Starting with dissecting ghost stories

After parting ways with Wen Yan, Shen Xing went to retrieve his car and paid the remaining balance.

Throughout the journey, Shen Xing kept thinking about the meaning behind Wen Yan's words to him.

Did Wen Yan discover that I had a problem? Is that why she said it on purpose?

Did he discover the second murderer in Li Ya's family massacre?

Did he connect himself with the killer?

No... unlikely.

Shen Xing sat in the bread cart, feeling the cool air blowing inside, and carefully recalled every conversation that left a deep impression on him from the time he met Wen Yan until now.

From the very first day they met, it was easy to sense that Wen Yan's attitude towards him was one of contempt.

However, this disdain was barely noticeable when they examined the body together this morning, as if Wen Yan still recognized his professionalism in his job.

Or rather, he needs Shen Xing's professional skills.

Up until this point, everything was fine. Wen Yan would talk to him about Lu Lingyun or the case, and it was mostly casual conversation. The real change started after he took him to visit Wang Xinran. His conversations with Shen Xing were no longer superficial, but rather more like heart-to-heart talks.

Shen Xing wasn't sure if Wen Yan wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk.

But Shen Xing could sense that he was trying to make himself feel like he was having a heart-to-heart talk.

If we trace this entire chain of events, it should prove that Wen Yan's change in attitude towards him is unrelated to the Li Ya family annihilation case. It's more likely that... he saw Shen Xing's "grief-stricken" appearance in the ICU corridor and then impulsively decided to have a "heart-to-heart talk" with Shen Xing. Was he trying to create a loophole for him?

The first few hours after we parted aren't ideal. It would be best to call him late at night, tonight or tomorrow night, and ask him what to do if he thinks the Ninth Detachment isn't up to par.

Then we can find out what Wen Yan is going to do from his reply.

Shen Xing even suspected that the copycat's sudden change in modus operandi might be due to Wen Yan's influence.

However, Shen Xing currently has no evidence to prove this.

Shen Xing started the car and drove it back to the residential area.

There aren't many parking spaces in the community. When Shen Xing's adoptive parents bought the place, they didn't consider buying a car, so they didn't buy a parking space either. However, most people don't buy parking spaces either. If they have a car, they usually park it on the curb in the community.

After stopping the car, Shen Xing went home and brought his suitcase, mooncake box, and handbag with him. He then stuffed these three ordinary items, each "sealed" with something unusual, into the back seat of the van.

Keeping these things at home is still not very safe, since the population density in the community is too high. If something happens to these abnormalities and affects the residents, the risk of exposure will increase significantly.

The car dealer was quite helpful, considering Shen Xing had bought the car at a premium. He basically took care of all the requests Shen Xing made. After the car was given some basic maintenance and the registration was completed, he also tinted the windows so that it was basically impossible to see inside from the outside.

If more in-depth modifications are desired, Shen Xing will definitely have to do it himself.

Shen Xing drove to buy a regular stainless steel thermos, then went to the market to buy a few chicks before driving to his garage. He loaded all the tools in the toolbox and put them in the car.

After driving the vehicle to an undeveloped wasteland in the suburbs, Shen Xing stopped the car and began the experiment he had been preparing for.

Shen Xing opened the suitcase and once again used the flesh and blood from his buttocks to make [02-Doll] stop resisting. He then cut off another strand of black mycelium about the length of an index finger from [02-Doll].

Shen Xing threw the still-wriggling black mycelium directly into the thermos.

Through the small hole, Shen Xing could see the black mycelium extending and attempting to climb inside the thermos flask.

Shen Xing reached out, and the skin on his palm split open, revealing an abnormal muscle. Shen Xing used the scalpel in his toolbox to cut off the abnormal muscle and threw it into the thermos.

After the bloody, abnormal muscle fell into the thermos liner, the finger-thick black mycelium stopped trying to spread towards the rim. It first cautiously extended a wisp of thread to touch the piece of flesh that had fallen in, and after sensing no threat, it simply attached itself to it entirely.

The hyphae continued to spread across the muscle until they enveloped the entire muscle segment, slowly engulfing and absorbing it.

"Can you control it?" Shen Xing pointed the thermos at the [02-Doll] sitting inside the suitcase and asked. "No." The doll's voice echoed in Shen Xing's mind.

The flesh and blood of the dead did not alter the puppet's thought patterns; it still retained Shen Xing's thought patterns.

"Can you feel it?" Shen Xing continued to ask.

The reason for asking this question is that when Shen Xing first fed [02-Puppet] with abnormal muscles, he felt a brief connection between himself and [02-Puppet].

This sense of connection can even help Shen Xing use gestures to "tame" the original [02-doll].

