Chapter 540: The Defeated Soldier Sleeping Soundly is Not a Human

The observation of energy fields on living or even non-living objects can continue in the future; there is no need to rush.

So Jier quickly put aside these curiosities and questions, focusing on controlling the Shadow Bird that had left his body.

This enhanced scouting ability allowed Jier to control and see in real-time what the Shadow Bird saw, but perhaps because the Shadow Bird still needed improvement, or perhaps because Jier was not yet accustomed to this new ability, whenever Jier's attention wavered, he could not see the Shadow Bird's perspective, and the real-time feed of the Shadow Bird's vision also had a delay.

Stealthily controlling this pitch-black, human-head-sized bird composed entirely of shadow power, Jier made it catch up to the Spirit Dog, Big Nose, who had already run far ahead.

Just a moment ago, after receiving Jier's order, the Spirit Dog, Big Nose, had moved west, following the scents in the surroundings. After the Shadow Bird caught up, it soon discovered a wooden platform on a large tree.

This platform was constructed very cunningly; not only was it located in the blind spot of human vision, but due to the cover of the Forest, most of the platform was blocked by dense branches and leaves.

From the ground, one could barely see the wooden platform overhead, but conversely, from the platform, one could easily see if anyone was passing by on the ground below.

The giant Spirit Dog, Big Nose, circled the large tree with the platform twice, and finally, after letting out a bark, continued to follow the scent and walked away.

Meanwhile, Jier tried his best to control the Shadow Bird to fly onto the platform, landing silently on its edge.

Everyone, do not forget: although the Shadow Bird appears to fly by flapping its wings, it actually relies entirely on the ability of shadow Divine Power to fly, and it does not make any sound while moving.

Just like that, the silent Shadow Bird landed noiselessly on the edge of the wooden platform, its large pair of pitch-black bird eyes watching everything on the platform.

This platform was not large, and the most conspicuous spot was a Defeated Soldier who was fast asleep. This fellow was not wearing his Soldier Armor, but had wrapped his entire body in a sturdy Cloak, not exposing even a sliver of skin.

At the same time, neatly placed in front of his exposed cheek was a small wooden flowerpot, inside which a seemingly ordinary wild grass was growing. The various mosquitoes and insects buzzing around seemed to be deterred from approaching the Defeated Soldier because of the presence of this seemingly ordinary plant in the small flowerpot.

Seeing this scene, Jier became interested. He carefully recorded the size, shape, and characteristics of the plant's leaves. Feeling that relying on his brain to remember was not safe enough, Jier even temporarily disconnected his control of the Shadow Bird, deactivated the Plant Transformation effect of his Cloak, took out paper and pen from the small Backpack behind him, first recorded the characteristics of the plant, and then carefully drew a sketch of it.

Although Jier had never practiced drawing, which caused his impromptu sketch of the plant to be somewhat distorted, he had drawn the main features, and it still looked about fifty percent accurate.

Afterward, Jier put away the paper and pen, reactivated the effect of his Cloak, and concentrated his mind to reconnect and control the distant Shadow Bird.

In the vision Jier saw with his eyes closed, the Shadow Bird's perspective gradually appeared, and it began to accept his control.

The enemy was on the wooden platform of the large tree. The Shadow Bird did not move; Jier then controlled it to hop around the enemy silently, inspecting the enemy's situation at close range.

The enemy was fast asleep. Even though it was already mid-morning and the sun outside the Forest had risen quite high, this Defeated Soldier was sleeping exceptionally soundly, and it was unclear why he was so exhausted.

So much so that he had neglected his important duty of keeping watch.

This person was clearly a sentry guarding the outside of the enemy Jiedian, but since even such an important sentry was so relaxed and careless, Jier had a rough judgment about the defensive situation near the enemy Mine.

"I guess it's because they didn't expect that they, located in the mountains and forests, would be attacked? But please, this is a dangerous mountain forest! Is it really okay to just sleep like this? Or is it that the other party already knows there are no strange dangers in the surroundings? That's why they are so careless?"

Jier could not understand, but since the enemy was so careless, he did not mind easily defeating the enemy later.

But just as Jier was preparing to control the Shadow Bird to leave and search for the next enemy Jiedian, he suddenly noticed a tree hole on the trunk of the large tree behind the enemy. Most of the tree hole radiated the energy field of the large tree, but inside the tree hole, there seemed to be a different kind of energy field.

In the Shadow Bird's vision, this energy field was different from all the other energy fields around it; it was a category of energy field Jier had newly discovered.

Curious, Jier controlled the Shadow Bird to fly up to investigate the tree hole and see what kind of treasure this Defeated Soldier had hidden inside.

