Chapter 4: The Hanged Young Man

What Han Dong did not know was...

Even if he smoothly escaped back to the Holy City, the group of people on the carriage was not in good shape.

In the process of fleeing, they had seen the monstrous appearance of what pursued them up close...Even though they wore 'goggles,' strange dark lines had appeared around their eyes.

They had no time to worry about the situation of the body bag, and were speeding towards the 'church' for a week-long decompression activity.

......

In the gloomy, damp alley...

A human head was slowly moving within.

"The architectural style is reminiscent of nineteenth-century Europe, but the towering hundred-metre city wall, as well as the skyscrapers in the city, do not match that era.

Moreover, this world contains magical forces and strange creatures that I do not understand... These are significant factors that influence the development of science."

What Han Dong sees now is merely the tip of the iceberg of this world, or even less... Any conjectures might not necessarily be correct.

However, Han Dong was excited by these novel things, and there was even a certain madness... He was eager to understand this world, to understand the scientific system here.

"The most pressing matter is to find a common human body and try to understand from the most basic level... Of course, I also need to explore the ways to return to the original world."

Actually, for Han Dong, apart from a few unfinished national natural science projects, there was not much in his previous world that he missed.

His parents passed away in his childhood and he was raised solely by his grandfather. When he completed his doctoral defense, his grandfather also passed away peacefully.

Furthermore, because of the 'research projects' that required his company day and night, and because his academic circle was too small, Han Dong didn't have a so-called 'lover'.

He still remembered that the hospital room was filled with bouquets from students.

But he didn't like dealing with students. If the school hadn't forced him, he would have spent all his class hours on cellular research.

With nothing to hold him back, he had died under the torture of cancer.

At the moment of confirming his rebirth, Han Dong's first reaction was not to seek ways to return to the original world, but to feel excited about coming to a new world full of various unknowns.

He wanted to 'explore' and 'research'.

Currently, the area he was in was near the city wall.

This was a residential area for commoners. To utilize the land efficiently, closely packed apartment buildings that could accommodate a large number of commoners were abound. The main materials used were red bricks, complemented by copper, dome designs, and diamond-shaped glass mosaic windows.

Because of the adhesiveness of the mycelial tentacles...

Han Dong's head could easily crawl on vertical walls, observing the interior through the windows.

After a period of observation, there was a significant doubt.

"Strange... Why are most of them middle-aged and elderly people, or children under ten years old? Young adults are hardly at home?"

"Is it possible that young people have all been conscripted?

Based on what I know so far, the humans in the Holy City seem to be under the threat of 'monsters', only being able to hold up within the city wall...

The possibility of ordinary young people being conscripted is quite high, but what about the wealthy families?"

Han Dong planned to take advantage of the night and move towards the inner city, heading to the lavishly decorated affluent households to look for 'targets'.

If he could directly become a young master through body possession, it would spare a lot of troubles.

However, there was also a certain risk to this.

The 'soldiers' he met on his way back to the city had been able to spot Han Dong hiding in the grass while moving at high speed... If he encountered such people in the city again, there was a high chance he could be spotted again.

He must find a body as soon as possible.

Just as Han Dong was leaving the dark alley and trying to move stealthily, he suddenly noticed something.

Between the closely packed buildings, a 'surplus' open space had appeared due to design issues.

This open space was just located at the back of the surrounding buildings, and could only be accessed through the alleys overflowing with dirty water and overrun with rats and insects... For this reason, almost no one came here.

In the middle of the weed-filled clearing stood a large oak tree with many branches.

Unfortunately...

A young man was 'hanging' from a stout branch of the oak tree.

Hugging the shadow, Han Dong's head slowly moved to the lower end of the corpse for a close-up observation.

The young man had no signs of life.

He had shaggy brown hair, a pair of 'beautiful' sea-blue eyes, bloodshot and bulging out due to suffocation.

He wore fairly coarse and simple linen shirt, as well as somewhat oversized linen trousers.

His shoes were muddy, one of them had fallen off due to the excessive kicking during his agony, with only one shoe still on his foot.

Han Dong also noticed that there seemed to be a black bracelet on the young man's wrist.

"Age is around16~20. There are no calluses on both hands, which at least shows that the young man hasn't been engaged in any physical work... His yellowed and thin body is clearly due to the lack of exogenous amino acids... Does he come from a poor family that can't even afford a basic living standard?

Occupying such a body, life might be a bit difficult in the future.

But this is the safest choice."

Han Dong suddenly shut his eyes.

Based on the current information, he analysed comprehensively from the perspective of essential interests and safety.

In the end, he made a decision.

In a world filled with numerous unknown dangers, cautiousness is the best course of action.

Such a precious opportunity of rebirth, and Han Dong had also spent a full seven years in prison looking for this unique skull...

Under the circumstances of not being familiar with the Holy City and the guards' perception superior to ordinary people to a certain extent, it was not worth taking risks for him.

"In accordance with the 'Load Value' setting, there should be ways to increase the upper limit of the Load Value.

By then, choose a better body.

For now, temporarily borrow this civilian's body, which in a way can avoid some 'possible exposure' troubles."

He climbed onto the corpse.

The moment the skull touched the skin of the corpse, similar to what happened in the prison, information about this body immediately emerged in Han Dong's consciousness.

"Valen. Nicholas, deceased, no illnesses. Body conditions are lower than average, do you want to occupy?"

Yes.

Skin contact.

The tentacles growing on Han Dong's neck worms into any 'hole' on the surface of the young man to carry out the occupation of the entire body.

Life signs activated!

Removed the hemp rope tied around the neck.

Thud!

The distance from the sole of his foot to the ground was only one meter.

However, landing from this height caused Han Dong to lose his balance and almost fall to the ground.

"This body is just too weak?"

There was no comparison between such a body and the one in the prison... Han Dong still remembered the 'mentally retarded' body that he first occupied, it was truly satisfying with that punch speed and power.

However...

This young man's punch was limp and listless. If it hit a slightly hard object, the arm could probably be broken.

"Beep beep beep..."

Suddenly, the Gear Bracelet on his wrist twitched subtly.

The precision timer showed numeral information.

"A countdown of one hour?"

Instinct told Han Dong that the suicide of this man might not be due to family or personal factors, but related to the countdown of the Gear Bracelet.