Exiting the mysterious space of the stone tablet, his consciousness returned. Yue Shi opened his eyes to find the taxi still driving smoothly along the street.
He turned to look at the high-rises outside the window, seriously considering his third ability.
He was already proficient with the first two. 【Raven's Secret Whispers】 was used for hypnosis and beguilement, while 【Decaying Talons】 allowed his hands to transform into sharp, enchanted claws.
【Shadow Soldiers】... it seemed promising, but there appeared to be certain restrictions.
The taxi pulled up outside an old apartment building; Yue Shi had reached his destination.
Happiness Apartments was located on the outskirts of Amber City. The environment was dirty and chaotic, and security was subpar.
However, it made up for it with low rent, cameras that went on strike intermittently, and many blind spots where nothing could be recorded.
Downstairs, the new doorman, Old Man Qin, was chatting with the landlady.
The landlady, Mrs. Bai, was a shrewd old woman. Old Man Qin was a rather distinguished-looking older man, and the two were deep in conversation.
As Yue Shi passed them, the landlady ignored him, but Old Man Qin suddenly asked, "Young man, what's that stuck to your clothes?"
"Oh, just some paint I accidentally brushed against," Yue Shi replied dismissively.
He quickly climbed the stairs to the sixth floor and used his key to open the door.
An empty room with mottled walls met his eyes—a small one-bedroom layout, perfect for a single person living alone.
Taking off his shoes and the coat stained with beeswax, Yue Shi walked into the bathroom. Standing before the mirror, he slowly unbuttoned his shirt to admire his reflection.
He wasn't a narcissist, nor did he have any strange fetishes; he simply wanted to feel his healthy, vibrant life force in this way.
Yue Shi was a transmigrator.
But he was an unlucky one.
When others transmigrated, they usually started with cheats and climbed to the peak of life.
His transmigration had been a disaster from the start.
It was a soul transmigration, yet he lacked the original owner's memories, leading to his identity being exposed almost immediately!
He had been captured and thrown into a laboratory, subjected to all kinds of inhumane research!
Six months ago, he had been shackled to a specialized bed, his body riddled with tubes, receiving injections of all sorts of experimental drugs. He had been as emaciated as a skeleton, his limbs twisted like a monster's, and his face severely deformed—his nose had rotted away, he had lost an eye, all his teeth had fallen out, and his skin was covered in pustules and herpes.
The sheer horror of those days, where every second felt like a year, was still vivid in his mind!
At the thought, madness and malice erupted from the depths of Yue Shi's eyes. His handsome face suddenly turned savage, radiating a thick aura of violence.
The desire to destroy everything reached its peak at this moment!
The Su family... the masters of that laboratory, that damn old geezer, every participant, and everyone involved—they all deserved to die!
The shadows beneath his feet trembled and writhed violently. One pitch-black crow after another flew out, flapping their wings as they circled the small bathroom, occasionally slamming into the walls and leaving behind marks of varying depth.
The image reflected in the mirror was eerie and terrifying, as if a dark malevolent ghost stood amidst a flock of crows, peering sinisterly into the human world.
It took a long time for Yue Shi to slowly calm his emotions and escape his frantic state.
As the number of summoned crows increased, the color of his shadow rapidly faded. Even Yue Shi's reflection in the mirror became illusory and transparent until it vanished completely!
He had no shadow left!
【Shadow Soldiers】 could no longer be activated.
The crows were completely under his command, and physical attacks were useless against them. At most, they could only be dispersed into splashing "ink drops," but they would quickly reform into crows.
Yue Shi attempted to use his transcendent power, turning his hand into a claw and randomly crushing one.
This time, after the crow dissipated, it returned directly to his shadow. The damage taken was not reflected on Yue Shi's body.
The faint shadow seemed to enter a cooldown period. After about a minute, it could be transformed into a crow by 【Shadow Soldiers】 again.
"It seems this is a very versatile support ability..."
Yue Shi envisioned several uses for 【Shadow Soldiers】 in his mind as he pushed open the bathroom door and entered the living room. The glow of the setting sun shone through the window, making even the tiny specks of dust in the air clearly visible.
He reached out a finger, cautiously trying to touch the sunlight, but halfway through the movement, he withdrew his hand. Instead, he plucked a strand of hair from his head and tossed it into the light.
Almost the instant it touched the sunlight, the hair "sublimated," vanishing into thin air without leaving a single trace, as if it had never existed.
Seeing this, he immediately recalled one crow to give himself a very faint shadow, then tossed another strand of hair.
Nothing happened.
After repeated testing, Yue Shi confirmed that as long as he didn't convert his entire shadow into crows—even if only a tiny bit remained—he didn't need to fear the sun.
Ding—
A message notification chimed on his phone.
Yue Shi took a look. His account had received a transfer of 100,000, bringing his available balance to 102,637.45.
It was the bonus from the Tulip Security Company.
He wasn't very familiar with the market rates or the purchasing power of the currency, so he didn't know if the company's price was high or low. However, transcendents were indeed capable of making a lot of money; he had only dealt with one supernatural creature, and his pockets were suddenly full.
The joy brought by money was pure, yet it didn't last long. After dinner, Yue Shi did some light housework. Looking at the slightly overflowing trash, he hesitated for two seconds before finally overcoming his laziness and getting up to take it out.
He went downstairs, and as he approached the trash can, the stench of refuse mixed with a familiar metallic scent suddenly assaulted his nostrils.
"That's the smell of blood."
Yue Shi instantly became alert and scanned his surroundings. Soon, his ears sharply caught a faint, unusual sound.
He looked toward the source of the noise.
He saw a rat.
A fat rat, gnawing on a bloody heart!
The rat seemed to sense Yue Shi and turned its head, but its beady eyes only reflected the image of pitch-black crows.
"Squeak—"
It had only managed one cry before it could react when it was snatched away and killed.
Yue Shi calmly pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
A moment later, a deep voice came through the receiver: "What is it?"
"I found a human heart in the trash can at Happiness Apartments."
After a second's pause, Yue Shi added, "It might be related to the 'Heart Thief'."
"What!" The voice on the other end was shocked. "Secure the scene. I'll be there with my team immediately. Also, don't call the police yet. Wait for the company to verify everything before we make arrangements."
"Understood," Yue Shi replied briefly and hung up.
Then, he leaned in to look at the heart of unknown origin.
It was a very fresh heart, still seeping blood. Curiously, besides the bite marks from the rat, there were many uniform holes distributed across the heart.
Other than that, he found no other clues.
The investigative work would have to be left to the professionals.
Rate on N.U.
