Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The victim who died here was a veteran of the underworld. It was said that he was tall and strong in fighting ability. He once overturned the siege of more than a dozen armed gangsters with his bare hands. However, He died miserably in this alley a few days ago - it is said that most of his head was opened and his brains were eaten away. This murderer was really cruel.

It can be seen from the stains and stagnant water on the ground that the alley itself exists between a garbage dump and a road, so even if there are clues, it will be difficult to find it among the piles of garbage.

However, there were not many piles of garbage visible at the scene, only black marks in the corners. It seemed that in order not to miss clues, the police directly transported all the garbage piled here together - God knows where to go. How do you feel about looking for clues in a garbage dump that smells of corruption? I sympathize with the comrades who do this work... But even so, some clues are simply unlucky.

For example, the dried dark red blood on the ground, or the claw marks more than an inch deep on the wall and the ground! This is not done by humans! Fang Yuan understood immediately after seeing these traces.

The claw marks were very new, appearing just a few days ago.

Using the power of alchemy's "understanding" to analyze the residual material in the claw marks, fragments of horny material similar to animal nails were found, so the possibility of a murder weapon such as a knife claw was also ruled out.

But this is no ordinary beast either! As an alchemist who has extensive experience in battlefield combat (albeit in a dream), Fang Yuan is very aware of the difference between the traces left by two-legged creatures in battle and those that walk on four limbs.

The unknown murderer who left these claw marks at the scene habitually stood upright on his legs, and then used his upper limbs or hands as weapons to kill or hunt.

Judging from the fact that most of the claw marks left on the wall were at a height parallel to Fang Yuan's line of sight, this unknown creature was very tall, at least over 2.30 meters tall (Fang Yuan himself was 1.8 meters tall).

Of course, there are animals that meet these conditions among all vertebrates, such as bears.

Whether it's a brown bear or a black bear, they can do more ferocious things than what Fang Yuan saw on site.

However, you know, this is a third-tier city in the southeastern coastal region of China. How could there be a bear strutting around the streets without being noticed by anyone! If it was really a bear, the police would have discovered it long ago, and it is impossible that it has not been caught until now.

Coupled with the footprints that Fang Yuan found on a certain wall that cracked the wall, he became more and more certain that the murderer was definitely not any known animal! After all, bears can’t fly over eaves, walk over walls, and do double jumps on walls! "This is really interesting!" After truly discovering some unknown existence hidden in the dark side of the world, Fang Yuan was not only surprised but also felt excited - the real world is really not that boring after all! Apart from people like him who don’t know if there are more superpowers, there are also extrahuman creatures... I wonder if they are werewolves or something else? In short, Fang Yuan's interest has been completely aroused.

He decided that he must catch this "murderer" of an unknown race and drag him into his laboratory to study it! (Although he does not have his own laboratory yet...) But, unfortunately, these are the only clues Fang Yuan can find at this scene. After all, he is not a professional detective. He can find so many clues through observation. It was the result of his rich accumulation of knowledge. If he hadn't had that dream more than half a year ago, he probably wouldn't even be able to see it.

"I think the police officers should also be aware of this. After all, the traces at the scene don't look like something humans can do..." Fang Yuan once again thought of his original guess. The state power must have already known or even mastered it. It contains information about the otherworld, supernatural creatures, and supernatural powers that ordinary people don’t know. There may even be “professionals” who specialize in handling such incidents and have come to the city now! "I'm really looking forward to it..." A smile gradually appeared on Fang Yuan's face.

PS: Has anyone guessed what creature it is? The tips I gave should be obvious.

')009'\u003eChapter 9 Watching more anime is helpful for divergent thinking

After leaving the alley that smelled of corruption, Fang Yuan went to several earlier murder scenes in the next few days.

Without exception, huge claw marks that were beyond the reach of humans were found at every site. These were indeed done by the same, or at least the same creature.

However, Fang Yuan did not find any more clues about the murderer's true identity except for the keratin fragments left in the claw marks. However, Fang Yuan wanted to find the murderer with just a few keratin fragments. The difficulty is still a bit too high.

After all, although he can be regarded as a biologist, most of his biological knowledge can only be obtained from written books. As for the subtle body structure of various animals, he is still blind before he has personal contact and analysis.

He can only know one thing. The hardness of this creature's nails is indeed very high, and there are very few debris residues left in the claw marks. In the test after he copied and amplified it with alchemy, the nails made of this material It is even close to steel in terms of hardness, and if compared with toughness, it has better performance than steel.

But this was all he could know. There was no hair, blood or skin debris of any other such creature left at the scene. The murderer "Mr." committed the crime very cleanly, and the victim showed no resistance at all. The force cannot hurt it at all.

