Nonhuman Intelligent Races

Lin Feng was very interested in the headless fellow—or lady—who had suddenly appeared on the street.

He set a chair behind him and sat on the balcony, casually summoning a gust of wind inside the apartment to fetch him an Ice Cola.

Lin Feng had forgotten.

He was in the real world.

Without the blessing of the mountain god's power.

He was a Ninth Rank weakling.

Fighting was fine. With weapons, he could fight his way from one end of the street to the other.

Fetching things with wind? No chance.

Only at the very limit of the Eighth Rank could people begin to manifest their power.

Like the Blood Buddha.

Like Sword Qi.

Lin Feng was currently Ninth Rank.

He could stir up wind, use it to speed up his sword strikes, or blow it into an opponent's eyes.

But having a draft pass through the balcony, enter the kitchen, open the fridge, fetch the Ice Cola inside, and carry it back to his hand?

Impossible.

That was only possible at the Eighth Rank.

With no other choice, he fetched the Ice Cola himself and sat on the windowsill, looking down at the headless fellow—or perhaps lady—to observe the habits of these strange beings.

Last time, he had lacked composure and gotten scared.

This time, he would make up for it.

This fellow showed no intention of harming anyone.

His movements were very mechanical.

He simply walked from one side of the street to the other. Cars and people passed straight through his body, as though they belonged to two different worlds.

The dead and the living did not interfere with each other.

Although Lin Feng's eyesight had improved.

It was nighttime now.

Power restrictions outside his residential complex left the street poorly lit.

He could not see very clearly.

Watching the fellow pace back and forth.

Lin Feng could not say he was afraid.

In the [Western Hunan Blood God] game, Lin Feng was still completely lost, "Eighteen that year, at my old school's dance, standing there like an insignificant ant."

As for what exactly had happened in the Western Hunan Mountains.

He had only a few guesses.

But he had built up his courage.

One little headless fellow could no longer frighten him.

Nor could he shake his composure.

To scare him.

He would have to look up right now and see shadows as tall as hundred-meter buildings walking through the city, blotting out the sky.

See enormous eyes rising from the river every mist-shrouded morning at the docks.

See the daytime streets filled with uncanny shops after nightfall.

Hear the roadside speakers playing terrifying funeral music.

See his everyday neighbors transformed into Ghost Realm Ministers.

If the world became like that.

Now that would be interesting.

Only that enormous shadow deep in the Western Hunan Mountains brought a true sense of oppression.

This headless fellow did not measure up.

After half an hour of watching, the fellow was still pacing back and forth at the street corner.

Lin Feng had not entered a meditative state.

He did not know whether he had leveled up or these fellows were deliberately letting him see them.

Curious, he used the [Qi-Observing Eye].

The dead had no fortune.

It seemed unreasonable, yet somehow expected.

Hey, isn't that discrimination against the dead? Don't dead people have rights?

Just look at that. Is that any way to treat them?

Once he realized the fellow was merely repeating the same rigid motions in the street, Lin Feng stopped paying attention. Just as he was about to get some sleep, then buy rabbits and play the game after waking up.

Something else happened in the street.

A change for the worse.

Another lost fellow, clearly not of this world, came around the corner and, just like the headless fellow stuck in his routine, paced back and forth in the street.

One doing that was no big deal, but two...

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and finished his Ice Cola, watching as a third, fourth, and fifth fellow gradually arrived after the second.

As their numbers increased.

The atmosphere among these fellows gradually grew hostile and unpleasant.

Baleful Energy quietly formed.

In a season hot enough to kill, everyone passing that spot actually felt a chill.

When their gathering grew to over a dozen, they all raised their heads in unison. Apart from the headless fellow, every uncanny being looked at Lin Feng on the balcony.

Lin Feng sensed undisguised malice.

Their combined malice twisted together into a single cord.

Lin Feng tossed aside his ice cola.

"What rotten luck."

He stretched his chest, opened the window, and crooked a finger at them.

"What's up? You boys had a few drinks? Want to come up here and have a go?"

The Western Hunan Mountains.

The livestream had ended.

Nine hours later.

A piercing scream startled Professor Han so badly that he nearly had a heart attack.

Everyone turned toward the tent.

The nearest Security Section officer was the first to rush toward the tent where the sound had come from.

Several figures followed close behind.

As he approached the tent.

A tall figure in a raincoat grabbed the Security Section officer and said hurriedly, anxiously, "Xu Nian, that young girl who follows the professor, has a high fever. Get her down the mountain for an IV, quick!

"If you delay, it might be too late. If something happens..."

"A high fever?"

The officer was also a member of the Search and Rescue Team. He had spent the entire night concentrating on the search and was now utterly exhausted, his eyes bloodshot.

His mind felt numb, too.

Dull and groggy.

Held by that tall figure.

He caught an exceptionally rich perfume scent coming from him.

But hearing what the man said, he rallied once more!

Seriously? Had she gotten caught in the rain?

For some reason, he kept feeling that something was wrong with this tall man, but he could not pin down what it was.

Catching a cold up in the mountains.

This sort of thing.

Could be serious or trivial.

If it was trivial, the fever would pass soon enough.

But if it was serious.

It could kill her!

If something really did happen.

They would be in trouble!

At that thought, the Security Section officer hastily called the others over and rushed toward the tent.

But when they opened the tent, they found Xu Nian screaming.

Seeing the young girl's alarmingly flushed face and sweat-covered forehead, the Security Section officers' hearts lurched.

"This is bad!"

She really did have a fever. But just then, as someone helped Xu Nian out, she pointed toward the nearby Dense Forest.

"Ran Zhihui!"

She screamed her eldest senior brother's name. The first officer to arrive felt as though something had seized his heart in a crushing grip.

"What?"

He turned in horror as well and saw Ran Zhihui wearing one of their regulation raincoats, one hand resting against a large tree.

His face was deathly pale.

The officer went cold all over.

This was the tall man who had grabbed him just now.

Had Ran Zhihui been in the tent area ever since last night?

Then why hadn't he shown himself?

Seeing that the others had spotted him.

Ran Zhihui pulled back his raincoat hood with one hand and twisted his face into an eerie smile at them.

"Don't go."

The officer was the first to react and turned to give chase, but Ran Zhihui proved extraordinarily nimble. Seeing them pursuing him, he turned and vanished into the Dense Forest.

At the same time, lightning suddenly flashed and thunder rolled across the gloomy Western Hunan Sky.

Thunder!