(Written by: Thanks to Chaoyan Huai Xi for the two leader rewards, hereby adding an extra chapter to express gratitude!)
Wu Pi Fu sat in the sports car, deep in thought.
He was still contemplating the pros and cons of setting this weekend's scenario as a personal information data panel.
There was no doubt that turning a function that could last permanently into a short-term feature lasting twenty-four hours was a significant loss in the long run.
However, this function could yield two rewards at once, which might indicate some sort of planning from the main brain.
Wu Pi Fu happened to be someone who had received substantial rewards from the weekend scenario.
Without the cultivation techniques of the Human Immortal Martial Dao, he would have surely perished during the attack from the Old Mother of No Life.
If it were another weekend scenario filled with demons and monsters, he naturally wouldn’t use the personal information data panel.
But this time, there were humans he could communicate with, which meant he might obtain some key information and see if he could gain further rewards from the main brain.
For instance... the techniques following the cultivation of skin and flesh in the Human Immortal Martial Dao?
As Wu Pi Fu pondered these thoughts, Qiu Qiu kept tugging at her clothes and was unusually curious about the sports car they were in.
However, being cautious by nature, she didn’t look around or touch anything, merely rolling her eyes about.
A Shen Ji Lan, while driving, kept talking, “Dude, you’re amazing! Is that the legendary Mecha Combat Technique? I knew the government was hiding these things! Whether it’s the pseudo-humans or the Mecha Combat Techniques, they’re all tightly sealed off from the public. The moment any discussion heats up, the authors are immediately silenced… It’s the Mecha Combat Technique, right!?”
Wu Pi Fu remained silent, quietly watching the road ahead.
A Shen Ji Lan felt a bit embarrassed but didn’t get angry, continuing to chatter away.
Before long, the sports car entered an upscale community's underground parking garage.
As soon as the three got out of the car, the white youth immediately headed toward the elevator, but Wu Pi Fu grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.
A Shen Ji Lan was taken aback for a moment, then trembled and whispered, “Is that… a pseudo-human!?”
In front of the garage, there were a few people, one of whom was a security guard seemingly patrolling with a flashlight, and two women who had just gotten out of their car.
This was a common occurrence, but A Shen Ji Lan then noticed that all three were looking at them, and their path seemed to be heading directly toward them.
It was easy to overlook, but once noticed, it was immediately apparent something was off.
Wu Pi Fu didn’t care.
After pulling A Shen Ji Lan, he strode toward the three pseudo-humans, who showed no sign of awareness and approached Wu Pi Fu, their faces displaying a terrifying valley effect.
“Hehe.”
The three pseudo-humans emitted low, eerie chuckles.
“Shut your mouth, you bastards!”
Wu Pi Fu struck each one with a palm, instantly killing them, feeling as if he were bullying ordinary people.
After doing all this, Wu Pi Fu turned to the white youth.
A Shen Ji Lan, as if waking from a dream, immediately led the two toward the elevator, not daring to look at the bones on the ground.
In just a few minutes, he brought Wu Pi Fu and Qiu Qiu to a spacious flat, about three to four hundred square meters, with luxurious interior decoration, but only he lived there, which was convenient at the moment.
Once inside, A Shen Ji Lan turned on all the lights in every room, saying, “Dude, tell me, what’s the deal with those pseudo-humans? And how are you so powerful? Is it the Mecha Combat Technique?”
Wu Pi Fu pulled Qiu Qiu to sit on a sofa, looking out at the distant view through the floor-to-ceiling windows, “My origins are mysterious; even if I told you, you probably wouldn’t understand. Moreover, my power isn’t from the Mecha Combat Technique; it’s called ‘Martial Arts.’”
A Shen Ji Lan showed a look of realization, not saying much more.
Soon, A Shen Ji Lan took out a device similar to a projector.
After fiddling with it and connecting it to the computer, a plethora of images, pictures, and short videos appeared from the projector.
A Shen Ji Lan said earnestly, “I’ve been searching for information about pseudo-humans; all of this is data I spent a lot of money to collect.”
Wu Pi Fu looked at the information scrolling by, which included hundreds of photos and hundreds of thousands of words of text, along with no less than a hundred short videos.
He asked, “Can you copy a copy for me?”
A Shen Ji Lan immediately nodded, “No problem! You just saved my life; this is a small matter… What I want to ask is, do pseudo-humans really exist?”
Wu Pi Fu smiled slightly, “You saw it with your own eyes; whether they exist or not, don’t you already know? And why did you collect so much information on pseudo-humans? Is it for your UP work, or are you a fervent enthusiast of the supernatural?”
A Shen Ji Lan was taken aback, sitting down on the sofa beside them, falling into silence.
