The Labyrinth of the Monsters-Chapter 57 – Half-human
White Rabbit wiped her hands with a wet tissue, picked up the barbecue fork, and continued to grill meat for everyone. "Let me make it clear first. Although the Ancient Village you went to has boundaries like a 'solitary island,' it is not actually a solitary island. It belongs to a small space in the underground area of the city."
"What's the difference between the two?" Gao Yang asked.
"The biggest difference is that a solitary island can only be reached through 'official channels,' such as highways, airplanes, and high-speed trains. But for a small space, even without using the 'official channels,' you can still reach it. The Tengu in our organization is an awakened being with spatial talent. He can temporarily cut through space and take us to the underground Ancient Village."
"I see," Gao Yang thought for a moment and asked again, "Why are there two Ancient Villages? One on the surface and another hidden underground?"
"Good question," White Rabbit gave a thumbs up to Gao Yang. "Unfortunately, I don't know either."
"..."
"Let me start from the beginning. Three years ago, our organization obtained the first rune circuit - Life. It is the fourth rune discovered by awakened beings so far. The place where it was discovered is also an underground space. I won't go into the details, but it's similar to the situation with the Ancient Village this time."
"Last spring," White Rabbit glanced at Wu Dahai and gave him a rare approving look. "I just used a beauty trap to recruit Wu Dahai into the organization..."
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"You see, you admitted it!" Wu Dahai slammed his chopsticks. "Deceiving an innocent little boy like me, don't you feel guilty?"
"Don't interrupt," White Rabbit didn't care. "At that time, Wu Dahai mentioned the tragic case in the Ancient Village. He said that the case might be related to the rune circuit. I specifically investigated it, and it was indeed very strange. A family of five was annihilated, and then the entire village disappeared."
"We sent people to investigate the Ancient Village site. Just like you, we encountered attacks from the hair monsters and were brought to the underground Ancient Village. But our people were stronger than you and easily defeated the hair monsters. We stayed in the underground Ancient Village for two days and found the same information that you discovered. However, the hair monsters never appeared again."
White Rabbit looked at Wu Dahai and continued, "After that, we went a few more times, but it was the same. The hair monsters were very cunning and knew that we were not easy to deal with, so they refused to come out. We basically concluded that the hair monster is a mutated creature that devoured the rune circuit."
"So you used us?" Officer Huang said bitterly.
"Yes, it's hard to find suitable candidates," White Rabbit blinked. "First of all, these people must be awakened beings, but they cannot be from other organizations because we don't trust them. So, it's best if they are independent awakened beings who have no knowledge of the rune circuit."
"Independent awakened beings, that's the term, specifically referring to you wild awakened beings who haven't joined any organization," Wu Dahai added.
White Rabbit continued, "These awakened beings cannot be too strong, otherwise, the hair monsters won't appear. But they also cannot be too weak, otherwise, they will be easily killed by the hair monsters or the hair monsters will suspect it's a trap and won't take the bait. Lastly, there is one very crucial point..."
White Rabbit touched Qing Ling's smooth and black hair. "It would be great if the target has a head of super nice black hair. The hair monsters have a strong obsession with this, so the chances of taking the bait are higher."
"So you chose the three of us," Officer Huang raised an eyebrow.
"Yes!" White Rabbit smiled brightly. "You are independent awakened beings with certain strength, perfect bait, and completely unaware of the existence of the rune circuit."
"What a big trap," Officer Huang was not pleased.
"Here, let's praise Wu Dahai again!" White Rabbit gave a thumbs up to Wu Dahai. "He was worried about you, so he specifically asked you to bring some helpers. If you hadn't brought Chubby Jun and Wang Zikai, the result might have been different."
"You wicked woman!" Officer Huang respected White Rabbit. "I'll stay away from you in the future."
"Haha, I only deceive outsiders, never teammates," White Rabbit picked up a piece of well-grilled potato and handed it to Officer Huang. "From now on, we're teammates, take care of each other."
