Chapter 17 Transformation

When Feng Bujue returned from the Thinking Hall, time outside resumed its flow.

Jue-ge looked at the monster's head in his hand, as if nothing had happened, and continued the previous question, "How many of you are there in total, like you?"

The monster replied, "Twelve, including me."

"Oh?" Jue-ge's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

This number was very different from what Feng Bujue had estimated...

Undoubtedly, Jue-ge knew the story of the "Soviet Sleep Experiment," and in the version he knew, there were five test subjects.

Although it was common for plot settings to be altered or even subverted in Thriller Paradise, this particular scenario had explicitly mentioned in its introduction that the experiment used "five World War II war criminals."

So, why would the head in front of him say there were "twelve"?

"Who do you think you're fooling! Are you guys the Gold Saints or something?" In the next second, Feng Bujue deliberately put on an angry expression, glaring at the head, "There were only five people participating in the experiment, and now you're telling me there are twelve? I..." As he spoke, he raised his hand, posing as if he was about to smash the head against the wall.

"Wait! I'm not lying to you!" the monster quickly shouted, "The other seven were 'transformed' by us!"

Upon hearing the word "transformed," Feng Bujue immediately stopped his movements.

Clearly, he had only been pretending to be angry in order to test the other party...

The possibility of "transformation" had naturally occurred to Jue-ge in the past few seconds, but he couldn't be sure if this assumption was correct.

Here, he had to extract the truth from the monster's mouth, but... how to ask the question was an art.

If Feng Bujue had asked in a questioning tone, "Did you transform some people?" the other party's first reaction would be—"This person doesn't know the answer, I can lie to him." Although "can lie" didn't mean they definitely would, it would certainly increase the chances of the monster lying.

However, Feng Bujue's current way of asking the question would yield a very different result.

He first feigned anger, using a questioning attitude to list the facts he knew... namely, "There were only five people participating in the experiment," shifting the focus of the question from "Why are there twelve people?" to "How dare you lie to me?" and using force to threaten the other party into responding quickly.

In this way, the monster's first reaction would be, "I have to quickly defend myself and prove that I'm not lying with more specific information," and thus, it would reveal the "transformation" information itself...

Okay, although I've explained it quite clearly, not everyone may understand it, so let me give a more easily understandable example...

For example, one day, you go out to play after work and don't come home until very late. At this time, if your wife asks you in a questioning tone... "Why are you coming home so late? Were you out fooling around again?" you'll probably just make up an excuse like working overtime to get by.

But if your wife grabs a frying pan, glares at you, and shouts, "You bastard! You still know how to come home? You didn't even call, it's so late! Tell me! Are you seeing someone on the side? Are you smuggling weapons? Are you Heisenberg, the guy everyone is talking about!" Then... you'll definitely blurt out—"No... I was just out fooling around."

In summary, the questioning technique used by Feng Bujue is basically based on this principle.

"That's not right..." Two seconds later, Jue-ge continued along the other party's words, asking, "There are so many people in this base, if you can transform people... how could you only transform seven?"

The monster replied, "Not everyone meets the conditions for transformation... although all humans have a latent madness hidden within them, some people's souls aren't strong enough, and others don't have the physical endurance. These people can't survive the 'ritual'. Also... most of the people in this base died resisting us, and dead people can't be transformed, of course."

"Oh... 'ritual', is it..." Feng Bujue heard another interesting term, and he instantly understood what had happened to those who had been captured alive by the devils.

Even Igor, after thinking about it for a moment, realized this.

"Then... one last question." After a few seconds, Feng Bujue said to the monster again, "How can I leave this base?"

This time, the monster was silent for a few seconds before responding, "Impossible."

"What did you say?" Feng Bujue's sentence wasn't a question, but intimidation.

"It's just impossible." But the monster didn't yield, because what it was saying was true, "We... can't find the exit either..."

"What about your memories from when you were human?" Feng Bujue asked again.

"We all retain all of our memories as humans." The monster added, "But... I don't know, I just don't know. I don't understand why, it's as if that part of the memory never existed."

[Hidden Mission Triggered]

Before the monster's voice faded, the system's voice rang out again, which seemed to indicate that the monster's dialogue was extraordinary.

Feng Bujue immediately opened the game menu and glanced at the mission bar. The hidden mission was—[Crack the Worldview].

"Crack the worldview?" Jue-ge immediately became suspicious and thought to himself, "What does that mean? If we're talking about worldview, isn't it the '****** universe' setting? If that's the case, I should have already cracked it (in a single-player scenario, there's no need to verbalize the worldview. As long as you can understand and confirm it on a conscious level, it can be regarded as a successful crack), and... is this considered a hidden mission?"

Abnormal, unnatural, uncoordinated...

This faint, prickling feeling had been lingering around Feng Bujue since shortly after the scenario began.

And it all seemed to have started when he saw "that mirror."

"Alright, I've told you everything you asked. What are you planning to do next?" At this time, the monster took the initiative to speak, provoking him again, "Kill me? Heh... do you want me to teach you how?"

"Destroying the brainstem should do it, right?" Feng Bujue replied in a very relaxed tone.

"Uh..." The monster couldn't help but be stunned upon hearing this. It seemed that Jue-ge was right.

"Something that can be figured out by the process of elimination..." Feng Bujue continued, glancing at the monster's headless body, "After the head was cut off, the body was useless, but the head could still move normally." He paused and looked directly into the monster's eyes again, "The brain has lost its blood and oxygen supply, and there are no vocal cords, but it can still speak..." He looked at the head in his hand as if it were a scientific specimen, "These are typical characteristics of spiritual parasitism, and the parasitic location... is also very obvious."

