svetikya Chapter 2: Body Was Found by Picking Up Things
Chapter 2: Body Was Found by Picking Up Things
The scene reflected in Luo Lan's single eye on the back of his hand had a strong sense of otherworldly quality.
[This doesn't seem to be Earth, so... I really did travel to another world?]
The environment they were in was very similar to the underground palaces or ancient castles and tombs that Luo Lan often encountered in the fantasy literature he had read on Blue Star.
The ceiling was very high, and the vaulted ceiling made of square stones weighed down the entire space.
The walls are rough, and the floor is paved with worn stone slabs that extend along the corridor.
You can see the iron fence frame crookedly embedded in the stone wall, some of which are intact and closed, while others are broken and wide open.
Every few meters along both sides of the wall stood iron candlesticks, their iron arms rusted dark brown. The candles, made of some unknown material, swayed left and right in the draft, their flames seemingly about to snap, yet stubbornly refusing to go out.
I don't know if it's because this "creeping suture corpse with one eye" is so different from the normal visual structure of humans.
All of this appeared to Luo Lan as if it were veiled by a faint orange-red filter, and was extremely sensitive to light sources.
Although the candlelight hanging on the surrounding walls was pitifully dim, it was still dazzling to the eye, so much so that Luo Lan couldn't help but bend the back of her hand towards her palm, trying to use the shadow of her bony fingers to block the light.
[Is this how monsters see?]
Luo Lan recalled the information that flashed through her mind when she was piecing together the eye.
【Name: Creeping Stitched Corpse with One Eye】
[Tier: Black Iron]
[Skills: Terror Lv.2, Thermal Vision Lv.1]
[Terror Lv.2: Consumes mental energy, stares directly at the target to unleash a mental shock. Creates a sense of fear, interrupting the target's current action and immobilizing them for a period of time. The specific effect is affected by the target's mental resistance. When the skill is activated, the target is immune to the mental shock if they are not in sight or avoid eye contact.]
[Thermal Vision lv.1: Reconstructs the field of vision based on differences in thermal radiation, projecting the surrounding environment as a dynamic temperature distribution map. It can track the outline of heat sources and perceive them through thin obstacles, but its penetration depth is limited and it cannot replace normal vision for discerning details. Prolonged use can cause eye fatigue, accompanied by soreness.]
Luo Lan glanced back at her hand and saw a black bloodstain spreading beneath her palm, seeping into the cracks in the stone bricks.
Clearly, this is where the remains of the [creeping stitched corpse] originally fell.
The rotting body had now been completely devoured by Luo Lan's left hand, leaving only a pool of murky black water and some useless microparticles on the ground.
[Bloodstains that are still wet? Thermal vision!]
Since I have new skills, let's go out and test them out.
[Thermal Vision lv.1] Activated.
The color of the single pupil on the back of the hand changed accordingly, fading from a ferocious blood red to a murky orange-yellow.
The world in Luo Lan's eyes suddenly changed, and a dynamic temperature distribution map was reconstructed in her vision.
The four stone walls were painted a deep blue, a deathly, gloomy blue that represented cold, lifeless things.
Several candlestick positions transformed into small, yellow and red spots of light, their outlines blurred, standing out starkly against the blue background, leaping and releasing heat.
Luo Lan lowered the back of her hand and looked curiously at the bloodstains on the ground.
With the aid of [thermal vision], the bloodstain appeared as a trail shimmering with a purplish-black light. It stood out prominently against the dark blue ground, extending deep into the corridor.
The bloodstains turned a corner, passed through the darkness, and circled behind an open iron gate that had been in normal view. The outline of the heat source behind it was faintly visible through the wall, like a transparent film superimposed on the building structure, leaving a blurry outline.
[Very good, it can see through obstacles. The accuracy is low, but it's sufficient.]
Luo Lan couldn't help but feel glad that she had chosen to take the gamble earlier; it was definitely the right decision.
