Chapter 183: 【buddha Cocoon】
The Emerald Spear’s length was somewhat exaggerated, unable to fit into the mere 1m Soul Space, and it was still violently trembling in his palm, wanting to break free.
So he turned a pleading gaze toward A Miao. The young lady saw this, stepped forward, reached out, and gently stroked the spear’s body. This Flying Sword immediately fell into a dormant state.
Meng Xiyue felt extremely curious: “What’s the principle behind this?”
A Miao: “Commercial Secret.”
Yuan Zhu leaned the trophy against his back, and the Uniform automatically split into threads, binding it to him. Meanwhile, A Miao simply slung the spear onto her back, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished, clearly thanks to her own Spatial Ability or equipment.
The three checked the Hall once more.
Each of them instinctively stepped forward without instruction, proactively searching the pockets of the passersby who had collapsed unconscious. They squeezed dry the Wallets of those who had come to Deposit Money, then tacitly put them back and arranged these generous good-hearted people into comfortable and serene poses, ensuring no neck strain or the like.
In less than fifteen minutes, the three cleared out the Business Hall completely, with each person’s Savings breaking through the 3000 mark. Truly worthy of the wealthy Taixi. Even the civilian Business Area yielded such great gains.
Yuan Zhu suggested: “Shall we check out the Rich Area?”
“This way!”
Meng Xiyue chose a Direction and continued deeper into the Bank Interior, stealthily heading toward the next Business Area.
This time, on the Corridor, they saw quite a few figures slumped limply on the ground, all ordinary people with limited tolerance. Those with real Power remained conscious, leaving traces of movement in the Corridor.
Some sections even bore marks of battle and Bloodstains, but there were no Corpses or heavily injured, unconscious people.
Yuan Zhu: “Did we arrive a step too late?”
He noticed that the pockets of some fallen ordinary people had already been rummaged through. Sure enough, those who stayed conscious couldn’t resist such temptation. Great minds think alike.
A Miao observed for a bit: “At first, the conscious people had the same idea as us. But gradually, their rationality changed; they were gradually drawn to other things, no longer valuing Wealth, and became more hurried.”
As the group pressed on, they indeed found no more signs of pockets being rummaged on the fallen ordinary people. Conversely, the movement traces left on the ground were even more hurried, clearly drawn by something, abandoning Property and accelerating in the same direction.
Meng Xiyue analyzed: “Like us, did they realize they should head to the area with more concentrated rich people to scrape for gold?”
Yuan Zhu: “I don’t think so. Didn’t you notice the battle marks increased, and there are more Bloodstains on the ground and Walls? It doesn’t seem like a simple Bank Robbery.”
While advancing cautiously, Yuan Zhu controlled the [Shadow Uniform], splitting off a few threads that merged into the shadows underfoot, turning into streaks of black Tentacles that slipped into the pockets of passersby they passed, trying to feel around. If there was something, it was a bonus; if not, pass. And thoughtfully, he straightened these people up and buttoned their clothes.
“This way, there are intense battle marks!”
A Miao suddenly pointed in a Direction. From afar, they saw Crushed Stone scattered across the Building, as if a fierce battle had erupted.
Upon approaching, they discovered a thick Wall had been punched through from the inside with a huge hole, and someone had barbarically charged straight ahead, ignoring the existing Corridor and blasting another equally massive hole in the Wall on the other side.
“This… which way?”
A Miao looked at the direction the ground Crushed Stone had sprayed: “The opponent broke through the Wall from this side and headed to the other end. I think it’s best to go against their direction, so we won’t run into them. Also, the direction they came from seems to be from the Bank Interior?”
Charging out from the Bank Interior all the way?
Meng Xiyue: “I seem to smell the scent of Wealth? Come on, let’s go in and see if we can pick up some scraps?”
The three exchanged glances, inexplicably sharing a Tacit Understanding. Yuan Zhu controlled the Mouse’s big head to slip through the huge hole in the Wall and press onward.
Unlike the previous Business Area full of unconscious Clients, along this path they saw numerous Corpses with bizarre deaths: mangled by external force, scorched by high heat, evenly smeared across the Wall… Each one was gruesomely bizarre, with lingering extraordinary Fluctuations.
“Not a single ordinary person. Huh? Something’s off, Candle, come look at this!”
Meng Xiyue sensed something wrong and looked at a Corpse slumped against the Wall with its Head deeply drooped. She pointed at the hole punched through its chest: “Take a look, doesn’t it seem familiar?”
As soon as Yuan Zhu approached, he perceived a familiar sense of déjà vu. Little Spicy Stick immediately pulled a similar Pollution Fluctuation from the [Pollution Database]: “It’s Buddhist Aura!”
