Chapter 781: Chapter 649: Capturing the Shadow Thief

The Shadow Thief and Jeming had encountered two different kinds of mysteries before.

The Salty Finger does not have a fixed entity; it only temporarily creates a finger when killing, disappearing after the task is completed.

Although Graffiti Mysterious has a compressible core, its body mostly merges with the rules, only manifesting when pushed to the limit.

But the Shadow Thief is different from the two.

It always holds its shadow-like entity.

The flattened humanoid shadow is itself.

In theory, this makes tracking much easier; as long as you can keep up with its movement speed and identify this suddenly appearing shadow, tracking becomes possible.

But in practice, it is as difficult as climbing the sky.

After all, trying to track a shadow in the dark is pure fantasy.

Jeming, however, could still keep up.

The Eye of the Micro-Light clung to the surface of the Shadow Thief’s Shadow Film, following it through Wudu’s underground sewers, abandoned buildings, and nighttime alleyways.

Jeming followed behind, not directly capturing it, as this was a great opportunity for data collection.

Through careful observation of the Shadow Thief, Jeming discovered a pattern.

This mystery has a "preference" for certain places.

The Shadow Thief’s instinct is similar to a creature; it will wander repetitively through places that meet its "hunting" conditions.

For example, dim alleyways, long wall roots, areas with single, clear shadows.

Seeing this, Jeming chose an alley.

This alley is between the seventh and eighth streets in the old town, a narrow north-south alley.

Its width is less than three meters; high gable walls line both sides, covered in dead vines.

There is a gas lamp at the southern end, while the northern end is shrouded in darkness.

Jeming stood under the street lamp.

He deliberately chose this place with only a singular light source.

The orange-yellow light from the lamp slanted down from above him, pulling his shadow long, reaching the depths of the alley, almost touching the edge of the northern darkness.

The shadow was long, very clear, and... "enticing".

Jeming leaned against the lamp post, hands in his jacket pockets, expression as calm as if he was waiting for someone.

The Eye of the Micro-Light sent back information indicating the Shadow Thief was moving in this direction.

Its speed was slow, its trajectory winding, like a snake following scent.

After about ten minutes, Jeming’s gaze shifted slightly.

From the darkness at the northern end of the alley, a nearly invisible dark human figure slid along the ground.

Its speed was slow, as if probing, or confirming there was no danger nearby.

The edge of the dark human figure was almost indistinguishable in the darkness if not for Jeming’s All-Purpose Eye constantly operating; an ordinary person couldn’t possibly discover it.

The Shadow Thief had arrived.

It wandered along the wall root, its Shadow Film silently gliding over the rough brick surface.

Perhaps just recovering from a scare, it didn’t immediately approach Jeming, but first circled the walls of the alley twice back and forth, like checking if the area was safe.

Jeming appeared stable, from any angle he looked like an ordinary young man standing under a street lamp daydreaming.

...If not for ignoring the current time.

Unfortunately, the Shadow Thief clearly didn’t have high intelligence.

During previous battles, Jeming had already noticed that although this mystery’s power was strong, its intelligence probably didn’t surpass Graffiti Mysterious, more like a beast driven by instinct.

After confirming no danger around, the Shadow Thief finally lowered its guard.

It slid out from the wall root, hugging the ground, approaching Jeming’s shadow.

Jeming’s shadow stretched long, from under the lamp reaching into the depths of the alley, and the Shadow Thief slowly approached its "prey" along the edge of this shadow.

Jeming observed it out of the corner of his eye, secretly recording its behavioral patterns.

As he suspected, the Shadow Thief’s behavior was more beast-like, having "wisdom," but not much.

Jeming’s shadow was long and clear, and there was only one light source around.

In the Shadow Thief’s eyes, it was the perfect prey.

The Shadow Thief approached the end of Jeming’s shadow.

Its "body" slightly raised, like some snake aiming at its prey.

Then, its dark humanoid form opened a slit in the middle, with tightly packed protrusions like teeth along the edges.

It unhesitatingly bit at the edge of Jeming’s shadow.

Feeling his shadow being nibbled away, Jeming couldn’t help but squint.

It was a very subtle sensation, not any physiological response he was familiar with, but something more fundamental, like "loss" at a life level.

Just like standing by the sea, sand underfoot slowly taken away by the tide, you can’t feel each grain leaving, but you notice yourself becoming lighter.

The Shadow Thief bit off a small piece of his shadow.

Jeming’s All-Purpose Eye clearly captured the process.

The dense protrusions in the Shadow Thief’s "mouth" clamped onto the shadow’s edge, and then a nail-sized piece separated from the main shadow, consumed by the Shadow Thief.

The piece swallowed disappeared within the Shadow Thief’s "body" the instant it was consumed.

Frankly, Jeming was a bit surprised; things had unfolded somewhat unexpectedly.

Because... this thing could actually affect his true form!

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