Deity Investigation Report

Chapter 261 Hunting the Black Goat

Huh? How did things actually go according to her line of thought and lead to the idea of ​​hunting nobles?
This fleeting moment of attraction surprised Han Su.

Was it influenced by Ms. Shen's memories and thoughts? I'm actually quite interested in hunting nobles.

But in reality, she is clearly somewhat insane, and whether her line of thinking is correct is questionable.

She said there was hatred between the Twelve Knights and the Emperor, but that was just her speculation. She also said that the Emperor had been erased from all traces of his existence, but that was just her perspective. And that only the Emperor's power could possibly get rid of all this was just speculation without any evidence.

After all, if we're talking about traces of the emperor, Han Su already possesses mechanical fragments, fishermen's chants, the Emperor's Book, and so on.

Is the emperor the only hope to escape the kidnapping case?

If Han Su remembered correctly, the old butler had also mentioned the emperor in the castle.

He also said that these children were gifts that the emperor presented to these monsters.

There are two possibilities: either the descendants of the knights are acting in the emperor's name, or the emperor himself is involved!

It's certain that everything Ms. Shen remembers is only what she perceives from her perspective, while Han Su himself, having entered and exited the castle so many times, has long since uncovered some unknown secrets, perhaps even more than she has...

But then again, when it comes to mechanical fragments...

Han Su gently put down the crystal skull and looked into the briefcase. The two mechanical fragments lay quietly in two compartments, looking quite ordinary.

But their effects are truly amazing.

One is related to flickering, while the other seems to have some kind of temporal function.

At least this time, the escape from the castle was two days earlier than before. If there were two days of rewind in the same or similar life timeline, wouldn't there be an astonishing number of things that could be done?
Standard hanging!
However, unlike the first mechanical fragment, when Han Su poured his spiritual power into this mechanical fragment, nothing changed.

Could it be that it requires other energy to activate?

For the time being, Han Su couldn't think of how to activate the two mechanical fragments, but their importance was beyond doubt.

Strangely, Ms. Shen has very little, or rather, no, memory of them.

It can only be seen from the overall memory that these mechanical fragments are an indispensable part of the Divine Descent Project.

Logically, Ms. Shen should have taken it very seriously and told herself about their functions, but why is there a blank in her memory regarding these mechanical fragments? Even when it is mentioned that noble blood can activate the throne, it is only mentioned as circumstantial evidence.

After pondering this point carefully, Han Su suddenly had a slight jolt: "Mechanical fragments have the characteristic of causing people to forget them, but also to remember them from time to time. Could it be that Ms. Shen can't remember because of this characteristic?"

"She possesses the characteristics of the Crystal Skull, which have a mysterious enhancement to her memory, allowing her to occasionally mention the existence and activation of this mechanical fragment."

"However, it will still have some impact, and you'll subconsciously avoid it..."

"..."

This is very possible!
Extending from this point, it can be concluded that Ms. Shen's memories left in the crystal skull may not be reliable.

It is uncertain whether these memories have been influenced by mysterious forces, resulting in deletions or distortions.

Of course, it's good that the importance of these two mechanical fragments has been determined.

Since they are already so magical, it wouldn't be a bad idea to use the blood of nobles to activate them and see what magical effects they would produce, if conditions permit.

……

……

"Descendants of Knights, the World Council?"

Although there are still many precious contents and details inside the crystal skull, and many things that I am curious about, such as the ten years I lived with this woman in Qinggang, and the Black Cat Duke who should have existed during those ten years but whom I did not see.

However, feeling the mental pressure, Han Su had no choice but to stop.

A vague sense of immense pressure flashed through his mind, and he only slowly uttered those two names, saying nothing else.

I first carefully considered my basic situation on this path of life:
Great, I don't have a single friend.

Since arriving on the southern continent by ship, she has struggled to survive, with no relatives or friends. Even Akbai, who is both her teacher and lover, is just a queen bee who has hidden her poisonous stinger.

That means you are free on this path in life, and you don't have to worry about what you do.

He nodded with some satisfaction, secretly pondering how to make a breakthrough.

However, before he could think about it for long, he could faintly hear the sound of footsteps on the stairs. His heart stirred slightly, and the copper-colored blood that had been scattered around the room floated back and poured back into the glass jar in his suitcase.

