Chapter 353: Memories and Emotions, Humanity Fuel from the Fiend

Examining the black crystal in his hand, Qi Suian investigated further, extracting an effect similar to a stimulant from it.

It also had the ability to stabilize and enhance one’s yang energy.

The black crystal’s precursor was the black, gelatinous substance inside the ghost’s body. Once removed, it solidified into a crystal.

In the process, the ghost would lose a portion of its memories and emotions, which in turn would further widen the gap between the "truth layer" and the "reality layer."

"Ghosts are more like anchors stitching the reality and truth layers together. Because they exist, the two layers remain distinct yet are also inextricably linked."

"And human memories and emotions are a medium that stabilizes the truth layer."

After Qi Suian took out a small sample of the crystal, the smart-brain delivered a report via the reconnaissance network.

The previously locked-down area of the remote mountain temple had shrunk by approximately one ten-thousandth.

This was because the memories and emotions Qi Suian had taken from the ghost amounted to exactly one ten-thousandth of the total volume.

As for the rule, that was the essence of the ghost itself; Qi Suian couldn’t extract it.

After some research, he concluded that these memories and emotions were of no value to him.

The stuff was useful for ghosts and the truth layer, but Qi Suian was neither, so it was useless to him.

So, he tentatively tossed it into the Melting Furnace.

If it could be burned to produce some evolution energy, that would be a win.

If it didn’t burn, he would just set it aside. After he left this Ghost World, it would soften without the world’s empowerment, and burning it then would be no problem.

However, its value would surely depreciate. After all, the world’s empowerment made it potent, which was what gave it high fuel value.

The Memory-Emotion Crystal can be used as an accelerant for burning ghosts.

By burning the Memory-Emotion Crystal, a proportional one ten-thousandth of the Hanged Ghost was also consumed, and the Tai Sui God gained a large amount of evolution energy.

Based on estimates, completely burning the Hanged Ghost will allow the Tai Sui God to evolve once.

If there is no drop-off in efficiency, burning one ghost can provide the Tai Sui God with one full evolution.

Rule-type, percentage-based, extremely high value.

Qi Suian suddenly received the smart-brain’s report, and his Spirit soared.

"As expected, the best fuel for the Tai Sui God is rules." Qi Suian grew more certain that the Tai Sui God’s four traits were themselves rules.

Only by using rules as fuel could a rule-based entity achieve maximum growth.

But rules were a tricky thing to get ahold of.

In his current situation, Qi Suian couldn’t effectively utilize them.

For example, the rising and setting of the sun and moon contained physical rules, but he had no way to extract them to fuel the Tai Sui God.

Only special Extraordinary systems, like holy relics or ghosts that manifested rules in a physical form, could be utilized by Qi Suian.

Latest calculations show that when combined with Memory-Emotion Crystals, combustion efficiency is extremely high, confirming their accelerant properties.

"This is a hassle, though. I have to catch a ghost, gut it, and then burn it."

"It’s fine at first, but if I keep doing it, it’ll lose all its memories and emotions and just mutate."

A ghost with a semblance of humanity and one without are two completely different difficulty levels.

No, two ghosts are required. One ghost to serve as fuel, and the Memory-Emotion Crystals from another to serve as the accelerant.

Only then can it burn completely, inside and out; otherwise, the rule cannot be effectively converted.

"Great. So it’s not one ghost per level, it’s two," Qi Suian said, not particularly surprised.

The world’s difficulty was high to begin with, so it naturally followed that leveling up would be difficult too.

Qi Suian’s gaze quickly fell upon the ghost, and he shoved his hand right into its mouth.

Seeing this, a sharp glint flashed in the ghost’s eyes.

It knew this was its chance. The pig-headed creature’s jaws snapped shut with immense force.

Its body, formed from an indestructible rule, easily severed the Tai Sui God’s arm.

Qi Suian, controlling it from within his expedition-grade ecological circulation device, was naturally unaffected.

After biting off the arm, the creature swallowed it whole and turned to flee.

"So it dares to fight back now." Qi Suian guessed that taking some of its memories and emotions had likely caused a psychological shift.

Its speed, however, was still lacking. Qi Suian once again stomped on its serpentine tail, causing it to trip and face-plant on the spot.

After dragging it back, he gave it another thorough beating.

"What were you thinking? I just took a little something out of your stomach. Was that any reason to bite my arm off?" Qi Suian said, punctuating his words with blows.

The creature’s body was incredibly hard and resilient, practically indestructible.

But because it still possessed memories and emotions, the blows still caused it to feel pain.

It could only be said that ghosts were truly paradoxical creatures.

"Stop! Stop hitting me! I won’t do it again..." the ghost wailed, begging for mercy.

Even though its body showed not a single sign of injury, it seemed to have been beaten into a daze.

’It possesses some form of metaphysical senses.’

’It can generate corresponding sensations without the requisite physical structures.’

’Rule-based life is truly fascinating.’

Qi Suian continued to record his observations, then suddenly stopped.

