Reflection

"They don't seem like members of a survey team… No, they don't even seem like normal people." Yang Qi frowned. "'Night Fiend,' can you sense any life force from them?"

"I can't. If you block out my vision, they cease to exist in my perception." Wang Xiyi shook her head.

"Tsk, not even energy bodies?" Yang Qi's frown deepened.

"Could they be ghosts?" 0401 gasped, "This is really messed up…"

"The 'ghosts' you're referring to, if they truly existed, would likely be classified as 'Category Xin' Anomalies, commonly known as 'Spirit Type' or 'Energy Type'… but these figures don't even register any energy signature…" Yang Qi shook her head slightly. "That means… they might really… just be 'shadows'."

"Let's get closer," Wang Xiyi said.

"N-no, please don't…" 0401 said with a cowardly expression. "I think we should observe from a distance first?"

"I agree," Sun Hang nodded.

"See, getting too close is too dangerous…"

Before 0401 could finish, Sun Hang interrupted him: "I mean, I agree with 'Night Fiend's' suggestion."

"Huh?" 0401 blinked, shrinking back into the rear seat.

"Are you afraid of ghosts?" Wang Xiyi glanced at him and asked.

"It's… not exactly fear, it's just these shadows… they always give me the creeps," 0401 replied.

"Shadows themselves aren't scary," Sun Hang said.

Sun Hang realized he seemed to possess a new ability to detect Anomalies or infected individuals – his "appetite."

The mutated wolves affected by the Blood Moon, in Sun Hang's view, were at best "edible, but not tasty."

If the Bloody Rose was a mouth-watering dessert, then Wang Xiyi was a peerless delicacy prepared with top-tier ingredients… As for those wolves, they were barely worth the effort, like picking scraps.

And those shadows in the distance, Sun Hang's first impression was: "inedible."

According to the Research Institute, all Anomalies possessed something called a "Meme" (or concept). The Anomalization Virus infected other things by copying the Meme from Anomalies and transmitting it.

The Anomaly designated "Bing Jiu," the "Taotie," fed on these Memes.

Sun Hang couldn't detect any presence of Memes on these shadows.

Therefore, they were not Anomalies, nor had they been infected by the Anomalization Virus.

"If you're scared, you can stay in the car." Wang Xiyi opened the car door and was the first to jump out.

Sun Hang and Yang Qi also got out of the car.

"Wait, wait for me!" Seeing all three had exited the vehicle, 0401 scrambled out.

"Weren't you afraid of those shadows?" Yang Qi looked at him, asking with some curiosity.

"Staying alone in the car is even scarier…" 0401 muttered. "Don't you know that in horror movies, the character left alone is always the first to die…"

"That actually makes some sense," Yang Qi surprisingly didn't object. "At least, if you're with us, we won't just watch you get devoured by an Anomaly."

Wang Xiyi didn't pause after getting out of the car, walking directly towards the figures.

She stopped a few steps away from the swaying figures.

"It really seems like they're just shadows." Wang Xiyi picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it towards the figures.

The pebble passed through the figures without obstruction, landed on the ground, and bounced a short distance further.

Sun Hang also walked closer.

He noticed that these figures were merely humanoid shadows, slightly darker than their surroundings, floating above the ground. They swayed slightly, as if there was an invisible vertical water surface in the air, and these shadows were reflections cast onto this vertical surface. As the water surface rippled, the reflections moved with it.

"Prepare for direct contact experiment." Wang Xiyi turned to look at Yang Qi. "Record it."

"Be careful… huh." Yang Qi opened the portable camera she was carrying and let out a soft sound of surprise.

"These shadows can't be filmed?" Sun Hang had already guessed the answer. He leaned closer and saw that, as expected, the camera screen only showed Wang Xiyi standing there; the figures standing close to her were nowhere to be seen.

"It's like those 'non-existent' scenes you see on TV," Yang Qi nodded slightly. "They can only be observed with the naked eye, not recorded by optical imaging devices."

"Good luck, maybe this is the breakthrough point," Sun Hang nodded.

Wang Xiyi took out two syringes from the small bag on her leg. One was the Enhancement Serum from Sun Hang, and the other was the Beast Transformation Inhibitor that emitted a strong "cilantro smell."

She held the two syringes between her right index finger and thumb, then slowly extended her left hand towards the figures in front of her.

Yang Qi and 0401 held their breath, their eyes intently fixed on Wang Xiyi's movements.

Like the pebble, Wang Xiyi's left hand passed directly through the figure, and nothing happened.

"I can't feel anything," Wang Xiyi said.

"Try stirring it," Yang Qi let out a long sigh and said.

Wang Xiyi gently stirred her right hand, but the shadow didn't change. Its swaying frequency didn't even alter.

She withdrew her hand and shook her head at Yang Qi.

"Let me try," Sun Hang stepped forward. "Since these shadows are somewhat similar to what you see on TV, maybe they'll react to me."

"That's right, you're the one who has 'Resonance'," Yang Qi nodded.

Sun Hang took a deep breath, mimicked Wang Xiyi, and formed his fingers into a blade shape, thrusting it into the chest of one of the figures.

The moment his fingertips touched the figure, Sun Hang felt as if time briefly froze.

Then, he noticed the light and shadows around him changing at a speed imperceptible to human senses. Light and darkness flickered rapidly, as if a long shot recording tens of thousands of days and nights had been compressed into a few seconds.

Sun Hang suddenly realized that the figure he was touching was faintly revealing a human appearance. In these few seconds of rapid light and dark shifts, he quickly transformed from a youth to a middle-aged man with a potbelly, then to a white-haired elder… until he became a stark white skeleton.