MC Creative Mode: Wholesale Perpetual Motion Machine

Chapter 309 Summation
In the pitch-black night, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and only occasionally could the moonlight penetrate the heavy cover and cast a glimpse of the earth below.

The green train sped along the tracks, leaving the boundless wilderness behind.

On a night in late autumn or early winter, a cold mist permeates the wilderness, occasionally dotting the landscape with mountains hidden in the fog. They appear hazy and indistinct, like tall, twisted black shadows lurking behind the mist, constantly changing shape.

In this dim world, as most of the observers on the train fell into a deep sleep, the original world ceased to exist.

In the entire world, only the faint light emitted by the train existed.

It seems to move neither forward nor backward, but rather, all alone, silently and eternally advancing towards the unknown amidst the roar of gears and pistons. It has no destination, no origin, existing simply as the concept of a "train in the wilderness."

Fang Zheng could see that in his carriage, as the other passengers fell asleep, their forms became blurred, like indistinct faces in a dream.

In the entire carriage, only Zhang Kun, his son, and Fang Zheng remained conscious and in a conscious state.

A careful observation reveals that, apart from the carriage you are currently in, although there is still the roar of wheels speeding along the tracks, you cannot hear any noise from other carriages.

Each carriage has unknowingly become an independent entity, and even the world seen when looking out the window belongs only to the three people in that carriage.

Suddenly, under the moonlight, a tall, thin, dark figure appeared about several hundred meters away outside the car window.

That thing was very tall, and it was impossible to tell whether it was human or ghost. All that could be seen was that its body was thin and deformed, and it was at least three meters tall.

When Fang Zheng saw it, he could vaguely sense that there were eyes watching him on that dark face, but upon closer inspection, he could only see a blurry black shadow, as blurry as if it had been pixelated.

Fang Zheng rested his chin on his hand. "Hmm, it's another phenomenon of interaction and emergence between different sets. But this time..."

Fang Zheng smiled slightly and closed his eyes.

When I opened my eyes again, some noise came from my ears: the hushed conversations and snoring of passengers in the next carriage, and the light footsteps of the train attendants on night patrol.

The darkness outside the window also became much clearer in that instant; things that were previously indistinct in the misty night suddenly gained specific outlines.

……

Outside the window, the tall, dark figure bent down and pounced on the train with incredible speed, reaching the top of the train in the blink of an eye.

However, although there were some slight noises coming from the top of the train, they were so faint that it seemed as if the unknown thing had something like a cat's paw pads to cushion the sound.

But Zhang Kun's ears twitched, and his eyes, through the metal roof of the train, locked onto a certain shadow on the top of the train.

He abruptly stood up, his body contorting into a bizarre, dance-like posture, while he chanted ancient incantations. Almost instantly, his body shuddered, and his joints crackled and popped softly.

In martial arts, this is called "Cat Shaking Body" or "Fire Burning Body." It involves a brief physical tremor, while visualizing flames, thunder, or swords and axes striking the body. This is akin to self-hypnosis, forcing the mind and body to quickly reach a state of stress in the face of danger.

In the ancient times of humankind, tribal shamans used similar methods, combining mushrooms, herbs, and other drugs that affected mental states, to stimulate people's potential, thereby training warriors and curing diseases.

"Heh!" He stared at the monster on the roof of the car, a cold smile spreading across his face, revealing gleaming white teeth. "You cowardly coward, only daring to attack humans in the dead of night, you've finally shown your tail, haven't you?!"

As he spoke, billowing white steam escaped from between his teeth. Fang Zheng, sitting opposite him, could feel a wave of heat rushing towards him. It seemed that in an instant, Zhang Kun had become a giant furnace, radiating outwards a wave of heat.

"Dad!" Zhang Kun flung open the window, leaning half his body out into the howling wind, and called out without turning his head, "You can rest in the car. While you're at it, keep an eye on the other carriages. I'll go take care of this thing first."

Having said that, facing the cold wind outside the window, he already had one foot on the window, preparing to jump onto the roof of the car.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot about Fang Zheng." As he spoke, a large hand pulled Fang Zheng away.

On the roof of the train traveling at nearly 80 kilometers per hour, Zhang Kun and Fang Zheng nimbly leaped onto the roof, their feet moving with strange steps. Regardless of the shaking of the carriage or the onslaught of the gale, they remained as steady as old trees rooted to the ground.

