Chapter 293: Witch
Unknowingly, spring departing and autumn arriving had cycled back and forth three times. Fang Mu, with the identity of a supervised mentally severely anomaly contaminated individual and a temporary worker of the Mysterious Group, had safely stayed in An Fang’s Action Team for three years without incident.
Over these three years, Fang Mu adapted every day to his out-of-control sensory ability.
If he couldn’t resist or control it, he could only adapt.
One still couldn’t underestimate humanity’s habit adaptation ability. Though it was very painful at the start, Fang Mu now didn’t just feel numb to the pain or unable to feel it; at least he could now withstand the pressure most of the time.
At the same time, he had also mastered his own unique feeding method. Since he couldn’t taste flavors, he wouldn’t taste them—he would just chug it down directly. He would blend meat and vegetables into liquid food. Someone like him no longer needed to savor the texture of food anyway, since he couldn’t taste it, and then he would eat more meals with larger portions to ensure he wouldn’t starve to death.
Even so, Fang Mu had become as thin as a bamboo pole, his figure shriveled. In a crowd, he was an extremely conspicuous outsider.
After spending a long time living with An Fang’s Action Team, Fang Mu didn’t show any aggressiveness. Instead, he was mostly very calm. Everyone slowly let go of their excessive defense against him. Though everyone kept a last line of defense in their hearts against him, as long as Fang Mu didn’t cross that boundary, most people’s attitude toward Fang Mu was now no different from that toward an ordinary teammate.
Fang Mu was mostly not allowed to leave the grounds of the Mysterious Group Branch where he was located. Only when accompanying An Fang, and with An Fang applying and reporting in advance and passing layers of approvals, could he leave the branch, but even then only limited to staying by An Fang’s side.
This day was one of Fang Mu’s rare outings. He and An Fang’s team were going to investigate a case of multiple children’s mysterious disappearances occurring in a certain place.
Fang Mu noticed that the team members looked serious and solemn, no longer showing even a bit of the self-comforting casualness they usually had. He realized something big had probably happened.
However, Fang Mu had grown accustomed to his style of not proactively speaking up to inquire about things. He just quietly sat in his seat, chugging one can of functional drink after another.
He was always hungry, yet always unable to eat anything. Drinking these functional drinks couldn’t fully maintain his daily intake, but they could at least hold him over somewhat.
On the road while the vehicle was driving, An Fang, sitting next to him, suddenly spoke up: “Among the disappeared children this time, there’s my niece.”
“Oh.” Hearing this, Fang Mu nodded, a bit of surprise in his eyes, but no other emotions besides that—extremely flat.
Though An Fang knew Fang Mu’s mental state was abnormal, and the anomaly events that had happened to him in the past had greatly reduced his ability to empathize as a human, seeing Fang Mu’s reaction so cold still made her feel annoyed and disappointed.
“So, to find my family member, I’ll do my utmost. I also hope you can help.” An Fang said to Fang Mu.
No sooner had she finished speaking than Fang Mu immediately stated: “I will.” He stared into An Fang’s eyes. Though his face still showed not much emotion, his tone and attitude were affirmative.
An Fang pinched the space between her eyebrows. Even after spending three years with Fang Mu, she still couldn’t understand him.
Arriving at the city where it happened, Fang Mu followed An Fang’s team to visit relevant personnel and departments, including family members of the disappeared children.
“Little Fang, we’re really counting on you all. Please, you must find Little Qin… She’s still so young…” A pair of parents gripped An Fang’s hands one on each side. One was sobbing uncontrollably, while the other tried hard to hold back their agitated emotions and bitterly pleaded with the younger sister who called herself a “law enforcement officer,” speaking somewhat incoherently.
Fang Mu had his back to them, sitting in a corner, trying his best to stay still and become air.
This pair of parents, around the same age as An Fang and even a bit younger than his current appearance, were his father-in-law and mother-in-law.
Toward An Qin and her parents, Fang Mu only ever felt indebtedness. Though for them, that tragic outcome hadn’t happened yet, he truly had no face to face them.
Facing them, he only felt guilty conscience and guilt.
“Big brother, sister-in-law, I will do my absolute best.” An Fang said solemnly to the couple before her.
The couple kept saying thank you, then went one by one to the Mysterious Group members present who were disguised as law enforcement officers, entrusting and thanking them. Soon they reached Fang Mu’s side.
Fang Mu could no longer pretend. He slowly turned around but kept his head down, not looking at their faces.
The couple didn’t mind and just grabbed Fang Mu’s cold, emaciated hands, making their plea once more: “Please help us.”
“…She will come back safely. I swear.” Fang Mu hesitated a bit but still spoke words of comfort.
Hearing this, the couple seemed to find stability in their hearts. Their emotions actually slowly calmed down, and they thanked him tearfully and earnestly once more.
Soon, the disappearance case investigation had some leads.
The investigation results… or rather, the highly probable inference results made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. An Fang muttered softly to herself: “Good thing it’s not that damned group of rats. If it’s just a witch, then it’s still okay.”
A witch wasn’t referring to the magic-casting old hag from fairy tales. It was a real existing anomaly. To be precise, the witch image in fairy tales was actually a beautified version based on the real “witch.”
Yes, even though the witches in fairy tales were still described as very ugly, in reality they were already beautified dozens of times compared to their true appearance.
Legend has it that humans who continuously eat only human flesh will slowly transform into an anomaly. That anomaly is now called a “corpse disciple.” These corpse disciples shed their human form, becoming terrifying, beast-like, ugly and detestable monsters. They fear sunlight, like living underground, and most become insane and barbaric due to excessive obsession with human flesh. Only a few or sufficiently aged corpse disciples can slowly recover enough intelligence to communicate with humans.
Among them, the type of corpse disciples whose intelligence is no less than humans and who have studied sorcery, witchcraft, and magic classics are mostly female corpse disciples, hence named witches.
Witches like to grab children, and the purposes aren’t single—possibly as food, or for some evil magic, or it’s said they kidnap children to raise human children into new witches.
The danger of witches goes without saying, but as one of the few anomalies that humans can confidently confront head-on, a witch’s danger level is indeed “not that dangerous” compared to other existences with copper skin and iron bones or regeneration that defies death.
“You shouldn’t have made that promise to my brother and sister-in-law earlier. Haven’t you thought about the possibility of breaking your word? The ones who would suffer are both sides.” With her mental pressure lessened somewhat, An Fang started bringing up some topics to divert her attention.
Fang Mu showed an ugly smile: “I won’t break my word. I’m willing to… for them… I mean, for the promise I’ve made, I’m willing to stake my life on it.”