The clue seems to have been cut off at this point... Oh, maybe there is one more thing, and that is the fungal debris that Fang Yuan's forensic classmate said.

But it is a pity, because several crime scenes are dark and dirty places in the corners of the city that almost no one cleans. The richness of the microbial community at the scene is almost sky-high. Even Fang Yuan cannot do anything in this environment. Once you find out what kind of fungus your friend is talking about, naturally there is no way to accurately judge the other person’s living environment through the growth characteristics of the fungal community.

After all, he is not a policeman or a professional forensic doctor. He can just go to the scene to investigate. It is simply impossible to get access to the body of the deceased for detailed examination.

But since fungi are mentioned, it means that the place where this unknown creature lives is very suitable for the growth of fungi.

Fungus - a dark and humid growth environment - the murderer had a lot of it, enough to leave enough samples on the victim... Fang Yuan thought of the plots in various detective novels and animated movies, generally this kind of fungus At that time, those crime scenes must have been near sewers or underground water canals... (Episode 10 of the first season of Ghost in the Shell TV version is such a story.

) No, the sewers in most cities in China are very narrow. Plumbers often have to bend down to walk in. Large creatures like this, which are at least two meters tall, cannot survive in China's sewers. .

That is the underground water channel... Thinking of this, Fang Yuan directly opened the map app on his mobile phone, marked the locations where the crime was found one by one with labels, and then switched the layer to the water vein map - as expected, All the crime scenes were located near an underground culvert that ran across the entire city.

"Bingo! Found you!" Fang Yuan immediately went out and drove to the nearest entrance to the underground canal.

He does not think that he is the only smart person in the world. He can associate fungi with dark and humid environments and then with underground water channels. Sooner or later, the public security personnel will also be able to think of it, for the safety of the police comrades and to prevent them from letting go. His intended experimental product was snatched away, and Fang Yuan made up his mind to make a quick decision.

After all, it is a very dangerous (rare) unknown creature! He found the entrance to an inaccessible underground water channel. Due to years of old city reconstruction and road renovation, the originally open water channel had long been covered up by a flat cement road. If he hadn't seen it on the map, Fang Yuan wouldn't have known it was on the ground. Under one of the manhole covers will be a passage leading to an underground sewer.

With his hands touching each other, and then pressing on his chest, Fang Yuan instantly transformed his clothes into a one-piece waterproof rubber suit. Fang Yuan couldn't be sure what the environment of the underground culvert was like until he saw it with his own eyes. , but there’s always nothing wrong with insulating yourself from wet conditions.

"Oh, by the way, I almost forgot about this!" Before turning over and getting into the manhole, Fang Yuan seemed to have thought of something, and then he clasped his hands together and pressed them on the ground. Along with the subtle blue lightning, A full-covering gas mask appeared in his hands, and if the ground he used as the material for the refining could be accurately detected, it would be found that the ground within a radius of ten meters had dropped slightly.

With the alchemy to change the essence level of matter, you can really get whatever you want, it’s extremely convenient! Putting on the mask, Fang Yuan drilled into the entrance of the underground water channel, and also covered the manhole cover on the ground to avoid hurting innocent citizens.

(It seems that we haven’t heard much about accidents like falling into manholes in recent years, but ten years ago, that was really...) The underground environment is as Fang Yuan expected, humid and hot, especially now. During the hottest period of summer, although it is slightly cooler underground than on the ground, the difference is very limited.

What's more, this season is a good time for various insects and arthropods to multiply. Compared with the sewers, the entire underground water channel environment only lacks the rancid smell.

No, in fact, due to water pollution, the smell in the underground ditch was actually not very good. Even through a gas mask, Fang Yuan could smell the strange smell that he didn't know how to express in words.

All in all, it was very unbearable.

However, the current Fang Yuan is no longer the same Fang Yuan half a year ago. He has completely digested the original dream. He has also absorbed all the survival experience of his other self in the battlefield. It was just a sultry, smelly and humid environment. experienced! However, the dim environment underground did cause some trouble for Fang Yuan. Although his body had been strengthened and his eyesight was much better than that of ordinary people, he was still a human being, and his vision in a dim environment was ultimately not as good as that of real nocturnal animals. , in this kind of dark ditch where unknown dangerous creatures lurk, limited vision is a very fatal thing.

It is not impossible to refine a night vision device on site. After all, civilian night vision devices are sold everywhere on Taobao. Fang Yuan also bought one and has already analyzed the internal structure.

However, no matter how advanced the night vision goggles are, they are still a layer outside the eyes, which greatly limits the field of vision. So Fang Yuan plans to solve the problem with the alchemist's method.