"Let's continue talking about the Ancient Village," Gao Yang urged.
"Okay," White Rabbit nodded. "Based on the information I currently have, the situation in the Ancient Village is not complicated either. Simply put, Hua's wife, the bride who came to the village, was devoured by a host."
"What is a host?" Gao Yang quickly grasped the important knowledge point.
White Rabbit sighed deeply, "Oh my, you guys don't know anything. It's amazing that you've survived for so long. You're really lucky!"
"A host is a type of greed beast," Wu Dahai said. "Currently, there are two known types of greed beasts: parasites and hosts."
White Rabbit continued, "As the name suggests, parasites are beasts that, at the cost of their own death, parasitize humans and coexist in the same body. They retain a small amount of self-will and abilities, but overall, humans are the masters of this body."
"Ah!" Chubby Jun, who was still chewing on the meat, spat it out excitedly and pointed at his own face. "Isn't that me?"
"I learned about your situation from Wu Dahai. Yes, that's right. Your right hand is the parasite."
"Thank goodness!" Chubby Jun finally felt relieved. "I'm still human! That's great!"
"Unfortunately, you still can't fully control the form and abilities of your right hand, so keep working hard!" White Rabbit winked and smiled at Chubby Jun. "Once you can successfully control your right hand, you can become a regular member!"
"Great! I won't let the organization down!" Chubby Jun felt rejuvenated and full of motivation.
"Snap out of it, sycophant!" Wu Dahai poured cold water on him. "Once you become a useful tool and sign a contract with the organization, she won't pay attention to you anymore. I'm speaking from experience."
Chubby Jun scratched his head and smiled foolishly. "Hehe, it's okay."
Wait a minute.
Gao Yang, who was listening attentively, suddenly realized something.If White Cat was a Parasite, she should have died after biting Chubby Jun.
But that White Cat appeared again later. Could it be that it wasn't a White Cat? Never mind, let's put this question aside for now. At least Chubby Jun seems to be in good health at the moment.
"Let me continue," White Rabbit brought the topic back, "Apart from Parasites, the Greed Beast also has Hosts. Hosts are easy to understand, they are essentially body snatchers. This kind of Beast sacrifices its own body to burrow into the body of an Awakened Being, completely taking over the original host and becoming a new species that possesses the shell of an Awakened Being and the soul of a Beast."
The newcomers listened attentively, no one spoke.
"That bride is an Awakened Being who has been taken over by a Host," White Rabbit said, "Biologically speaking, it is a bona fide human. It can continue to disguise itself as a Beast, or it can choose to completely sever its past and live as a human. We call this kind of existence 'Half-human'."
"Half-human." Gao Yang pondered over this term, it was intriguing.
"This Half-human bride was married into Hua's family in Ancient Village," White Rabbit sighed, "and on that night, she controlled the entire village to kill Hua's family. You already know how they did it."
"Why did they kill them?" Officer Huang didn't understand.
Gao Yang was startled, "Could it be that Hua's family... are all humans?!"
"Bingo!"
"How is that possible?!" Officer Huang couldn't believe it, "The odds are too small!"
Gao Yang was equally shocked, but he couldn't help but feel a little happy: Maybe his own family were all humans, at least... the possibility seemed to have increased a bit.
Suddenly, Gao Yang noticed something wrong, "Wait a minute!"
"What's wrong?" White Rabbit asked deliberately.
"If Hua's family were all Awakened Beings, how could they not defeat that Half-human?"
"Hmm," White Rabbit nodded, "Theoretically, four Awakened Beings against one Half-human, even if the Half-human has the enhancement of a Rune circuit, they still have a chance of winning. At worst, they wouldn't have ended up in such a terrible state. Moreover, if four Awakened Beings were living together, why would they marry a Beast? That doesn't make sense."
"Stop beating around the bush." Wu Dahai crossed his legs, "Just tell them straight."
White Rabbit's voice dropped slightly, "Because none of the four members of Hua's family were Awakened. They were just ordinary humans."
