Chereads / Master of Kaidan / Chapter 21 - Chapter 21 The Unexpected Surprise

Chapter 21 - Chapter 21 The Unexpected Surprise

The tailor shop's efficiency was surprisingly high, but its fees were predictably expensive. When Feng Xue tried on his brand-new pseudo leather boots, complete with the Sturdy and Comfortable elements, over his Silent Boots, the last bit of inconsistency in his outfit finally faded away.

"A pair of shoes worth 2000 towers..." Feng Xue lightly tapped the ground with the tip of his shoe, finding the sensation unexpectedly comfortable, without the feeling of wearing two pairs of shoes.

However, what Feng Xue didn't know was that the Silent Boots were actually serving as a lubricant.

Normally, the elements of a Pseudo Artifact wouldn't come into play. Only when confronted with an Illusory Artifact, Kaidan, or an ill omen would their elements take effect against the Illusory Artifact, Kaidan, or ominous sign. At this moment, since Feng Xue was wearing an Illusory Artifact, he could feel such comfort. Simply put, it wasn't the Comfortable element that was effective, but rather that the Silent Boots "became comfortable."

Even though Feng Xue didn't understand the mechanism behind the activation of Pseudo Artifact elements, it didn't stop him from enjoying his comfortable new shoes. Donning his cap to enter a low-profile state, he began practicing the knowledge granted by the assassin tag.

The Corpse Collector tag had provided Feng Xue with not only corpse handling and corpse-related omen skills but also supplementary knowledge about dissection and autopsy, which overlapped with the skills given by the assassin tag.

Using what he'd previously learned as a starting point, Feng Xue quickly entered study mode.

Because the knowledge imparted by the tags had already been imprinted in his mind, Feng Xue didn't face many obstacles in his learning. After all, he had skipped the most tedious and dull "memory" phase. Understanding the content, which could be reviewed at any time, turned out to be not so difficult.

But this was only true for theoretical knowledge.

Even though it didn't take long for Feng Xue to grasp humans' various vital points, to know how to quickly and easily strip someone of their life, even understand how to make a target die quietly or cause the most pain, transitioning from theory to practice proved challenging for him to accurately hit the right spots.

The human body is a very precise entity where tiny mistakes can lead to huge misjudgements. At the correct spot, a gentle press could plunge someone into a deep faint; however, a slight deviation—no matter how hard the neck is struck—might not cause unconsciousness.

Fortunately, as a Corpse Collector, Feng Xue didn't lack corpses to practice on—using them to familiarize himself with human anatomy before actual practice was sufficient.

...

Feng Xue's life, intertwined with learning and work, continued gradually. Following the work card's guidance to a warehouse, he looked at the scattered corpses on the ground and adeptly selected a few with relatively reliable appearances to load onto the cart.

Through his work over this period, Feng Xue had nearly completed his collection of common elements found on corpses. Unless it was a particularly rare type, he generally chose relatively intact bodies to facilitate his own study and research before processing them.

"Want cash or grain?" Looking at the corpses piled up on the cart behind Feng Xue like layers in a pastry, the gang member asked in their usual manner.

Feng Xue, already accustomed to such scenes, didn't say much. After accepting the bricks passed over by the other person and confirming that each contained over 100 towers, he simultaneously absorbed them while pulling the cart towards the distance.

After half a month, he had gained sufficient understanding of the topography of the landfill area. By navigating numerous twists and turns under the cover of night, he soon arrived with the corpses at a deserted and dangerous building. This building had been transformed by him into a makeshift dissection room just a few days ago. As the shadowless lamp lit up, Feng Xue threw a corpse onto the dissection table and began wielding his dissection tools.

Although this was a data-like world, these "garbage humans" from other worlds unexpectedly had flesh and blood, their hearts, livers, spleens, lungs, and kidneys were all where they were supposed to be, which made Feng Xue wonder if this place was truly connected to a multiverse, or just to a few parallel planes.

However, considering that young man who brandished sci-fi weapons, Feng Xue thought he might have been too superficial...

After all, the landfill areas within Infinite City numbered at least a few hundred, and the count was still rising. Perhaps each landfill area was connected to different worlds?

"So going in from this position can just poke it open... But it might also be because this person's kidney is larger... Note it down, note it down, I'll try it on someone else later."

Extraneous thoughts were quickly discarded during practical learning, and Feng Xue once again immersed himself in his studies. Corpse after corpse was consumed, and then transformed into minute particles, merging into the world. Feng Xue also vividly felt the power flowing from the tag towards him.

Just like how Old Li could gain the ability to expand space from the "Hermit" elements of the "Invisible Rich," both "Corpse Collector" and "Assassin" tags possessed elements that could bestow power upon the bearer. It was just that Feng Xue had held the tags for a short time, and the feedback was pitifully little.

However, as he processed more and more corpses, the "Corpse Collector" tag finally returned its first element to him—

"Transport."

This element endowed him with better physical strength and endurance, allowing him to transport corpses more efficiently. Though it didn't seem like a significant improvement, the body is the foundation of everything. Only with a better physical constitution can one talk about other things, otherwise, no matter how peculiar the ability, it ultimately remains a glass cannon—powerful, yet shatters upon contact.

"Should I say this is unlocking new skills through proficiency, or is it the increase in ability due to the Playing Method?" Feng Xue wanted to scratch his head, but seeing his gloves stained with filthy blood, he gave up the thought.

Once again hoisting a corpse onto the dissection table, Feng Xue felt it was much lighter than before—an earlier weight akin to carrying a bag of rice now felt at most like carrying a bottle of mineral water.

Of course, this might also be an illusion created by the sudden increase in strength, but Feng Xue still became uncontrollably excited. As long as he trained step by step like this, he believed he would soon possess the capability to protect himself in this landfill!

He refocused his attention on the corpse that was just placed on the dissection table, first attempting the kidney hit trick he had discovered on the male corpse earlier. To confirm the differences that might be caused by gender, this time he specifically chose a female corpse...

Assassin training was much quicker than formal dissection. In just ten minutes, the corpse was riddled with holes. After carelessly wiping his hands with the clothes of the deceased and preparing to refine the corpse as usual, he was startled to find the refining button had turned gray.

At the same time, the elements on the body of the corpse in his eyes began to spin wildly...

"Fuck! The corpse is changing!"