An object that looked like a tree branch but had no weight suddenly fell from the sky and hit a young man squarely on the head.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
In a cramped rented room, the curtains were tightly drawn, as if some wicked thing was being done.
A young man who looked to be in his early twenties and looked exhausted was sitting nervously at the table, his eyes fixed on something on the table.
It was a tree branch with a metallic sheen and strange patterns crawling all over it. It would undulate from time to time, as if a creature were breathing, and the more you looked at it, the more eerie it seemed.
"Could it be... some kind of supernatural object?"
Thinking of this, a hint of excitement appeared on Zhang Wu's face. He used to read all sorts of novels, comics, and movies, and who hadn't longed for the supernatural forces often described in these fantasy works?
Perhaps the world we live in is not as simple as it seems on the surface. Hidden beneath the materialist and scientific worldview, there may be another layer belonging to the extraordinary and supernatural.
He considered this strange branch to be an unnatural object because it had absolutely no weight. It looked like a heavy metal object, but it was extremely light when held in his hand; he could only feel it, not its mass.
The key question is, how should this branch be used?
Aside from being weightless and occasionally undulating, it didn't seem to exhibit any other special abilities.
Could the tree branch be a fairy's magic wand, requiring a spell to activate?
After looking for a while longer, Zhang Wu still hadn't found anything. He frowned, stood up, carefully wrapped the branch, and hid it under the bed.
This thing is related to his happiness for the rest of his life. Even if the branch can't bring him extraordinary power, its special material alone will probably fetch a good price.
Afterwards, Zhang Wu changed his clothes, put on a mask and hat to completely cover his face, locked the door, hurriedly went downstairs, and quickly walked in a certain direction.
More than 20 minutes later, he walked to a grove of trees in a nearby park, pretending to take a walk, but secretly observing carefully, unwilling to give up any clues.
That strange tree branch was the one he encountered here; it fell from above and hit him on the head.
The strange object, shaped like a tree branch, was found in a forest, leading him to reasonably suspect that the trees in that forest might have undergone some kind of mutation.
He spent the entire afternoon in this grove, but unfortunately, as dusk approached, he still hadn't gained anything and could only leave disappointed.
Zhang Wu, 25 years old, average-looking but with a good physique, was unemployed immediately after graduating from university. He makes a living by wearing masks and engaging in suggestive videos on short video platforms, but he lies to his parents back home, saying that he has found a decent job.
The future is bleak, and the prospects are bleak.
His youthful ideals, dreams, and passions have long been extinguished by reality. Now, at only 25 years old, he resembles a weary old man.
He deleted major life events like getting married, buying a house, and having children from his life, wanting only to lie down listlessly and drift through each day.
Unexpectedly, he also encountered a miraculous encounter, and his numb heart seemed to be injected with new vitality.
After eating two packs of the cheapest instant noodles in the evening, he took out the strange tree branch again, placed it on the table, and stared at it blankly.
"How exactly should I use it?" He racked his brains, desperately trying to figure it out, even Neglect the fact that his live stream that night was bordering on something offensive.
He really has no interest in showing off his chest and abs in front of the camera right now, since all he can think about is the purpose of this tree branch.
An opportunity that could propel him to new heights was right in front of him, and even if the chance was slim, or even if it was just a delusion born from the blows of reality, he was unwilling to give it up.
We should at least give it a try.
"Perhaps I need to be bolder!"
Zhang Wu thought of the experiences of protagonists in modern urban novels, who would probably eat the treasures they encountered or combine them with their bodies in other ways.
Eat...
Forget it, this thing looks too abstract to eat. If there's still no other way, then he can choose to eat it.
To unite with one's own body...
Zhang Wu rolled up his sleeves, looked at his arms, and then decisively took out his phone, opened a certain dating app, and ordered some guinea pigs.
After all, he is a highly educated person. He wouldn't be foolish enough to personally try something without sufficient experimental and observational data. In movies, those who recklessly rush in without thinking are just cannon fodder paving the way for the protagonist.
After waiting anxiously for more than a day, Zhang Wu couldn't wait to pick up the package when it arrived. Upon opening the package, he found the listless little white mice inside a cage.