Put your hands together to form a circle, which is the beginning of alchemy. Then put your hands on your eyes. With the lightning flashing from the alchemy reaction, bursts of pain occur in Fang Yuan's eyeballs.

However, this pain soon disappeared. When he put down his hands and opened his eyes again, the dim environment underground had become as bright as day for him.

')010'\u003eChapter 10 A Different Way of Remote Alchemy

The number of rod cells (visual cells that sense light brightness, but cannot sense color) in the retina of an owl is more than 10 times that of a human. Coupled with the unique optical structure of the eyeball of birds, their night vision is more than 100 times that of a human.

And Fang Yuan's alchemy just now is to modify and optimize his own eyeballs with reference to the eye structure and retinal cell structure of an owl without changing his own genes, so that he directly has the same level of low-light vision ability as an owl.

This kind of strengthening and refining that violates the human body's own structure will indeed cause damage to the body. If left alone, Fang Yuan's eyes will probably go blind within two weeks.

However, since Fang Yuan dared to do this, he naturally had the confidence to save everything.

With alchemy in hand, he will go back to the ground and refine it as it was. It is guaranteed that every molecule of every cell will be exactly the same, and there is no need to worry about sequelae.

Walking forward along the personnel passage left by the construction workers, Fang Yuan came to the bank of the underground river flowing quietly in just a dozen steps.

He casually refined a stone pole from the wall beside him and probed into the water.

Very good, just waist-deep.

Looking at the water quality, although it is a little polluted, it is not to the point that Fang Yuan cannot bear it. In addition, he is wearing a waterproof suit, so it is no problem to wade through the water.

However, Fang Yuan looked at the environment here. The entire underground river was much narrower than he had imagined. There was not much room for him to move. If he was allowed to move forward in the water of unknown depth, he might not be able to react in case of danger. After all, the movement of the human body in the water would inevitably be affected by the water flow and become sluggish. The opponent was a creature that was far superior to humans in both size and strength. It would not be wrong to be careful.

Moreover, if he waded through the water carelessly, the sound of the water being stirred would inevitably be impossible to cover up. Fang Yuan had every reason to believe that the creatures that were used to living in such a place must have better hearing than humans. It would be hard to say who would hunt whom at that time.

Therefore, he did not intend to walk through the water to search foolishly.

He put his hands together, then leaned over and pressed the water under his feet. The cold air instantly spread from the water surface that was in contact with it, and instantly froze the water surface near Fang Yuan. In just a few seconds, the surface of the underground river where Fang Yuan was located was frozen into solid ice, and spread rapidly upstream and downstream.

——Since the terrain is not suitable for you, then change the terrain! This is the correct way for an alchemist to fight! If you can use a microscope to carefully observe the ice surface, you will find that there are countless extremely tiny alchemy arrays engraved inside the ice, which are stacked and nested with each other, and spread endlessly along the freezing direction.

When the water molecules condensed into ice, they automatically formed a new frozen alchemy array according to Fang Yuan's will when they solidified, and they were connected and nested with the previously formed alchemy arrays. Fang Yuan's spiritual power extended along the interconnected alchemy arrays toward the upstream and downstream directions of the river.

This composite nested alchemy method allowed Fang Yuan to break through the inherent alchemy range limitations of alchemy and achieve a remote alchemy effect similar to alchemy in an alternative way.

This can be said to be the alchemy achievement he developed by himself in the study and thinking of more than half a year after absorbing the alchemy knowledge in the dream. If he was still in the dream world of Fullmetal Alchemy, this alone would be enough to be rated as a national alchemist.

Moreover, this refining method can not only achieve remote refining, but also play a role in synchronous exploration because it carries Fang Yuan's spiritual power. When the ice surface spreads, it is where Fang Yuan's spiritual will is. It can be said to be an alternative mental scan.

"Found it!" A few minutes later, Fang Yuan sensed traces of some large animal activities somewhere three kilometers downstream of the river. That size and posture would definitely not be human. He immediately realized that this was his target! Because the distance was too far, Fang Yuan was afraid that the other party would have run away when he arrived, so he immediately used remote refining to transform the ice surface three kilometers away. Using the extremely solid ice at low temperatures as a weapon, it turned into endless spears and thorns, covering every inch of the space where the creature was, ensuring that the other party would not be stabbed into a sieve or have no extra space for movement.

In this long-range battle beyond visual range, Fang Yuan performed alchemy while getting familiar with this perspective of purely spiritual sensing of the external environment.

