Improving Traits

Chapter 42: Improving Traits

[Name: Skin Face

Number: 03

Trait Description: During the early stages of possession, this anomaly causes the possessed person's scalp to itch. The symptoms are much like those of scalp inflammation, leading people to mistake it for a skin disease. If the possession succeeds or enters a new stage, it produces a face identical to that of the possessed person, which clings to their body and intermittently controls their actions. During this time, the possessed person's neck twists and rotates, and there is a chance the anomaly will infect nearby humans.

Method of Resolution: ■■■■■

Trait Strength: ?]

After adding the trait description for Skin Face back into the third document, Shen Xing stared at the text, lost in thought.

A moment later, he added another line between "Name" and "Number."

[Name: Skin Face

Type: Monster

Number: 03

...]

Zheng Ruijun was definitely more experienced than he was, and his analysis made a lot of sense. Shen Xing couldn't determine whether Skin Face was a ghostly entity or something else.

So he decided to temporarily classify it as a "monster." For now, anything that didn't seem to be a ghostly entity would be referred to as a "monster."

After finishing his current deductions about Skin Face, the silver text in his mind showed that his understanding of its traits was at 95%.

In other words, he was just 5% short of fully understanding Skin Face's traits.

Shen Xing was a little ambitious. Judging by the way Skin Face manifested, it definitely had a latent skill.

So, if he carved a wooden figure of Skin Face and absorbed its traits, the more he understood them, the greater his chances of gaining a "latent skill."

He wondered if he could reach 100% understanding before absorbing the traits.

After thinking for a while, he added the following sentence to the description of Skin Face's traits.

[Skin Face is not a ghostly entity.]

He waited a moment, but no prompt appeared in his mind.

He then revised the sentence, rephrasing it based on Zheng Ruijun's suggestion.

[Skin Face is actually not a ghostly entity, but an unknown anomaly.]

He waited again, but still no text appeared in his mind.

He had tried this before, in fact. It seemed that no matter how he guessed what the anomaly was—a monster or a ghostly entity—his description had no bearing on how well he understood its traits and wouldn't change the percentage.

Shen Xing simply tried to deduce Skin Face's traits again.

[During this time, the possessed person's neck twists and rotates, and there is a chance the anomaly will infect nearby humans. Eventually, it can infect and control as many people as it is capable of. They lie low among ordinary people and gradually become indistinguishable from them.]

As soon as he finished editing the passage, the silver text in his mind changed.

[Skin Face, current trait understanding: 99%.]

Looking at the number, Shen Xing was speechless.

For the next hour, he tried every kind of guess and deduction he could think of, but he still couldn't reach that final 1%.

It seemed there was some unknown reason he could never fully understand this anomaly's traits.

Shen Xing then turned his attention to the words "Trait Strength."

So far, he had encountered three anomalies: Fake Hong Bin, Blood Pupil, and Skin Face.

Based on his encounters with them, Blood Pupil was the most powerful, followed by Skin Face, and then Fake Hong Bin.

Blood Pupil's physical attacks were bizarre. Once it latched onto his skin, it left his entire body paralyzed and unable to move. It could also propel itself with the optic nerves and seize a creature's eye socket to control its body.

Its mental attacks had also steadily weakened Shen Xing's Mental Antibody.

Skin Face's physical attacks weren't strong, but its mental attacks—or rather, the extent of its mental influence—were more powerful than Blood Pupil's.

As for Fake Hong Bin, it had almost no mental attacks or influence. Once Shen Xing realized something was wrong with him, the guy hadn't stood a chance in a fight.

Of course, Fake Hong Bin could influence the real Hong Bin's actions. If the two of them were together, whether Shen Xing could still win was another matter.

After ranking them this way, Shen Xing decided to use letters to represent their trait strengths.

Fake Hong Bin would be "F-Rank," Skin Face "E-Rank," and Blood Pupil "D-Rank."

Since there were no stronger anomalies to compare them against, he would use these rankings for now and adjust them later if he had the chance.

After making all the changes, Shen Xing carefully reread the descriptions of Fake Hong Bin and Blood Pupil.

[Name: Fake Hong Bin

Type: Ghostly Entity

Number: 01

Trait Description: This anomaly can copy a human from the current world and become exactly like them, then continue living as that person. The current target is Hong Bin. For the most part, it remains silent, rarely speaks, and seldom expresses its desires to the outside world, but it can indirectly control the real Hong Bin...

Method of Resolution: ■■■■■

Trait Strength: F-Rank]

[Name: Blood Pupil

Type: Monster

Number: 02

Trait Description: This is a blood-red eye that can move on its own and seems to have a mind of its own. It originally belonged to Lin Wanru. After its owner died, it transformed into a Blood Pupil. It can separate from its original body and exist independently, using the optic nerve to propel itself. So far, it seems capable of parasitizing humans or animals by taking over their eye sockets.

Method of Resolution: ■■■■■

Trait Strength: D-Rank]

Shen Xing wasn't sure whether Blood Pupil should be classified as a "ghostly entity" or a "monster." Since it had come from Lin Wanru's eye, it could be considered a ghostly entity.

But judging by the way Blood Pupil manifested, "monster" seemed more fitting.

In any case, there was no definite classification yet. If he hadn't been able to contain Blood Pupil, he would probably have become its third host. So for now, he'd treat it as a monster.

Shen Xing turned off his phone screen and rubbed his aching neck. Then he leaned his head back and looked out the window beside his workbench, taking in the view outside.

He understood Skin Face's traits better than the others, but he hadn't carved a wooden figure of it yet. He would have to finish the carving before he could preserve and absorb its traits.

Still, he couldn't just keep waiting. Based on the anomalies he'd encountered so far, each posed its own danger, and he needed to improve his ability to survive as soon as possible.

He decided to keep deducing Blood Pupil's traits and absorb them, first increasing his Physical Strength. If he could gain a latent skill too, all the better.

He didn't know whether the strange power in his hands would grow stronger, but if it did, then being able to smash the head of a Fitness Coach Killer the instant he encountered one would be better than anything.

Shen Xing's only concern was that he might run into an anomaly with powerful physical attacks someday. If his Physical Strength didn't improve, one like that would be very difficult to deal with.

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