He prepared all sorts of simple experimental tools, put on disposable gloves, first took out the strange branch, took a deep breath, then grabbed a white mouse and fixed it in a basin with a string.
Then Zhang Wu took out a knife and tried to cut a piece off the tree branch.
Despite his best efforts, using various tools including a small knife, a kitchen knife, a small hammer, and a large hammer, he couldn't damage the branch in the slightest, not even leaving a mark or scraping off a speck of dust.
Looking at the unmoving branch, Zhang Wu was both annoyed and excited; this thing was definitely a treasure!
But he was immediately troubled; how could he conduct experiments on mice when he couldn't obtain samples?
Inserting twigs directly into the bodies of mice?
That would probably kill the mouse on the spot.
As Zhang Wu was deep in thought, he suddenly heard a faint cracking sound. He saw that a small piece of the strange tree branch on the table had inexplicably broken off, and a fragment the size of a mung bean had fallen off.
It came to me without any effort!
Looking at the strange tree branch, Zhang Wu suddenly felt that he might be the "protagonist," that good luck was on his side, and that the things he wanted to do would always be accomplished in inexplicable ways.
Without further hesitation, he forced the broken pieces of the branch into the mouse's mouth, compelling it to swallow them.
Then Zhang Wu cautiously sat at a distance, focusing his attention on the white mouse that had swallowed the fragment, afraid of missing any detail.
However, he waited for a long time, but there was still no movement; the white mouse was still lively and active.
"Does that mean it's useless to eat it?"
Just as Zhang Wu was about to give up, the white mouse used as the experimental subject suddenly convulsed, and its scream pierced Zhang Wu's eardrums, scaring him so much that he retreated repeatedly.
The squeaking of the white mouse quickly stopped. Zhang Wu clutched his chest, barely managing to calm his nerves, and went forward to check.
Then he saw that the white mouse in the basin was rotten and smelly, as if it had been dead for a long time, and it exuded a terrifying aura.
Seeing this, Zhang Wu's breathing quickened. Although the white mouse had died, which wasn't a good result, it at least proved that the tree branch was indeed extraordinary and possessed some supernatural power.
He carefully dissected the mouse and found that all of its organs were rotting. He also found strange fragments of tree branches inside the mouse's head.
After cleaning up the mouse's body, Zhang Wu took out another mouse. This time, instead of stuffing the fragments into the mouse's mouth, he made a cut in the mouse's skin and then inserted the fragments inside.
The moment the fragments touched the flesh, they suddenly came to life, taking root in the flesh like seeds, wriggling and spreading throughout the mouse's entire body.
The white mouse's fur was dyed black, and its body swelled up unnaturally. It could still move, but its vitality seemed to have been transformed into a deathly stillness that terrified living creatures.
Zhang Wu couldn't find a suitable adjective. After thinking for a while, he felt that the mutated white mouse in front of him was more like a Zombie.
He felt uneasy, but couldn't help going forward to check.
Suddenly, the Zombie rat swung its paw, and the string binding it and the bowl containing it shattered.
Zhang Wu was startled by this sudden turn of events. He hurriedly grabbed a kitchen knife from the side to protect himself, a bead of cold sweat dripping from his forehead, his entire body on high alert.
At that moment, the mutated Zombie rat squeaked, and with its squeak, an unsettling chill emanated from its body.
This tiny rented room seemed to transform into a scene from a horror movie in an instant.
Unfortunately, this didn't last long. The Zombie rat was only powerful for a short while before it collapsed. Its body cracked open, rotting blood splattered everywhere, and it lost all its vitality. The terrifying eeriness also subsided.
Zhang Wu cautiously stepped forward and poked it. After waiting a few seconds and seeing that the Zombie rat did not react, he dared to observe it more closely.
The mouse's organs were still rotting, and strange fragments of tree branches were residing in its brain.
Zhang Wu used tweezers to remove the fragment. Recalling the unsettling feeling he had just experienced from the Zombie rat, he vaguely guessed that this strange tree branch might not be a benevolent object, but rather an evil or demonic creature.
But... Zhang Wu curled his lips into a cold smile. As long as he could live a good life, he didn't care whether it was good or evil!
