Causal Medium

"Old World Miracle. What is this?"

Ji Xun immediately became alert.

It was obvious that this cellar hid some mysterious existence beneath the surface!

He kept a close eye on his status panel, ready to retreat at the slightest sign of trouble.

But after observing for a moment, there seemed to be no danger.

Within the [JOKER] Trickster entry, there was an attribute that gave him a chance to understand demonic whispers.

It seemed that by staying in the cellar for a long time and hearing the demonic whispers, which were like tinnitus, more often, he had gained Enlightenment.

It even allowed him to understand some meanings: sacrifice, pleasure, faith, ancient gods.

These weren't just words, but an indescribable bestowal of cognition, seemingly pointing to things beyond human comprehension.

A miracle?

Ji Xun mused thoughtfully.

Although he didn't understand what the indescribable thing was, the phenomenon it manifested was mental pollution.

No wonder his head had been buzzing earlier.

Ji Xun thought of something and reached into a hidden pocket in his pants, touching the [Clown's Myriad Mask] card. He silently chanted, "Resolve!"

The mask had resistance to various mystical powers. Since it was mental pollution, this mask would be useful.

As soon as he put on this Ancient Relic, his senses immediately became clear.

And he immediately made a new discovery.

"As expected, something was hidden..."

Without the interference of the indescribable external factor, the cellar looked completely different to Ji Xun's eyes.

It was as if a blurry filter had been removed. In his vision, the dark energy on each of the corpses seemed to be drawn by a mysterious force, converging on an inconspicuous wall brick.

Ji Xun walked over and looked at the brick in front of him, which he hadn't noticed before.

Because of the existence of cognition, it had manifested.

Upon focusing his gaze, he gained Enlightenment.

[Causal Medium]

Details: An energy condensate containing powerful dark Extraordinary Traits; a spiritual medium that touches Old World Divine Miracles; a flesh-and-blood evil material with a trace of divinity.

"This is also an Extraordinary material?"

Although Ji Xun didn't know what this amber-like substance was, he could see its terrifying Extraordinary Traits.

If the uncontrolled Extraordinary Trait energy overflowing from these corpses was 1 unit, like stars; then Ji Xun felt that this dark amber substance was at least 100, as bright as the moon!

What surprised him even more was that this thing's Extraordinary Traits seemed to be directly consumable?

Ji Xun looked at the overflowing Extraordinary Traits and wondered if [Feast] could also be used.

He cautiously reached out and touched it.

Then, as if he had discovered a new continent, his expression froze.

The surging Extraordinary Traits poured into his body.

"You used Feast to devour, Constitution +0.021"

"You used Feast to devour, Strength +0.018"

"You used Feast to devour, Resilience +0.009"

"You used Feast to devour, Dark Affinity +0.04"

"..."

"It really works!"

Ji Xun looked at his rapidly increasing stats, his eyes instantly lighting up.

What a pleasant surprise!

The efficiency was astonishing, far exceeding his previous devouring of any corpse, by dozens of times.

The purity and richness of the Extraordinary Traits were unlike anything Ji Xun had ever seen!

Looking at the changes in his stats after devouring, he roughly calculated that if he could devour this entire piece, his Strength, Agility, Constitution, and other attributes would likely exceed 3.

What did it mean for almost all attributes to be more than three times their current value?

His physical combat power could be more than ten times greater!

This was definitely a treasure that could bring about a leap in his strength.

"What a good thing..."

Ji Xun's mind raced. This was the first time he had encountered such a strange and evil mystical object.

But poison could also cure diseases. What was evil to others was a great tonic to him.

Seeing the medium, he now understood what had happened to these corpses.

The corpses in these cellars seemed to be the result of some evil ritual, which then gathered extraordinary traits and condensed into this [Causal Medium].

But for some reason, it was discovered by the company's field agents, and they fled in a hurry, not having time to take it with them.

It was unclear who set up this ritual, but there was no need to guess; sacrificing living people was clearly not the act of any good person.

Perhaps some evil sorcerer, or a cult of outer gods.

Therefore, taking this [Causal Medium] would inevitably lead to big trouble.

In this instant, the sin and disorder of Sinless City seemed to offer a glimpse.

But...

Big trouble?

No, no, no.

Ji Xun hadn't considered that at all from beginning to end.

Ever since he discovered that the extraordinary trait of this thing could be devoured, his thoughts had been deducing all the risks he would face after taking this medium.

The cellar had already been searched. The two men in suits outside clearly didn't know about this thing, and they wouldn't know even if they took it.

The corpses hadn't been dead long; the cellar must have been raided, and they hadn't had time to move the medium.

And if the person who set up the ritual wasn't dead, they would definitely know.

When he returned and discovered the item was gone, the first thing he would suspect would be that the field agents of Golden Oak Security Company had taken it.

If "that person" could confirm that the company's field agents hadn't taken the item, they would inevitably turn their suspicions to the corpse handlers.

A series of cause-and-effect scenarios played out in Ji Xun's mind.

But the problem wasn't that big.

He needed this [Causal Medium]; he wouldn't sell it, nor would he keep it as a collectible.

After all, you catch the thief with the stolen goods.

If he absorbed this thing, wouldn't there be no evidence left in the end?