He looked down at the chest cavity with the massive hole and let out a “Whoa!”: “Isn’t this a [Buddha Cocoon]? How did it get smashed?”
On one side of the ruptured chest, half a silkworm-cocoon-sized, tumor-textured small flesh ball remained, its surface bearing crookedly arranged facial features: an eye, a perpetually grinning mouth below it, then a left ear…
The [Buddha Cocoon]’s surface features were displaced and chaotically laid out. Just one glance induced a sense of ‘chaos’ from Mental Pollution. It had a low-end flavor of ‘Overlord’s Egg. Behirate.’
As he tried to avert his gaze, the [Buddha Cocoon] exuded a mysterious allure, making it hard to look away. It was clearly weird, yet he wanted to stare more.
The more he looked, the more this mutilated, misaligned Buddha Cocoon resembled a face with lots of fleshy cheeks, somewhat kind and benevolent—a ‘grinning Maitreya face.’ It directly conjured a complete ‘Maitreya visage’ in his mind.
“Hiss!”
Yuan Zhu sucked in a breath. This [Buddha Cocoon] was toxic!
Clearly a mutilated tumorous demonic fetus, yet it emanated a kindly vibe, with no eerie, evil dissonance. It only gave warmth, compassion, and goodwill. The more it grinned, the creepier it felt.
A Miao suddenly picked up a sharp piece of Crushed Stone from the ground and flicked it out, severing the Flesh connecting it to the [Buddha Cocoon], letting it roll onto the floor.
Yuan Zhu: “What the hell is this thing?!”
At this point, Yuan Zhu and Meng Xiyue saw the ruptured other side of the [Buddha Cocoon], its interior like a hollow meat naan, leaking out a half-segment of ‘human-faced maggot’ covered in slime.
Precisely, it was a white, plump half-segment of Bug, with only the front half remaining; the rear half and the other half of the [Buddha Cocoon] had been destroyed by external force.
Now, this fallen half-insect body had microscopic infant-palm-like appendages on its abdominal sides, while its head was an infant-aged ‘grinning Maitreya face.’
The human-faced worm’s interrupted half-insect body interior contained no Internal Organs, only flowing pale golden pulp juice that emitted a faint Sandalwood scent, intoxicating and refreshing upon inhalation, as if inducing a Zen enlightenment state at any moment.
At this moment, his mind flashed to the [Extraordinary Ritual: Buddha Maggot Incense] he had overheard while passing through the Misty Mountains en route to Taixi.
“This is… a [Buddha Maggot]?!”
“Huh?” Meng Xiyue also looked bewildered and disgusted—this was a blind spot in her Knowledge.
A Miao nodded in affirmation: “Correct, it’s a genuine Buddha Maggot. Pity it’s damaged; hard to preserve.”
“Eww! It looks so gross!” Meng Xiyue frowned, full of disgust. “What’s a [Buddha Maggot]? So grotesque!”
A Miao: “You’ve recognized this as a [Buddha Cocoon], so what should be inside the [Cocoon]?”
“[Cocoon] should contain a Bug. So a [Buddha Head Cocoon] nurtures a [Buddha Maggot]?!’ The pink-haired girl widened her eyes, incredulous and unable to accept it. “Wait! From what I know, the first stage of [Buddhist Cultivation] is implanting a [Buddha Cocoon] in the body, right?!”
A Miao: “Mhm.”
Yuan Zhu: “No wonder Taixi once launched an [Exterminate Buddhism Movement]. This is pest extermination? Too sanity-draining; I can never look at Buddhist monks straight again!”
A Miao puzzled: “Is this hard to accept? Other Systems’ entry points aren’t much better. Buddhism is ancient history, officially recognized as righteous—a super force. Have you heard of the [Inner Demon] concept? Buddha and demon as one body: cultivating Buddha is cultivating the heart, cultivating Buddha is subduing demons!”
Meng Xiyue: “This thing is the [Demon]?”
Yuan Zhu: “Isn’t Inner Demon the [Instigator]?”
A Miao: “I’m not a Monk; I don’t know much. I only heard [Buddha Cocoon] contains Buddhist Dharma truths, with inner demonic nature. Buddhists often feed their bodies to demons. Bearing a [Buddha Cocoon] allows self-enlightenment and comprehension of boundless Buddhist Dharma without systemic Inheritance—all tied to the [Buddha Maggot].”
Meng Xiyue: “Still can’t accept it! First time seeing something so grotesque; my Spirit took a ten-thousand-ton pollution hit. Damn! I remember as a kid, my mom bought me a ‘Buddha Head Cocoon’ that naturally grew on a temple Wall as a pendant. Can’t face my childhood anymore!”
