“April 31st is finally over.”
“Don’t be sentimental, rookie. You’re lucky. Surviving is a success. Hold on to the box in your hand. If the stuff inside gets out, we’ll be in big trouble. We still have quotas for this operation, and it’ll be hard to explain if something goes wrong.”
“If the stuff inside could get out that easily, wouldn’t all our preparations be for nothing?”
… …
What’s that sound?
Zheng Fan was in a daze, feeling as if he were lying in a ship on a stormy sea, swaying so much that he felt a little nauseous.
By the time he steadied himself and opened his eyes…
He still saw nothing.
It was pitch black all around, without a single ray of light, making it impossible to discern his situation.
He tried to move.
Huh?
Where’s my body!?
He couldn’t feel his body!
At this point, he couldn't help but panic a little. He quickly recalled that before this, he had merely fallen asleep quite normally, and he hadn't done anything unusual before bed. A recent physical examination had shown that his body was in standard sub-health.
His body was still swaying; to be precise, the pitch-black place he was in was swaying.
Zheng Fan didn't give up struggling, guessing that he might have been caught in a mysterious kidnapping incident. Although he didn't know what made him worth kidnapping, given his understanding, this was the only explanation.
As he struggled, he vaguely felt his sluggish body seemed to react.
Before he could rejoice, a tearing sensation, as if reaching deep into his soul, suddenly occurred.
He seemed to have broken free from his restraints, then eagerly stretched his arms, planted his feet firmly, and got up.
When he came to his senses, he was already standing, drenched in sweat, in a chaotic street.
A swath of black was gradually receding from the gray earth, taking with it the pervasive smoke and the desolate ruins. Many people in black and white uniforms seemed to be cleaning up the aftermath.
Although he didn't know where he was.
But Zheng Fan could be sure, this was absolutely not some simple mysterious kidnapping.
He didn't recognize this place, this city before his eyes, at all.
He didn't have much time to stare blankly. A forceful pull suddenly tugged at his body, making him stumble and almost fall. As he was pulled along, he immediately looked back at the source of the pull.
A person also wearing a uniform was holding a black box.
The source of the pull was there.
“Hello, may I ask where this is, who you are, what happened to me…?” Zheng Fan asked, calmly and politely.
But no one responded to his words; they didn't even glance at Zheng Fan.
Zheng Fan felt something was wrong, and a sense of absurdity welled up in his heart. He quickly walked directly in front of these people: “Hello?”
He thought he could stop them, but their steps didn't slow down at all, and they walked straight into Zheng Fan.
Zheng Fan instinctively tried to block them, and then he saw these people pass right through him.
“… …”
Zheng Fan's eyes widened as he looked at his hands.
“Am I… dead?”
After repeated confirmation, he was certain that he seemed to have become a “ghost,” as if he didn't exist at all.
These people couldn't see him, couldn't hear him speak, and couldn't touch him at all, as if they were in two completely different worlds.
He could do nothing but be pulled by an inexplicable attraction, following that black box.
Just as Zheng Fan was still in a daze, a scream came.
“Ah!!!”
It was a very real scream. Not only Zheng Fan heard it, but all the people in black and white uniforms around also heard it. They immediately wanted to walk towards the source of the sound.
“Warning! illusion containment failed! illusion containment failed! Embodiment has intervened in reality! Everyone, stabilize your emotions, that is merely an illusion, do not be deceived or influenced, quickly subdue the embodied personnel!”
A loud broadcast quickly came.
What is that?
Bang!
With a loud bang, a car was ridiculously sent flying, a scene only seen in movies. A person sent a car flying with their bare hands!
That person was also one of the uniformed personnel, but at this moment, his face was distorted, his hair overgrown, his limbs extended, and his claws and teeth were growing sharply, gradually losing his human form.
The person holding the black box did not join his partner in the chaos ahead.
“That’s the person invaded by an illusion…” The young man holding the box was clearly shocked.
“Yes, an illusion.” The middle-aged man next to him looked solemn.
Zheng Fan folded his arms, frowning, looking at the box in their hands, then at the chaotic scene in the distance: “Can you explain? I’m a rookie too.”
Still, no one paid him any mind.
However, the middle-aged man, perhaps wanting to brief the rookie, still spoke in a low voice: “Invisible and intangible, they simply don’t exist in a peaceful world. But if they find a bridge and make someone aware of their existence, they will cross over to this world at an unimaginable speed… and bring power that doesn’t belong to this world.”
“How can this box contain such a thing?” The rookie’s hand, holding the box, trembled slightly.
“A kind of trickery. illusions that don’t grow with human interaction are generally not very smart. The items in the box make them think they’ve found a bridge, and they’ll come over on their own. They possess the harmless bodies we prepare in advance; this is the ‘mousetrap’.”
