chsdbacks Page 408
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next second.
Zhou Ye's senses shifted from the warm and fragrant activity room to a completely unfamiliar environment.
The air was filled with the earthy smell and the coolness of the night.
He found himself standing on a desolate hillside in the middle of nowhere. The night was deep, and he was surrounded by sparse trees and weeds. In the distance, there seemed to be an abandoned cemetery.
His gaze was instantly drawn to the scene below.
Less than fifty meters away in an open space, a seemingly useless boy wearing an ordinary T-shirt was frantically dodging the attacks of a stiff but incredibly strong zombie.
Behind the zombie, a girl dressed in simple sportswear, with long black hair, delicate features but empty eyes, was lying on the ground in an extremely undignified posture, her hands stuck in the soil, seemingly controlling the zombie.
"Ahhh! Don't come any closer!" the boy screamed in terror, scrambling to avoid the zombie's swipe of claws.
"You little rascal, don't run!" the girl shouted in a thick local accent, her words muffled and unclear.
This classic scene brought a knowing smile to Zhou Ye's face.
Zhang Chulan, Feng Baobao, and that unlucky zombie who was treated like a toy.
It seems he arrived at just the right time, precisely at the beginning of the story.
However, his gaze did not linger on Zhang Chulan and the zombie for long, but instead passed over them and landed on several figures next to a black sedan further behind.
A man dressed in a courier company uniform, who looked shrewd and capable.
There were also a few with calm demeanors, clearly subordinates of the extraordinary person.
But Zhou Ye's gaze eventually returned to the disheveled woman lying on the ground, her eyes vacant, as if she were out of place in the world.
He could sense that the flow of "Qi" within this woman was completely different from that of others. It was an almost instinctive, perfectly harmonious state, almost indistinguishable from the natural world. Vast, ancient, and pure.
"Feng Baobao..."
A playful smile curved at the corners of Zhou Ye's lips.
"Immortality, a pure soul, blank memories, and extraordinary skills... That's quite interesting."
Chapter 372 Interesting Soul Samples
The night breeze carried the unique scent of earth and humus, which was much fresher to Zhou Ye than the air in the old school building of Demon High School, which was a mixture of black tea, the scent of young girls, and magical honey.
He didn't deliberately hide himself; he simply stood there naturally, like a rock or a tree in the night, blending into his surroundings. The "farce" below unfolded slowly and clearly in his eyes, every detail captured and analyzed by his senses.
The girl named Liu Yanyan, dressed in a tight-fitting suit, was performing a secret technique of the Xiangxi Corpse-Driving lineage. However, under Zhou Ye's analysis using the Herrscher of Reason core, the essence of this so-called secret technique was peeled away layer by layer.
"A low-level soul link," Zhou Ye commented in his mind.
The girl forcibly bound the remaining fragments of the soul within the corpse through some kind of spiritual imprint, then used her own "Qi" as energy to power the lifeless body. The entire process was fraught with energy waste and incoordination. Energy was lost at a rate exceeding 70% along the way from her body to the corpse. The corpse's stiff movements were not entirely due to post-mortem muscle rigidity, but rather to the intermittent energy supply and severe delays in command transmission.
This is like using an old copper wire to power a precision instrument. The voltage is unstable, the signal is distorted, and it's lucky if it even works.
"The use of the soul is appallingly crude. It is merely treated as a switch that can be enslaved, completely failing to understand the essence of the soul as a collection of higher-dimensional information."
His gaze then shifted to the terrified boy, Zhang Chulan, who was jumping around.
Within the boy's body flowed two distinct types of "Qi." One was extremely yang and powerful, originating from thunder magic, filled with an aura of explosiveness and destruction, yet he suppressed it fiercely, allowing it to form only a weak protective layer on his skin. The other was yin and unpredictable, deeply hidden in his dantian, likely the so-called "Qi Body Source Flow." This power was purer and more immense, but it was sealed by layers of shackles, only unconsciously leaking out in a trace when the boy faced life-or-death situations, helping him escape danger.
A miser unaware of his hidden treasure, a complete novice with a top-of-the-line processor who only uses it for playing Minesweeper. Zhou Ye could even "see" the masculine energy of thunder magic surging and crashing within the boy's body, creating a significant repulsive reaction against his own life magnetic field. If this continued, even if he wasn't killed by his enemies, this power would slowly erode his foundation.
"The Golden Light Mantra... a method of self-defense, yet he used it as a defensive shell to passively take hits. The Yang Five Thunders... an offensive technique, yet he used it as a scare swatter. What a waste of talent."
Zhou Ye shook his head, having lost most of his interest in the chase. From the very beginning, his attention was firmly fixed on the woman lying on the ground.