Imagining herself as a little loli with a ‘Buddha Head Cocoon’ pendant around her neck, happily running around showing off to playmates, her face paled; she could no longer face her life.
Yuan Zhu could only be grateful that Running City had hardly any temples. Even if there were, they were private ones high above, not open to civilians.
A Miao: “Buddha Head Cocoons naturally growing around temples are just for show, empty inside. This kind nurturing Buddha Maggots can only be nurtured by high monks; in Buddhism, called ‘Bodhi Seed’ or Sarira—essential Foundation for entry.”
She glanced at Yuan Zhu and added: “Equivalent to [Holy Mark + Holy Seal]. Just one [Buddha Cocoon] lets you self-enlighten to Buddhist Dharma, spicy.”
The three set off again. After this brief Mental Pollution shock, they increasingly noticed faint ‘Zen’ leaking from the gruesomely killed Corpses along the way.
The fatal wounds on the dead all showed pale golden Sandalwood juice. The attacker clearly targeted the [Buddha Cocoon] locations, invariably killing the ‘Buddha Maggot’ inside while inflicting lethal damage to the Physical Body.
Yuan Zhu: “Is this a Bank Robbery orchestrated by Buddhism? Have we been dragged into some major upheaval?”
Hearing this reminder, A Miao instantly changed outfits with one tap, switching her stylish youthful young lady Clothes to plain black, unremarkable formal wear, then pulled out a mask to cover her face, concealing herself.
Seeing this, Yuan Zhu immediately activated [Shadow Uniform], ditching the usual Racing Suit style for a matching black couple’s formal wear with A Miao. He retrieved a mask from his [Soul Space]—the one he wore when meeting White Feather Association colleagues.
Meng Xiyue stared dumbfounded: “Why are you two so practiced at this?”
Following suit, she controlled her [Uniform] to morph into the same style. Lacking a mask, she further wove the Uniform to envelop her Head, leaving only two holes for her Eyes.
A Miao said: “No need to panic. Whatever the conspiracy, we’re heading the opposite direction, away from the Accident center. Plus, I have exclusive Stealth methods; even if the [Bank] has surveillance Systems, they can’t capture our images. Now fully geared, as long as we stay low-key, we should hold out until rescue arrives.”
Along this path, the three saw about ten different Corpses, all bearing varying strengths of Buddhist Aura, with [Buddha Cocoons] destroyed. This eerie scene weighed heavily on their moods.
Yuan Zhu recalled his first Bubble World encounter and sights, wondering if the [Egghead Monks]’ [Buddha Cocoons] were equally grotesque.
Meng Xiyue also thought of the ‘Na Ye Buddhist Kingdom’ sights and asked: “Hey, can you tell which sect’s Monks these are? From what I know, Buddhism splits into two schools: [Body Refinement] and [Spirit Refinement].”
A Miao replied: “These [Buddha Cocoons] are all ‘Vajra’ lineage, i.e., Body Refinement, so Buddha Cocoons in the Physical Body. Monks tempering Souls have Buddha Cocoons in the Skull.”
…
Finally, the three saw numerous ordinary people collapsed unconscious again. Besides the charging traces around, there was no more killing, battle, or [Buddha Cocoon] hosts.
They all breathed a sigh of relief, feeling long-lost relaxation. Unconscious ordinary people made them feel safe.
At this point, they spotted an overturned metal briefcase, with heaps of Banknotes scattered on the tabletop and floor.
“Money!”
Meng Xiyue exclaimed first, then Yuan Zhu also saw the Banknotes on the table and ground. Their previously heavy moods instantly healed.
They hurried forward and, without discussion, helped tidy up the scattered Paper for the unconscious, then kept it safe for them.
Yuan Zhu bent down to diligently pick them up, but found the denominations all small: “Why are they all low-denomination Banknotes?”
“Better than no money at all. Come on, let’s circle around to the back and check…”
The three continued exploring but found nothing more. For a grand [Star Realm Bank] to lack stacks of Deposits was too disappointing.
Fortunately now in the interior area, a detailed interior Map appeared on the Wall. Meng Xiyue paused to study it, then proposed: “Sigh! I have a bold idea!”
Yuan Zhu: “What?”
“Let’s go steal the Little Pumpkin!”
A Miao perked up upon hearing: “Oh? That’s good! Let’s go with that!”
Yuan Zhu hurried to catch up, asking: “What’s a Little Pumpkin?”
Meng Xiyue: “Star Realm Bank’s signature VIP gift, only given to major Clients. Of course, true big Clients wouldn’t care for Little Pumpkins, but those who want them aren’t qualified to get them. This is exactly: to those who have, give double to make it excess; from those who don’t, take even what they have!”