Right in front of the two, the tall, thin, and strange figure finally revealed its true form. It was an ape-like monster, tall and thin, covered in jet-black fur, but the fur was falling off in places, revealing scarred tissue, making it look extremely ugly.

"Roar!" The monster immediately spotted the two figures, crouched low, and let out a threatening roar.

Zhang Kun crossed his arms and coldly stared at the ugly monster, saying in a low voice, "I was wondering what kind of monster attacked the train passengers, but it turns out it's just a 'wild man' from the mountains."

When Zhang Kun was a child, there were frequent eyewitness accounts of forestry workers and hunters discovering "wild men" in the Changbai Mountain and Xiaoxing Anling areas.

Legend has it that these savages were at least two meters tall, covered in thick hair, extremely agile and incredibly strong, and could make human-like roars.

Legend has it that at night, they mimic human voices to call out to forest rangers and hunters, and then attack them when they get close.

Some people believed that these so-called wild men were just some clever bears. However, during Zhang Kun's childhood, due to the accelerated deforestation of forest resources, some wild men chose to attack villages.

At that time, Zhang Kun witnessed his father, Zhang Biao, beat two “wild men” who attacked Tuanjie Village to death. After biologists took away the bodies for research, they discovered that these so-called wild men were actually a species that had very similar genes to Homo sapiens and had differentiated from Homo sapiens in the early stages of their existence.

Compared to Homo sapiens, they were closer to Neanderthals, with more developed bodies, but their intelligence was only at the level of children.

“You bastard, you’ve been shot before, haven’t you?” Zhang Kun keenly noticed that there were several hideous scars on the savage’s body where the hair was missing, which were probably wounds left by a hunting rifle.

"Roar!" The tall, savage man stared intently at Zhang Kun with his beast-like eyes, even revealing a look of hatred.

"Hmph!" Zhang Kun also noticed its expression. "I don't care if you're attacking the train repeatedly because of food shortages or because your companions were killed by humans. I don't have that much sympathy. Savages should stay in the mountains. Since you want to die, I'll grant your wish!"

After saying that, a loud bang!
Like a thunderclap, Zhang Kun lowered his body, like a wild beast, and used his hands and feet to forcefully embed himself into the metal sheet of the car roof, using this force to burst forth with a roar.

With a loud bang, the savage, who possessed extraordinary physical abilities, swung his giant hand and slammed it directly in front of Zhang Kun, but was dodged with lightning speed, leaving a handprint on the carriage below.

Both of them were extremely agile and flexible. On top of the high-speed train, they completely ignored the roaring airflow. With each step, their feet and hands could dig deep into the metal.

Zhang Kun's years of martial arts training gave him an extremely high level of mastery over force, allowing him to exert force almost exactly at the load-bearing limit of the green train's roof with each strike. Meanwhile, the wild man's innate superhuman physical abilities and inhuman beastly instincts ensured that its hands and feet were in no way inferior to the others.

Bang! Bang! Bang! A series of dull thuds of flesh echoed during the rapid clash between the two, but it seemed that they were all coming from the savage. Zhang Kun's years of martial arts experience allowed him to narrowly dodge the savage's claws, which could easily tear apart even iron, each time.

Roar! The savage, whose body was struck by a punch and whose mouth and nose were gushing blood, roared loudly. The roar echoed through the wilderness and even made the windows of the train below rattle as if they were about to be shattered by the sound waves.

"what happens!"

"Ah! Something's moving on the roof of the car?"

"My God, those are handprints? Who's on the roof of the car?!"

During the brief exchange, a commotion broke out in the carriage.

The savage and Zhang Kun fought as they moved along the long roof of the cart, quickly reaching the coal-carrying carriage.

Bang! Just stepping into the coal pile, the immense force of the two shattered the hard coal into powder, and many pieces of coal emitted a piercing whistling sound as they were sent flying far away.

With another muffled thud, Fang Zheng, who had been following closely behind, casually caught a flying piece of coal and tossed it back into the carriage.

The sheer force of those flying coal fragments is enough to kill a person instantly.

Boom! Suddenly, the coal-carrying wagon was deformed by the impact, and the originally firmly fixed iron chains were directly shaken off, causing the coal inside the wagon to fall out with a loud bang.

