Wooden Carving

Chapter 4: Wooden Carving

If Shen Xing hadn't sent himself a photo at the very beginning, Hong Anjie would never have believed that his other father had suddenly vanished just moments ago.

He sat on the edge of the bed near the carving workbench, staring at the empty floor.

Shen Xing, meanwhile, squatted on the ground, carefully examining the spot where Hong Bin had fallen. There wasn't a trace there, except for the wooden carving that had already been picked up.

A small piece of the wooden carving's base had broken off, but the damage wasn't significant. After some sanding, it would be unnoticeable.

"You're saying that person was hit on the head by the falling wooden carving, and then you ran out to open the door for me. In those mere ten seconds, he just disappeared?" Hong Anjie asked, utterly bewildered.

"Yes," Shen Xing nodded decisively.

In reality, he was also very glad he'd taken a photo of the vanished Hong Bin and sent it to Hong Anjie for confirmation. Otherwise, with the person suddenly gone, he wouldn't be able to explain it even if he had a hundred mouths.

Hong Anjie's mind was in turmoil. "When I came out just now, just in case, I asked our neighbor, Uncle Zhao, to keep an eye on the one at my place."

"Why don't you call him now and ask if anything's unusual?" Shen Xing suggested.

As soon as he finished speaking, Hong Anjie's phone began to vibrate. He glanced at the screen, his expression strange. "It's Uncle Zhao calling."

He answered the phone as he spoke, "Hello, Uncle Zhao? What?! I'll be right there. Thank you, Uncle Zhao!"

Hanging up, Hong Anjie stood up anxiously. "Uncle Zhao just said my dad suddenly fainted. He said he's already called an ambulance. I need to rush to the hospital now!"

Shen Xing also stood up. "Is it serious?"

Hong Anjie shook his head. "I don't know. You don't need to come with me. Figure out what's going on here first."

As he spoke, he quickly left and went downstairs.

Listening to the hurried footsteps fading away, Shen Xing still felt like he was dreaming. He stood at the bedroom door, looking back at where Hong Bin had been lying, and couldn't help but feel a chill of fear.

Hong Bin's contorted face, bulging eyes, twisted lips, and bared teeth – the terrifying scene from just now was still vivid in his mind. If he hadn't quickly knocked him to the ground, he would probably have been bitten on the carotid artery.

"What the hell... is this a human, a ghost, or a beast?"

Muttering to himself, Shen Xing went to the kitchen and grabbed a sharp chef's knife. He turned on all the lights in the house and began to search, bit by bit.

After about half an hour, he had searched every corner of the rental, every cabinet, under the sofa, and under the bed. Confident that he saw nothing unusual, he felt slightly relieved.

He returned the knife to the kitchen, tidied up the house, locked the living room door, and meticulously wiped a standing photo frame on the workbench near the window, ensuring it was free of dust.

The photo in the frame was of a young woman with long hair, wearing a white T-shirt, denim overalls, and white sneakers. She leaned against a plane tree with her left shoulder, her smile sweet, but the moment seemed frozen in time.

After cleaning the house, Hong Anjie called not long after. He told Shen Xing that his father was out of danger, had woken up in the hospital, and was speaking and thinking normally, with a good mental state.

Ever since that guy left, Shen Xing had been thinking.

The Hong Bin currently in his room had disappeared after sustaining a head injury. If he were a normal person, he wouldn't have vanished on the spot. This was beyond the ordinary, so the possibility that this Hong Bin was fake was the greatest.

As for the one at Hong Anjie's home, although his behavior seemed abnormal, everything else was normal. For example, he could communicate like a normal person and didn't attack or bite.

As for why a fake Hong Bin appeared and why he attacked, it was unknown for now. With the clues he had, Shen Xing couldn't deduce anything.

After throwing out the trash, he returned to the bedroom and turned on his phone. He found the bizarre photo of Hong Bin he had taken earlier and looked at it for a long time. It seemed no different from the one at Hong Anjie's home.

Shen Xing couldn't help but reach out and touch the half-body sculpture placed beside him.

At that moment, he suddenly froze, his expression astonished. A line of silvery-white text, seemingly within reach, suddenly appeared in his mind.

[Hong Bin, current trait understanding 20%.]

This line of text disappeared quickly, lasting about five seconds.

As usual, ever since he had transmigrated and been reborn, Shen Xing had refused to believe he didn't have a system. He had been trying in various ways to activate his cheat, but to no avail.

He never expected that, looking at the current situation, it seemed his cheat had finally appeared!

Immediately, Shen Xing felt his right eye become dry and itchy. He instinctively reached up and rubbed his eye.

As soon as he lowered his hand, his gaze fell upon the half-body sculpture on the workbench. At that moment, a black shadow was curled up inside the wooden carving. The silhouette of this shadow was exactly like Hong Bin's.

"Hong Bin?" Shen Xing asked in surprise. "He was actually absorbed into the wooden carving?"

The shadow within the wooden carving remained motionless, as if it would never move again, maintaining its curled posture.

Shen Xing tentatively reached out to touch the wooden carving, but he could only feel its surface. The black shadow of Hong Bin seemed to be hidden within the wood.

At this moment, he certainly wouldn't smash the wooden carving in half. Instead, he was curious as to why he could see through the surface of the wooden carving and see Hong Bin curled up inside!

Now it seemed the reason for Hong Bin's sudden disappearance after being hit by the wooden carving had been found.

His right eye started itching again. Shen Xing couldn't help but rub his eye and shift his gaze away from the wooden carving.

Just then, he noticed three lines of semi-transparent text appearing in his peripheral vision.

The left side of the first line of text at the top read: Mental Antibody.

To the right of "Mental Antibody," in a parallel position, was a gray progress bar. The surface of the progress bar displayed the text "Antibody Level: Level 0."

The left side of the second line of text read: Physical Strength.

To the right of "Physical Strength," there was also a progress bar, with the text "Mortal Body 37%" displayed above it.

The third line of text was simple, reading "Latent Skill," but next to these three characters, it directly displayed "None."

Staring at these three lines of text and progress bars, Shen Xing had good reason to suspect that their appearance was related to the wooden carving hitting Hong Bin and then absorbing him into the half-body sculpture.

He did not know why these things had appeared, but it was clear that after the woodcarving struck Hong Bin, Hong Bin had vanished, and his shadow had appeared within the woodcarving, making it visible to him, along with these three inexplicable progress bars.

Although the content of the progress bars was easy enough to understand literally, Shen Xing did not believe they would have appeared had the woodcarving not struck Hong Bin.

The sequence of events must have been that the woodcarving inadvertently captured Hong Bin upon impact, thereby triggering the Woodcarving System and causing the three attribute values to display for him.

Furthermore, the progress bars followed his line of sight, meaning others could not possibly see them; as for the black shadow inside the woodcarving, it was highly likely that only he could see that as well.

"So that's how it's triggered—what a ridiculous system!" Shen Xing muttered to himself.