He could clearly "see" that the humanoid creature, which was much taller and stronger than humans, was roaring and smashing the ice spears one by one, and then was pushed to the stone river bank by more ice spears.

The ice spears, which were much harder and sharper than steel at ultra-low temperatures, seemed to pierce into a ball of tough rubber when they pierced the opponent's body surface. They either slipped away or could only penetrate a shallow depth, and then were broken by the opponent's more intense struggle.

Sure enough, this was indeed some kind of extraordinary creature.

Fang Yuan knew how terrible the ice spears he had refined were. No known creature in the world could withstand a round of stabbing by hundreds of ice spears. Even armored vehicles would be pierced through the main armor plate because of the brittle steel at ultra-low temperatures. However, the creature resisted for several minutes under such a large-scale attack, and even now it is still struggling fiercely with full energy.

However, no matter how terrible the opponent's physical strength is, this creature whose name is unknown can only use melee means after all. Facing the long-range attack launched by the "magician" beyond the visual range, it can do nothing but roar and scream.

The temperature of the ice spears controlled by Fang Yuan was getting lower and lower, the hardness was getting higher and higher, and the number was increasing. Soon, all the points of force of the monster were pierced and blocked, completely restricting the opponent's movement space.

When the monster completely gave up struggling, more than ten minutes had passed. After such a long time of continuous refining, Fang Yuan felt that his mental power was almost drained.

This is really a tenacious opponent - just in terms of endurance.

"Finally it's quiet..." Fang Yuan sighed and took his hands off the ice. The long-term freezing refining made his hands red. If his physique had not been greatly enhanced, he would probably have been frostbitten... He used the little mental power left to refine his soles into spikes that would not slip on the ice. Fang Yuan walked on the ice all the way to the hunting site downstream with a "click-click" sound.

He wanted to see with his own eyes what kind of creature it was.

')011'\u003eChapter 11 On the Importance of Finishing

Click, click, click.

The sound of hard shoe spikes stepping on the ice surface came from far away.

In a dark space that turned into a forest of ice spears, a tall human figure was being pierced and nailed to death on a stone wall by countless ice spears, and in the distance, a shadowy figure was gradually approaching...　　...　　"What the hell is this?"　　When Fang Yuan arrived at the hunting scene, he saw the true face of the prey and immediately felt as if he had been mentally polluted.

What an ugly monster! 　　It has elastic but wrinkled skin like rubber, feet like hooves, a face like a dog, and sharp claws. It is tall but hunched. Fang Yuan's overly sharp eyes in the dark even saw that the other party was covered with fungi and moss, which looked ugly and dirty. Coupled with the strong corpse odor on the monster, which can still be smelled even through a gas mask, it is really disgusting.

"Is this the ghoul from COC? Do I have to go through SanCheck again?" Fang Yuan staggered back a few steps, and he suddenly felt that his action this time was a mistake.

Originally, he thought that the so-called supernatural creature would be a werewolf or something, but he didn't expect it to be such an ugly monster that was blind.

Fang Yuan had read the series of novels by Master Ai Shouyi, and even played COC for a while in college. He naturally knew what the ghouls in the story looked like.

The monster in front of him was completely consistent with the description in the book from head to toe, except for the height and body shape. Compared with the average body shape of most ghouls of 13cm, the body shape of this ghoul in front of him was probably 18cm, or even taller.

Originally, Fang Yuan planned to take the prey back for dissection and collection, but after seeing such an ugly creature that destroyed people's worldview, Fang Yuan had completely given up that idea.

But...how could the monsters in COC appear in the real world? Fang Yuan suddenly thought of this.

You know, none of the supernatural creatures and supernatural powers in the Cthulhu mythology system are good things. Any human being who accidentally touches related items or creatures will at best go crazy. As for the physical mutation to grow tentacles or attract the attention of the indescribable, it is an extremely tragic ending.

Originally thought that the real world was just an urban supernatural world with a little supernatural power, but unexpectedly, a whim hunting allowed him to hunt Cthulhu monsters-could it be that the world he was in was also a terrible world under the Cthulhu system worldview? Such speculation made Fang Yuan shudder, and for a moment he even felt that there was some indescribable monster in the darkness behind him, watching him... Fang Yuan, who was immersed in thinking there, did not notice that when he stood there, the ghoul, who had lost the strength to struggle, opened his eyes again.

Unlike the brainless ghouls in other worldviews, the ghouls in the COC worldview are actually an independent lower race, but no matter how lower, the life essence and wisdom of this race are above ordinary humans.

In other words, this thing is not a beast with only instincts, but a terrifying hunter with more cunning wisdom than humans! 　　Bang——!!! 　　The loud noise that was particularly deafening in the closed underground space woke up Fang Yuan who was lost in thought.

