Otherworldly Affairs Office
Chapter 111: Human Head

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Human Head

Pei Yan followed Shangxing’s orders, and in the ample preparation time, unhurriedly stored his clothes in the storage ring from inside to out, and then immediately activated his ability to complete the mechanization of his body.

Pei Yan looked down at his mechanical body, which lost its internal energy cladding after his ability transformation. Now he clearly understood the difference in his internal energy compared to others. As something defined by the bureau as a new energy source, it held many unsolved mysteries for both him and the bureau. For instance, while internal energy released still retained its original form adhering to his body surface or objects after others exercised their abilities, once Pei Yan mechanized, he could no longer adhere his internal energy to his mechanical body.

That is to say, his released internal energy was a superfluous product that could only be utilized when he existed in physical form without deploying abilities. The bureau’s top officials debated for a long time but couldn’t provide a reasonable answer as to why this problem occurred.

Perhaps this was one of the characteristics of his ability, Pei Yan consoled himself.

However, fortunately, after mechanization, his body no longer felt cold. Standing upright with tightly clenched fists, Pei Yan was extremely tense, and along with the others, kept his eyes fixed on the halo above the fish pond, ready for combat at any moment.

But this state of high alert gradually relaxed during the long wait of an hour. Besides the initial sharp drop in temperature and the freezing of the water surface, no other changes occurred apart from the continuous flickering of the halo in the sky.

Fifteen minutes after the halo appeared, under Shangxing’s nod, Ye Jiumu and Xia Yu took out three huge cylinder fan-like objects from the storage ring, standing them at the three corners of the pond to form a triangular siege around the halo.

From previous conversations, Pei Yan had learned that these were internal energy collectors, capable of absorbing and storing most of the energy leaking from dimensional rifts, preventing a significant impact on the present world. Any stray energies would naturally dissipate in this world.

Watching the energy diffusing from the halo transform into visible, soft, delicate strands of light, slowly being drawn into the three internal energy collectors, Pei Yan, somewhat bored from waiting, approached one of the collectors beside which Wang Wenze and Ye Jiumu were squatting, staring at the halo in the sky and smoking.

"How long is this thing going to last?" Pei Yan squatted down nearby, removed his mask, took a cigarette handed to him by Wang Wenze, and asked with it dangling from his mouth.

"No idea, it depends on how much energy has accumulated. Sometimes it takes four or five hours to dissipate a large amount, and an hour or two for less. After that, we can proceed to repair the rift." Wang Wenze said as he took out a lighter to light Pei Yan’s cigarette.

"Oh!" Pei Yan nodded in apparent understanding, and the three men squatted in a line, staring intently at the halo in the sky, zoning out.

Soon after, when Pei Yan’s cigarette was nearly finished, as he was about to flick the butt away and stomp it out, a shadowy mass suddenly flew out of the halo, startling him into standing abruptly, bumping into Wang Wenze beside him who staggered and fell back.

This scene also caught the eyes of the others present, and everyone immediately tensed, ready for battle in an instant.

In fact, as the shadow flew out in a parabolic arc from the halo, Pei Yan had already seen what it was, but he couldn’t be certain. It wasn’t until he put on his helmet and mask and enlarged the image through the visor that he confirmed he hadn’t been mistaken.

A human head! A round human head stained with blood was thrown from the halo, rolling several meters on the ice before stopping not far from Shangxing’s feet at the edge of the pond, a streak of blood freezing and turning the path it rolled on red with ice.

"Is that a human head?" Wang Wenze, who had climbed up from the ground, looked towards Shangxing, resting his hand on Pei Yan’s shoulder, mumbling softly.

Pei Yan, equally at a loss, responded, "It should be!"

"Go check it out!" Ye Jiumu flicked his cigarette butt onto the ice and said in a deep voice.

In a moment, the group gathered around Shangxing, and Ye Jiumu and Xia Yu stood vigilantly on the outskirts, always watching the halo while occasionally glancing at the human head by the pond’s edge.

Shangxing reached out to stop Wang Wenze from going down into the pond to retrieve the human head, then turned to Pei Yan: "Daoist Realm’s methods are bizarre, with various emerging attack forms, can you use your camera equipment to approach and display it visually?"

"No problem!" Pei Yan responded without hesitation, stepping forward as two mechanical cables with cameras extended from his right arm, controlled by him, reaching towards the unidentified object below the pond’s edge.

At the same time, two projectors mounted on Pei Yan’s shoulders lit up, projecting the camera’s live feed onto the black backdrop of the night sky.

Everyone watched both the projection in the night sky and the cables extending from Pei Yan’s arm. Soon, as the camera approached, the head’s details were vividly displayed on the large screen.

The long black hair, drenched in blood and sweat, combined with the sudden drop in temperature, was now frozen into random clumps, obscuring the face entirely and making it unrecognizable.

Tilting his head, Pei Yan scrutinized it closely and asked, "This should be from their side, right? The people there all have long hair, right? I can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman?"

"Can you uncover its hair for a look?" Wang Wenze, unable to be sure, responded with a frown.

"Sure!" said Pei Yan, activating his abilities again. Over ten small mechanical arms extended from the two projecting cables, under his control, reaching for the human head and slowly gathering its long hair to one side.

Just as Pei Yan held his breath, watching the screen and manipulating the cables, Shangxing and Ye Jiumu shouted in unison, "Everyone stay on alert!"

Upon hearing this, Pei Yan turned and saw, in a flash, human figures continuously leaping out from the halo, dozens of shadows landing successively on the ice.

Simultaneously, Pei Yan also completed his task— the long hair of the human head was completely parted to either side, revealing a face covered in bloodstains and mud on the large screen. Although pained and sinister, a closer look revealed that this person was likely exceptionally handsome in life.

As Pei Yan’s gaze alternated between the head on screen and the figures on the ice, pondering their connection,

the supposedly lifeless human head suddenly opened its eyes. The disheveled long hair flared up, swaying a few times in the wind before twisting into strands, quickly entangling towards Pei Yan’s extended mechanical cables.

"Pei Yan! Throw it far away!" Shangxing shouted loudly. In truth, Pei Yan had already sensed the sinister intention of this object. Without Shangxing’s instruction, he rapidly actuated his mechanical cables, transforming the camera-equipped ends into two small drills, thrusting them fiercely into the eyes of the opened human head.

A shrill scream pierced the night, echoing through the fog-filled fish pond. The demon-like scream passed through Pei Yan’s helmet, causing irritation and rage to swell within him. He forcefully expelled the human head with his right hand, flinging it far into the crowd that had leapt from the halo.