Chapter 619: Analysis

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Nine people stood on the hillside, sizing each other up.

Silence lasted a few seconds, then one middle-aged male wizard in a deep blue robe spoke.

"It seems everyone chose this place," he said calmly, his gaze sweeping over their faces. "I didn't expect so many would pick this spot."

"Because they probably chose more obvious targets," replied a young female wizard, her voice cold and analytical. "This location's anomaly kills slowly—it's not one of those violent types that destroy cities outright. Many might think this kind of 'mild' anomaly has low value."

"Low value?" a burly male wizard snorted. "Do you really judge the value of rule-based anomalies by how fast they kill?"

The young female wizard glanced at him, said nothing in rebuttal, and merely replied coolly, "I'm just analyzing others' psychology—not expressing my own view."

Gao Jie Ming stood at the edge of the group, not rushing to speak.

He noticed the atmosphere among these wizards wasn't as tense as he'd expected, but neither was it warm—it was more like a group of temporary colleagues testing each other before officially starting work. Read novels on Daily Novel Reading, ttks. tw, ultra-convenient

None of those who secured slots were fools.

They all knew that in this battlefield, where output levels were restricted and large-scale destruction forbidden, fighting alone wasn't necessarily the optimal solution.

Especially when facing an anomaly with unclear properties, more people meant more safety.

The middle-aged male wizard in the deep blue robe, with the strongest spiritual energy signature, seemed to have become the de facto leader.

He spoke again: "Since everyone's here, I propose we first locate the manager android and obtain firsthand intelligence before deciding our next move. What do you all think?"

No one objected.

Nine figures rose from the hilltop and flew toward the town center.

To avoid causing panic among ordinary people, they lowered their altitude drastically before entering the town, gliding just above rooftops, and finally landed in front of a three-story stone building.

A wooden sign hung at the entrance: "Town Hall."

An old man stood by the door.

Or rather, he looked like an old man.

He hunched his back, wore a faded gray coat, his face wrinkled, and his salt-and-pepper beard neatly trimmed.

His eyes were amber, identical in color to the sky of this plane.

Those who had just learned about this plane knew this was the hallmark trait of the manager android.

"Old Herman?" The man in the deep blue robe stepped forward.

The old man bowed slightly, his movement steeped in old-fashioned courtesy: "That's me. My lords, you've finally arrived."

His voice was hoarse, carrying a tone indistinguishable between exhaustion and resignation.

"Let's go inside. It's not convenient out here."

The first floor of the Town Hall was a spacious conference room, with over a dozen chairs lined along a long table.

The nine wizards took their seats; Old Herman stood at one end of the table, hands resting on its surface, his amber eyes scanning each person present.

"Let me confirm what information you already have," he said. "The reports you saw on the Magic Web terminal are three hours old. In those three hours, two more people have died."

The air in the conference room grew heavier.

"Same household?" Gao Jie Ming asked.

Old Herman looked at him and nodded. "Yes. That finger appeared in blacksmith Hans's salt jar yesterday. Hans's family of five had dinner last night. This morning, Hans and his eldest son passed away. Later in the day, his wife and youngest daughter followed. The youngest son is still struggling—but..."

He shook his head and did not continue.

"Take us to the bodies," the young female wizard said, standing up.

Old Herman glanced at her, said nothing more, simply nodded, and turned to lead the way.

The basement of the Town Hall had been temporarily converted into a morgue.

Forty-nine bodies lay neatly arranged on metal tables, each covered by a white sheet.

The basement carried a strange odor—not the stench of decay, but something... salty.

"Like a seaside fish-drying yard."

Gao Jie Ming lowered his gaze and thought silently to himself.

Old Herman lifted the white sheet off the nearest corpse.

Gao Jie Ming and several wizards stepped forward.

The deceased was a middle-aged man, severely bloated, his skin a translucent pale white, as if soaked in water for days.

But what drew more attention was the texture of his skin—like cured meat, with unnatural contraction and hardening of the muscle fibers.

"Hasn't a more detailed autopsy been performed?" asked the man in the deep blue robe.

"We lack the facilities here, and my soul hasn't loaded the corresponding techniques," Old Herman replied with regret.

He raised his head toward the earlier corpses:

"So far, we've only managed preliminary inspections using basic anatomy knowledge loaded by the doctors. More detailed analysis is beyond our capability."

Upon hearing this, Gao Jie Ming didn't hesitate.

He raised his hand, conjuring a slender wind blade at his fingertip, and gently sliced along the corpse's abdomen.

The skin parted.

The condition of the subcutaneous tissue changed the expression of every wizard present.

In a recently deceased person, subcutaneous fat should be pale yellow and soft.

But this corpse's tissue was gray-white, hard as wax.

Gao Jie Ming didn't stop. His wind blade cut deeper, severing the kidney.

The kidney had shrunk nearly in half, its surface wrinkled, dark red and black.

He used the tip of his wind blade to lift a small piece of tissue, holding it up for close inspection.

"Interesting—this tissue's sodium content is normal," Gao Jie Ming said. "But its state clearly resembles curing. It seems the opponent's method isn't merely altering matter, but..."

He paused, searching for the right words.

"... a change at the ontological level."

The young female wizard stepped closer, extended her right hand, and let a faint blue glow shimmer at her fingertip as she lightly touched the kidney tissue.

After several seconds, she withdrew her hand, her expression turning grave.

"My detection spell tells me this man's kidney has, in concept, become salted meat," she said flatly, yet the words weighed heavily on everyone present. "It wasn't pickled with salt—it was redefined by some force as to what it 'should be.' In that force's perception, this tissue was always meant to be salty, hard, cured."

Silence fell in the basement for several seconds.

The man in the deep blue robe drew a deep breath: "So the food was like this too—not too much salt, but the food itself had its 'concept' changed to become salty."

"Exactly," the young female wizard nodded. "And not just the body. Feel the soul residues on these corpses."

The other wizards instinctively extended their spiritual senses.

Gao Jie Ming delved into the soul traces left on the corpses and sensed an unprecedented "distortion."

The deceased's soul fragments held no fear or pain—or rather, those emotions had been completely overwritten.

What replaced them was a pure, "self-evident" sense of "saltiness."

Like asking a piece of salted meat, "Do you feel salty?"—the meat wouldn't answer, because it simply is salty.

Saltiness is its essence, not its sensation.

Gao Jie Ming withdrew his spiritual sense and exchanged a glance with the other wizards.

In that moment, the nine reached a consensus.

"This isn't a curse," another wizard said, his voice quiet but clear. "It's a redefinition of the concept of 'salt.' That finger isn't poisoning food—it's saying... 'You were always salty.'"

The conference room fell silent.

Old Herman stood to the side, his amber eyes watching these high-rank wizards reach their conclusion, his lips twitching slightly.

Then he turned toward the staircase and left one final remark.

"That finger is now in blacksmith Hans's salt jar. If my lords are ready, I can guide you."

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