After a dozen seconds, he said quietly, “I think I’ve escaped from pseudo-humans before… I can’t remember my parents’ names or appearances, but I’m sure I’m not an orphan. However, there are large gaps in my memory, and I feel like I’ve forgotten many familiar people, yet I can’t find any traces of their existence.”
While speaking, A Shen Ji Lan took out a photo album from a safe, filled with his own pictures, occasionally featuring others.
He flipped to a childhood photo where he was smiling in mid-air, a very strange pose, as it didn’t seem like a photo taken while jumping; it appeared as if two transparent figures were holding him up for the shot.
A Shen Ji Lan said, “Almost all my childhood photos are gone. This one was supposed to be lost too, but I found the negatives while cleaning my old house a few years ago, and when I developed them, this bizarre scene appeared… You can see, right? The two people in the photo were holding me up, but even their images have vanished.”
Wu Pi Fu nodded silently.
The pseudo-humans were much weaker than expected.
Aside from their strange dragging and pulling, as long as his Unresting Spirit Light and the blood qi of the Human Immortal Martial Dao were still present, he could remain immune.
However, based on A Shen Ji Lan’s description and the photo, it seemed that there was something even more terrifying behind the pseudo-humans, capable of erasing almost all traces of a life’s past, which was truly frightening.
The level of power involved was simply unimaginable.
Seeing A Shen Ji Lan being so candid, Wu Pi Fu didn’t explain his origins but did share his experiences after entering this scenario.
“… They tried to force me into the subway, but that subway train was some sort of biological organ, like a tongue or some other organ. Once inside the subway train, a few people dissolved, and when they reformed, they became pseudo-humans.”
As Wu Pi Fu spoke, A Shen Ji Lan’s expression turned fearful, his skin crawling, and he hugged his arms, “Damn! I took the subway today just to collect material, but I’ve taken it dozens or even hundreds of times before… I really am lucky to be alive.”
At this point, A Shen Ji Lan asked Wu Pi Fu, “Can I tell others about this? Don’t worry; they’re all people I know, familiar with me. They’ve also sensed the existence of pseudo-humans, but aside from some ambiguous images and videos online, they haven’t found any real evidence. The government has been denying the existence of pseudo-humans all along.”
Wu Pi Fu naturally nodded, and A Shen Ji Lan immediately pulled out his laptop, logged into the unique communication software of this world, and began to recount his experiences today, the pseudo-human corpses he had filmed, and the truth about the subway.
There weren’t many people in the group at first, but after seeing this information, discussions became heated.
A Shen Ji Lan made a dozen more calls, and the number of people in the group gradually increased, with some saying they would rush to the city where A Shen Ji Lan was located.
At that moment, an account with administrative privileges spoke up, “A Shen Ji Lan! Based on your description, I remembered something from before… Do you all remember the two missing cities?”
The group fell silent for a moment, then a flood of messages appeared.
A Shen Ji Lan didn’t bother to talk to Wu Pi Fu anymore and began typing rapidly in response.
Wu Pi Fu’s dynamic vision and reaction nerves far exceeded those of normal humans, and he clearly saw every message being discussed in the group.
According to the discussions, pseudo-humans were indeed part of urban legends, a widely publicized supernatural event, and the people in the group, along with A Shen Ji Lan, were the type of fervent enthusiasts.
They were frantically searching for any possible information and evidence related to pseudo-humans.
One event involved someone in their group collecting information on all possible pseudo-humans worldwide when they suddenly noticed something strange on the world map.
To be precise, there were two strange areas on the world map.
When displayed, these two areas appeared as two alluvial plains at river mouths.
According to modern civilization standards, these were undoubtedly the core areas of major cities, and these two alluvial plains were not located in remote or desolate regions but in two relatively developed and populous countries.
No matter how one thought about it, these two regions should have given birth to major cities, even super prosperous metropolises.
However, from the world map, these two areas appeared to be desolate wilderness.
These were referred to by the group as the two missing cities, believed to possibly be related to pseudo-humans.
However, they had visited the site and found it to be truly desolate, with no evidence to be found, so the matter was left unresolved.
Now, they were bringing this up again, clearly related to the truth about the subway train that Wu Pi Fu mentioned.
The administrator from earlier said, “If the subway train is truly as this mysterious gentleman described, then could the truth about pseudo-humans be even more terrifying than we imagined?”
“Could it be that there are not only pseudo-humans but also pseudo-cities, or even pseudo-land? For example, beneath the city where you, A Shen Ji Lan, are currently located, in those train depths that resemble organs…”
“What if there exists a terrifying entity beyond our imagination!? This terrifying existence is slowly devouring the entire city, just as pseudo-humans devour us as individuals, ultimately…”
“The entire city will turn into a pseudo city, completely disappearing from sight!!”
(End of Chapter)