To Igor, his lines were still incomprehensible and sounded very impressive...

"In general... you should be considered a special consciousness lurking in the human sea of consciousness. When you lose your inhibition, you will take over the command of the brain and then stimulate those areas in the human brain that ordinary people cannot use to stimulate the body's potential, causing it to reach some kind of physiological mutation." As Feng Bujue spoke, he squatted down and placed the monster's head on the ground, "In terms of mental energy, your level is not as good as a ghost in the general sense, but it is a little stronger than ordinary humans..."

Even the monster itself couldn't summarize its own characteristics like Jue-ge.

But it knew that Jue-ge was right...

"You are not afraid of death. This can be inferred from your reaction when you were beheaded." Feng Bujue's words continued, "But you also have things you fear, otherwise you wouldn't cooperate with me."

As he said this, the monster's face changed involuntarily.

"Considering your nature and the upper limit of your abilities, I think..." Feng Bujue said, "Death... should be a relief for you, allowing you to break free from the constraints of your body. As for where you will go after that, I don't know, and I'm not interested." He paused for half a second and added, "Living... you can certainly accept it, so that you can use this body to carry out slaughter or transform more people."

At this point, Feng Bujue stood up, "However, being in this kind of half-dead state seems to be more difficult..."

His words finally made the monster panic.

"The subject you are parasitizing is in the brain. As long as this part is not destroyed, you cannot escape this entity." Feng Bujue continued, "Moreover, you obviously don't have any self-healing abilities. A severed head is severed, and there is basically no possibility of recovery."

"What are you going to do!" the monster shouted, its expression panicked.

"The reason you succumbed to me before was not because it hurt so much when I slammed you against the wall, but because you felt... it would never end." Feng Bujue said, "As I said... 'I can play like this all day long', but you can't stand it all day, can you?" He smiled, a very evil smile, a smile that was extremely terrible in the monster's eyes, "Heh... in fact, I don't think you can stand it for even a few minutes."

"Brother Feng... what are you..." Igor couldn't help but come over at this time and ask Feng Bujue.

At this moment, Igor's fear of the so-called "devil" had almost disappeared. In comparison... he felt that Jue-ge was even more terrifying.

"You were also left with just a head, Igor. What was the most terrifying feeling you experienced at that time?" Feng Bujue turned to look at Igor, asking, "Was it death? I don't think so..."

"It was..." Igor thought for a moment and replied, "It was the feeling of despair and helplessness..." Recalling that feeling, he showed a look of lingering fear, "I didn't know how long I would be in that state, and I was powerless... This is more terrifying than death."

"Hehe... actually, you still had hope." Feng Bujue continued, "As long as the oxygen and blood supply device connected to your neck ran out of power, or the vno-9 in that container ran out, you should have died. Although that kind of death may be slow and painful, at least it was a visible future..."

As he spoke, Jue-ge looked at the monster's head on the ground again and smiled, "But... this one is different. This one is a spiritual creature. It won't die... and its pain in this state is far greater than your experience in the same state. Because it is the concrete embodiment of human madness after being released, it is a hundred times more uncomfortable for it to be in this almost immobile situation than to be suppressed in the 'cage of reason'."

Igor heard a hint of cruelty in Feng Bujue's tone, because he seemed to have understood what the other party was saying and guessed what was going to happen next...

"So, what if I leave it here now? Imagine what will happen?" Sure enough, Feng Bujue said, "Perhaps it will be found by someone, or perhaps... no one will ever find it again. It will spend a very long time in this extremely painful state... so long that it is unimaginable."

"Kill me! Kill me!" Finally, the monster collapsed. It began to shout hysterically, desperately moving its face and jaw, wriggling on the ground with difficulty...

Feng Bujue was very satisfied with this. He also knew for the first time that the "madness" in human nature could also "collapse" again - as long as the method of stimulation was appropriate.

"Okay, Igor, we should go." At this time, Feng Bujue took off the last blood bag on his arm. The blood inside was basically gone, "Now that the number of enemies has been clarified, things will be easier... Just take care of eleven more..."

"No! Don't go! Kill me!" The monster was still shouting hoarsely on the ground.

But Feng Bujue didn't even look at it. Without hesitation, he turned and left.

Igor, on the other hand, cast a complicated look at it, seemingly with sympathy. But... he didn't disobey Feng Bujue's meaning. He just quickly turned his head, picked up the toolbox, and trotted to catch up with Jue-ge.

Soon, their figures disappeared into the distance of the corridor.

Left here... there was only the continuous, miserable scream. The plea of "Kill me" echoed repeatedly in the empty corridor... making people shudder.

…………

At the same time, in Dr. Cox's office.

"Did you see that, Doctor?" A slightly trembling voice came from the communication channel.

"Ah... of course." Cox looked at the screen with a solemn expression and responded.

"Although each ***-3232-1 is a unique sample, at least in terms of personality, it is not much different from ordinary humans." The voice in the communication channel continued, "But... this sample seems to have some..."

"High-intelligence antisocial personality?" Cox took over the other party's words and sneered, "Hmph... so what?"

Upon hearing this, the person on the other end of the communicator was speechless.

"The proportion in the population is low, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist... If ***-3232-1 comes from humans in another dimension, then the occurrence of this kind of case is sooner or later, isn't it?" Cox said, "In my opinion, his appearance is just right. Perhaps this observation... will be of historical significance."

As he said this, a bold plan had begun to take shape in Dr. Cox's mind...