In the shadows of the corner, something was moving, whispering to Han Su about what it had seen.

Just now, the innkeeper sternly warned the child who was doing his homework to stay downstairs obediently, while he himself left the inn, seemingly to find someone.

The child had already agreed, but he scratched his head and waited patiently for a long time. Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer, so he put his homework face down on the chair, then secretly got up, went up the stairs, and carefully came to his room door.

Han Su sat up, staring at the door, waiting for him to come.

Squeak!

The door was gently pushed open.

The skinny little boy, whose head was wrapped in a headscarf, making his head look a size too big, quietly appeared at the doorway.

When he discovered that Han Su was in the room, quietly watching him, he seemed to be slightly taken aback.

Han Su smiled at him and asked, "Where is your mother?"

The little boy blinked but did not answer Han Su's question.

But a hint of craving seemed to emerge in those dark, clear eyes, and a gulp sounded from his throat.

Indistinctly, those eyes seemed to have transformed into the yellowish-brown horizontal pupils of a goat.

"Crunch, crunch"

The faint chewing sound rang out again, and Han Su finally remembered what it was. It was the sound of a goat chewing grass, as if there was a goat chewing fresh grass right next to his ear, but he couldn't see it.

The little boy who had been staring intently at him slowly raised his hand and began to untie the headscarf wrapped around his head.

Layer by layer, slowly, the headscarf fell off, revealing two sharp black ram horns on his head.

The moment those ram horns were revealed, a strange smile appeared on the little boy's face.

He lowered his head slightly and began to recite a language that Han Su could not understand, like an ancient and devout incantation.

The surrounding light seemed to have dimmed a bit.

These incantations seeped into the air, like living things burrowing into Han Su's head, suppressing his mental activity and attempting to influence his divine essence. Han Su did not resist, allowing this pollution to invade and then be directed into the briefcase.

"Crash..."

The illusory sound of the Emperor's Book turning pages easily suppressed the little boy's chanting of incantations.

Immediately, lines of text appeared before Han Su's eyes:

[Tribal Totem: Black Goat]

[Origin - Lovecraft Hills, Rhode Island, North America]

These exotic creatures possess the ability to influence the growth of trees and plants. They are often worshipped by remote tribes and villages suffering from famine as gods of harvest and fertility. When the sound of their chewing becomes a reality, the area experiences several years of abundant harvests and prosperity.

[Impact: Long-term consumption of grains produced under its influence can lead to mutations, primarily manifested as increased libido, other physical changes, and an uncontrollable surge of negative emotions, resulting in a devout follower of the black goat.]

With enough worship and sacrifices from believers, one of them will evolve into a true black goat!

【…】

"It sounds somewhat similar to the sea monsters that live in the waters around Qinggang, except that they haven't developed into a clan like those sea monsters..."

Han Su thought to himself as he flexed his wrists.

On the other side, the little boy was chanting incantations in a low voice, and the crunching sounds of chewing hay around him were becoming clearer and louder. But he seemed to see Han Su sitting there steadily, and he began to feel uneasy.

Han Su did nothing from beginning to end, but it was already unbearable for him.

Suddenly, he stopped chanting the incantation. If he were an adult, he would probably have felt scared and backed down at that moment.

But a hint of ferocity and evil flashed in his horizontal pupils.

Suddenly, it lowered its head, and its two still somewhat immature ram horns pointed straight at Han Su.

"Bah!"

But he had only taken one step when he heard a loud gunshot from behind Han Su.

A bullet flew straight out, and the little boy fell to the ground, a bloody hole appearing in his head. He lay stiffly on the ground, his horizontal pupils beginning to return to normal, his pupils gradually dilating, and his body twitched slightly twice.

Han Su turned around and saw Akbai, dressed in a black military uniform, climbing in through the window.

The still-hot pistol was tucked into the holster under her arm.

As she climbed through the window into the room, she sneered, "You've been in the village for so long, how come you haven't sent out a single message?"

"I thought you'd already been eaten by these sheep."

"..."

"Just about to transmit the message."

Han Su answered casually, turning to look at the little boy lying on the ground. His body had stopped convulsing, but blood was still gushing from under his head. "What? Feeling sorry for him?"