Hearing the sound of ice breaking, Fang Yuan came back to his senses and was shocked to find a huge black shadow coming towards him.

The sudden attack put Fang Yuan into the most dangerous situation instantly.

not good! I actually forgot to do the last hit! ! ! This thought flashed through Fang Yuan's mind, and he had no time to regret that he had been foolish enough to let down his guard in front of an enemy who was not yet dead.

Because the ghoul's ferocious claws have reached his head! At this moment, the world in Fang Yuan's eyes seemed to slow down. The excellent vision he copied from an owl allowed him to clearly see everything happening in the dim space.

Whether it's the fragments of ice flying after being broken, the flesh and blood residue flying out of the ghoul's wounds (the result of being frostbitten), or the ferocious claws heading towards his face with piercing killing intent, Everything could be seen clearly, as if it was slowly playing in front of Fang Yuan's eyes like slow motion.

An unprecedented sense of crisis instantly flooded Fang Yuan's heart.

At this moment, Fang Yuan's consciousness seemed to be divided into two parts.

One is that he was shocked and panicked by the sudden crisis, which eventually turned into anger and murderous intention. The emotional stimulation caused the adrenaline content in Fang Yuan's body to soar rapidly, causing his body that reached the limit of the human body to explode in just a short moment. It is fully activated and has entered a combat state that is most suitable for combat.

The other one is a cold and indifferent self, as if he doesn't care about everything in the world or even his own life and death. He watches everything that happens in front of him with cold eyes, but does not panic or waver at all. Instead, he calculates with cold calculations. What kind of means can be used to obtain the maximum results at the minimum cost.

The combination of the two Fang Yuan was the extreme operation he showed in the next few tenths of a second.

When the ghoul's sharp claws were about to touch Fang Yuan's hairy skin, he suddenly leaned back and avoided the ghoul's fatal attack with an iron bridge posture.

Then, at the moment when he was about to fall to the ground, Fang Yuan raised his hands above his head and touched each other, and then pressed his body on the ice in a backflip posture to support his body. After using the force and the inertia of turning the body, he kicked hard at the ghoul's crotch that was unable to change direction in mid-air...I mean the waist and abdomen.

Fang Yuan is very clear that the ghouls under the COC system are actually not undead, but a living creature, mostly transformed from humans, and therefore also inherit more or less the inherent physiological defects of human beings.

——For example, the lower body...I mean the waist and abdomen are relatively fragile.

Although this physical defect will inevitably be alleviated to a great extent after the human being is transformed into a ghoul, since the opponent still maintains his human form, this weakness cannot be completely eliminated.

Snapped! The touch felt like being kicked on a rubber tire, which made Fang Yuan feel bad. This ghoul was much stronger than he thought! If his flying kick were used on a human being, it could even kick the person's lumbar vertebrae out of the body. However, this ghoul seemed not to be harmed at all. He just stood firm immediately after being knocked back.

However, before the ghoul, which was almost dead, could attack again, the alchemy that Fang Yuan had completed in the short moment had already been activated.

Just when Fang Yuan pressed his hands on the ground, blue refined lightning appeared. Just when the ghoul was kicked down from mid-air, the ice on the ground suddenly "came alive".

Dozens, hundreds, and thousands of ice spears poured out from the ice surface, violently pushing the unsteady ghoul to the top of the underground space. Fang Yuan was furious and pierced the hard ice spear at high speed. It even penetrated directly through its tough muscles and bones, skewering it like a skewer on the top of the ice spear.

PS: Let me ask, do ghouls have balls? ')012'\u003eChapter 12 Unexpected Intruder \u0026 Strategic Transformation

"Huh-huh-huh-..." Fang Yuan, who had just escaped from the desperate situation of death, gasped for air, as if his physical enhancement was fake, breathing heavily through the gas mask and still wearing There was a smell of foul air.

The psychological stimulation from the crisis stress reaction made it impossible for Fang Yuan to calm down immediately.

After this moment of fighting, the special mental state of being divided into two seemed to have disappeared. He finally came to his senses and realized what he had just encountered and what he had done.

Only then did Fang Yuan realize that he had been tricked by this ghoul! The ghouls in COC are indeed an extraterrestrial race above humans. Their physiques far exceed those of humans in terms of strength, endurance, and resilience. Previously, Fang Yuan used alchemy to attack them. The wound had actually begun to heal in the few minutes since Fang Yuan arrived.

This ghoul had been pretending to be helpless before, just to lure the magician who attacked from nowhere to reveal his true form (it mistook Fang Yuan's alchemy as magic).