Speculating on Traits

Chapter 32: Speculating on Characteristics

After the taxi stopped at the entrance of the residential complex, Shen Xing paid the fare and got out, entering the complex.

It was already dark. He didn't plan to eat out. After returning home, he boiled water and made a packet of instant noodles, adding a sausage he'd sliced. He finished the meal in a flash.

Back at his work desk in the bedroom, he first checked the Mental Antibody progress bar under his eye. It currently showed the third layer of antibodies.

It seemed Song Xiaoyu's mental influence was quite potent. He'd only encountered her for a short while in Room 307, and two of his five antibody layers had already diminished.

If not for the support of these mental antibodies, Shen Xing knew he would have fainted even faster than the male volunteer nicknamed "Big Monster," and his pose on the ground would have been even more spectacular!

It seemed that quickly restoring his mental antibodies was now the key. He chose to gaze at the Blood Pupil Wood Carving, as this would speed up his recovery.

Fighting off the waves of sleepiness, Shen Xing, who had accumulated a lot of experience, quickly focused on the Blood Pupil Wood Carving for half an hour. The Mental Antibody progress bar under his eye filled up to the fourth layer and was advancing towards the fifth.

However, a large wave of sleepiness washed over him. Shen Xing knew this was a sign that the side effects of enhancing his mental antibodies were increasing. Feeling like he could barely hold on and was about to fall asleep, he had no choice but to look away.

Almost at the same moment, his scalp at the back of his head began to itch intensely. The sensation was like dozens of ants suddenly crawling there.

Shen Xing flinched reflexively, reaching up to scratch his scalp vigorously. The corners of his mouth twitched unconsciously, and he gritted his teeth, letting out a hiss.

"Why is my scalp so itchy?" After scratching hard, the intense itch began to subside. "Looks like I need to change my shampoo."

As he finished speaking, Shen Xing suddenly stiffened. He felt like he had encountered a similar situation somewhere before.

A moment later, he murmured to himself.

"Song Xiaoyu?!"

By now, the itching had disappeared, but Shen Xing felt his entire body go numb, as if he had fallen into a dream. At this moment, he began to suspect he was experiencing the strange things Song Xiaoyu had previously gone through.

He unconsciously took out his phone and opened the notepad app. It displayed two documents: "Fake Hong Bin" and "Blood Pupil." Now, he directly created a third document.

Following the format of the previous two documents, he quickly typed.

[Name: Song Xiaoyu (Tentative) Number: 03 Characteristic Description: In the early stages of possession, this ghost causes the possessed person's scalp to itch, with symptoms similar to those of dermatitis, leading people to mistake it for a skin condition. Other characteristics are under further investigation... Resolution: ? Characteristic Strength: ?]

Because he didn't know the exact form of this ghost, Shen Xing couldn't currently determine if he could contain it after creating a wood carving of Song Xiaoyu, so he put a question mark after "Resolution."

However, by speculating on the anomalous characteristics, he could reach over 80% understanding of its traits and lock onto this ghost.

As soon as he finished editing this new document, the familiar silver text flashed in his mind.

[Unknown Anomaly, current characteristic understanding 20%.]

"I guessed right!"

Upon seeing these words, he felt a surge of secret delight. But the next second, an icy chill involuntarily spread through his body.

The understanding of its characteristics was increasing, which meant some of his deductions were correct. In other words, this ghost did indeed cause the possessed person's scalp to itch.

But this also indirectly meant that he had already been possessed by this hidden ghost, or at the very least, "targeted."

Suppressing his slightly panicked heart, he continued to input his speculations into the newly created "Song Xiaoyu" document.

He particularly added new content to the "Characteristic Description" section.

[Characteristic Description: In the early stages of possession, this ghost causes the possessed person's scalp to itch, with symptoms similar to those of dermatitis, leading people to mistake it for a skin condition. Furthermore, if possession is successful or enters a new phase, one symptom will be the development of numerous wrinkles on the neck skin of the possessed person. Other characteristics are under further investigation...]

As soon as this section was edited, the silver text in his mind immediately changed again.

[Unknown Anomaly, current characteristic understanding 30%.]

"Wrong!"

Shen Xing suddenly shook his head, staring at the text he had edited. He then manually deleted the description about wrinkles on the neck skin, changing it to "the symptom is that the possessed person's neck will be completely twisted, possibly even rotating."

The silver text changed again.

[Unknown Anomaly, current characteristic understanding 50%.]

Shen Xing was startled. He hadn't expected that just this one deduction would increase his understanding of this entity by 20%.

At this moment, his scalp began to itch slightly again.

He immediately noticed but didn't reach out to scratch it. Instead, he gently touched the itchy spot on his scalp and hair with his index and middle fingers.

Upon contact, he felt something unusual. He pinched a strand of noticeably longer hair between his two fingers and went to the bathroom mirror. Shen Xing tilted his head and looked closely.

He discovered that at the spot where his scalp was itching, a strand of hair that had grown significantly longer was held between his fingers. This thing was actually causing the hair to grow rapidly!

"What the hell... is this a ghost or hair?"

At this moment, Shen Xing actually had this question.

If there was a problem with his scalp, meaning something had embedded itself in his skin, causing the hair in that area to defy natural laws and suddenly accelerate its growth.

But if his scalp was fine, could it be that this strange, long strand of hair was causing the scalp to itch?

In his rented room, Shen Xing sat at his work desk, lost in thought, constantly pondering.

If any other ordinary person were to experience his bizarre encounter now, they would have long been scared out of their wits, possibly even calling Li Naijing or rushing to the hospital.

But Shen Xing appeared unusually calm. Firstly, he was naturally brave. Secondly, having already gone through two frightening situations, his psychological defenses were much stronger now facing this third one.

Whether it was his scalp or this strand of hair, his body had become strange. At least the rapid growth of his hair was a fact.

Shen Xing carefully pressed his scalp with his fingers again. The itching had temporarily stopped. He returned to his workbench to get his phone and went back to the mirror in the bathroom. While observing the abnormality on the back of his head in the mirror, he continued to input his deductions about the characteristics of this long strand of hair.

Before long, new facts and speculations were added to the description of its characteristics.

[After the scalp itches, the hair in the itchy area will grow rapidly, exceeding other normally growing hair. It is currently unknown how long it will grow, or if this strand of hair will fall out...]

As he wrote this, Shen Xing remembered that Song Xiaoyu originally had long, shoulder-length hair. The first time he met her, Song Xiaoyu had just let down her tied-up bun and was constantly scratching her hair outside Feifei's room 307.

It should have been around that time that she had already been experiencing this abnormality for several days.

In other words, after his scalp first started itching, there should still be a buffer period before he became like Song Xiaoyu is now.

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