Jier was shocked, and even his control of the Shadow Bird fluctuated, because what appeared in the Shadow Bird's vision was not the gold, silver, or treasures he had expected, nor any strange animals or rare plants from the primeval forest.

In the tree hole, there was only a naked, half-eaten human male corpse. The half of the corpse that had been eaten was reduced to bones and fascia; the muscles, Viscera, and skin were long gone. As for the parts that had not been eaten, they eerily maintained a sense of freshness. If the corpse hadn't been completely bloodless and deathly pale, Jier would have thought the person was still alive.

This human male corpse radiated a strange energy field that only the Shadow Bird could see, and it was gradually entangling and gathering above the half-eaten head of the corpse.

Jier had a feeling that the Shadow Bird seemed to like what was above the corpse's head, so he slightly relaxed his control. The Shadow Bird automatically flew over, opened its mouth, swept past, and with a fierce suck, the mass of twisted, tangled, strange energy field was swallowed into the Shadow Bird's belly.

Afterward, Jier seemed to feel a sense of satisfaction coming from the Shadow Bird.

And after this part of the strange, tangled energy field was swallowed, the energy field radiated by most of the corpse also faded by more than half.

If Jier were to land back on the wooden platform nearby again, he would be unlikely to discover the little secret here.

"Why is there a human corpse?"

Jier thought with a frown. He guessed, could this corpse be the body of some dead Changmai Village Villager? Thrown into this tree hole by the Defeated Soldier, as if being sacrificed to some Monster.

Could it be that the enemy was able to sleep so soundly because they had done this and fed the Monsters in the mountains and forests? Without worrying about danger?

If this terrible possibility were true, Jier would have to be prepared to fight not only the enemy Defeated Soldier but also the local Monsters hired after being fed by the enemy.

This would greatly increase the variables of the entire battle, because he did not know the intelligence of the Monsters, and if there were very strange ones, even he might die.

Although Jier was not afraid of death.

Just as Jier was thinking this and scaring himself, he suddenly noticed that this half-eaten corpse, the remaining half of its face, vaguely had a sense of familiarity.

He should have seen it before.

Where and when could he have seen it?

Jier had a flash of inspiration and thought of a possibility. He immediately controlled the Shadow Bird to land on the wooden platform below and carefully looked at the Defeated Soldier who was fast asleep.

The more he looked, the more shocked he became.

Because the face of this fast-asleep Defeated Soldier, while perhaps not exactly the same as the face of the corpse above, was basically similar.

Unless there was a twin among the enemy Defeated Soldiers, and one of the twins had died in the tree hole above, and after death, the body had been half-eaten by an unknown Monster, while his brother could still sleep soundly just a few meters away from his twin brother's corpse.

Jier shook his head; he did not believe that even estranged twins would treat their brother like this.

So there was only one answer.

This fast-asleep Defeated Soldier, he is not a Human!

He is not a Human!!

He is a Shapeshifting Monster capable of perfectly mimicking the appearance of the target it hunts!!

Perhaps this explains why this Defeated Soldier could sleep so soundly, because it was originally a type of local Monster, so naturally, it was not afraid of the encroachment of other Monsters or beasts.

After determining that this fast-asleep Defeated Soldier was a Monster, many clues on this wooden platform were suddenly seen by Jier.

For example, the Soldier Armor that soldiers treasure, this Monster just hung it casually on a nearby branch, not caring at all.

And the main weapon that soldiers treat as their heart and soul, this Monster also pulled it out casually and threw it aside, hanging loosely, with the possibility of falling off the platform at any time.

In the package stored on the platform, the food package was bulging and did not look like it had been eaten much. Of course, this Shapeshifting Monster liked to eat people and had already eaten half of one; naturally, it would not eat the hard Bread that omnivorous animals like humans eat.

And the several Water bottles containing fresh water had been opened, and there seemed to be no water left inside.

Thus, Jier knew that this Shapeshifting Monster ate people, ate meat, and liked to drink water.

Jier still could not figure out the species of the Monster; after all, he was not a professional Monster hunter, nor a relevant scholar, nor a Bard who liked to tell such stories.

Most of the information he had about these terrifying Monsters came from the mouths of Bards performing in Kendall City.

Jier does not intend to deal with this monster masquerading as a Human for the time being; he memorizes the other party's face—no, he struggles through the vision of the Shadow Bird, striving to identify and memorize the monster's Energy Field.

A face can be faked, and a physique can be faked, but the Energy Field radiated by a body cannot be faked, right?

