Chapter 128: Conspiracy Theory

This trending search topic quickly grabbed everyone's attention. Putting everything else aside, the headline alone possessed an immensely powerful appeal.

Quite a few people clicked on it with the intention of fiercely scolding the author, but upon reading the flashy and seemingly plausible text, coupled with a video clip, ninety percent of them were convinced.

The gist of the article, combining the authorities' continued silence on the matter, leaked surveillance footage from an anonymous source, and the premise that a virus could never infect someone inside a fully sealed hazmat suit, led to a bold hypothesis: this was a zombie outbreak.

Zombies had never appeared in this world before; they only existed as shadows in cinematic works.

Yet, it was precisely this illusory and unknown phenomenon that could best stir people's imagination and curiosity, and naturally, their fear as well.

The text presented its case with vivid detail, even boldly predicting that these mummified corpses would all turn into zombies one day and roam the streets to bite people.

Up until this point, many people still remained skeptical, right until they clicked on the video attached to the end of the article.

In the video, a person in a police uniform was standing in front of a crowd when someone asked a question.

"Excuse me, where have all those mummified corpses gone?"

The police officer simply replied with a deadpan expression, "That thing can no longer be described by science." He paused for a moment before adding, "In short, they've vanished."

"Are those mummified corpses really gone?"

"Of course it's true!"

"Have you checked the surveillance footage? What on earth is going on?"

Upon hearing this question, the video zoomed in closely on the officer, who slowly spoke up, "It has already been destroyed."

Another voice came from off-camera, asking whether the creatures were zombies or something similar, but the officer, as if fleeing from something, immediately walked away.

At this point, the video came to an end.

The surveillance footage had all been destroyed?

Why would they destroy it?

That definitely meant there was some unspeakable imagery within it.

After watching this video, everyone shared the exact same thought: the authorities were hiding something, and it was definitely nothing good.

Coupled with the fact that these mummified corpses had already vanished, it was entirely possible they had turned into zombies, hiding in some corner of the city and ready to attack people at any moment.

In the comment section, all sorts of people were expressing their views.

Some claimed the zombies had been taken away to a secret organization for covert research; others said the zombies had long since gone into hiding to prepare for their next move; and a few even claimed they had seen one with their own eyes...

In short, opinions were all over the place, escalating the fear brought by this incident to a whole new level.

However, the authorities' reaction to the video was to mobilize all resources to issue a formal denial.

Yet the more they explained, the more bizarre the situation appeared, and public speculation became even more outlandish.

Eventually, driven by individuals with ulterior motives, the matter escalated to the point where people claimed the state had engineered this virus specifically to control the population and kill them off.

Xiao Zi was completely unaware of all this. He frowned as he watched his rapidly soaring fear value.

"It seems the influence of *Ring* far exceeds my imagination. The terror value is skyrocketing so fast. At this rate, it should easily break the hundred-million mark, right?"

To him, the fear value was merely a number at this point. He felt that any problem that could be resolved with fear value was no problem at all.

However, he could never have imagined that a large portion of this fear value was caused by his very own actions earlier.

The only two reasons he created panic on that street were to rapidly restore his energy and to see how the people of this world would handle such a crisis—specifically, whether there were any individuals out of the ordinary.

The result left him quite disappointed. His strength had been restored, but afterward, aside from a few official personnel, not a single entity of any notable power had appeared.

Yet he still felt uneasy. If he failed to figure out the strength of the top powerhouses in this world and acted recklessly, what would happen if those powerhouses sanctioned him?

He had only come to this world to complete a mission, obtain a restricted-level skill of unknown nature, and incidentally unlock the next two missions. He certainly didn't want to throw his life away here.

Therefore, after those official personnel hauled the mummified corpses away, he followed them to see just what level the strong figures of this world actually possessed.

At that moment, the mummified corpses had already been transported to a secret biological laboratory in the Chinan Country.

Inside, several researchers in protective suits were milling around the corpses, looking at each other in dismay, with not a single one willing to step forward to conduct an inspection.

After all, they had watched that surveillance footage too; this thing could turn people into dried husks right through a hazmat suit! Who on earth would dare get close to it?

Yet, facing relentless pressure from higher-ups, they had no choice. They could only inspect the corpses while maintaining as much distance as possible.

It had to be said that, due to being plagued by diseases year-round, the medical standards of this world were far higher than those of the horror plane and Xiao Zi's previous life.

Here, they were actually capable of remotely operating robotic arms to perform high-difficulty surgeries, so they relied on this method to analyze the mummified corpses.

However, when it came to drawing blood, everyone was dumbfounded.

These were no mummified corpses; they were essentially human jerky. There wasn't a single drop of moisture left inside these bodies.

How could there possibly be any moisture left in these bodies? Xiao Zi's Blood Rage skill had already been upgraded to Level 4, and using it consumed a massive amount of blood every time. To ensure he wouldn't fail at a critical moment, he had fully gorged himself on blood.

These few individuals had essentially been sucked dry of every last drop by him.

Watching these researchers scurrying around in panic, Xiao Zi was also rather curious: did the people of this world possess soul-related technology, and would they be able to investigate the truth behind this incident?

Human beings possessed souls. In his past life, Xiao Zi might have harbored a certain degree of skepticism regarding this.

But now...

There was no longer any doubt about it. And mastering soul-related technology meant that the transcendental entities in this world were likely quite numerous—only under such conditions would humans come into contact with this realm.

His method of killing was not just draining people of their fresh blood, but completely sucking out their souls beforehand.

Therefore, the cause of death was definitively not excessive blood loss, but rather the extraction of their souls, causing their bodies to collapse without support. Following that, their bodily functions failed completely, leading to true death in every sense of the word.

If these researchers could discover the true cause of death of these mummified corpses, they would inevitably enlist the transcendental entities of this world to investigate the matter.

If they failed to find out, it would prove that the transcendental entities in this world were all hidden from the world, unknown to ordinary people.

Otherwise, how could even the authorities fail to summon them?

Setting aside S-rank and A-rank beings, B-rank and below shouldn't be arrogant enough to remain completely unreachable, right?

With this thought in mind, he simply waited. Protected by his ultra-strong perception, he was certain there were no transcendental entities within a vast radius around this place.

Nor was there anything capable of detecting him; he was practically invisible, able to observe everything happening here from the shadows.