I, Lord of Prayer

In front of the dressing mirror. 👌👽 ➅❾รⒽย𝓍.𝓒ㄖⓜ 🐊☞

Eileen held up a black knee-length dress in front of her, and after Zhou Chen came over, she turned around and held the dress against her body to show him: "How about this one?"

Zhou Chen looked you over and shook his head: "The style is too mature, it doesn't suit you."

"What about this one?" Eileen picked up another piece of clothing next to her.

"This style is hard to match and not very flattering."

"this?"

"This color doesn't suit you."

"And this one?"

"This is a JK uniform, I think it's good, it can highlight your youthful energy." Zhou Chen praised seriously, really wanting to see what Eileen would look like in it.

Blonde JK uniforms are so rare.

A dozen minutes later, Eileen bought the few suitable clothes she had selected and scanned the code to complete the payment.

"This is so convenient. In the kingdom, you have to pay with gold coins, which are heavy and troublesome." Eileen couldn't help but sigh as she looked at the billing notification on her phone.

She felt as if she had entered a future world, filled with novel and advanced things that were both convenient and advanced. Although she had learned about these things in class, the experience of being there in person was much more profound.

Before leaving, Zhou Chen glanced one last time at the motionless mannequin, found nothing unusual, and then followed Eileen out of the store.

In a corner where no one was paying attention, the mannequin's eyes suddenly moved, its gaze following the two figures as they slowly moved until they were blocked by the wall.

There was a moment of silence.

Suddenly, Zhou Chen leaned back and poked his head out from behind the wall.

It accurately captured the mannequin's hurried return to its place. 🐨🍟 ➅❾şỮⓧ.C𝓞𝕞 🐤🐼

"I've got you!" he said with a triumphant smile.

The perception of those who have ascended to higher realms is rarely wrong; this mannequin was indeed problematic.

According to the Star Society's records, there are examples of inanimate objects such as sculptures, wax figures, dolls, and mannequins that have gained life after being contaminated. Some of the more famous examples are the forbidden object C-155 Miss Mary, the Abyss Curse Object Annabelle, and the Contaminated Species Wax Figure...

"Eileen, call Jiang Che and tell him there's been a pollution incident at the mall." Zhou Chen's palm ignited with pale flames as he threw it forcefully at the dummy.

As if it came to life, the mannequin suddenly dodged to the side, avoiding the incoming flames with incredible speed, and charged straight at the mannequin like a fearless soldier, its footsteps clattering.

Peng!

Zhou Chen kicked out and shattered the plastic mannequin into pieces. Although this thing had come to life, its original form was plastic. Not to mention an Ascended Being, even an ordinary person could easily subdue it.

Good dish. The source of pollution must have just appeared and hasn't had time to develop... Zhou Chen looked at the fragments scattered on the ground, his thoughts flashing. Some kind of evil pollution power contained within them was being burned away by the Azure Flame.

"Mr. Zhou... Mr. Zhou Chen..." Eileen whispered a reminder, "All those mannequins are looking this way..."

At that moment, all the mannequins in the surrounding clothing stores seemed to come alive, turning their heads in unison and staring at them with lifeless eyes.

  

Dozens of mannequins either stood up or adjusted their postures. After staring silently for a few seconds, they suddenly rioted, broke through the glass of the shop window, and assembled into a large group, like a real, living army, charging towards Zhou Chen and Eileen.

Screams erupted as shop assistants and customers were terrified by the suddenly come to life mannequins and fled in panic.

"So many people have been infected..." Zhou Chen frowned slightly. How come the source of the contamination wasn't detected?

With a thought, an alloy longsword appeared in his palm—a weapon transformed from his defensive battle armor. The longsword, burning with azure flames, swept forward, and with a whooshing sound, its blade suddenly lengthened, cleanly severing the heads of more than a dozen dummies in front of him.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Gunshots rang out.

Eileen pulled a handgun from her bag, held it in one hand, and fired at the charging plastic mannequins. With her other hand, she quickly swiped her phone, found Jiang Che's number, and dialed it.

Her marksmanship was excellent; every shot was a headshot. However, she quickly realized that this was a huge waste of bullets.

So they changed their strategy and focused on shooting at the bodies of the dummies. This way, the bullets would continue flying after penetrating one dummy, increasing the chance of shattering the body of the next dummy.