Zheng Fan: “…”
Sorry for not being smart.
“Is it really okay for me to hold this?” The rookie was a little panicked.
“You were so confident just now, and now you’re scared?” The middle-aged man couldn't help but chuckle, but still comforted him: “Don’t worry, even if this thing realizes it’s been tricked, it’s useless. illusions can’t forcibly seize a body without using various little tricks to influence a specific person’s mind and make them break down.”
The man lit a cigarette, took a puff, and continued: “If you’re scared, I’ll hold it. We’ll send it to headquarters then, either for routine destruction or permanent sealing away from the light of day. Either way, it’ll have nothing to do with us.”
Zheng Fan: !
He had been calmly listening, but at this point, he couldn't sit still anymore.
He hadn't even figured out the situation, so why was he about to be sealed or destroyed?
He immediately reached out to touch the box, but his hand passed through it; he couldn't touch it.
But the strange sensation on his body at this moment allowed Zheng Fan to “see” what was inside the box: it was a black bead, like a large marble.
The most important thing was that looking at this bead felt like looking at himself.
Confirmed, his “main body” was now this bead!
No wonder he could only move around this box.
Damn it, is there nothing here he can touch right now?
He directly grabbed the bead, and a cold sensation came from his palm.
Zheng Fan was stunned; he could touch this thing!
That's right! This is my current main body!
So what happens after touching it? What can such a tiny bead do? And who knows what material this box is made of.
Forget it, I don't care anymore, I'll try anything!
Bang!
The box in the rookie’s hand trembled violently, startling the rookie so much that he almost dropped it: “Wh-What happened!?”
The middle-aged man was also surprised, not expecting such a thing to happen.
“Is that thing trying to resist!?”
Zheng Fan pulled hard again at this moment. The bead indeed couldn't leave the box, but he directly grabbed it, and the bead, along with the box, flew directly from the rookie's hand.
“Woah, it can do that?” Zheng Fan also found it novel, but his hand movements were not slow at all. Grabbing the bead and the box, he picked a direction and ran.
“An illusion is trying to escape! That mousetrap!” the middle-aged man immediately shouted loudly.
The reaction of these uniformed people was really quick. They immediately surrounded Zheng Fan, but they were all cautious and dared not strike hard.
During this process, Zheng Fan noticed the various flashy moves these people used, seemingly like superpowers or abilities.
Seeing this, Zheng Fan could only lament that he must have transmigrated in his sleep. Who the hell was playing such a cruel joke on him!
Bang!
An explosion went off nearby, and Zheng Fan’s box was impacted and flew out directly. Zheng Fan himself was also carried along by the box, flying in a disheveled manner.
It looked like a bad fall, but Zheng Fan actually felt nothing at all.
It was just that at this moment, the surrounding uniformed people had all blocked him. It seemed he couldn't run anywhere with the box.
“Ah!!” Suddenly, another fellow, still rampaging in the distance but looking like he was about to be subdued, let out an inhuman roar again.
Zheng Fan turned his head and had a sudden thought: “Since we’re in the same boat, let’s see if you can help me.”
He grabbed the bead, threw it with great force, directly flinging the bead and the box away, and then Zheng Fan himself was pulled along. It felt like a strange sensation of stepping on his left foot to ascend to heaven.
The box landed on the possessed uniformed person amidst the astonished gazes of the uniformed people.
The other party was not polite at all and smashed the box with a single slap.
Zheng Fan was quick to react and reached out, grabbing the opponent’s messy hair.
His hand plunged into the other person's head, and his eyes met the other person's wild and terrified gaze. In the other person's eyes, Zheng Fan saw his own reflection.
“Be obedient.”
Thud!
The uniformed person, distorted beyond recognition, fell to the ground with a thud and stopped moving.
The people around cautiously approached and saw the physical distortion on the uniformed person's body revert during a series of wriggles, returning to a normal human form.
“What’s going on? I’ve never heard of such a thing happening?” Someone wondered.
Even if the illusion's possessed body died, it shouldn't recover…
Suddenly, the person lying on the ground moved again.
He propped his hands on the ground, carefully stroking the surface, feeling the solid touch, the real breath.
Finally, his eyes opened, black eyes covered by gray, with two streaks of inky black tear stains at the corners, and a somewhat wild smile appeared on his disheveled face.
“Watch out—”
Whoosh!
The person sprang up, taking a huge leap that stirred up a strong gust of air, jumping out like a bird and leaving everyone behind.
“Woohoo! I can even do this!?”
From the moment Zheng Fan took over this body, which he had snatched from that illusion, he felt an unstoppable surge of power gushing from within.
He burst forth suddenly, easily leaving all the uniformed people behind.
Well, this transmigration isn't stifling at all.
Zheng Fan only felt that this new world was incredibly refreshing!