Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 719 23: Lin Lun's Story_2

"The boy's eyes did not see the demons dispelled; quite the opposite, he saw more different forms of 'demons' on his parents and those Taoists. They were like shadows peeling off the ground, performing wild dances on the walls and ceiling under the flickering candlelight, following the Taoists' comical movements."

"It wasn't until he grew up that the boy realized those shadows had names," Lin Lun continued. "The shadows on the Taoists were called Greed and Contempt, while the shadows behind his parents were Fear and Ignorance."

"Do you feel out of place with the whole world?" Sun Hang suddenly recalled a question Chimera 17 had once asked him.

"Yes." Lin Lun nodded. "Until I met her."

"The heroine of the story?" Sun Hang asked with a smile. "Does this story have a romantic element as well?"

"I'm not sure if it's love..." Lin Lun shook his head. "That day, the road the boy usually took home from school was blocked off by a traffic accident, and the sheriffs had cordoned it off, so he had to take a longer route, where he discovered her, battered and bruised, by chance at the edge of the riverbank."

"It was the most solid shadow the boy had ever seen, almost like a black curtain covering her battered body... yet what surprised the boy was that this black curtain did not instill any sense of danger in him. Instead, it made him want to gently lift it."

"The boy sat down beside her, without saying a word, and just handed over the leftover half-bag of bread from the morning."

"She didn't accept the boy's bread, nor did she speak to him. The boy sat beside her for a few minutes and then got up to go home."

"Ever since that day, the boy would occasionally take the longer road and sometimes encountered her sitting on the riverbank."

"Her old wounds had healed, but new ones appeared. She seemed around the same age as the boy but didn't seem like she went to school—because the boy never saw her with anything like a backpack."

"Her clothes were obviously tailored from old adult clothes, and her messy hair made her look like a beggar, yet her eyes were bright black, like a newborn fawn."

"The boy remembered clearly that it was during their eleventh 'chance meeting' that she spoke her first words."

"Later, the conversation between them began to increase... or rather, she began to talk more, while the boy mostly assumed the role of a listener."

"She was born into a family with an extreme preference for boys over girls. She was the fourth girl in the family, and after giving birth to her, her mother died in childbirth. Her father blamed all this misfortune on her."

"She often went hungry, so the boy brought her food and occasionally some books and old stationery, teaching her to read and do arithmetic... The boy noticed that when she was with him, the shadow enveloping her would gradually fade, but on the following day, the shadow would become denser... accompanied by new injuries on her body."

"The boy could barely recognize her features anymore; he felt that continuing like this would lead to something terrible, yet he was powerless—this was already the extent of his capabilities."

"Finally, on a Saturday afternoon, a pencil stub no longer than a little finger silently slipped from her fingertips. The boy watched her body wither, thorny vines sprouted from her withered body, and eventually, they tangled into a small ball of thorns."

"The boy vaguely heard her last words."

"'Put me at my doorstep.'"

"The boy knew where she lived, not far from the riverbank. He chose not to report this to the Public Security Bureau but, instead, placed the thorny ball at her doorstep, as she requested."

"The next day, the boy saw a report of a bizarre creature attacking on the news—a grown man was strangled to death by a thorn-like creature in his home. By the time investigators and Hunters arrived on the scene, the meme had become completely inert, declared thoroughly extinct."

At this point, Lin Lun fell silent, staring directly into Sun Hang's eyes, as if trying to discern his emotional reaction.

"And then?" Sun Hang tilted his head and asked.

"From that point on, I began gathering information through various channels... It took me nine whole years to confirm one thing," Lin Lun said. "Human negative emotions can catalyze the birth of bizarre creatures... and even turn humans themselves into bizarre creatures."

"Where did you collect this information?" Sun Hang asked. "This information is tightly sealed by Dubhe Tower. With your capabilities, even if you managed to learn a few scraps by chance, Dubhe Tower would be sure to take notice."

"I don't need to pry into those secrets; I only need to gather news of bizarre creature attacks occurring across the Federation," Lin Lun said. "Especially those humanoid bizarre creatures appearing suddenly in human society... Dubhe Tower and the Federation Government won't tell the public the origins of the bizarre creatures, but they won't hide the lives of those who were transformed or victimized. As long as one has a certain level of deductive ability, they could speculate the reasons behind these bizarre appearances."

"You're drawing the target after shooting the arrow... Most people wouldn't think in this direction. But as someone who can see materialized negative emotions and personally witnessed a living person become a bizarre creature due to the accumulation of negative emotions, you naturally assume those humans that became bizarre creatures did so because of negative emotions, and subsequently search for various clues to validate this assumption," Sun Hang said. "This method of reasoning is very unscientific."

"I don't need a hundred percent accuracy; I only need to confirm that such things indeed happen," Lin Lun said. "With that, the first half of the story concludes."

"And the second half?"

"Before I tell the second half of the story, I want to show you something," Lin Lun said.

"Something you're researching?" Sun Hang asked. "Or is it that 'very special thing' you discovered due to 'another accident'?"

"They're the same," Lin Lun said. "It's stored in the underground laboratory of the company building. Please follow me."

Lin Lun led Sun Hang into the building. The company's employees seemed to be under Lin Lun's orders not to leave their rooms; the entire corridor was deserted. The employees only watched the three heading to the elevator through the cracks in their doors and windows—no one spoke, nor did anyone step out.

Lin Lun stopped in front of a freight elevator bearing a "Mechanical Failure, Out of Service" sign. He brought his eyes close to it, and the antiquated elevator control panel emitted a fine laser which slowly scanned across his iris.

"Identity verification complete, unlocked."

Lin Lun pressed the elevator buttons in order from the seventh floor down to the very bottom of the third basement floor. Accompanied by the sound of gears interlocking, the slightly rusty elevator doors slowly lifted.

Lin Lun stepped inside first.

"Please."