Chapter 4: The Hanged Youth
Chapter 4: The Hanged Youth
What Han Dong did not know was.
Even though they managed to escape back to the Holy City, the party on the carriage was not in a good situation.
Because during their escape, they had witnessed up close the appearance of the monsters chasing them... Even though they were wearing 'goggles', some odd dark lines appeared around their eyes.
They had no time to worry about the body bags right now, and were heading to the 'Chapel' at full speed for a week-long decompression.
......
A dank, dark alley.
A human head was moving slowly inside.
"The architecture leans towards nineteenth-century Europe, but the massive walls that reach a hundred meters high and the tall buildings in the city don't fit with that era.
In addition, this world also has magical powers and strange creatures that I don't understand... and is an important factor influencing the development of science."
What Han Dong had seen so far was merely the tip of the iceberg of this world, or even less... Extrapolation wasn't necessarily correct.
It was just that Han Dong would be excited by these novelties, and even a certain amount of madness...eager to learn more about this world and the scientific system here.
"It is still imperative to find an ordinary human body and try to slowly understand it from the lowest level... Of course, one must also properly explore ways to return to the original world."
Actually, as far as Han Dong's situation was concerned, there wasn't much for him to be concerned about the original world, except for a few unfinished National Nature Foundation projects.
During his childhood, his parents passed away and he was raised by his grandfather, who died peacefully when his doctoral degree was completed.
In addition, the 'research project' that required him to be with him day and night, plus the circle in the academy was so small that Han Dong didn't have any so-called 'lovers'.
Remember that the bouquets filled with flowers in the ward were also sent by students.
But he didn't like dealing with students, and if the school hadn't forced him to arrange it, he would have spent all of his class time on cell research.
Without a care in the world, he died of cancer.
Upon confirming his rebirth, Han Dong's first reaction wasn't how to find a way to return to the original world, but rather the excitement of coming to a new world filled with all kinds of unknowns.
Wanting to go 'explore' and 'research'.
Currently, the area he was in was close to the city walls.
It was a commoner's residential area, and in order to improve the utilization of the land, there were closely lined up apartment-style buildings that could accommodate a large number of commoners, and the materials used were mainly red brick with copper skins, vaulted designs, and glass mosaic windows that were mostly diamond-shaped.
Due to the sticky nature of the mycelial tentacles. Han Dong's head could easily crawl over the vertical walls and through the windows to observe the interior of the room.
After a period of observation, there was a big suspicion.
"Strange... how come most of them are middle-aged and elderly, or children under ten years old, and the young people are almost never at home?"
"Is it possible that young people are being forced into drafting?
Based on what I know so far, the humans who are in the Holy City seem to be under a kind of 'monster' threat, and can only stay entrenched within the city walls....
There's a high probability of forced conscription of civilian youths, what about rich families?"
Han Dong planned to use the night to lean into the interior of the city and head to the rich and wealthy homes with ornate decorations in search of a 'target'.
If one could directly become a rich family member through physical occupation, it would save Han Dong a lot of trouble.
But there was a certain amount of risk involved as well.
The 'soldiers' that one met on the way back to the city could spot Han Dong, who was lurking in the grass from a high speed journey, at a glance... If one met these types of people again in the urban area, there was a good chance that they would be discovered again.
The flesh must be found as soon as possible.
Just as Han Dong fled the dark alley and tried a stealthy transfer, he suddenly made a discovery.
A 'redundant' open space had appeared between the buildings that were lined up, due to a design problem.
This empty space happened to be located at the back of the surrounding buildings, and could only be reached through the dark alley between the buildings that was overflowing with dirty water and scattered with rats and insects... Therefore, no one would ever come here.
In the middle of the overgrown clearing, a relatively large oak tree with many branches grew.
There happened to be a youth 'hanging' from one of the oak tree's sturdy branches.
Staying close to the shadows, Han Dong's head slowly moved to the lower end of the corpse for a closer look.
The youth no longer showed any signs of life.
The head's fluffy brown hair was paired with a pair of 'beautiful' aquamarine eyes that bulged outwards due to the blood-filled eyes caused by the pain of suffocation.
Dressed in a rather rough and crude linen shirt, and a pair of slightly oversized linen trousers.
Mud-stained leather shoes, one of which had fallen off as a result of stomping wildly in pain, only one of which was still on his foot.
Han Dong also noticed that the youth appeared to be wearing some sort of black bracelet on his wrist.
"Aged between 16 and 20, the absence of any calluses on his hands at least indicates that the youth should not have been engaged in any physical work... The yellowish and thin body was clearly the result of a lack of foreign amino acids... From a poor family that could not even attain basic subsistence?
Occupying such flesh may be a bit of a problem in the future.
But it's also the most prudent course of action."
Han Dong suddenly closed his eyes.
Conducting a comprehensive analysis on the information obtained so far, he considered it from the perspective of fundamental interests and safety.
The final decision was made.
In a world filled with a large number of unknown dangers, it was best to act cautiously.
Such a valuable opportunity to be reborn, moreover, Han Dong had spent a full seven years searching for the first and second-best head in the prison.
It wasn't worth the risk he took when he was unfamiliar with the Holy City and the perception of the internal guards must have exceeded that of ordinary people to a certain extent.
"According to the 'maximum weight value' setting, should be able to raise the upper limit of the maximum weight value in some way.
At that time, I will go back and choose a better body.
For now, borrowing this civilian's body for the time being will somehow save some of the trouble of 'possible exposure' instead."
Climbing onto the corpse.
The moment the head made contact with the corpse's skin, similar to the situation in the prison, information about the corpse immediately surfaced in Han Dong's consciousness.
Varon. Nicholas, dead, without any disease. Body quality is below average. Do we occupy?
Yes.
Skin bordering.
The tentacles that grew at the mouth of Han Dong's neck, burrowed in from wherever there was a 'hole' on the youth's body surface, for full body occupation.
Vital Signs Activation!
Remove the twine that goes around your neck.
Poof!
The soles of his feet were only a meter away from the ground.
However, landing from this height caused Han Dong's body to lose its balance and lean forward, almost falling to the ground.
"This body quality is too poor, isn't it?"
Such a body was completely incomparable to the prison corpses... Han Dong still remembered the first 'retarded' corpse occupied by him, the speed and power of the punch was really comfortable.
However.
This young man's punches were soft and weak, and if he struck a slightly hard object, he would most likely break his entire arm.
"Drip-drip-drip..."
Suddenly, there is a slight vibration in the wind-up bracelet on the wrist.
The sophisticated wind-up timer displayed a digital message.
"One hour's countdown?"
Intuition told Han Dong that the young man's suicide might not be of family or personal origin, but had something to do with the countdown of the clockwork bracelet.