Chapter 918: Skull

Underground deep pit, 10 meters.

In the simply dug tunnel, Lin An wore a strange expression as he looked at Mo Ling clinging to his shoulder.

Underfoot lay a frozen corpse, hunched over, its woodenly opened eyes still showing a hint of reluctance before death.

"You killed it...?"

Not long after returning to the origin area, Lin An saw the little Mo Ling directing zombies to dig a pit.

The return took much longer than he had expected, and he hadn't anticipated that the flow of time when returning to the origin area would be calculated according to this area.

As a result, by the time he returned, a long time had passed.

Lin An has always valued his companions greatly; upon realizing this, he still feels some lingering fear.

Fortunately, after absorbing the death energy from the skull, Mo Ling advanced to the Second Level; otherwise the consequences would be unthinkable.

"Yes~"

Mo Ling gave a slightly pouting, tsundere look, unusually not complaining that Lin An had returned too slowly.

Having been stuck at the First Level for too long, her sudden breakthrough left her feeling extremely good.

While speaking, she couldn't help but actively demonstrate her brand-new skill:

Necromancy Control (Initial): Consume death energy to summon undead bodies. The number summoned depends on the amount consumed; in the appropriate environment, additional bonuses will be granted.

Against non-summoned undead, she can briefly control undead bodies of no higher than Second Level.

Necromantic Shock: Forcefully command all undead bodies to launch a swift strike on the target area, causing life drain and fear, as well as shock and nightmare effects.

This strike ignores rank differences and can deal unlimited damage depending on the number of undead.

A very strong skill.

After seeing Mo Ling's newly gained talent, Lin An also understood why his pursuers died at her hands.

That mutant was essentially exhausted.

Perhaps against Awakened Ones' spiritual energy attacks, she could still rely on her rank and spiritual energy to offset the damage.

But against the undead summoned by Mo Ling, a Third Rank's defense is nearly zero, forcing reliance on sheer vitality to withstand them.

However, once the undead drained the last of the vital energy, the main body died, and any remaining spiritual energy was useless.

No wonder he died with such reluctance.

Truly, it's shocking enough to see a ghost.

Lin An nodded slightly, feeling quite emotional.

Heiyu indeed holds many things useful to Mo Ling; I wonder how Chu An guessed that.

Compared to before, when she could only rely on summoned beasts, Mo Ling's strength can be said to have been greatly liberated.

In the past, if there were no zombie mutants around, she could only rely on a slightly strengthened physique to fight.

But now, with the ability to summon undead out of thin air, ordinary Awakened Ones and mutants simply cannot withstand her rank‑ignoring damage.

Lin An knows all too well how terrifying undead bodies can be.

Even a high‑rank Third Rank can be killed to death by a few makeshift undead bodies, and in terms of eeriness and difficulty, they far surpass others.

At the same time, Yuan Feng, who had been standing silently at the side, couldn't help but let his gaze sweep back and forth across the scene.

A zombie, a pervert, a half‑human half‑monster corpse, and a little girl who looks ordinary yet can kill a Third Rank...

Damn it...

In just a short day, he felt that the strange things he had encountered exceeded those of a lifetime.

What on earth is this monster combination...

He always felt that he and Lin An were not in the same apocalypse...

Yuan Feng, not paying attention to his random thoughts, Lin An, after examining Mo Ling's talent, also carefully inspected the corpse on the ground, a flicker of doubt crossing his eyes.

The corpse drained of all vital energy could no longer maintain its original appearance.

Aged, with sagging skin clinging to the face like it's about to peel off, yet the arrangement of the brows and eyes made Lin An feel somewhat familiar.

He had seen this person before, at least leaving an impression.

Forget it; we'll ask after he revives and we'll know.

Suppressing his doubt, Lin An couldn't help but gaze at the crystal skull in Mo Ling's hand:

"Have you absorbed it all?"

"Finished! It was delicious!"

Her voice clear, Mo Ling nodded, handed him the crystal skull, blinked her eyes, though a faint weariness lingered in the depths.

In order to find Lin An as quickly as possible, she almost risked her life to absorb this death energy, rather than first testing a little as Lin An had instructed.

Of course, she wouldn't tell Lin An about this.

Speaking of which.

As Lin An had guessed, after the death energy was drawn out of the crystal skull, it indeed lost its ability to spread the meme.

Now only a large amount of spiritual energy remains, which can be easily absorbed.

I also don't know what this thing actually is...

Upon taking the skull, just as Lin An was curiously speculating, he instantly heard a system prompt.

After seeing the prompt clearly, his heart skipped a beat.

Perched on Lin An's shoulder, little Mo Ling clearly sensed that something was off with him; seeing him slightly dazed, she couldn't help but move closer to his side:

"Lin An, what's wrong?"

She rarely saw Lin An show such emotion, especially since she could feel that he was clearly startled by something.

Is it because of the skull?

No, when she got the skull, she also heard the system prompt.

Besides the explanation that the item belongs to a special infection source, along with the description of death qi and spiritual energy storage, there is nothing else special.

Oh, there are also some words she can't quite understand.

"Lin An?"

"You're not going to eat the spiritual energy inside? Why are you standing there?"

Asking again, little Mo Ling moved her head close, her lips touching Lin An's ear, gently exhaling, her eyes full of doubt.

Beside him, Yuan Feng also looked dubiously at the crystal skull in Lin An's hand.

His gaze was full of longing.

He could feel that the skull contained a large amount of scattered spiritual energy; if he swallowed it all at once, he might be able to return to the third rank.

Of course, that's just a thought.

After a moment, Lin An's face showed a hint of solemnity, and he hesitantly shook his head:

"Nothing."

Rubbing the crystal skull in his hand, Lin An struggled to suppress the tremor in his eyes; it wasn't that he intended to hide anything from Mo Ling.

But rather, the information he saw was truly astonishing.

"Ding, acquired meme infection source: SCP-1083 (Philosophical Skull), quartz + crystal material, level 4 (Fourth Rank) danger."

"This meme infection source has been damaged; current danger level is level 2 (Fourth Rank), lacking death qi (negative energy) supply."

"Note: Those who come into contact will enter a state of thought confusion, and within the logical field of vision, remain for 1 hour to 1 month; during this period, they will gain partial human truth."

"Current spiritual energy reserve: 20 points (absorbable), death qi 0 points."

"Ding, acquired high-grade biological material: Overlord skull (Fourth Stage)."

"Effect: This skull can merge with the main body, thereby gaining partial Fourth Stage abilities."

"Warning: After replacement, there is a high probability of direct death, with no possibility of revival."

"Medium probability results in thought confusion, but grants a high increase in willpower attribute."

"Low probability leads to split thought, but grants a special talent."

"Extremely low probability of perfect replacement, granting???."

The former comes from the system, the latter from the savior's explanation.

But regardless, all the information clearly points to one thing.

This skull comes from a Fourth Stage being.