Shadow Stream

"Yes."

Ke Meng's expression remained unchanged as he looked at the answer on the tabletop. It was just as he had expected.

If they could survive indefinitely outside a body, they would be immortal creatures. There would be no need to parasitize other people's shadows.

"How many others like you are there, who can freely invade and leave people's bodies?"

The two ants spelled out that they did not know.

Ke Meng and Chen Momo exchanged a glance. This meant there were many more strange shadows like them.

"Is there an organization behind you?"

This time, the two ants hesitated again, but under Ke Meng's threats, they still moved.

"Yes."

"What is its name?"

The two ants trembled, then walked in straight lines with sharp turns, tracing "jing," "shan," "shui," and "" on the tabletop.

Ke Meng combined them on paper and arrived at two Chinese characters.

Shadow Stream.

Half an hour later, Chen Momo returned to the foot of her building. Still somewhat dazed, she needed time to adjust to her new understanding of the world.

Upstairs on the second floor, at the desk.

Ke Meng took out a little notebook and organized the important information he had just obtained.

"Without a host, they can survive for a while, but they dissipate over time. Their best way of living is to parasitize, coexist, and hide."

"When a shadow creature first invades someone, the person experiences fatigue and drowsiness, and the shadow enters a long dormant period after it begins parasitizing them. However, this is not an absolute rule. Both women remained awake when they transferred into ants without shadows."

"The mysterious organization in Octopus City is called Shadow Stream. Its size is unknown. Wen Yushan and Mi Jingyun said they were recruits brought into Shadow Stream and did not know much."

After recording all this, Ke Meng closed his notebook and looked at the sky outside the window.

Sunlight pierced the clouds, bathing Whale City's streets in rich gold. The buildings seemed to have donned golden coats.

A moment later, the sunlight grew less brilliant, and the pale gold faded.

Did something just happen?

Ke Meng realized that the golden light had not been ordinary sunlight.

Just then, text appeared in the system.

Resistance +0.1

This meant Ke Meng had just experienced a wave of mental interference. After successfully resisting it, his resistance had increased by 0.1.

Something must have happened in Whale City.

Ke Meng looked at the distant streets outside his window, then gazed at the sky. The sun still gave off light and heat, seemingly no different from an ordinary sun.

The area illuminated by that golden sunlight had stretched from somewhere in the distance all the way to his neighborhood.

Ke Meng messaged Chen Momo while staring into Big-Faced Cat's eyes.

Fifteen seconds later, Big-Faced Cat had not imparted any new strange knowledge. Apparently, there was nothing new and strange near Ke Meng.

Beep, beep.

Chen Momo had replied.

"The sunlight was really bright for a few seconds just now. It felt warm. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to ask how it felt to you. I suspect something strange has appeared in Whale City too," Ke Meng said.

"Should we be careful?"

"If it felt warm, it probably wasn't dangerous," Ke Meng said.

Ke Meng had resisted the mental interference, so he had not felt any warmth. He had only thought the brightness was somewhat unusual. Without the system's resistance notification, he would not have noticed it either.

There seemed to be things hidden beneath the surface of this peaceful city.

Ke Meng stared absently at the sun on the horizon.

Returning to his computer desk, Ke Meng began considering which review video to release.

He pulled up the system's list of optional missions. The normal mission had changed. It no longer required ten thousand viewers; the requirement had gone up a level.

Normal mission: Review one strange thing and have at least thirty thousand viewers watch it. Reward: Resistance +2.

The hard mission was gone, though. Shadow-Grasping Hand was genuinely useful, and Ke Meng would have loved to get another similar skill. Unfortunately, only the normal mission was available now.

If I need thirty thousand viewers, I can post Tangyuan's short review.

For Tangyuan's review video, Ke Meng chose to keep his trump cards under wraps. He would not show Pear Blossom Needle Storm or Devour, only the visual spectacle of his enlarged form.

The new review video had already been edited, with the footage of Pear Blossom Needle Storm cut out. Ke Meng did not need to make any changes himself. He could upload it directly to Bilibili and wait for approval.

After clicking upload, Ke Meng sat in his room with nothing to do for two minutes.

He had intended to watch some videos, but whenever he thought about that golden sunlight sweeping across the streets, he could not suppress his curiosity.

He simply went downstairs, stuffed Tangyuan into the back seat, and drove around the streets, focusing on those that had been illuminated by the golden sunlight.

Ke Meng's intuition told him that strange things were happening in Whale City too.

This was the city where he had been born and raised. He did not want to sit at home knowing nothing. If the shadow creatures from Octopus City came here to cause trouble, he could lend a hand and rid the public of a menace.

He first drove to the streets near the central shopping mall. There were plenty of visitors wearing masks, shopping in pairs and groups or sharing meals, all with smiles on their faces.

Ke Meng drove slowly through these streets but saw nothing unusual.

However, as he passed near a museum, Ke Meng saw two squads of police blocking the road with checkpoints and "No entry" traffic signs.

His car slowly passed the blocked intersection, and he glanced toward the museum several times.

An armed officer also looked at Ke Meng, his piercing gaze seemingly sizing him up.

"Officer, what happened over by the museum?" Ke Meng boldly leaned out of his window to ask.

"There's a fugitive on the loose near the museum. Don't linger. Go home," the officer said, waving for Ke Meng to leave quickly.

"What does the fugitive look like? If I see him, I can call you," Ke Meng asked.

The armed officer froze for a moment. This young man certainly had some nerve.

Most people hurried away when they heard a fugitive was on the loose nearby, afraid of becoming a target.

Yet here he was, volunteering to help without the slightest fear.

"You can follow the Whale City Police's official Weibo account. We've posted the latest wanted notice there, including his photo. If you run into him, stay well away. Make sure you're safe before calling the police," the officer said.

Ke Meng made an OK gesture to show he understood.

After driving away from that street, Ke Meng pulled over briefly and used his phone to follow the Whale City Police's official Weibo account.

Sure enough, there was a wanted notice posted ten minutes earlier.

The photo showed a rough-looking man with a square face, broad eyebrows, and a rather high nose bridge. His eyes wandered, as though his gaze had no focus.

The wanted notice on the official account only described him as a highly intelligent criminal who had fled Octopus City. His methods were extremely covert, and he was the principal culprit in several locked-room murders. He was also highly skilled in unarmed combat. Citizens were urged not to approach him if they saw him and to prioritize their own safety.