After the call connected, Eileen immediately reported the situation: "Ms. Jiang Che, we encountered a pollution incident at Taisheng Shopping Mall. Uh... it's not urgent, because it seems Mr. Zhou Chen has almost wiped out the pollutants..."

"Wait five minutes, the special operations team will take over." Jiang Che's tone was a little strange. How could Zhou Chen encounter a pollution incident while just shopping?

At this moment, Zhou Chen charged into the group of dummies with his knife and began to slaughter them, cutting dozens of dummies to pieces as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.

There is no source of pollution.

He extinguished the flames on his blade and with a few swift strokes severed the limbs of the last few dummies, ensuring their survival while rendering them immobile, so that they could be kept alive to find the source of the contamination.

Five minutes later, two members of the special operations team arrived.

They used special instruments to record the fluctuations in pollution levels inside the mannequins, activated the scanning radar, and soon detected traces of pollution sources in the mall. The traces were extremely faint; if it weren't for the on-site scanning, the problem probably wouldn't have been detected at all.

Following the traces of pollution, the group arrived at the underground parking garage. When the scanning device was pointed at the security room, it sounded a loud alarm.

The young security guard inside looked completely bewildered.

Seeing the several pistols pointed at him, he wisely raised his hands and stepped out of the guard booth.

"Big brother, big sister... what's the matter?" the young bodyguard asked, mustering his courage.

"Is it him?" Zhou Chen asked.

"No, this is just an ordinary person." A special operations team agent glanced at the equipment and questioned, "What's your name?"

"Li Qiang," the young security guard answered truthfully, raising both hands.

"We are investigating a contamination incident. The equipment indicates that the source of the contamination is in the security room. Besides you, who else is in the security room? Have you encountered anything unusual recently?" the agent asked seriously.

"And there's Brother Liu, his name is Liu Li, he's sleeping right now, he's the security guard on the night shift."

Li Qiang had worked as a security guard for several years. He had heard terrifying stories about the pollution incident from other security guards in the industry and knew the seriousness of the matter. He racked his brains to recall the events of the past few days and recounted all the unusual circumstances he thought he had:

"Brother Liu has been acting a bit strange these past few days. He's a security guard on the night shift, so he sleeps during the day and works at night. Last night, I woke up groggily and found him standing by my bed, staring at me like a statue. I was startled awake. Brother Liu said it was a joke, but I still feel uneasy and didn't dare to sleep all night..."

"And also, when I was watching the security footage out of boredom, I discovered that he would talk to the plastic mannequins in the mall when he was on night shift..."

Zhou Chen and the others exchanged glances; it seemed that they were right.

"I'll go and drag him out." (uu reading)

Just to be on the safe side, Zhou Chen covered his entire body with alloy armor, went into the security room, and dragged the sleeping Liu Li out.

"Who...who are you people?" Liu Li woke up with a start, his face full of panic.

The special operations team pointed the scanning device at Liu Li, and the alarm suddenly became even sirens.

"Liu Li, do you still remember your night shifts?" an officer asked seriously.

Liu Li was bewildered, not knowing why this had been brought up. He tried to recall things, but found that he couldn't remember many things from his night shift; it was as if his memory had entered a blank period.

He stood frozen in place like a wooden statue, stammering, "I, I..."

An agent decisively pulled out a stun gun and knocked Liu Li unconscious.

"Mild contamination, personality memories are gradually being overwritten, and it will probably become moderate contamination in a few days. At that time, all the mannequins in the mall will probably come to life and undergo some kind of bizarre evolution. Fortunately, it was discovered in advance," the operator said with lingering regret.

Clearly, Liu Li unconsciously contaminates the mannequins every night when he's on duty. Perhaps due to his current limited abilities, he only affects a few dozen mannequins on the first floor. Furthermore, because the contaminating force is extremely weak, it hasn't been detected by the monitoring equipment.

"How did he become a source of pollution?" Zhou Chen asked, puzzled.

"We don't know at the moment." An agent shook his head. "Take them back for questioning first, and see if we can find any clues. There have been several more pollution incidents in the last two days."

"Thank you for your hard work. We're going to continue shopping now." Zhou Chen said goodbye and left with Eileen.

The two operators looked like they'd been screwed over, their faces filled with utter despair.

Why is it that we have to work overtime, but he gets to go shopping with pretty girls...?