Akbai gave him a cold look and said, "What do you take us for? We're here to massacre the village."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't mind taking it home as a pet!"

As she spoke, she had already climbed into the room. She glanced coldly around the room and saw that the ink bottle was already open and the dip pen was next to it. It seemed that Han Su really intended to write intelligence. Her anger subsided a little.

"Bah, bah, bah..."

But at that very moment, fierce gunfire suddenly erupted from all directions. Han Su was slightly taken aback, not expecting the attack to come so quickly.

Akbai said, "Your mission has been cancelled. The negotiations over there ended faster than we expected. The independent investigator from Giant Horn City and the steward of Skinning Manor started fighting at the negotiating table, but both sides were very restrained and did not intend to send troops over."

"And so, the work fell to us."

“I’ve arranged for those guys to break in from the outside. You’re coming with me to carry out the most important mission: find the Black Goat and hand it over to the independent investigator from Horned City.”

"..."

Han Su picked up his suitcase and stood up, saying, "Shouldn't we first figure out how the two of us are going to get out of here alive?"

The shadows were already a warning to him that burly men were rapidly gathering around the inn.

The person in charge was the hotel owner, who smelled the blood as soon as he got close.

He became even angrier when he saw that the little boy who was doing his homework in the hotel lobby was gone. He ripped off his headscarf, revealing scimitar-like ram's horns.

The other men were in the same boat; the gunshots coming from all directions had already instilled fear in them, and the two men who had stormed into the village to kill had to bear the brunt of their rage.
"laugh!"

The group exchanged glances, drew their scimitars, and then exhaled billowing black smoke.

The black mist spread incredibly quickly, almost as if it were alive. It was midday, the time when the light was at its brightest, but as the black mist spread, the weather seemed to turn gloomy, and then the light disappeared, and the village entered the night.

Meanwhile, the villagers wielding curved knives took advantage of the darkness and approached with agile movements, leaping and bounding as if flying.

The Black Goat's Mist.

Those who worship the black goat will gain a strong physique and amazing jumping ability, and then this black mist.

Black fog can obscure a person's vision and sound.

Those shrouded in black mist will lose all sensory abilities except touch, and can only passively accept their slaughter.

"Stand still until I tap you on the shoulder three times, then come with me!"

Before the black mist could flood into the room, Akbai gave a heads-up and then quickly went to the door.

The next moment, she suddenly fired her gun, and a villager who had rushed to the door was sent flying.

But only one gunshot rang out, and then, as the black mist surged in, the surroundings became deathly silent.

The black fog had begun to engulf all sounds, including the sounds of the queen bee fighting the villagers.

Han Su fumbled around and took out a pair of glasses, which he then put on his face.

Upon looking again, everything around me came into view.

These were the glasses he brought with him when he escaped from the castle last time. They seemed to be just ordinary glasses, but after spending a long time with the monster on the tenth floor, they had absorbed his mysterious power and thus gained extraordinary abilities.

It can see the world through subtle data and logic.

Han Su put on the glasses and saw Akbai going on a killing spree, bullets coming out of the gun barrels and killing the villagers who approached with curved knives one by one on the spot.

Occasionally, someone would lunge at her, only to be stabbed to death with a backhand stab.

This wasn't something you could see, but rather a slight tremor that occurred when she fired a bullet or stabbed someone with a knife.

The vibration was transmitted through the floor to Han Su, who then used his glasses to work backwards and understand everything.

In a very short time, Akbai had dealt with the villagers who had stormed into the inn. Then, she looked at herself with a strange expression, her fingertips turning into a black bee stinger, which she gently brought closer to herself, seemingly wanting to pierce her spine directly.

But after a slight hesitation, he put it away.

This action immediately reminded Han Su of the Emperor's Book's analysis of the Queen Bee: This creature possesses three ways of spreading its influence. One is through mating, where it contaminates other creatures. Creatures that mate with her become her male bees, responsible for propagating superior genes.

However, this gene weakens her, so although she has an instinctive desire to reproduce, she also subconsciously hesitates and struggles, using the improvement of her own aesthetic sense to postpone the arrival of this moment.