The Shapeshifting Monster likely never imagined such an ability, nor would it have taken precautions in advance, if they even have such a thing.

"The Monster has already secretly eroded the Defeated Soldiers living here; I wonder if this situation is common? And besides this, are there any other unusual circumstances?"

"Damn it." Jier could not help but open his mouth and curse aloud.

"What's wrong, Jier?" Xueya Site, transformed into a withered tree trunk covered in mushrooms, spoke in a low voice.

Jier found it hard to talk about the Shadow Bird, but he knew that Xueya Site was also unclear about exactly what abilities the Spirit beast giant dog summoned by the blessing ability possessed; Jier could completely attribute such things to the Spirit Dog, Big Nose.

"It's like this: just a moment ago, Big Nose came back to report to me. Although it was just barking, I don't know why, but I could understand what it was saying. It discovered an enemy Jiedian, but what is both interesting and terrifying is that the enemy resting inside looks like a Defeated Soldier, but the real Defeated Soldier is already dead; what exists there now is a Shapeshifting Monster masquerading as him!"

"A Shapeshifting Monster! Damn it!" Xueya Site also cursed with the same words as Jier.

This kind of terrifying monster will attack people who are alone and impersonate their identity; although there are many ways to expose a Shapeshifting Monster, such as asking the other party some secret questions that only both parties would know, the other party certainly wouldn't be able to answer.

But if one didn't know from the start that someone in the team had been replaced, then without this proactive verification process, who could know that there was one, or several, Shapeshifting Monsters mixed into their team?

Or perhaps, in the entire team, only oneself is a real person, and everyone else has long since been replaced by Shapeshifting Monsters.

They will cover for and help each other, thereby avoiding the exposure of their identities.

These terrifying scenarios made Xueya Site, who had heard many related stories, bristle with fear just thinking about them.

"Grumble, Jier, could you be mistaken?"

He asked hesitantly; he hoped it was a mistake, otherwise, not to mention anything else, the two of them could not act separately while out on this Scout mission; they must act together, for fear of the Shapeshifting Monster performing a replacement.

Xueya Site was not worried about a Shapeshifting Monster replacing Jier; after all, he understood what Jier's strength was. In various stories, Shapeshifting Monsters are not good at fighting; although they are stronger than the average person as monsters, compared to absolute war machines—Human Knights—they are still far inferior.

If a Shapeshifting Monster could replace Jier, then why wouldn't it just act directly? Why bother with shapeshifting at all!

It could just attack the surrounding villages full of Humans and eat as many Humans as it wanted.

What he feared was that he himself would be targeted by a Shapeshifting Monster, attacked when he was alone, and then transformed into his appearance to go and harm the young Jier.

Even if Jier is brave and resourceful, that is precisely where the Shapeshifting Monster is troublesome.

Thinking of this, Xueya Site gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Jier, if you and I are separated for some reason during this Scout mission, when we meet again, don't care what I say or do, just cut off one of my toes. Most Shapeshifting Monsters will expose their identities when they suffer physical injury."

"And I have ten toes; missing a few won't affect my combat ability. Heh, and in one mission, we surely won't be separated more than ten times, right?"

Xueya Site said this in a joking tone.

But Jier shook his head—no, it was the withered tree trunk Jier had transformed into that shook its head: "No need, you don't have to do that. Remember the giant dog Big Nose I just summoned? It can distinguish Shapeshifting Monsters."

Xueya Site breathed a sigh of relief: "Is it that giant and illusory dog that I cannot see or touch, and only you can see and touch?"

"Ha, that's the one."

Actually, that was not the case; it was Jier who had identified the shape and type of the Shapeshifting Monster's Energy Field. Although the other party simulated a Human appearance quite convincingly on the outside, it was, after all, a kind of Monster, and its Energy Field still had obvious differences when compared to an ordinary Human like Xueya Site.

Whether in terms of the size, type, or color of the Energy Field, there were differences.

As long as Jier sent out the Shadow Bird to look, he would know who was a Human and who was a Shapeshifting Monster.

With the topic of Shapeshifting Monsters temporarily set aside, Jier then focused on controlling the Shadow Bird to catch up with the Big Nose that had run far away.

And around the two of them, he discovered another hidden sentry post.

Of course, the Defeated Soldier in this sentry post was busy maintaining his weapon, and compared to the Shapeshifting Monster that was fast asleep, it was very easy to distinguish.

?? Welcome everyone to subscribe to this book, add this book to your favorites, and support it with recommendation votes, monthly tickets, and tips. Thank you. I modified yesterday's chapter slightly, and I am finally much more satisfied with it.