Abnormal Doomsday Records

Chapter 36 36. Wasteland Ghost Story·You are already dead, why are you still pestering me?

Zhou Ke has always had good sleep quality.

Although I occasionally dream about some messy things, it is generally quite normal. However, I have dreamed about the same man twice in a row, and he is that psychopathic old Merck, which makes the situation a bit weird.

It was understandable that he was weak after the operation, but now he has recovered his strength, and his physical fitness has been further enhanced because the madman's mask was broken. As a result, he heard the call of the old psychic just after taking a nap, which made Zhou Ke open his eyes with a start.

The lit fire was still burning, and Ajie was still wolfing down food on the opposite side. It seemed that the supplies stored in Han Bin's aircraft tasted good. Ajie was visibly satisfied, and the energy device on his arm was in alert mode.

Looking at the time, only two or three minutes had passed, but the wind and sand outside the cave had become even stronger.

Thinking back to the last time he saw a strange hallucination, which was also during the psychic storm that swept through Tiger Claw Town, Zhou Ke suddenly felt that this might be a repeat of the past.

"Please help me monitor my physical condition after I fall asleep."

He thought for a moment and said something to Wu Neng, who immediately complained:

"This machine is currently running at a low performance level. Activating two functions at the same time will cause unnecessary load on the machine. Moreover, your body is as healthy as a calf. In fact, this machine is very suspicious that Han Bin used some kind of enhancer when performing the operation on you.

Your muscle tissue is stronger than yesterday, and your cardiopulmonary function has also improved significantly."

"No, it's not the surgery that's the problem. It's the mask that broke. It will strengthen my physical fitness and speed up the healing process. In addition to Han Bin's superb skills, the mask also contributed to my quick recovery.

But based on my last experience, strengthening my physical fitness requires a process, and it may take me two to three days to complete this strengthening process."

Zhou Ke explained it specifically, but this made Wu Neng hesitate. After a moment, the rational machine asked in a low voice:

"I've always wanted to ask, is it true that only you can see that mask? And can it really transform you after you put it on? You know, this sounds like the fantasy of a delusional patient, they always make up something that only they can see and hear.

Well, it’s not that I don’t believe you, I just want to broaden my horizons.

If I must say, your combat response every time you put on the 'mask' is more like some kind of psychic spell in the Bad Land, which is obviously a more rational explanation."

"As a machine, don't think about such metaphysical questions. I can confirm that my mental state is normal and the mask is real."

Zhou Ke was too lazy to discuss his mental state with a machine that could talk and would throw tantrums and curse when it lost a debate. He leaned back against the stone wall, closed his eyes and said to it:

"Just follow my instructions. If you notice anything unusual, wake me up."

"Oh well."

As Wu Neng responded, Zhou Ke dozed off again and fell into a half-asleep, half-awake state.

This time it went smoothly and he didn't hear the strange call of old Merck again, which made Zhou Ke relax immediately. Let's just say that he, a healthy adult man, dreams of a crazy old man every time he falls asleep. This kind of thing just sounds perverted enough.

However, once Zhou Ke relaxed, he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Then, in a trance, he saw the previous illusion again. The black sun enveloped the silent sea of stars, as if it was extending its devil's claws over the already scarred planet.

This time the illusion was deeper and more detailed than before, allowing Zhou Ke to even clearly see that there were many completely extinguished worlds in the shadow of the black sun.

Like a display of corpses, those dried up and dead planets were spinning around the dim black sun, and their lifeless appearance was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

But the corona on the other side was closer.

The pale light it emits fights against the erosion of the black sun, just like the confrontation between black and white, light and darkness. However, the light that fights against the black sun is not a comfortable light. In fact, when Zhou Ke looked at the exaggerated light crown, the throbbing in his heart was no less relaxing than facing the black sun directly.

The light emitted by this pale thing is not warm, but rather cold, as if it is going to "freeze" all living things in this sea of ​​stars.

Zhou Ke was in a strange illusion.

He felt his head beginning to hurt again, as if the longer he witnessed this bizarre scene, the more exaggerated the mental stress it caused him.

