Chapter 188 - 147: Visitors from the Two Cities

Chapter 188: Chapter 147: Visitors from the Two Cities

[Prompt: Contracted employee ’Nether Robe’ has awakened its Lifebound Talent, ’Red Silk Ceremony’.]

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[Red Silk Ceremony]

[Description 1: Nether Robe can construct a ceremony tailored to itself. All ’characters’ and ’props’ within the ceremony must be crafted by its own hands. When Nether Robe initiates the ceremony, its Curse Power and personal abilities will receive a massive boost. Simultaneously, all of Nether Robe’s inherent powers can be extended through the ceremony.]

[Description 2: The more standardized, neat, and unified the ceremony is, the stronger the power Nether Robe can exert. However, if the ceremony is damaged, Nether Robe’s power will be weakened.]

[Description 3: Currently possesses the ceremony, ’Netherworld Patrol’.]

The Extraordinary Ceremony that Nether Robe had previously conducted seemed to have transformed into a part of its Lifebound Talent. Its talent was entirely different from those of Zhuo Ling, Li Feng, and the other spirits. It was even more vastly different from the human Extraordinary Talents Shi An had heard about. The entire paradigm had completely shifted.

"Or rather, is this a rare, hidden talent?" Shi An rubbed his chin. At this point, he could easily guess the truth. "The awakening of an Extraordinary Talent isn’t just related to one’s own abilities, but also to the ceremony performed during the promotion."

And now, Nether Robe’s combat style had undergone a drastic change.

"It’s actually somewhat similar to Zhuo Ling, except Nether Robe manipulates props like papermen. Papermen, paper horses, or other prop items can all serve as extensions of its power.

"But at the same time, it needs to maintain its posture? The more dignified its posture, the stronger its Extraordinary Talent? To think there’s actually such an Extraordinary Ability!"

Shi An had never heard of such a thing. He figured Long Xingzhou and the others at the Countermeasures Bureau hadn’t either. The Nightmare World was simply too vast and mysterious. The understanding these human Extraordinaries had of the Nightmare World was likely extremely limited.

Nether Robe’s Lifebound Talent seemed overly complicated, but it actually wasn’t. This talent was born from the ’Senluo Red Silk’ skill, and Senluo Red Silk inherently possessed the ability to store objects. Nether Robe could summon papermen and initiate the ceremony anytime, anywhere.

"However, preparing the various papermen, props, and armored warriors for the ceremony is quite tedious.

"Although Nether Robe received some ’crafting inheritance’ from the void while awakening its Extraordinary Talent, it still needs to slowly research it on its own.

"Hm, these crafted papermen and armored warriors also need to have unified specifications. If they vary in height and weight, the true power of the Red Silk Ceremony can’t be unleashed."

Fortunately, this didn’t seem to be a problem. Nether Robe was already quite obsessive-compulsive. Perhaps it was precisely because of this OCD that it derived such an Extraordinary Talent in the first place.

After being promoted to Extraordinary, the changes in the three entities—Nether Robe, Zhuo Ling, and Little Blood—were not limited to just their abilities.

Zhuo Ling could already transform into a human shape, but now it took a step further, capable of using the murky currents it manipulated to disguise itself as blood. Little Blood was no longer restricted to switching only between its normal chubby form and its Blood Demon Giant transformation. It could now transform into a normal human body—albeit a blood-red one that looked like a severe burn victim. By wrapping itself entirely in bandages and wearing a mask and a hat, it looked just like a normal person.

"You call this a normal person?" Shi An asked. "But I suppose it does somewhat pass as a human."

Little Blood stared in silent exasperation. It wasn’t that it refused to be a proper anomaly and insisted on being human, but rather that it *had* to pretend to be one. It either had to pretend to be human or pretend to be Zhuo Ling’s ’Yugui’. How could it, the magnificent Lord Blood, pretend to be a mere Yugui? If worst came to worst, it had to be its own master.

Shi An simply let it do as it pleased in this regard. And so, the ’Bandage Man’ made his debut in the Safe Zone. Fortunately, there was no shortage of unconventional outfits among the Dream Descender community, so Little Blood’s Bandage Man attire didn’t stand out too much here.

Nether Robe had also changed. Its main body was a piece of clothing. Originally, the inside was completely empty, allowing Shi An to wear the entire bridal gown himself. But now, a faint, ninety-percent transparent figure had appeared inside the bridal gown.

However, Nether Robe was rather distressed. It gestured, meaning that, like this, it couldn’t let its boss wear it anymore. Indeed, he couldn’t put it on anymore; Shi An tried and met with some resistance.

However, Shi An was no longer the helpless novice he once was. Previously, he was completely defenseless, unable to withstand even the slightest aftermath of a clash between anomalies, which was why he needed to wear the Nether Armor. Now, as Manager Shi, he wielded two great Excellence Curse Objects and had the protection of shadows and the Insect Armor, so he didn’t really lack a bridal gown anymore.

Even so, Shi An would still carry Nether Robe with him when he went out in the real world. He was afraid of being ambushed. The human body was too fragile. Even if he possessed strength approaching or rivaling that of an Extraordinary, he would still die if he took a bullet. If a Pseudo-Man Extraordinary were hiding in the shadows to ambush him, he likely wouldn’t even be able to react in time.

Although in reality Shi An was just an ordinary contract worker at the Countermeasures Bureau, completely unremarkable, he preferred to be safe than sorry. Now that Nether Robe had been promoted, he had to bring it along with him even more whenever he went out.

After Nether Robe’s promotion, during Shi An’s Dream Fall Stage, it stayed inside the Alchemy Workshop. Relying on the equipment and tools there, it manufactured the various props needed for its ceremony. What it crafted the most were papermen. Papermen had high plasticity and could easily carry its power. But it didn’t just make papermen; it also began learning how to craft paper horses, wooden men, bronze chariots, and so on.

During this period, the Safe Zone developed in an orderly manner. Batches of new members emerged. Even two locations in the Nightmare Shallow Layer Region adjacent to Baijiang City had been successfully raided under the Safe Zone’s organization. However, neither of these two raids dropped an Excellence Curse Object.