The two monsters entangled in the carriage suddenly plunged into the wilderness at a speed of over 80 miles per hour.

Even so, neither of them seemed to be harmed. They simply shook their feet, plowing several marks into the frozen ground while simultaneously neutralizing the enormous force.

Seizing the fleeting opportunity, Zhang Kun's eyes lit up. He raised his hand to blast away the attacking claws and delivered a powerful punch to the wild man's armpit, which was caught off guard as he lost his balance.

With a sharp crack, the shattered ribs pierced the heart, and the savage struggled with bloodshot eyes, but after only a moment, he lay still.

Slightly relieved, Zhang Kun watched the train speeding away, then focused his energy on his feet and sprinted, each step leaving a footprint in the frozen ground.

A moment later, he returned to the carriage, caught his breath, and smiled at Fang Zheng, saying, "How was it? Compared to your usual hard training, witnessing life-or-death combat firsthand must have greatly benefited your skills, right? You should come with me and see more of this stuff from now on; your talent is far beyond my level..."

Fang Zheng blinked his eyes.

Outside the car window, the dark shadows in the distance gradually revealed their full form. They were dozens of thin, short, and seemingly exhausted figures twisting and tangling together, their bodies contorted and intertwined like worms. Centered on the tallest and strongest ghostly figure, they collectively formed a tall, writhing humanoid shape.

A faint, almost imperceptible scream, seemingly existing only in the spiritual realm, emanated from the tall, thin ghostly figure. Fang Zheng could clearly see that, unlike the ghostly figures with grotesque and terrifying faces, barely clothed, or only wrapped in a few tattered rags with bald heads, several figures dressed in complete attire were constantly wailing as they struggled to emerge from the abdomen of the thin ghostly figure.

But they could only barely show their heads or upper bodies before being forcibly pulled back by those withered arms.

"Heh!" Zhang Kun sneered, revealing his gleaming white teeth, as he watched the shadowy figure approaching the train carriage in the distance. "So that's how it is. A mere evil creature from a debauched ritual in the wilderness decades ago dares to attack a train in this day and age. It really has a death wish!"

He suddenly stood up, swiftly pulled a thick iron chain from his backpack, gripped it tightly with both hands, and lay prone in the carriage, contorted into a beast-like posture, chanting incantations in a rapid and strange tone.

The general meaning is that all 13 of Zhang's dog-like demons have attached themselves to him!
Suddenly, Fang Zheng saw a gust of cold wind rise up, and all the oil lamps in the already dim carriage went out at once, causing the other passengers in the carriage to cower in their seats, too scared to move.

Immediately afterwards, a barking sound, seemingly tinged with wailing, emanated from the thick iron chain held in Zhang Kun's hand, growing louder and louder.

Thirteen blurry dog ​​heads, resembling those made of black smoke, were poured into Zhang Kun's body one by one along the iron chain.

With a tearing sound, he ripped his shirt open, revealing 13 ferocious hunting dogs that appeared lifelike on his chest, moving rapidly across his body.

Zhang Kun lay prone, his body enveloped in wisps of black mist, which coalesced into hazy, misty hair.

With a howl, he leaped out of the window as if his body were weightless. With the support of 13 dog demons constantly moving around his body, his speed increased, and he was almost floating in mid-air. Even when his four feet touched the dry weeds in the wilderness, he could use them for leverage and glide away with a whoosh.

As if there were no gravity, it became incredibly strong and agile under the influence of the dog demon, and collided with the slender ghostly figure.

With each collision, Zhang Kun's face was extremely serious. In every instant, the 13 dog-like ghosts on his body would briefly dissipate, and 13 interlocking canine teeth would condense on his fists or legs, spiraling like a drill or chainsaw, tearing the thin ghost's body into hideous wounds.

Those shattered souls will then be torn into pieces and swallowed by the dog demons that are reassembled.

In the brief but urgent exchange, the thin, ghostly figure was soon torn to shreds, and Zhang Kun, panting heavily, returned to the carriage.

After catching his breath, he smiled and said to Fang Zheng, "You'll probably encounter quite a few of these evil gods from rural rituals in the future. Just be careful, and you'll be fine."

……

Fang Zheng blinked.

"Heh!" Zhang Kun sneered, looking at the dark, illusory figure outside the window. He said disdainfully, "What did I think it was? It's just a piece of trash formed from resentment! A mere thing formed from the resentment of the dead from decades ago, and it still wants to harm people today! Disperse!"