He must wake up immediately!
However, he could not struggle in his dream. He could only be like a piece of floating garbage in the black and white symmetrical starry sky, being inexorably drawn by these two evil forces into the area of black and white confrontation.

He felt like he was "melting".

It was as if it was being assimilated by the two, either turning into the shadow of the black sun or merging into the halo of light of all things.

“Go back! Go back!”

At this critical moment, that familiar voice sounded again. The old psychic Merc, who had been confirmed dead, screamed in Zhou Ke's ear:

"Don't come over here, go back!"

At this moment, Zhou Ke felt that this was more like an illusion within an illusion.

The sound was not clear.

It sounded like the whimpering wind blowing past his ears. He turned his head with difficulty and saw a third clear object behind him besides the black sun and the crown of light.

A quiet and beautiful nebula was suspended behind him, outlining the only safe place in the danger of the confrontation between black and white. As long as he took a step back, he could blend into the starlight.

So he gritted his teeth and forced his numb mind to move backwards.

It was difficult, just like trying to keep steady in a gale of more than 10 degrees. Just when he touched the starlight, a sharp pain suddenly shot up from his arm, forcing Zhou Ke to open his eyes immediately. At the last moment to escape from this strange dream, Zhou Ke, who was already wrapped in starlight, raised his head and looked in the direction where the sound came from.

In that pale halo of light.

In the cold light that froze everything, old Merck's hunched figure flashed by, and then Zhou Ke finally opened his eyes.

His spirit escaped from the weirdness and returned to the material world!

He was gasping for breath as if he had had a nightmare, and glanced in the direction of the pain, and saw that his wrist, which was bound by the energy device, was already charred.

"I asked you to wake me up, not this way!"

Zhou Ke, who felt that most of his body was paralyzed, complained hoarsely:
"You almost electrocuted me, did you know that?"

"This machine wanted to be gentle, but four consecutive low-power discharges failed to wake you up, and your intracranial pressure rose so fast in a few minutes that it almost made this machine smoke! This machine can only use this non-lethal electric shock."

Wu Neng screamed in return:

"What on earth happened just now? You seemed to be in great pain and were screaming, as if you had encountered some kind of monster in a dream. Your physical condition is very good, but the sudden surge in intracranial pressure cannot be explained by any medical knowledge.

The situation this time is worse than the previous one in Tiger Claw Town. You were still able to control it that time, but this time... you are out of control?"

"It's hard for me to explain it to you, Wuneng. After all, this is a matter of metaphysics."

Zhou Ke shook his head to sober himself up.

He sat up and touched the back of his head. Blood was flowing out again, which made him very worried about his condition. But under Wuneng's urging, Zhou Ke still explained his hallucination in detail, even the fact that he saw old Merck appear in the pale light crown at the last moment.

After listening to Zhou Ke's description, Wuneng also fell silent.

It can be seen that this intelligent assistant is trying its best to understand Zhou Ke’s strange dream, but it can’t do it. Its database is locked, so it cannot use high computing power to analyze the details in the dream.

However, Wu Neng was a highly intelligent being after all, and he quickly came to a preliminary conclusion and said to Zhou Ke:

"Let's assume that what you saw was not the result of a dream. After all, you have seen similar things before when you were awake. The manic hallucinations caused by brain diseases rarely appear exactly the same.

You saw three fixed things in your hallucination.

The Black Sun, the Pale Corona, and the Quiet Nebula, right?

This must be a symbol of three unique existences. Combined with the fact that Old Merck is a fanatical 'end believer', you have driven him crazy and he believes that the members of Tiger State have fallen into evil, so he shouts heresy and goes to assassinate Wu Qinhu.

Let’s not comment on this obviously insane behavior for now, and just talk about old Merck himself.

If he really embraced his faith at the last moment and obtained the so-called "amnesty", then you saw him in the pale light crown, does it mean that the light crown actually represents the projection of "the end" in your mind?"