However, that feeling gradually disappeared after [02-Puppet] almost consumed all the abnormal flesh and blood. It wasn't until Shen Xing re-fed the flesh and blood that the sense of connection returned.

"Okay." The doll's voice rang in Shen Xing's mind again.

The puppet's connection to its own flesh and blood seems relatively weak. It can be felt after being separated from the body, but it cannot be controlled like Shen Xing.

Seeing that the black mycelium inside the thermos wouldn't be able to completely devour the abnormal flesh and blood in a short time, he plugged the thermos with the cork, put the lid on, and set it aside.

Then, Shen Xing turned his attention to the cardboard box beside him.

Inside the cardboard box were the chicks Shen Xing had bought from the market. They were all huddled in a corner of the box, chirping softly.

Shen Xing raised his right hand again, palm down, and two bundles of abnormal flesh emerged from his palm, slowly extending downwards.

After wriggling out about half a finger's length, Shen Xing tried to twist the tail end of the abnormal flesh on its own, hoping to break it off directly from his body in this way... but the excruciating pain made him give up.

The pain caused by this twisting motion is unimaginable. Even though the sensation and pain from the abnormal flesh after it leaves the body may be less noticeable, it is still unbearable.

Shen Xing still took out a scalpel and cut off the two abnormal pieces of flesh.

"Clatter".

Two fleshy, pink maggot-like creatures fell into the cardboard box, writhing in agony.

Shen Xing was testing the limits of his control over abnormal flesh and blood—starting with the flesh and blood leaving the body.

Once those abnormal flesh and blood are separated from the body, they no longer feel as if they are part of the body, and the connection becomes somewhat weak.

However, Shen Xing could still control them to crawl forward, but the control feedback was a bit slow and the delay was a bit high.

After the abnormal flesh fell into the box, the chicks seemed to sense something and began to run around inside. The abnormal flesh moved slowly, and coupled with the inherent delay in control, Shen Xing was unable to control the abnormal flesh to catch up with any of the chicks for a while.

Helpless, Shen Xing could only reach into the box, pin one of the chicks to the spot, and then manipulate the abnormal flesh and blood to crawl towards the chick.

The chick was still struggling, turning its head to peck at Shen Xing's fingers, but its beak was pinched between Shen Xing's thumb and forefinger, and it was pressed into the box in this open position.

The thin, worm-like bloodstain burrowed into the chick's open beak until its entire body was completely submerged in the chick's mouth.

Shen Xing used a marker to draw a line on the chick's yellow downy feathers as a mark, then released his grip, letting the chick run away. He looked at the chick and the other abnormal flesh lying at the bottom of the box, slowly closing his eyes and feeling the connection. After closing his eyes and blocking out his other senses as much as possible, Shen Xing indeed felt that the connection between himself and the abnormal flesh had strengthened. In the darkness, he was emanating a feeling of "spreading"—Shen Xing couldn't quite describe what it felt like. If he had to describe it, it felt like he had become a non-Newtonian fluid, continuously filling the cavity along its surface… This feeling lasted for about three to four minutes before Shen Xing felt a complete sense of fullness.

The moment he felt this sense of fulfillment, Shen Xing slowly opened his eyes and looked at the box in front of him.

Inside the box, the other chicks huddled in a corner, shivering, seemingly unable to even make a sound.

The chick marked with a black marker stood quietly in the center of the box, facing Shen Xing.

Beside it, the mutated muscle that resembled a blood-red maggot was now completely twisted and deformed.

The muscles that were originally bound together have now separated into finer blood vessels, even finer than the original muscle fibers.

These blood vessels formed a smaller, chick-shaped "model" next to the chick, looking like a miniature 3D model made of red wire bent into shape.

This corresponds to the state of another mutated muscle in the chick's body at this time.

The sense of connection... has become even weaker.

Shen Xing tried to control the chick's movements through the blood vessels, but he couldn't move it an inch. The chick stood still, its body twitching involuntarily, as if it were fighting against something controlling it.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Xing reached out his hand again.

Two thin blood vessels slowly emerged from the crack in his fingertip. One connected to the blood vessel "chicken," while the other burrowed into the body of the marked chick.

The sense of connection is instantly enhanced.

Under Shen Xing's control, the chick slowly raised its head, one step... two steps...

The little chick with blood lines next to it was doing the same thing.

"Thump."

It fell into the box, seemingly due to Shen Xing's mishandling.

But soon, it used its wings... and a behavior logic more like that of a human, to stand up, supporting itself on the cardboard. This set of human actions applied to the chick seemed unusually strange.

Shen Xing seems to be able to remotely control living things using "wired control" by relying on his abnormal flesh and blood.

So, if the amount of abnormal flesh and blood extracted is large enough...

Can he control humans?