[With this skill, if there's another monster corpse, seeing through walls is a breeze, making the search much easier than groping around in the dark before.]
Without hesitation, Luo Lan kept her [Thermal Vision lv.1] active, her five fingers arched like claws, and crawled forward along the dark blue ground.
The large, single eye on the back of its hand scanned the surroundings, constantly searching for possible sources of heat.
From a distance, the left hand looked like a bizarre, mutated giant insect, twisting its segments as it hurried through the ancient castle's underground palace.
Luo Lan climbed over the rubble-strewn passageway, circled the collapsed pillars, and passed through the open iron gate...
Unfortunately, the efficiency of his left hand was ultimately limited, and Luo Lan did not manage to pick up the next monster corpse as he had hoped.
The continuous operation of [Thermal Vision lv.1] began to show its strain, and a pricking, aching sensation came from the single eye on the back of my hand.
This low-level skill is clearly not suitable as a permanent passive ability.
The stinging sensation in my eyes intensified, forcing me to shut down [Thermal Vision lv.1], and the surrounding scenery reverted to the appearance of an ancient castle dungeon with an orange-red filter.
The plan to find the body has temporarily failed, but after returning to a normal perspective, Luo Lan noticed other objects in the surrounding environment.
He is now in a semi-enclosed compartment that resembles a treasure room.
Scattered on the ground were many dusty antiquities: a shield covered in rust, a short sword riddled with cracks, and several overturned wooden crates from which rolled some dull gold coins...
Luo Lan had no interest in these shiny, lifeless objects. His attention was entirely focused on another corner of the room, where a full-length vertical mirror stood.
Using alternating force with his five fingers, Luo Lan climbed straight toward the vertical mirror.
Upon reaching the mirror, the joints shifted their weight on the ground, attempting to stand upright.
After failing three times, Luo Lan finally regained her balance, using the bottom of her left forearm to brace herself against the ground, and extending her five fingers outwards as a counterweight, forcefully holding her left arm upright in mid-air.
Slightly adjust the direction of your arm, find the right angle, and make the large single eye in the center of the back of your hand face the mirror covered with spider webs.
The scene that came into view confirmed Luo Lan's earlier conjecture.
His left hand is now completely a white bone claw!
From the fingertips to the base of the forearm, all the skin, flesh, blood vessels, and nerves disappeared without a trace, leaving only sections of bare white bone.
Amidst the white bones, there was still a considerable amount of glaringly dried blood. The five finger bones were long and sharp, their cold gleam chilling.
Between the bones, wisps of deathly aura, like smoke and mist, seeped outwards. This deathly aura coiled around the white bones, spreading outwards from the sharp bone claws at the fingertips, silently rolling and twisting, radiating a chilling cold that penetrates straight to the soul.
On the center of the back of his hand was a huge, scarlet eye, its vertical pupil wide open, staring intently at the vertical mirror, turning it back and forth. This allowed Luo Lan to see every detail of the bone claw on his left hand.
Faced with this horrifying scene that would have made most people faint, Luo Lan couldn't help but exclaim in her heart:
[Haha! He looks so handsome!]
In his previous life, as a typical overworked and nerdy guy, Luo Lan's hobby, which consumed the most time and energy, was rubber building.
He could sit at his workbench all night, holding pliers and a sander, meticulously crafting a pile of plastic parts, assembling them into a perfect mecha model.
Now, he possesses the ability of [Condensation]. He can directly assemble his own body into the most perfect prototype in this real world.
In the future, whatever parts you want, as long as you find the right materials, you can assemble, strengthen, and fuse them at will.
To Luo Lan, the terrifying one-eyed bone claw before him was not some monster's remains at all, but rather the prototype of Unit-01 awaiting completion.
Luo Lan was certain that as long as he was given enough time...
He was able to piece himself back into a "human being" by "picking up corpses".
Yes, it should be a person.