"Uh"

In response to Wu Neng's guess, Zhou Ke blinked and said:
"It sounds outrageous, but I can't refute you. However, according to the cultists in Tiger Nation, all the disasters in this evil land come from the destruction of the end. It sounds like an unfriendly evil god.

If He really exists, why would He place such a mysterious projection into the mind of an ordinary guy like me?
I don't owe Him any money! There's no need to rush me like this.

And according to you, if the pale light corona represents the end, then it means that the black sun and the exquisite nebula also represent two other weird things. Ha, do you think this evil land has fallen to this point, what qualifications does it have to attract three great gods to come here at the same time?"

"Well, this machine said that this is just a hypothesis. There is a serious lack of relevant data and information at the moment, and this machine cannot give you a reasonable explanation model."

Wu Neng said helplessly:

“But speaking objectively, if there is a systematic psychic power in the Bad Land, then all kinds of weird things based on this supernatural power that is difficult to explain by science are possible.

When we all see with our own eyes that there are people who can harness thunder like Thor, you can no longer regard the fanaticism of those cultists as simple ignorance.

Because they really might have forcibly created a 'god' through unscientific psychic powers. This machine doesn't know how they would do it, but we can't rule out this possibility. In other words, your so-called 'metaphysics' represents real power on this earth.

Even faith cannot be simply viewed as a form of spiritual comfort.

They are all endowed with a basis for existence, and naturally have the possibility of developing in depth in a 'metaphysical' manner. "

"Okay, okay, then how about we find a way to capture a psychic and have him explain the ins and outs of this to us?"

Zhou Ke used a wooden stick to stir the flames in front of him and made a rather outrageous and exaggerated suggestion to liven up the atmosphere.

Seeing Zhou Ke starting his routine bullshit, the energy-comprehension device also lost interest in continuing the analysis with him. After a contemptuous snort, it switched to alert mode again. After being disturbed by this sudden incident, Zhou Ke also lost interest in resting.

He was not very tired to begin with. The physical strengthening caused by Wu Qinhu's mask being shattered made him very energetic.

Facts have proved that the thicker mask created by absorbing Ajie's "vitality" brings much more amazing enhancement when it is broken. According to Zhou Ke's physical feeling, after this enhancement, his physical fitness will usher in a big improvement. Of course, it will not reach the exaggerated level of sublimation, but it should not be a problem to be on par with elite wastelanders.

If he could undergo another equal enhancement, he would be able to catch up with Lao Wang's exaggerated physique as one of the "new humans from the Bad Land" born after the disaster of the Month of Reproduction.

"So, daily warming and nourishing the mask has become a compulsory course."

Zhou Ke grinned and glanced at the metal mask in his hand.

This thing was obtained from a crazy mechanical hunter. If you want to strengthen it, you can only find a similar creature. There is no strengthening channel for the time being, but Ajie's madman's mask can now be remade.

He looked at Ajie, but found that Ajie had stopped eating and drinking, with a special energy bar of the Acholi Group in his mouth, but his eyes were staring at Zhou Ke.

This gesture made Zhou Ke raise his eyebrows.

Ajie is a biochemical maniac with a collapsed personality. He has lost his sanity but replaced it with a sharper animal fighting instinct. It is obvious that he has sensed something strange and is making observations before the battle.

The problem is that Zhou Ke doesn't think he would be Ajie's enemy.

"What are you looking at? Is there something dirty on my face?"

Zhou Ke asked, and Ajie looked at him blankly, then lowered his head and continued to eat the energy bar, but Zhou Ke noticed that Ajie's eyes would still glance at him from time to time.

He did not let his guard down.

He even quietly approached the mechanical spear stuck in the ground behind him. Ajie seemed to be pretending to let the "dirty thing" relax his vigilance and give him a chance to attack. There was indeed something about himself that made Ajie feel nervous!
Zhou Ke narrowed his eyes and immediately began to check his condition, but after looking around he found nothing.

Keep yourself clean!

Could it be that Han Bin implanted some dangerous device like a bomb into himself during the surgery?

He was about to have Wu Neng examine him once more when he saw Ajie finally take action.