The reason was simple: he saw three survivors staring, dumbfounded, at the scene.

Their gaze soon fell upon the live observation equipment Qi Suian had placed to one side.

Two heads were suspended in mid-air, bobbing like grotesque, living lanterns.

Ye Rui didn’t know if this was the work of the Armored Man who was beating up the ghost, or the ghost itself. But he was certain of one thing: neither of them was to be trifled with.

And now, they had been spotted.

As for why he had come to the main hall?

It wasn’t as if he’d wanted to. The temple was like a maze, full of disorienting, invisible walls.

He’d been walking in circles until he was dizzy. He pushed open a door and stumbled into this bizarre scene.

Ye Rui couldn’t help but gulp, then discreetly signaled for the other two survivors to fall back.

But the two of them didn’t get the signal. They just turned and bolted, even slamming the door shut behind them.

Closing it would have been one thing, but they also locked it. Ye Rui’s blood ran cold.

A terror that clawed up from the depths of his soul erupted. A horrifying pressure descended upon him, making his legs tremble so hard he couldn’t speak.

He’d been planning to use the newbies as cannon fodder, but he never expected them to be faster than him, leaving him to bring up the rear.

All he could do was force a strained smile.

"Incense?" Upon seeing Ye Rui, the ghost’s pig head unfurled a thick, long tongue that dangled to the floor, drool trailing down its length.

As if spotting a delectable meal, it completely forgot about Qi Suian’s presence.

Qi Suian didn’t intervene. The ghosts of the truth layer considered themselves human and saw Qi Suian as a ghost. Therefore, the role of a true human who entered the truth layer was likely akin to currency or food.

That’s why the ghost was drooling over the survivor, Ye Rui.

And that wasn’t a metaphor; it was literally drooling.

’It’s showing slight signs of losing control, and the influence of its memories and emotions has dropped significantly.’

’It’s possible that because this rule-based lifeform is affected by the world’s defense mechanisms, its priority has shifted from me to the survivor, who is an intruder.’

Qi Suian’s unique status not only caused this identity discrepancy but also placed him in a loophole in the world’s defenses.

The ghost’s body was suddenly coated in a layer of golden lacquer that began to shine with a brilliant light.

"Tasty..." The ghost’s dangling tongue shot out, lashing toward Ye Rui.

Ye Rui had no time to react. With his meager base stats, he’d have trouble dodging a thrown rock, let alone a tongue moving at this speed.

But the tongue stopped dead just before it reached him, unable to advance another inch.

Qi Suian had intervened, grabbing the ghost’s tongue in his hand.

"This incense is mine. Are you trying to steal it from me?" Qi Suian’s voice was laced with danger.

At that moment, however, the ghost seemed to be losing its mind.

Qi Suian’s gaze quickly swept over Ye Rui.

He’d seen a similar situation before. In the previous truth-layer mansion, the survivor Pan Fan had used a Divorce Letter to trigger the mutation of the Hanged Ghost King, Wang Qin.

He had previously thought it was a purely psychological trigger, but now it seemed the world’s defense mechanisms were also involved.

Of course, this ghost wasn’t changing for no reason. The survivor before him must be carrying some kind of provocative item.

Something similar to Wang Qin’s Divorce Letter.

It had no effect when Qi Suian held it, but in a survivor’s hands, it provoked the ghosts.

Ye Rui was so scared his face went white and his mind went completely blank.

Fortunately, he had experienced similar situations in his previous survival mission and, drawing on that experience, reacted quickly.

He hastily pulled a golden ingot from his waist and decisively hurled it at Qi Suian.

He didn’t know the Armored Man’s origins, but his first instinct was to divert the trouble.

Sure enough, the ghost’s tongue changed course, wrapped around the golden ingot, and snapped back.

"The smell of incense... I’ll eat you too..." The ghost had no intention of giving up on Ye Rui.

But its tongue was once again caught by Qi Suian, who then kicked the ghost, sending it staggering.

Of course, Qi Suian wasn’t trying to save this stranger.

It was because he noticed something different about this survivor, specifically the state of his yang energy.

He suspected the man’s "Pollution Resistance" talent wasn’t D-rank, but something much higher.

The ghost staggered to its feet, but with lightning speed, Qi Suian appeared in front of Ye Rui.

Before the man could react, Qi Suian knocked him unconscious and immediately injected him with a tranquilizer.

He passed out on the spot.

"Incense... I want the incense... Give me the in..."

Qi Suian ignored the ghost’s howls, dragging Ye Rui out of the main hall.

The ghost gave chase, but Qi Suian was so fast that it immediately lost their trail.

After circling the area a few times, it crawled back to its original spot and resumed its disguise as a divine statue.

Without the effect of being observed, the ghost reset. However, the memories and emotions Qi Suian had extracted from it did not return.

Apparently, they were a special substance that could not be reset.

Qi Suian, of course, was unaware of this. Even if he had known, he wouldn’t have cared, as he had more important experiments to conduct.