Chapter 490 - 487: Consciousness Enhancement

Chapter 490: Chapter 487: Consciousness Enhancement

’So, I was a corpse all along?’

The leader’s hand dropped, and he gave a bitter laugh.

’Even a corpse’s consciousness can be enhanced?’

A consciousness that should have faded with the death of the flesh had instead been stubbornly preserved by an enhancement.

He could still control this corpse and even think, all because of this lingering consciousness.

He had guessed correctly. His consciousness had indeed been enhanced, but it happened after he was already a corpse.

When he fell, his gas mask had come off. It was at that exact moment a surge of active electrons entered his body, preserving the consciousness that had been on the verge of fading away.

After piecing it all together, the leader felt it was a cruel twist of fate.

He had died by electronic activation, yet it was also electronic activation that had turned him into a walking corpse.

"Can’t even let a man die in peace," he sighed.

’But this way, I have nothing left to worry about.’

The leader looked in the direction he came from and calmly walked back.

He intended to find the bodies of his companions. At least he could see them one last time.

He felt no grief or pain. This resurrected consciousness was surprisingly numb, and he now truly understood what it felt like to be a walking corpse.

Indifferent to everything, fearless of everything.

’Numb is good, too.’

Dragging his numb legs, the leader slowly retraced his steps.

Soon, he found a body on the ground.

The leader silently approached and removed the body’s ID tag.

"Rest now."

He didn’t linger. With the ID tag in hand, he continued on.

Before long, he found the main group.

’So everyone was back there... I didn’t even notice. I’ve failed in my duty as leader...’

He walked over to the bodies and calmly collected their ID tags.

Then, he placed the yellowed notebook beside the Researcher.

"Thank you."

His heart felt no great turmoil. Seeing these bodies should have filled him with immense grief, but his heart had grown as numb as his body.

’But why... can I still feel my heart ache?’

The leader clutched his chest in confusion. A faint pang of pain came from his no-longer-beating heart. A pain that had no right to exist in a corpse was now manifesting in him.

For a moment, he almost thought he was still alive.

But he quickly calmed down, silently wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

’Just another illusion. How can a corpse’s heart ache?’

He arranged all the ID tags, clutched them in his hand, and continued deeper in.

Soon, he returned to the spot where they had left the items.

However, he saw a strange creature standing there.

It strongly resembled a Sky Island Antlered Ape, but it was incredibly gaunt. Its entire body glowed with a faint green light and was covered in intricate green markings, with motes of light like fireflies circling around it.

This creature was standing stock-still in front of the items the transport team had discarded.

Seeing such a scene, the leader should have been afraid, but by now he had long lost all normal emotions.

He just paused for a moment, hung all the collected ID tags around his neck, and walked straight toward the green creature.

"What are you?"

A question, devoid of inflection, was squeezed from his dry, hoarse throat.

The green creature heard the leader’s question and turned its head to look at him.

"What are you?"

A completely identical voice came from its green-glowing head.

"I am human."

"I am human."

The green creature once again mimicked the leader’s words.

Moreover, as it spoke, the surrounding motes of light began to merge into its body. Then, its form began to shrink, slowly taking on the appearance of a human.

And its face was one the leader was very familiar with—it was his own.

If it weren’t for the swirling green light, the leader would have thought he was facing his double.

Faced with such a bizarre scene, his heart remained incredibly calm.

He frowned. His counterpart frowned back.

For some reason, as he drew closer to the strange creature, the leader’s completely defunct sense of smell faintly returned.

He smelled a familiar scent on the creature before him.

’The smell of rust.’

And it was a very strong smell of rust, even more potent than what he’d smelled when he was alive.

"Are you responsible for what happened on this Sky Island?" the leader asked bluntly.

The creature had appeared at the right place, and it carried that strong scent of rust. He had every reason to be suspicious.

Moreover, the leader had a powerful gut feeling that the "activation" on this island was deeply connected to the strange creature mimicking him.

This time, the green creature didn’t mimic the leader’s words, but just looked at him in confusion.

"Am I responsible for all this?" it asked in the leader’s voice.

To the leader, this felt like mockery. The thought of his dead teammates made his numb heart tremble once more.

"I don’t know what you are, but what you’ve done to humanity will be returned to you twofold."

After hearing this, the green creature, wearing the leader’s face, tilted its head.

"Everything humanity has done will be returned twofold."

"..."

The leader had no desire to entertain the creature’s nonsensical babbling any longer.

He walked straight over to the discarded items and picked one up.

It was a ball of pitch-black soft clay. Taking it out, the leader stared at the strange creature as he began to knead the black clay in his hands.

Soon, he had molded the black clay into a humanoid figure.

The black clay slowly squirmed, taking on the leader’s appearance.

Once everything was ready, the leader grabbed the Black Mudman’s left leg and tore it off.

The moment the Black Mudman’s left leg was torn off, the green creature’s left leg instantly vanished.

It instantly lost its balance and fell stiffly to the ground.

The leader’s own left leg also vanished completely, but he had anticipated this and remained standing on his right leg.

The creature lay on the ground, its remaining leg kicking ceaselessly.

The leader looked at the creature, his resolve firm, and ripped off the black clay’s left arm.

In that instant, his own left arm vanished, as did the creature’s.

The strange creature was still twitching nonstop on the ground, but its face was expressionless, its eyes staring fixedly at the leader.

’One last step...’

The leader gripped the Black Mudman with his remaining right hand. He had chosen this item for one purpose: to take this bizarre creature down with him.

For some reason, as the smell of rust grew stronger, the leader became even more certain that the creature before him was the culprit behind the activation.

’The connection between us... it’s getting stronger.’

He didn’t know if his body and consciousness would end up as this strange creature’s puppets. At this point, the only option was to ensure his own, final death.

’Let me just take one more down before I go.’

The leader glanced down at the ID tags on his chest, which bore the name of every member of the transport team.

They came here together, and they should have left together.

"I’m on my way, everyone."

The leader opened his mouth and bit down hard on the Black Mudman’s head.

CRACK!

The Black Mudman was instantly decapitated. The leader’s own headless body swayed and collapsed to the ground.

And the headless green creature still lay on the ground, its remaining leg kicking away.