Gacha games can't save this bizarre world.

Tell them to switch to another group of mercenaries

Chapter 399 Tracking the Monster

Some time ago, when Zhao Hao and Nanaya Saki were dealing with a supernatural incident, they inadvertently discovered that supernatural monsters were mingling with humans in the surface world.

They were a pair of tooth-eating demonic dentists, and a group of wicked tooth fairies they kept around. They truly lived off the land and water, managing to make a living solely from the dental services of an old hospital.

It's not easy for extraordinary beings to come to the surface world, because they have to go through secret realms or those "loopholes" that open unexpectedly.

The two tooth-eating demon dentists, disguised in human skin, are using a secret technique of Japanese monsters, and clearly did not accidentally come to the world of the living to become dentists.

Originally, this matter was handed over to Colt to investigate, to see what was going on, whether there was any hidden smuggling chain between the two sides, or even some more dangerous situation.

Who knew that not long after, Colt secretly handed the matter over to Zhao Hao and Nanaya Saki to investigate.

Within the Bureau of Mysteries, and even within the upper echelons of the American government, there is an unseen force interfering with and even obstructing Colt's investigation.

After being tricked twice, Colt realized something was wrong. Unwilling to give up, he went to find Zhao Hao and his companion again…

"I never expected this matter would involve Ami's upper echelons!" Nanaya Saki still found it a bit unbelievable.

Zhao Hao wasn't surprised, because he knew more. If you consider the ridiculous things the American government did in his previous life when there was no supernatural power, he wouldn't be too surprised if they wanted to destroy the world.

They don't have any bottom line or anything like that.

The higher up one's social class, the more one admires social Darwinism and believes in survival of the fittest and the law of the jungle.

In their eyes, the lower classes are their prey.

Since it's a hunt where everyone uses their own unique skills, then naturally no method is better or worse.

Do you remember how many small bread rolls you've eaten?

Since it's bread, it's perfectly natural to dip it in jam or spread it with butter, or to toast it and make it into a sandwich; naturally, no method can be considered despicable. Even if you throw it on the ground and crush it with your foot, you can only scold him for wasting food.

……

This matter is actually quite complicated, after all, Colt has made it clear that he can no longer use the Bureau of Mysteries' information channels.

The Mysterious Bureau has now expanded to become the absolute main force in the suppression of the supernatural world by the American government. Its size is enormous, with at least several hundred supernatural beings officially joining. The number of people recruited by the leaders at various levels, such as temporary workers like Zhao Hao, is even more impossible to count.

There are over 8,000 black-clad agents, almost all of whom have undergone psionic adaptation training and are proficient in using various psionic machines, firearms, and equipment.

The Mysterious Bureau possesses a vast amount of extraordinary knowledge and items, and has the authority to mobilize most departments across the country.

It can be described as a behemoth born in a special period.

In this situation, the Aramco government, and even some unknown forces, must have mixed in a lot of mud.

Now that we can't rely on the intelligence network and manpower of the Secret Service to investigate, things will get very difficult.

Zhao Hao also lacked a nationwide intelligence network and manpower.

Colt was actually hoping to kill two birds with one stone, so he wouldn't be surprised if he didn't find anything in the end.

However, Zhao Hao did not have a nationwide manpower network, but he did have players all over the country.

First, post a bounty on the forum: 3000 Nima coins for the hidden extraordinary beings in the world, especially those hidden among the crowd.

Then the system will also issue some tasks to investigate anomalies.

There's also the Magic Mirror and Ika, who collect relevant information when players interact and use the game system.

Once a keyword is triggered, the context and conversation at that time will be recorded, just like the big data access permissions on a mobile phone.

You just told your friend you wanted to get a new computer, and as soon as you open your phone and reach into your wallet, it starts recommending computers to you.

It might even be the kind of price that's artificially inflated, and they might use big data to discriminate against loyal customers.

With these methods, Zhao Hao should be able to find clues soon.

Unfortunately, Zhao Hao's dream travel is not yet able to access supernatural monsters. Only beings recognized as "human" can enter dreams while asleep.

Zhao Hao felt he should take some time to visit the Dream Garden in the Underworld. He should also try to acquire the Animal Dreams and Object Dreams.

After obtaining the Dream of Man last time, the Dream Game was like an upgraded version, completely transformed. My own dream world expanded to the size of a city.

If he could acquire the other two Dream Powers, Zhao Hao felt he could advance to Silver rank!

Back then, weren't the Dark Lord and the Shadow Guild Master in that small world trying to steal the authority and power of "Children's Painting" in order to advance to Silver rank?

……

I have to say, the players are really efficient. These people are incredibly strange.

Working overtime in the real world can be miserable for a week, but playing games all night can feel incredibly satisfying!

The players who accepted the mission or urgently needed to spend Nima coins unleashed tremendous power and enthusiasm.

These guys acquired all sorts of abilities and items in the game, which were quite bizarre.

After all, the development of psionic energy is limitless, and experiences in the game can inspire and guide psionic energy to develop the ability to adapt to oneself.

There are countless oddballs among those players; what kind of abilities do they lack?

While human skin disguise is impressive, it's not foolproof. In the hands of players skilled in reconnaissance and tracking, it can still be easily exposed.

The main problem is that there are too many players, and some people inevitably obtain information unintentionally.

In just five days, Zhao Hao received more than 120 pieces of valuable intelligence.

These have all been screened by Ika and the Magic Mirror, removing those that are ambiguous or those that are extraordinary beings living normally in the surface world.

There are still some extraordinary beings in the surface world, most of whom are demi-humans. There are also werewolves, vampires, and the like. These are not Zhao Hao's targets.

