Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Shadow-Facing Face
Liu Wei stood straight, not checking the bloody hole in his chest, his eyes fixed intently on the ambusher.
More precisely, he was staring at the mask worn by the ambusher.
"Who are you? Where is Liu Wu?"
The brothers depended on each other for life, concerned for the other more than themselves.
Wu Chang took off the mask and said, "Brother Liu Wei didn’t stay in the village to deal with the evil spirits but left in the middle of the night. For what reason?"
He asked the question while changing bullets. The action was slow, seemingly allowing someone to see clearly.
"Wu Daxia?" Liu Wei looked at Wu Chang in amazement.
He couldn’t believe that the gallant Wu Daxia, with bushy eyebrows and big eyes, could do such a despicable act like an ambush.
Wasn’t that the specialty of their mountain bandits?
Wu Chang’s persona in Huai Valley Village was proficient in Daoist techniques, capable of guiding souls to reincarnation. Holding the mask, how many secrets had actually been exposed?
Then remembering why Wu left, Liu Wei felt uneasy.
"What did you do to Liu Wu?"
Wu Chang shrugged, "Same as you, bang!"
Liu Wei spat the fresh blood from his mouth, cursing:
"Despicable! Despite being from a well-known sect, if you’re capable, let’s face each other in an open and fair duel. What kind of hero are you to ambush?"
Wu Chang smirked, "No, brother, our Tang Sect is all about hidden weapons. Facing your swordsmen in a frontal duel, you must be out of your mind."
"You!" Liu Wei flushed with anger, spitting out more fresh blood.
"You see, when moral coercion fails, you get anxious. Alright, I’ve reloaded my hidden weapon, your brother is waiting below, got any last words?"
"Scoundrel! Give me my brother’s life!" Liu Wei launched a desperate counterattack, driving the Chong Ghosts to attack Wu Chang.
However, Wu Chang’s mask repelled the ghosts, rendering them unable to attack, only able to pass by him.
Wu Chang pulled the trigger, opening another symmetric bloody hole on Liu Wei’s opposite chest.
The times have changed, my friend.
Seeing Liu Wei collapse with nothing but breathless gasps, Wu Chang complained:
"You’re a mountain bandit, how can you call me a scoundrel?"
Liu Wei turned his head, eyes wide open, "You knew?"
"If you had been to Chen Family Village, you could have guessed." Wu Chang said.
"Ha, I see, not an unjust death."
Liu Wei laughed bitterly twice, dying with eyes open.
Still trying to act cool even in death?
Wu Chang clicked his tongue, reaching out to tear off Liu Wei’s mask.
"Item Name: Demon Transformation - Human Face (White)."
"Item Type: Dungeon Item."
"Artifact Level: D."
"Item Skills: Ghost Control."
"Sacrifice one’s own Essence Blood to control the refined Chong Ghosts within the mask."
"Item Description: Can unlock item combination skills when merged with Demon Transformation - Human Face (Black)."
Liu Wei’s mask description was indeed the same as Liu Wu’s.
He combined the two masks, but found a crack between them, unable to align no matter what.
Liu Wu once mentioned that only by refining a sufficiently strong main ghost with adequate endurance could the two halves of the mask merge into one.
Looking at the two halves of the mask in his hand, he inexplicably thought of the Fog Demon.
Both involved Demon Transformation.
Transforming a human into a demon, yet the resulting demon was devoid of intellect, only retaining instincts.
Is this transformation truly what the user desired?
Or was the lack of intelligence due to the inadequate endurance of the main ghost Liu Wu mentioned?
Forget it.
Wu Chang shook his head, not continuing to ponder.
The two halves of the mask held secrets, but ultimately were D-Level items, unable to be taken out of the dungeon.
Instead of worrying about its purpose, it was better to return it to the Chong Ghosts and exchange for Blood-Colored Will as a reward.
What you can grasp is truly yours.
Holding the two halves, he entered Ghost Cry Forest, and the stagnant resentment in the forest came to life.
Some had turned into Chong Ghosts, some were merely pure resentment.
All "looked" at Wu Chang, emotions of anticipation, anxiety, and excitement flickering on faces that couldn’t be called faces.
Since meeting Leman’s true form, Wu Chang could read emotions contained within resentment.
He wasn’t sure if it was due to heightened Inspiration or a side effect of seeing the Evil God’s true form, nor could he tell if the ability was good or bad.
But one thing was certain, at this moment, he resonated with the other players’ lingering resentments.
[Give it back to me.]
This time, the voices from resentment were not the previous shrill and frantic sounds, but rational ones, filled with supplication.
Wu Chang placed the two halves on the ground, gesturing a polite invitation.
Resentments swarmed, each passing through the masks, retrieving the Heart-Blood that was plundered.
Suddenly, strong winds surged in Ghost Cry Forest, the sound akin to crying and laughing, more terrifying than before but without the previous sinister feeling.
A few minutes later, the Chong Ghosts and resentments reclaimed their Heart-Blood, gradually dissipating.
The disappearance of deep-red resentment altered Wu Chang’s Attribute Panel.
Exorcising the player resentment in Ghost Cry Forest, his Energy Attribute +2, Inspiration Attribute +2, Will Attribute +1.
Like the completed deep-red resentment in Moonlight Sanatorium, it increased the attributes by 5 points.
Besides this, the two remaining mask pieces on the ground also underwent changes.
"Item Name: Shadow-Facing Face."
"Artifact Level: C."
"Item Skills: Shadow."
"Skill Description: Human Face (Black) and Human Face (White) can separately record the silhouette of a target, summoning the silhouette in battle. Perfect replication of target’s power if target Level ≤ 12; if target Level ＞ 12, power fluctuates based on the user’s level and Energy Attribute. If the silhouette is destroyed, it can be summoned again after 24 hours."
"Item Combination Skills: Freedom."
"Skill Description: When wearing both Human Face Black and White simultaneously, perform perfect disguise. While disguised, actions will not cause the body to be entangled with karma, conventional abilities cannot infer back to the wearer’s body from the residual information during disguise."
"Note: The mask is too realistic, making the wearer truly believe they have two souls."
No wonder it’s deep-red resentment; the transformed Human Face, modified by the Blood-Colored Will, is far more useful than the Demon Transformation Human Face Liu Wei and Liu Wu used to control the Chong Ghosts.
The Chong Ghost Mask accumulated enough power, but without merging as one, it couldn’t truly function.
Separate Chong Ghost Masks could only simply drive the Chong Ghosts, using them as a Control Skill like Liu Wei.
Effective against ordinary people without spells, but if faced with opponents with special abilities, or items like Soul Cleansing Banner which counter Chong Ghosts, the Chong Ghost Masks become useless.
Whereas the purified Human Face equated to having two stable Level 12 fighters, with a perfect cover for concealing identity.
Extremely useful.
Securing the Shadow-Facing Face, he rode back to Huai Valley Village.
Ambushing Liu Wei delayed him too long; hopefully, nothing changed dramatically in the village during this time.