The only uncertain factor was that it would take some time to absorb.

There would definitely be risks.

But compared to the rewards, it was absolutely worth the gamble!

Ji Xun's thoughts made a decision in an instant.

Gibb, not far away, was still meticulously handling the corpses under the dim light, paying no attention to this side.

With such evil material, he had no psychological burden in taking it.

Ji Xun wouldn't hesitate once he decided.

He carefully took down the [Causal Medium] and then quietly stuffed it into the abdomen of one of the corpses, hiding it within the flesh and blood.

Usually, after burning, no one would touch these corpses again, so hiding the item inside a corpse would be very safe.

After this, the corpse handling work proceeded as usual.

The three corpse handlers, Dong Jiu and the others upstairs, had no intention of coming down to the cellar to help, so Ji Xun and Gibb busied themselves with processing these sixteen corpses.

After more than half an hour of work, they finally moved the sixteen body bags upstairs one by one.

Captain Lu called out to everyone, "Alright, we're done!"

Hearing this, the two men in suits who had been guarding the door also walked in.

They counted the eighteen corpses on the ground and showed no intention of opening the body bags to check.

Ji Xun thought they had passed smoothly, but just then, the pale-faced man in a suit suddenly took out an antique camera and casually said, "I'll take a photo of the scene."

Before anyone could react, he pressed the shutter towards the corpse handlers in the room with a "click."

"Pfft~"

The flash illuminated a dazzling light and white smoke, blinding them for a moment.

Even more bizarrely, the moment the light flashed, the entire room seemed to be swept by some mysterious power.

Their souls felt light and airy.

In this strange state, the pale-faced man in a suit's low voice was heard asking, "Did you discover anything unusual while handling the corpses?"

Dong Jiu and the other two, along with Gibb, all shook their heads and responded as if hypnotized, "No."

On the edge of the crowd, Ji Xun looked at their expressions, no different from the other four, and mumbled a response.

But he muttered to himself, "It really came..."

When he came up earlier, in order to keep his hidden [Causal Medium] from being discovered, he had already guessed that some situation might arise.

For example, a hypnotic inquiry.

So, he had put on the Clown's Myriad Mask when he came up.

I didn't expect this to happen.

But Enlightenment already showed what just occurred: "You resisted a memory alteration."

The mask, combined with the "JOKER" Trickster trait, can resist any cognitive alteration not exceeding the rules of the Mark.

It was a lucky shot, thanks to being prepared.

Hearing this, the man in the white suit didn't seem to care at all. He took out a photo-like card from his camera and flicked it.

It was as if some of the memories of a few corpse collectors had been extracted by this photograph.

They had already searched the place, so it was unlikely they missed anything.

The questioning was just a formality.

The man in the white suit was very familiar with the procedure. After questioning, he uttered a sentence with strong psychological suggestion: "You just collected some ordinary corpses. Forget the details in the cellar; there's nothing worth remembering."

As soon as he said this, it was as if some magic took hold. The expressions of the corpse collectors visibly stiffened for a moment, and they nodded as if lost in thought.

As the white smoke from the flash gradually dissipated, their eyes slowly refocused.

Ji Xun's professional acting didn't reveal any flaws.

Erasing memories?

It seemed like a necessary security procedure for these field agents.

Ji Xun felt he could understand it with a little thought.

Due to the nature of their profession, corpse collectors frequently encountered bodies and crime scenes, some of which involved sensitive incidents. However, if even these low-level temporary workers knew about some top-secret events, then the entire city might know.

It was normal to have security procedures.

He just hadn't expected that this world had such a magical method as "memory alteration through photography."

After taking the photo, the bearded man lost all interest in staying in the dilapidated house. He waved his hand and said, "Alright, you can take the bodies away."

Captain Lu also seemed to have completely forgotten what happened after the photo was taken. He smiled and said, "Captain Lu, we'll be leaving then."

Field agents were officially employed by the company, unlike temporary workers like corpse collectors. But Dong Jiu had already submitted an application to join the field team, and they might become colleagues in the future, so it was natural to try and get acquainted beforehand.

Ji Xun played the role of a qualified subordinate throughout, helping to load all eighteen corpses onto the truck.

Once they were in the truck, Dong Jiu and the others seemed to snap out of that abnormal mental state.

Dong Jiu, who was at Curse Power level seven and the strongest among the corpse collectors, seemed to sense something. He muttered to himself, "That's strange, I feel like I've forgotten something. Did I forget to take something?"

It was as if he had done something in his memory, but in the next moment, he had no impression of it at all.

The others had already completely forgotten.

No one paid it any mind.

The steam truck carrying the bodies sped through the streets.

Inside the carriage, Ji Xun remained silent.

After experiencing this, he realized that the depths of Sinless City were far greater than they appeared.

And the profession of corpse collector was not as ordinary as it seemed.

He had previously wondered why, after encountering so many bodies and crime scenes daily, he hadn't heard Dong Jiu or the other veteran employees talk about any bizarre missions.

Now, it seemed, perhaps it wasn't that there weren't any.

It was more likely that they had handled similar bizarre events in the past, but they simply didn't remember.

Thinking of this, a hidden glint appeared in Ji Xun's eyes. He suddenly felt that this job was becoming more and more interesting.

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