Chapter 42: Reflecting the Human Face

Liu Wei stood straight; he did not check the bloody hole in his chest, his eyes fixed firmly on the attacker.

To be precise, he was staring at the mask worn on the attacker's face.

"Who are you, and where is Liu Wu?"

The brothers relied on each other for survival; compared to themselves, they were more concerned about the other.

Wu Chang removed the mask and said, "Brother Liu Wei, why leave the village in the dead of night instead of staying to deal with the evil spirits?"

He asked while reloading his weapon. The action was slow, as if to let someone see clearly.

"Hero Wu?" Liu Wei looked at Wu Chang in astonishment.

He had not expected that the thick-browed, large-eyed, and elegant Hero Wu could actually stoop to such a base act as an ambush.

Wasn't that the specialty of bandits like them?

Wu Chang's persona in Huaigu Village was that of an expert in Daoist arts, capable of guiding souls and returning them to their bodies. With the mask in his hands, how much of his secret had been exposed?

Thinking of why his brother had left, Liu Wei felt a jolt in his heart.

"What did you do to Liu Wu?"

Wu Chang shrugged, "Just like you, bang!"

Liu Wei spat out the blood in his mouth and cursed:

"Despicable! To think you come from a prestigious sect; if you have the ability, let's have a fair fight. What kind of hero uses an ambush?"

Wu Chang curled his lip, "No, buddy, our Tang Sect plays with hidden weapons. A head-on duel with a swordsman like you? You must be out of your mind."

"You!" Liu Wei was so anxious his face turned red, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

"See? You get anxious when moral blackmail doesn't work. Alright, my hidden weapon is reloaded. Your brother is still waiting for you below; any last words?"

"Rat! Return my brother's life!" Liu Wei launched a desperate counterattack, driving the ghost thralls to assault Wu Chang.

However, because Wu Chang was wearing the other half of the mask, the ghost thralls could not attack him at all and could only pounce past his side.

Wu Chang pulled the trigger, and a symmetrical bloody hole opened in the other side of Liu Wei's chest.

The times have changed, my lord.

Watching Liu Wei collapse with a crash, breathing his last, Wu Chang complained with dissatisfaction:

"You're a bandit, what right do you have to call me a rat?"

Liu Wei turned his head, eyes wide, "You knew all along?"

"If you had been to Chen Village, you could have guessed it too," Wu Chang said.

"Heh, so that's how it is. I don't die unjustly."

Liu Wei gave two miserable laughs and died with his eyes open.

Crazy, trying to look cool even in death?

Wu Chang clicked his tongue and reached out to pull the mask off Liu Wei's face.

"Item Name: Demon-Transforming Human Face (White)."

"Item Type: Instance Item."

"Item Grade: D."

"Item Skill: Ghost Driving."

"By sacrificing one's own Yuan Qi and essence blood, one can control the refined ghost thralls within the mask."

"Item Description: Combine with Demon-Transforming Human Face (Black) to unlock the item combo skill."

The description of the mask on Liu Wei's face was indeed the same as Liu Wu's.

He pressed the two masks together but found a crack between them; no matter what, they would not align.

Liu Wu had once mentioned that one must refine a sufficiently powerful master ghost, possessing enough endurance, to make the two halves of the mask merge into one.

Looking at the two halves of the mask in his hands, he inexplicably thought of the Fog Demon.

Both were Demon-Transforming entities.

Transforming humans into demons, yet the resulting demons had no intelligence, retaining only instinct.

Was this kind of demon transformation really what the user desired? Or was the reason the intelligence was scattered by demonic Qi due to the lack of a master ghost with sufficient endurance, as Liu Wu had said?

Forget it.

Wu Chang shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Although the two halves of the mask held secrets, they were ultimately D-grade items, and "instance items" that could not be taken out of the instance.

Rather than obsessing over their function, it was better to return them to the ghost thralls in exchange for the rewards of the Bloody Last Words.

Only what one can actually get is truly one's own.

Holding the two halves of the mask, the moment he entered the Ghost-Wailing Forest, the dormant resentment throughout the woods came to life.

Some had already turned into ghost thralls, while others were merely pure resentment.

They all "looked" at Wu Chang in unison, and on faces that could not be called faces, emotions of expectation, anxiety, and excitement emerged.

Ever since seeing the true form of Laiman, Wu Chang could read the emotions contained within resentment.

He did not know if this was due to an increase in inspiration or a side effect of seeing the true form of an evil god, nor did he know if this ability was good or bad.

!

But one thing was certain: at this moment, through this ability, he resonated with the lingering resentment of other players.

[Give it back to me.]

This time, the voice transmitted by the resentments was no longer shrill and insane, but a voice that had regained its reason, carrying a plea.

Wu Chang placed the two halves of the mask on the ground and gestured for them to take it.

The resentments swarmed forward, passing through the mask one by one to retrieve their plundered heart-blood.

For a time, the wind howled in the Ghost-Wailing Forest; the sounds were like crying and laughing, more terrifying than ever, yet they no longer felt as sinister as before.

A few minutes later, the ghost thralls and resentments had all retrieved their heart-blood and slowly dissipated.

The disappearance of the deep red resentment caused Wu Chang's attribute panel to change.

Transcending the aggregate of player resentment in the Ghost-Wailing Forest increased his Energy attribute by 2, Inspiration by 2, and Willpower by 1.

Just like the deep red resentment completed in the Moonlight Sanatorium, it added 5 points to his attributes.

Besides this, the two pieces of the mask remaining on the ground also changed.

"Item Name: Shadow-Reflecting Human Face."

"Item Grade: C."

"Item Skill: Shadow Reflection."

"Skill Description: Human Face (Black) and Human Face (White) can each record the figure of a target and summon that figure to assist in battle. If the target's level is ≤12, it can perfectly replicate the target's combat power; if the target's level is >12, combat power will fluctuate based on the user's level and Energy attribute. If the figure is destroyed, it can only be summoned again after 24 hours."

"Item Combo Skill: At Ease."

"Skill Description: When wearing both the Black and White Human Faces simultaneously, a perfect disguise is achieved. Actions taken during the disguise will not cause the original body to be entangled in karma, and conventional abilities cannot deduce the wearer's true identity from information left behind during the disguise."

"Note: The mask is too realistic; it will make the wearer truly believe they possess two souls."

As expected of deep red resentment, the Human Face transformed by the Bloody Last Words was much more useful than the Demon-Transforming Human Face used by Liu Wei and Liu Wu to control ghost thralls.

Although the ghost thrall masks had accumulated enough power, they could not be truly utilized unless they could be merged.

Separated, the ghost thrall masks could only simply drive ghost thralls, used like a control skill just as Liu Wei did.

It was fine against ordinary people who didn't know magic, but if one encountered an opponent with special abilities or an item like the Soul-Cleansing Command Flag that was a natural counter to ghost thralls, the ghost thrall masks were of little use.

The purified Human Face was equivalent to having two stable level-12 fighters, and it came with a perfect disguise, making it convenient to hide one's identity.

It was simply much more useful.

Stowing the Shadow-Reflecting Human Face away, he mounted his horse and hurried back to Huaigu Village.

The ambush on Liu Wei had taken too long; he hoped there hadn't been too many changes in the village during this time.

(End of chapter)