"Thump, thump... thump, thump... thump, thump!"

Under the silent night, the heavy and impatient heartbeat became the only sound in front of the Sentry Tower.

It made the whole atmosphere of the Sentry Tower even more tense, and the air felt denser, giving a suffocating sensation.

But it did not belong to the group inside the tower, which might not even be called "people," but to Yun You and the other two.

Honestly, Yun You had seen many creepy scenes before.

To better train her nerves, the little girl specifically sought out many bloody 'Mewtwo' films circulating in the Black Market before she became an Apprentice Death God.

This is a type of experience film based on full virtual VR technology, which connects the viewer's spirit with that of the filmmaker, allowing one to experience the filmmaker's story firsthand.

Normally, like movies, Mewtwo films depict fictional stories.

But some black-market dealers would specifically film 'violence' and 'murder' scenes into Mewtwo films, supplying them to people with special preferences, providing them with spiritual satisfaction.

Yun You had watched various types of Mewtwo films and personally experienced those terrifying and brutal scenes.

But if compared in terms of uneasiness, there might not be any film that can match the scene Yun You currently witnessed.

The storeroom of the Sentry Tower was indeed not big, with a maximum space of only 50 square meters.

But at that moment, there were at least more than 30 "people" crowded in there.

Everyone wore that familiar ancient townfolk costume, with coarse gray robes wrapping their bodies, and all held massive shovels and picks in their hands.

In a near "people crowded people" manner, they clung tightly to the walls, their gray-white glowing eyes staring deadly at Yun You and the others, without a trace of vitality in their pupils, only wearing a terrifying smile on their faces.

For a moment, Yun You even felt that they weren't living beings, but something similar to "puppets."

Because their bodies were extremely stiff, even just turning their necks would make a "creak creak" sound from their bones.

But almost at the same time, this "puppet" thought was denied by Yun You.

Because after moving slightly aside, the little girl discovered that these people's eyes always stared at her and her companions beside her, as if completely locked on.

No matter which direction she ran, no matter how fast she was, their gazes were always fixed on her.

Puppets wouldn't do this, at least normal puppets wouldn't.

This reminded Yun You of creatures like "snakes," whose eyes would follow the movement of their prey when staring at it.

However, the eyes of these people did not carry the killing intent like that of a venomous snake.

Quite the opposite, their eyes carried no emotion.

Yet it is this very gaze that is the most unsettling.

But then again, the little girl, being an Apprentice Death God, had a clear head.

So even when facing such a creepy scene, she just stood dumbfounded for a second or two before snapping out of it and thinking of a problem.

"Frost Moon!"

She lowered her voice, waking the little hacker beside her, and asked in a deep voice, "Doesn't your Hacker Chip detect bio-signals? Why didn't it alarm?"

"Because the distance isn't enough."

Frost Moon knocked on his own head and answered truthfully, "The chip's maximum detection range is 5 meters, and these guys are about 6 meters away from us, plus there's a door in between, so it's normal not to detect them."

"But we just walked by the wall!"

Yun You frowned slightly and asked, "According to the current distance, isn't the wall less than 3 meters away from the nearest townfolk?"

"That's right."

Frost Moon nodded, not denying Yun You's words.

"In such a situation, I guess there's only one possibility, and that is..."

He pointed to the stationary townsfolk and said word by word, "They're deliberately avoiding our search."

To verify his statement, Frost Moon took a step forward.

And immediately, the residents in the storeroom stepped back as well, with the distance they retreated exactly matching the step Frost Moon took.

Then Frost Moon stood in the storeroom and walked around freely.

Every step he took, people would move forward or backward accordingly, following a rule similar to "accepting and refusing" in a magnetic field.

These people's distance control was excellent, always maintaining a distance of five to six meters from Frost Moon.

No matter how they moved, their eyes would always stay on Frost Moon.

Such precise and swift actions indeed made them seem less like people and more like machines programmed with "commands."

"Do you know why they do this?"

Frost Moon turned back and explained to the already stunned Yun You and Jack, "Because the detector I use is the most standard exploration-type bio-chip available on the market."

"There may be functional differences among various models, but the detection range parameter is always 5 meters."

"To increase detection range, you'd need to add additional components, but doing that voids the warranty and the modification costs are terrifyingly high, so most hackers won't modify it and will use this standard chip with a range of 5."

Saying this, he pointed to the townsfolk beside them and said coldly, "The reason these people avoid us is likely because they've encountered similar detection methods before and remembered this point."

"And this also means that whether it's these peculiar townsfolk or the one that created this town, 'it', both possess extremely strong..."

The last few words Frost Moon hesitated to utter directly.

But Yun You and Jack had already guessed the answer.

That is "learning."

Just as Aurora and the Hammer Vanguard Squad emphasized on the note earlier, 'it', bred from five viscera, has a very astonishing learning ability.

This ability manifests not only in text but in 'it' finding ways to remedy its shortcomings... in finding ways to make the whole town become more dangerous.

Enemies with high intelligence are often more challenging than those mere "statistic monsters."

"However..."

Yun You rubbed her chin and analyzed, "Since they're avoiding us, it proves that they're at least not aggressive, just a bit intimidating in appearance."

"If that's the case, then they shouldn't pose much of a threat."

"Though we don't know why they live here, or what they really are, or why they don't roam the town during the day... since they're not aggressive, it shouldn't delay what we are doing."

"Let's go in and have a look, see if there's any viscera hidden here."

After saying this, the little girl suppressed the feeling of chills running down her spine and walked in.

And Jack followed closely, entering the storeroom.

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