They are considered to be extraordinary beings who are closely integrated with human society. Even during the period of psychic dormancy, their existence in the surface world never ceased.

"Look, there are sixteen targets just around Liberty City. Let's sneak over and check them one by one."

When Nanaya Saki saw the stack of documents, she wondered where Zhao Hao got the information, but as someone from a traditional Japanese family, she didn't ask.

Closing the novel in her hands, Nanaya Saki checked the information page by page, preparing herself mentally.

……

"A body-snatching monster? My god, that's really rare!" Zhao Hao said, stepping on a middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man at his feet was struggling, but he couldn't move at all.

His muscles were twitching and shaking abnormally, as if something inside him was trying to burst out. But there was a talisman written by Zhao Hao stuck to his face.

This is a new type of talisman made by referencing the structure of traditional Eastern talismans and incorporating the power of runic language.

Sealed by the talisman, the body-snatching monster was unable to leave the body it had taken over, effectively trapping it.

Uncle Tie never taught Zhao Hao advanced talismans because that requires ordination and extremely high talent. It was clear that Zhao Hao had no chance of becoming a talisman master.

I never expected him to come up with such a new crooked and unorthodox method~

"Seven Nights, this isn't the target we were looking for, but it's an unexpected bonus," Zhao Hao smiled.

Nanaya Saki, her hand resting on the hilt of her katana, looked curiously at the man at Zhao Hao's feet. She had never seen a body-stealing monster before, but similar yokai existed in Japan, such as the Dead Soul Crow.

Body-stealers are a type of monster, a naturally born supernatural being, possessing psychic and telepathic abilities.

It looks like a tangled bunch of tentacles. Once it burrows into the body, the tentacles integrate into the muscles and bones, taking over the body by invading and modifying the nervous system.

Some people think this thing doesn't seem to be a native creature; it might be a creation of some unknown, strange god. It's practically alien life.

Once these things invade a human body, they are basically impossible to detect through normal means. However, they cannot receive the memories of the invaded person, so they are easy to give themselves away through behavior and language.

There was a new player who was just an ordinary person who joined the game and felt that the old widower living alone near his home had been behaving strangely lately.

God knows why he would focus on comparing the behavior and habits of an old widower for so long! It's terrifying!

Zhao Hao planned to bring it into his dream world to study it carefully. He wanted to see if his paper shikigami and divine weapon could achieve this function of possessing a body.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war, and Zhao Hao and Nanaya Saki were obviously not here for this one objective; if this one wasn't enough, they would move on to the next.

Zhao Hao carried Nanaya Saki across the Rainbow Bridge, so distance was no longer an issue.

The second target was located in a somewhat remote area, on the edge of a forest.

One of the extraordinary players said he made a deal with an old lady here, buying some herbs that are rarely seen in the surface world. The old lady was just an ordinary old lady.

Even more bizarrely, he was ambushed afterwards. Although he escaped using items he obtained in the game, he didn't know who attacked him. He found the old woman suspicious but dared not approach her again.

Zhao Hao and Nanaya Saki were secretly observing a wooden cabin next to a forest. The cabin was a bit dilapidated and looked somewhat eerie.

"It seems to be the target we're looking for. Although we can't see its inner self, it's covered in human skin, and it's been modified. This is a monster that can skillfully use psionic energy."

Zhao Hao saw a lot of information through the Eye of Fate.

This somewhat disheveled old woman possessed a faint, ethereal aura.

This monster must have altered the human skin disguise, giving it some other abilities.

It wasn't exactly superfluous, but it stood out considerably in Zhao Hao's eyes.

Nanaya Saki drew her katana and summoned the Red Oni and Blue Oni. Zhao Hao immediately created a barrier that enveloped the entire wooden house and the surrounding area of ​​several meters.

The old woman inside immediately noticed and rushed out to find Zhao Hao and Nanaya Saki drawing their swords against each other. The old man stopped pretending and roared as he started fighting.

From its toothless, withered mouth spewed out countless poisonous bees, while Nanayasaki's Blue Oni spewed out a stream of blue will-o'-the-wisp that scorched the black cloud-like swarm of bees...

A minute later, the old monster was subdued and revealed its true form: a witch.

There are many types of witches, some of which are quite different. But they are all undeniably ugly and bizarre!

Like this one, with its disheveled hair sprouting twisted tree tendrils, one eyeball being a black stone, a nose larger than a regular radish, teeth like black nails in its mouth, and countless honeycomb-like holes from its cheeks to its neck, its body covered in cysts and scars, its joints strangely swollen, and its feet with bizarre, bird-like claws...

Especially the features on her chest, which droop all the way down to her navel! They're covered in moss and warts, it's an eyesore!

Their reproduction methods are very mysterious, but it is well known that they use rituals to transform girls with high psychic potential into witches.

To be honest, this monster is quite threatening.

Because their intelligence is in no way inferior to that of humans, and their use of psychic energy is innate, they possess many strange and powerful spells. Some of the longer-lived ones even enslave other monsters or even intelligent beings!

If they are superhumans of the same level, they are basically no match for the witch without special preparation.

This one has already reached Black Iron 5-star, it's definitely not easy to deal with. But it was unlucky to be blocked by Zhao Hao and his companion.

"The old hag is great! She's intelligent and must know a lot of information." Zhao Hao rubbed his fingers together, igniting a flame.

"Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely! You'd better behave yourself..."

That night, Zhao Hao and Nanaya Saki traveled to sixteen different locations. Ten of these locations were inhabited by extraordinary beings who lived normally in the surface world and had not committed any crimes. Therefore, there was no need to take action against them, and they should not even show themselves to interfere with their lives.