The madman howled and grabbed the mechanical spear, then threw it towards Zhou Ke, which scared Zhou Ke. However, the spear was not aimed at his body, but instead pierced into Zhou Ke's back from a distance with a bang, smashing a rock into pieces.

"What's wrong with you?"

He scolded, making Ajie take a few steps back.

The clumsy biochemical warrior wanted to explain, but he couldn't speak and could only whimper and wave his fingers.

Zhou Ke looked back and saw that the spear thrown by Ajie had hit his shadow which was elongated by the flames, which made him laugh out of anger.

He turned around and said to Ajie with a smile:
"Why the hell are you mad at a living person and a shadow? Is it because your muscles have been strengthened that your IQ has dropped again? I really need to find a doctor to check your brain."

"No! Joker, Ajax is right! Your shadow is moving!"

Wu Neng screamed, which made Zhou Ke stunned for a moment. He pulled out the energy-saving pistol that Han Bin had given him as a "friendly gift" and aimed at the shadow behind him.

Sure enough, under his gaze, the shadow that was "nailed" to the ground by Ajie's spear was trying to "break free" from the spear, just like a black slime, and after a brief gathering and dispersion, it returned to its original form.

It seemed to "pretend" that there was nothing wrong with it, but Zhou Ke had seen through everything.

"Is this place haunted?"

How could an ordinary person like Zhou Ke have ever seen such a scene?
He was not a psychic, so he could not explain the principle behind this scene, and he didn't know why his shadow suddenly came to life.

He put away his pistol, probably guessing that simple physical attacks would not pose much threat to this "thing".

The destructive power of the spear thrown by Ajie at close range was much greater than that of a bullet, but Shadow was not injured. He just felt very "uncomfortable" being stuck to the ground.

The wind and sand outside the cave became stronger, just like Zhou Ke's mood at the moment.

"This machine is suspicious."

After a moment of silence, Wu Neng suddenly spoke:

"This may be the awakening of some of your abilities, Joker. Do you remember those Badlands stories you heard before? Those Badlands people with psychic talents often awaken their abilities inexplicably after a psychic storm, although most of them will harm others and themselves because they cannot control it.

Perhaps you are a hidden psychic?"

"No, that's not it. I still can't feel the psychic energy in the wind and sand. Ohm clearly said that psychics' perception of the world is completely different from that of ordinary people."

Zhou Ke denied this claim.

He stared at the shadow in front of him, then stretched out his hand and ordered:
"Whatever you are, show yourself!"

He just yelled to give himself courage, and he didn't think this thing would obey.

But the next moment, under Zhou Ke's astonished gaze, his shadow actually shook and turned into a "solid entity", from a two-dimensional plane like plasticine, strangely turning into a three-dimensional entity. It was like a guy in a black cloak, standing quietly in front of Zhou Ke, as if waiting for orders.

But it still did not escape the range of Zhou Ke's shadow.

Perhaps it was born within it and cannot move freely without the shadow.

"Isn't this old Merck?"

Zhou Ke walked forward to take a closer look, then was horrified.

Although this thing was as black as a coal briquette, his messy hair and hunched body still allowed him to recognize the guy's identity at a glance.

"This old man actually followed me? But you're already dead. I saw with my own eyes how Wu Qinhu chopped you into pieces. You're still grudgeful, so why don't you go and seek revenge on the Tiger King? What's the point of pestering me?"

He was furious and felt that this "evil ghost" in front of him was a bully who only feared the strong and bullied the weak.

But soon, Zhou Ke began to smile.

He could feel that he could control this shadow, just like controlling a video toy with a remote control. Although he didn't know how this worked, he realized that he had one more "trump card".

Considering that Old Merck was a very powerful psychic, maybe this guy still retained certain abilities after becoming a ghost, so Zhou Ke rolled his eyes, pointed at a stone not far away, and ordered:

"The decision is yours, Mokmon! Use 100,000 volts on that evil rock!"

"Well, I suggest you check your brain. How can such an order be possible?"

"Bang!"

"Holy shit! Can it really attack?"

(End of this chapter)