Simply put, it means having a strong desire in one's heart, but always choosing the creature to mate with. One wants it, but always feels that the male creatures around them are not perfect enough and not good enough for them.

The conflict between instinctual desires and the subconscious represents the imperfection of this species.

Many anomalous creatures born in the radiation era possess powerful yet imperfect characteristics.

The second method involves contaminating other individuals with pheromones, gradually influencing them until they eventually become part of the bee colony.

The last method is the fastest, which involves directly injecting pheromones into the target using a queen bee sting, thus corrupting the target's will and genes.

However, members produced in this way, while extremely loyal, are also very short-lived.

The third method is usually used only during combat.

It's unclear what Akbai was thinking, but she didn't pierce Han Su's spine. Instead, she patted him three times, then quickly led Han Su downstairs and followed the pheromones she had left on the road, heading rapidly towards the center of the village.

The target is the shrine house in this village.

It seems she has obtained enough information, and Han Su, who had previously used the shadows to search the village, did indeed discover that the only place in the entire village that the shrine was not a place that creatures in the shadows dared not approach.

It is obvious that the black goats born in this village must have been hiding here.

Along the way, figures would occasionally leap and dart through the eerie black mist, appearing from rooftops or behind walls.

Their movements were completely silent; they carried sickles or pitchforks, their actions both fierce and eerie.

However, bullets would occasionally fly mysteriously from the hillside outside the village, killing the villagers who were near the inn.

After observing the villagers who had been shot, Han Su immediately spotted the shooter, who was crouching on the hillside with a sniper rifle.

The mercenary squad outside the village had arrived. Three of them launched a frontal assault, slaughtering any villager they encountered, while the other two set up long guns and fired at the village shrouded in black mist. Every bullet meant the death of a villager.

The pervasive black mist was enough to engulf any unsuspecting opponent, but it had no effect on the mercenary squad.

Queen Bee Akbai dared to take on this task because she had the confidence to do so.

Her ability is to communicate with the entire mercenary squad through pheromones, without needing to hear or see.

Any villager who gets close to her will be marked by her pheromones, and the snipers on the hillside outside can use her pheromone coordinates to fire their shots with exceptional clarity and accuracy. In a way, this effectively counters the villagers' abilities.

"Let's go!"

As the smell of blood filled the air and the villagers died tragically, the black fog gradually thinned, and Han Su heard her voice again.

They had already arrived in the village and quickly made their way towards the house where the black fog was thickest.

Akbai knew the target was ahead, and that the villagers gathered there were undoubtedly the largest, while the true strength of the Black Goat was far beyond what these villagers could match. He became alert, drew his gun, and quickened his pace.

Han Su followed behind her, silently beginning to consider his own plan:
There's no need to waste time. I have no interest in joining this swarm, nor am I interested in the quests in Giant Horn City.

So, how can one effectively approach the Earl of the Skinning Manor?

Although this swarm of bees demonstrated good professionalism, I had no interest in actually developing them into teammates.

After all, this woman has always wanted to transform me into a worker bee under her command...

Of course, she only thought about it for a moment, and for some reason, she didn't actually do it.

But even thinking about it is forbidden; thinking about it is a sin!

The only thing to consider is that while lone wolves have more freedom of action, there are always some inconveniences in various aspects...

I also need someone to help me out.

So……

As he was quickly thinking, Akbai suddenly became alert, darted behind a shoveling mound, and whispered, "Something's wrong!"

"It seems that Giant Horn City has invited us, and Skinning Manor has also sent people to help..."

"..."

Han Su also realized the problem; the sacrificial house was clearly right in front of him, less than a hundred meters away.

But at their pace, after walking for several dozen seconds, they were surprised to find that the sacrificial house was still there, perfectly intact.

The distance between them and the shrine seemed to have been silently lengthened.

Akbai realized that this was not Black Goat's ability, and guessed which faction the opponent might be from.

Han Su, on the other hand, felt a slight joy when he noticed the changes around him. However, he was still unsure whether the person who came was the same as he had imagined. But this thought only flashed for a moment before the air around him began to crystallize slowly.

A voice with a soft smile rang out: "Seeing that you're alright, I can finally relax..."

Upon hearing this voice, Han Su finally felt a sense of relief.

It's Wei Lan, she's come looking for me!
(End of this chapter)