The very next second that he had this thought, a tweezer suddenly popped out of the twig and shot straight at his forehead.
Even though Zhang Wu reacted immediately and reached out to block, the shards still embedded themselves in the flesh of his palm.
Zhang Wu collapsed to the ground in terror, his face contorted with extreme panic. He wasn't as daring as he'd imagined, not willing to take the plunge. Faced with the unknown, he was truly terrified, afraid he would rot and die like those two lab rats.
The thought of the two mice dying made him too afraid to even faint. He could only barely prop himself up, wanting to go to the hospital to have the fragment removed.
Even if the existence of the strange tree branch is exposed, it doesn't matter. After all, my life is almost over, why should I care about anything else?
Even if a tree branch is a treasure, it's useless if you don't live to enjoy it.
Thinking of this, Zhang Wu felt like crying but had no tears left. He should have known better than to act so recklessly...
The moment his hand touched the doorknob, a sharp, radiating pain shot through his head, as if a thick, long needle were piercing and stirring inside his skull.
Zhang Wu collapsed to the ground in excruciating pain, his body convulsing uncontrollably, tears and snot streaming down his face. He no longer cared about saving face, screaming wildly in an attempt to attract the attention of his neighbors and save his life.
Strangely, the rental apartment wasn't well soundproofed, and despite the loud noise, the neighbors seemed completely oblivious, as if they were all dead.
Zhang Wu didn't have time to think deeply about this strange phenomenon; he simply felt that his neighbors were all too indifferent.
His headache was getting more and more intense, as if some force was brutally examining his memories and eroding and taking over his personal will.
As expected, Zhang Wu couldn't hold on any longer; his eyes rolled back and he collapsed, motionless.
Zhang Wu, who had been unconscious, inexplicably sat up a moment later, his eyes wide open, and another pair of pupils appeared next to his unfocused pupils, curiously looking at his surroundings.
These newly formed pupils only lasted a short while before Zhang Wu's body convulsed again, his entire body rapidly decaying and cracking, completely losing all vitality, and finally he could only be immersed in a pool of putrid blood and corpse water.
"Tsk~, another failure." A cold voice came from the eerie branch on the table.
It was Hu Jiu.
Behind that Black Door was indeed a new world, but the new world had an extremely strong repulsive force against outsiders. Most of Hu Jiu's power remained outside the world, only penetrating as much as a tree branch.
Moreover, his power was greatly suppressed in this world, even his ability to move was limited.
Ideally, one should utilize the bodies of indigenous people to harness their own power, as this would help to confuse the world's rejection mechanisms.
Meanwhile, at the Black Door outside the world, Hu Jiu manipulated the tree branch to hide as if playing a game. Beside him, Du Zhong, now sporting a different skin, scratched his head anxiously, repeatedly asking, "How's the progress?"
Hu Jiu bluntly stated, "The start was unfavorable. When my consciousness tried to possess and control the natives of this world, they often couldn't withstand it and would die instantly."
Du Zhong asked doubtfully, "Is it some kind of mechanism in this world to eliminate outsiders? The reason probably lies with you. Your aura is too evil."
"It's alright, I have plenty of strength and means, as well as patience and time. We'll take our time." Hu Jiu smiled, his true form clinging to the barrier outside the world, greedily staring into its interior.
There was something inside that was wildly drawing him in.
A stench emanated from Zhang Wu's rented room; the smell of rotting corpses was impossible to mask. However, most people had never smelled the stench of a corpse before and simply assumed that Zhang Wu's personal hygiene was terrible.
His neighbors couldn't stand the stench and knocked on the door several times, but no one answered. In the end, they had no choice but to notify the landlord to deal with it.
The landlord couldn't contact Zhang Wu either, so he had to use a spare key to open the door.
The moment the door opened, the landlord screamed in terror at the sight of the room's floor covered in a scene that would make anyone's sanity plummet.
After a while, the sound of police sirens grew louder as they approached, and a cordon was set up in the vicinity.
The police quickly launched an investigation, but the more they investigated, the stranger it seemed. The cause of death was unusual; the body was decomposed far too severely, suggesting the person had been dead for over a month. Yet, just recently, someone had witnessed the deceased, Zhang, picking up a package...