Xinghai looked in that direction at the same time.
No, to be precise, Ji Xinghai’s reaction was even faster. He looked over almost the moment the sound appeared.
‘What a sharp reaction.’ The minister was stunned.
The subtle fast reaction speed brought a subtle ‘sense of abnormality’, but the viewers did not think about it too deeply. Following the direction of the eyes of one person and one abnormality, they vaguely saw a shadow behind the tree.
Who is that?
Humanoid abnormality…
Sweat climbed up Zhang Ziqing’s face, and he tightly grasped the blowgun in his hand.
A hundred steps away, separated by countless overlapping tree shadows, Zhang Ziqing saw through the identity of this existence at a glance.
As an official student, his knowledge and skills are incomparable to ordinary people. Moreover, abnormalities are easier to recognize when they are not disguised, and they carry an evil aura that humans cannot have.
‘Calm down, the target of this abnormality is someone else.’
He slowly adjusted his breathing.
Although he would encounter abnormal creatures sooner or later after entering the instance, Zhang Ziqing was not mentally prepared to face high-level humanoid creatures.
The oppressive feeling brought by abnormal creatures is not in their appearance, they are the epitome of “fear” themselves.
Zhang Ziqing could not control himself from being affected. Just the appearance of the four words “humanoid abnormality” made his fear value jump three times, and then fixed at the number 7.
He knew very well that with his background in the instance, even if he had awakened his special talent long ago, there was no possibility for him to escape from an attacking humanoid abnormality.
He must not provoke this abnormality, no, it would be best if he is not noticed.
He must leave now.
Go!
As the third person, Zhang Ziqing took a quick decision and stepped back step by step, wanting to leave this no longer peaceful area with the least movement, but he had been noticed.
The visitor slightly turned sideways, and the strange mask appeared in Zhang Ziqing’s sight, and he trembled all over.
No one knew what Zhang Ziqing saw, only that he was stiff there, his eyes wide open, and several red veins sneaked into his pupils. His breathing became rapid and obvious, with thin beads of sweat on his face and a faint light of fear in his eyes.
At that glance, his fear value soared to 13, and it continued to rise.
Escape!
Without caring about the purpose of coming, Zhang Ziqing directly used a trump card – his special talent. Zhang Ziqing retreated hundreds of meters almost in an instant, panting and disappearing quickly in the forest.
The masked man looked at the direction he disappeared, but did not move.
“The little bug flew away.”
“But it won’t fly far.”
Zhang Ziqing was actually scared away?
The three-person game turned into a two-person game again. This development disappointed many viewerss who were looking forward to their face-to-face conflict, and even left sarcastic messages.
Most of these people are new federation viewerss. They are upper-class people, from the “Garden of Eden” built by the whole federation. There are abundant supplies and strict guards there. Even abnormal natural disasters cannot cross the high wall. The people inside still live a luxurious life before the great pollution.
So they watched the Hunger Games live broadcast for entertainment.
Ordinary people in the Federation breathed a sigh of relief: it was better to run away.
They would rather the students get nothing than to have them get into trouble. If the students got into trouble, it would mean the arrival of an “abnormal natural disaster”, which would mean that countless people would die in the community outside the “Garden of Eden”.
It was not until Zhang Ziqing left that the viewers in Ninth State, who were on the sidelines, knew that the uninvited guest was Zhang Ziqing. Although they had a lot of questions in their minds, they were more concerned about Ji Xinghai and the abnormal humanoid who stayed behind.
[It’s okay, it will be okay! ] The viewers in Ninth State prayed silently, their hearts almost jumping out of their chests.
Ji Xinghai stared at the masked man, the edge of the mask was filled with evil aura, and his whole body was lifeless like a dead tree, and his breath had long been out of the category of “human”.
His Adam’s apple moved slightly. “It smells delicious…”
Ji Xinghai licked the sharp canine teeth with the tip of his tongue, suppressing the inappropriate impulse.
With his fragile sand pile body that can’t mobilize a single bit of energy, facing such a monster is like hitting a rock with an egg, but for Ji Xinghai, it is a kind of spicy pain stimulation, the joy of “I want to be beaten to death by you, or beat you to death” that only belongs to some people.
Ji Xinghai, who was squatting, stood up and turned around.
The wind blew his slightly long black bangs softly, and he smiled very friendly while holding the newly unearthed bird whistle.
The masked man stroked his rough mask.
The human in front of him was full of flaws and had no defenses, but all the temptations were like a drop in the ocean – this person had no fear at all.
It seemed to smell the scent of its own kind.
Is it a human in front of him, or an abnormal monster wrapped tightly in human skin that does not have any telltale scent of them?
In silence, the masked man sent a telegram to the headquarters, his tone carrying the wave of watching a good show:
‘Master Inspector, there is a guy in the instance who might have snuck in and disguised himself as a student~~~’
‘It’s not.’
‘Okay.’
It scratched the red lines on the mask with its fingertips: Is it really a person?
“Are you looking for me?” Ji Xinghai slightly opened his arms, in a welcoming gesture, his natural peach blossom eyes looked at the masked man affectionately.
After a brief silence, the masked man took off his mask, revealing a face that was originally flawless, but now chopped into three pieces by a sharp weapon.
Its outstanding facial features were twisted, black thread randomly stitched together the broken pieces of flesh, and a pair of gray eyes moved up and down.
!
Ah——
There seemed to be a sharp intake of breath, and countless screens reflected scared pale faces.
Ji Xinghai was stunned. He reached out and pulled his slightly long bangs aside. The pupils in his light-colored eyes slightly expanded, and his eyes became deeper.
But that was not fear, but…
Hunger.
“It’s too ugly to sew it like that,” Ji Xinghai’s voice was low and tempting like a siren, “If you need it, I can sew it for you again, I can give you a 30% discount.”
He smiled, and his peach blossom eyes shimmered and reflected his desire. The humanoid abnormality slightly opened his eyes, and his gray eyes turned pure white.
“…” The head of the Ninth State Command in front of the screen pinched off the cigarette, his lips trembled twice, and he couldn’t speak. What sew? Sew the face? Is there something wrong with this child?
“Bring the information of student Ji Xinghai to me for another look.”
The viewers in the live broadcast room felt a cold wind blowing, and goose bumps crawled all over their bodies. There seems to be something wrong with the conversation just now… No, this is a big problem!
Who would say such words to a guy who obviously couldn’t be human in such an instance?
Is he crazy?
“… You passed. I look forward to seeing you next time, human.” After saying this with a smile on his face, the masked man put on his mask again, turned around and disappeared in the thick white fog in the direction Zhang Ziqing left.
‘This strange human…It’s a pity, a pity that I don’t know your true identity… Ah, it makes me want to ruin him~’
The masked man left with extreme irritability and an aura of murderous desire after the brief exchange where he couldn’t get satisfaction. The face behind the mask pulled out a big smile, twisted and hideous.
‘Whoever I come across next, I’ll kill him.’
‘It’s all because of that guy.’
___
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Update: The day after~
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