After saying that, Zhang Kun took out a mask, a small drum, and some odds and ends from his bag and set them up on the floor of the carriage to perform a simple exorcism ritual. He loudly chanted incantations, and in a short while, the black shadow formed by resentment disappeared without a trace.

He smiled and said to Fang Zheng, "These things may be weak, but they're still quite annoying for ordinary people. You'd better master the basics, otherwise you'll get hooked on these things, which would be really embarrassing..."

……

As the blurry black shadow rapidly approached outside the window, Zhang Kun's eyes, hidden behind his glasses, flashed. With a cold smile, he pulled out a device from his pocket that emitted a strange, flickering blue light, pressed a button, and an invisible wave spread out.

Immediately following, as the coordinates were uploaded, a faint light suddenly appeared in the distant sky, and an invisible ray of light blasted down from space, turning it and the ground beneath their feet into a circular crater.

Zhang Kun pressed another button on the instrument in his hand and calmly said, "I am Zhang Kun, the investigator of the incident. The alien poachers behind the train ghost incident have been expelled..."

……

Fang Zheng silently closed and opened his eyes again and again, switching his perspective each time, thus seeing different facets of reality belonging to Zhang Kun.

Fang Zheng realized that the shadowy figure was an ancient ape that originally lived deep in the mountains. Due to human deforestation, it lost a stable source of food and felt hatred because its kind were hunted by humans, so it chose to hunt humans.

Fang Zheng realized that the shadowy figure was essentially a vengeful spirit of the slave laborers who died decades ago from exhaustion while building railway tracks, a spirit that hated the living.

Fang Zheng realized that the shadowy figure was an ancient demon that had invaded from another dimension.

It is a distorted manifestation of the spirit of nature.

It is an intangible entity formed from intense collective fear or negative emotions.

They are alien poachers who sneak off to primitive planets to hunt for intelligent life.

It is an aggregate of strange, dark matter that came to earth due to a meteorite falling.

It is a crack or fold in the local spacetime continuum.

It is a macroscopic observational effect produced by the collapse of quantum probability clouds.

It is a cluster of out-of-control nanomachines left over from an ancient civilization, a dynamic structure formed due to an algorithm error.

It is a phantom created by a malfunction of the holographic projection system in the primitive ecological zoo.

It is a pseudo-human that imitates and replaces humans.

It is the focus of mass hallucinations or large-scale hypnotic effects.

It is a perceptual distortion caused by extreme fear or mental breakdown in individual passengers in a dark environment.

It is a symbolic understanding of the "unknowable" after the boundaries of cognition have been broken.

It is a meme virus that pollutes information.

It simulates real-world program vulnerabilities.

It is an information ghosting caused by the brief intersection of parallel universes.

It is a visual distortion caused by minute fluctuations in physical constants in a local area.

It is the echo of an "event that did not happen" produced by a slight disturbance to the law of causality.

It is an error code or an abnormal node in the rules of the universe itself.

Fangzheng can see the superposition of endless possibilities.

These phenomena or things, which have completely different natures and are completely unrelated, are superimposed on each other at the cognitive level through the interaction of different sets.

Each interaction is like a dynamic process of different faces of an infinite number of Rubik's Cubes being pieced together.

Each in-depth exploration is like opening a box, revealing another possibility, but the box itself exists within a larger space that contains all the boxes.

As Fang Zheng tried to understand the essence of this superposition state, the specific and unique details—the fangs of beasts, the metallic luster of machines, the energy ripples of cracks, the chaotic textures of entropy, the imitative details of pseudo-humans, the spiritual characteristics of ghosts—became increasingly uncertain and indistinguishable the more he explored and delved deeper.

They "contaminate" each other and cancel each other out.

After stripping away all the specific, distinguishable details, the most fundamental feature that is common to all possibilities emerges: an upright, roughly headed and torso-shaped human silhouette under the low-light, high-speed, and blurry conditions of the human visual system.

After going through the process of superposition, stripping away details, finding common divisors, and extracting basic commonalities, billions of bizarre and fundamentally different possibilities are ultimately forcibly simplified in the observer's perception and cognition.

This is the simplest cognitive model that remains after all differences have been eliminated.

“I understand…” Fang Zheng smiled slightly.

(End of this chapter)