Feng Baobao.
In his perception, this woman was an absolute anomaly, a contradictory entity that could not be defined by common sense.
Her body, at the cellular level, was brimming with an almost terrifying vitality. Every cell was undergoing metabolism in a perfect, near-zero-loss manner. Time seemed to stand still for her, leaving no trace of aging. This form of life transcended mere "immortality," approaching a state of "eternity."
However, her soul presented a completely opposite sense of incompleteness.
In Zhou Ye's view, a normal person's soul is a complex flame burning with emotions and desires, carrying memories and personality. Feng Baobao's soul, however, is like a glass bead polished too clean—pure, transparent, yet empty. There is no accumulation of memories, no color of personality, and even the most basic emotional fluctuations are negligible.
It wasn't a blank sheet of paper, but a special medium that had been repeatedly erased and written on, eventually wearing down even the paper's own fibrous structure.
"Not human, not undead, and not simply an energy aggregate..." Zhou Ye's Herrscher of Reason core was operating at an unprecedented speed, with a massive flow of data surging deep within his consciousness.
"It's more like a biological terminal that has been completely formatted, retaining only the lowest-level core drivers and operating system, and being given the highest execution privileges."
Her existence exists outside the causal chain of this world. Zhou Ye attempts to trace back her past, only to find himself lost in a chaotic fog. The power of time has distorted her in a strange way, making her a person without a "past."
Zhou Ye had only witnessed this phenomenon in a handful of beings who had touched upon the fundamental laws. But those beings were all ancient gods or ancient rulers who dominated the heavens. The Feng Baobao before him, however, was merely a woman dressed sloppily with empty eyes.
"Interesting, very interesting."
This unknown was something that piqued Zhou Ye's interest more than any delicious food or any battle. He even felt an urge to immediately bring Feng Baobao back to his laboratory and use the most sophisticated instruments to thoroughly analyze her from the atomic level to the soul dimension.
Just as Zhou Ye was immersed in his analysis, Feng Baobao, who was lying on the ground below, suddenly made a slight movement. She raised her head slightly, and her empty eyes glanced at the hillside where Zhou Ye was without warning.
She saw nothing but darkness. But a raw, animalistic instinct told her something "unusual" about this graveyard. She tilted her head, seemingly confused, but quickly turned her attention back to the zombie she was controlling.
"Oh?" Zhou Ye was somewhat surprised.
His presence was concealed, not merely by hiding his aura, but by assimilating himself into his environment on a conceptual level. Theoretically, unless one was of equal rank or possessed a special causal perception, it would be impossible for anyone to detect him.
This Feng Baobao is indeed more special than he expected.
The battle below was nearing its end. Zhang Chulan was cornered by the zombies at the edge of a pit. He slipped and was about to be grabbed by those claws covered in lividity.
Xu Si, standing not far away beside the black sedan, frowned, ready to intervene. He couldn't let Zhang Chulan, this important "target," get into trouble here.
Zhou Ye felt that this prelude should come to an end. There was no more new information to gather by continuing.
He had no intention of showing himself; he simply stood there, raised his right hand, and casually snapped his fingers at the menacing zombie below.
"Snapped."
A soft sound was swallowed up by the howling night wind and Zhang Chulan's scream, barely audible.
However, in the next instant, the whole scene froze eerily.
The zombie that was lunging fiercely at Zhang Chulan abruptly stopped in mid-air, less than ten centimeters from Zhang Chulan's face. It remained in its forward-leaning posture, like a sculpture that had been paused.
Zhang Chulan's terrified scream caught in his throat, turning into a soft "uh". His eyes widened as he stared at the rotting face and sharp nails so close to him, his mind going completely blank.
Liu Yanyan's face paled. She was horrified to discover that the mental link between her and the zombie had been forcibly severed by a domineering force she couldn't comprehend at all. It felt like the strings of a puppet in her hands had been cut cleanly at the root by an invisible pair of scissors.
The most bizarre thing happened.
Under everyone's astonished gaze, the zombie, suspended in mid-air, slowly and smoothly retracted its claws and adjusted its posture. It turned around in mid-air, facing the dark hillside where Zhou Ye was, and landed on its feet.
Then, it straightened its tattered clothes and, with an impeccable and perfectly standard posture, bowed deeply to the darkness at a ninety-degree angle.
His movements were meticulous, full of humility and reverence for those in positions of authority.
The entire cemetery was deathly silent.
Chapter 373 The Terrified All-Around Traveler
The zombie's bow was like a silent, heavy hammer blow, striking the hearts of everyone present.
Zhang Chulan sat blankly on the ground, mouth agape, forgetting to breathe. He stared at the corpse that had wanted to tear him apart just a moment ago, now behaving as respectfully as a hotel doorman welcoming a leader on an inspection tour. His worldview was collapsing, rebuilding, and then collapsing again at an unprecedented speed.
Hiding behind the tombstone, Liu Yanyan trembled uncontrollably. That wasn't her magic! She was merely the manipulator, but now, that "tool" had developed its own will, expressing respect to an unknown entity. This was beyond her comprehension, sending a chill down her spine.
"What's going on?" Xu Si's usually nonchalant expression froze completely. He exchanged a glance with Xu San beside him, both seeing deep shock and confusion in each other's eyes.
Feng Baobao remained lying on the ground, her head tilted to the side, and for the first time, a glimmer of "curiosity" appeared in her empty eyes.
In this frozen air, a figure slowly walked down the dark hillside.
He was dressed in simple casual clothes, his hands in his pockets, and his steps were as relaxed as if he were strolling in his own backyard. The moonlight outlined his handsome features, and a faint, amused smile graced his face.
He walked over to the still-bowing zombie, reached out, and patted its stiff shoulder in a familiar tone, as if soothing a pet.
"Alright, that's enough with the formalities. Now stand aside."
Upon hearing this, the zombie actually straightened up, marched in perfect step to a nearby open space, and stood there ramrod straight, motionless, like a loyal guard on duty.
This scene made Xu Si's eye twitch violently.
"Be on guard!" Xu San shouted in a low voice. He and Xu Si immediately flanked Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao, protecting them from behind. Several "Na Du Tong" employees who had been hiding in the shadows also revealed themselves, subtly surrounding the man who had suddenly appeared.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
"Who are you?" Xu Si stared intently at Zhou Ye, his voice hoarse with extreme vigilance. "Interfering in our All-Knowing Mission and attacking ordinary people, isn't that against the rules?"
He deliberately pointed out "all-knowing" and "rules," attempting to put pressure on the other party using the generally accepted order in the world of supernatural beings.
However, Zhou Ye completely ignored his questioning. His gaze bypassed the Xu brothers and landed directly on Feng Baobao. That look wasn't that of someone looking at a woman, nor an opponent, but rather... the look of a scientist seeing a flawless rare mineral, or rather, the look of a top programmer seeing a piece of low-level code they'd never seen before, a work of art.
Passionate, focused, and full of a desire to explore.
"A broken soul, yet life force approaching eternity... the separation of body and soul, the paradox of existence and causality..." Zhou Ye seemed to be talking to himself, yet also explaining to someone, "Interesting, a very interesting sample. If we can extract her life factors for analysis, perhaps we can add a completely new species classification to my life code database."
His words were soft, but every syllable reached the ears of Xu San and Xu Si clearly.
"Sample," "extraction," "analysis," "species classification"... these cold words made Xu San's heart sink. This man in front of him didn't treat Bao'er like a human being at all!
Xu Si's face also turned extremely ugly. He clenched his fists, and the Qi within his body began to surge restlessly. Regardless of who the other party was, this attitude of treating Feng Baobao as experimental material had crossed his bottom line.
"I'm not here to cause trouble."
Just as the atmosphere was about to explode, Zhou Ye withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the wary Xu Si. He smiled, a clean and pure smile that sent chills down Xu Si's spine.
“I’m just a tourist passing through, and I happen to be a little interested in the local specialties of your world,” Zhou Ye said casually. “For example… the Eight Extraordinary Skills.”
When he casually uttered the words "Eight Extraordinary Skills," time seemed to stand still once again.
Xu San and Xu Si's pupils contracted violently at the same time.
If the bizarre methods the other party had previously displayed only shocked and frightened them, then the words "Eight Extraordinary Techniques" directly stirred up a storm of emotions within them.
This is no ordinary outsider! This is a terrifying being who knows the most core and taboo secrets of the entire world of supernatural beings like the back of his hand! The root of the Jia Shen Rebellion, the ultimate skill that countless supernatural beings dream of and that caused bloodshed, is just a "local specialty that I'm a little interested in" in his mouth?
Xu Si's composure, honed over years of navigating the underworld, was utterly shattered in that moment. He felt like a child with a slingshot, showing off his weapon, only to find himself facing an adult carrying an intercontinental ballistic missile. The two were simply not on the same level.
"Who...who exactly are you?" Xu San's voice was a little dry. For the first time, he felt that the standard equipment issued by the company, consisting of 0.3 rounds, could not give him any sense of security.
Zhou Ye didn't answer the question; he felt it was unnecessary. He simply pointed a finger at the bewildered Zhang Chu, then at the expressionless Feng Baobao, and asked in a casual tone, as if inquiring about prices at a market: