บท 26: Abomination
Ivan didn't know what to say for a while.
The strange man barely moved a step after he landed; he simply stood firm, delivering continuous blows.
"Ha, it's interesting; it's getting more and more fun."
Greg's body was stuck in a large amount of solidified gel and could not move. However, his exposed face still had a weird smile; his rolling eyes were like black pearls: dark, deep, and unpredictable.
"I see." He stared straight at Batman. "You're the opposite of nothing, like light and shadow, water and fire, and... me and you."
He seemed to think he had told a perfect joke, so he laughed wildly. The violent laughter caused his muscles, stuck in the gel, to tremble violently.
"A little too crazy, don't you think?" Ivan muttered vaguely. He stood up and walked over to Batman.
"I don't know who you are, but thanks for your help. Unfortunately, I'll still have to document your identity, so... you'll have to come with me."
His words came to an abrupt end.
At this time, both Ivan and Charlie heard even more strange, cackling laughter.
It wasn't from the madman in front of them but from everywhere. Several laughing voices were superimposed, as if a team of laughing maniacs surrounded the place, reflecting back and forth in the confined space, echoing with distorted clarity.
They sounded like a laughing orchestra. Greg, bound by the gel-like substance, was the conductor, and everyone hiding around cooperated with his melody.
Shadows appeared all around.
The lights continued to flicker with greater intensity; the tubular lights in the underground garage seemed to be dying. Phantoms continued to appear one after another under the flickering light.
Those were the infected gang members who were supposed to be dead were supposed to be dead.
Ivan immediately drew his gun and fired at an infected person who was closer to them. But the bullet only passed through the maniacally laughing mouth of the other party and went straight into the wall behind.
"Spiritual body?" Ivan was slightly startled, "Is the mental power strong enough to release a spiritual body?"
If the infected person's spiritual power exceeds the upper limit of physical endurance, the infected person's physical body will destroy itself. In this case, generally speaking, the spiritual power of the infected will be wiped out.
However, there is a minimal probability that after the physical body is destroyed, the mental power will remain, and the individual will then take the form of a spiritual body.
At this time, Ivan suddenly thought of a very terrifying possibility.
Suppose every spiritual body phantom that appears in the underground parking lot is a result of the infectious laugh. Does that mean that all the infected in this incident left their spiritual bodies after death?
But shouldn't the residual spiritual body be a small probability event?
Is it a unique ability of the infection source, or is there something more nefarious at play?
As he was thinking, he saw the laughing shadows elongate and turn into thin black lines, connecting to Greg, who was stuck in the gel.
The solid gel quickly cracked and, within three seconds, exploded into countless solidified pieces.
At this time, Greg had already lost his human form. His skin was replaced by something like jelly, and his size swelled rapidly. Spiny tentacles protruded from the slimy body.
One eye after another opened along the surface of the tentacles; the eyeballs moved strangely. The human skin was torn and chunked as if chewed, and the flesh was slowly being eliminated, leaving only the indescribable twisted monster.
The underground garage couldn't accommodate the rapidly expanding body, and the ceiling was crushed and cracked. Tons of debris and dust clattered down, and the twisted body broke through the ground and rushed up the block, frantically waving its hideous tentacles.
Its body shape was very irregular, unlike any creature on earth; it was difficult to describe its shape. Its tentacles were full of barbs, and its surface was covered with eyes; its countless eyes seemed to observe the whole world from multiple angles.
Pedestrians on the street were unprepared for this unexpected situation. After a brief moment of shock, someone soon began to scream.
Panic spread and the traffic became total chaos. What followed was madness.
It happened to a few people at first. A man on the run couldn't hold back a laugh, as if that laugh was a trigger; the laughter became louder and louder until it was out of his control.
Laughing wildly, he kicked down the terrified companion beside him, mounted his companion, and began to pummel him with fists.
Soon, more and more people were affected. Laughter spread like a terrible contagion, rapidly infecting more and more people.
A laughing child climbed on top of a man and bit off his ear.
An old man in an open-air restaurant was out of breath from laughing, picked up a wine bottle and smashed it at a random passerby on the head.
A car hit a fire hydrant, and the huge impact deformed the entire front of the car. Water rose into the sky, and the fire hydrant spun and crashed into a shop's glass window. The driver was lying on the airbag, laughing so hard he could barely breathe. While laughing, he controlled the car with a severely deformed front to reverse, preparing to aim at the next target.
The monster seemed perfectly content. It happily waved its countless tentacles as if cheering and dancing. The irregular body still had a mouth-like structure, an extremely huge mouth filled with mushy red flesh, like a smiling face carved out from the abomination with a knife.
"The situation is very grave!"
Ivan, who followed the creature out of the parking lot, pressed on his headset to communicate with headquarters.
"Several runaway spirit bodies have merged with the source of infection and become a strange and grotesque monster... What? How did it become like this? How the f*ck am I supposed to know?"
At this point, the area was in chaos. While trying to avoid the crazed crowd, Ivan approached the giant monster to keep it in his line of sight.
"Calm down detective. The fighter jet just took off from the deck," the operator explained. "It is expected to arrive at the scene within ten minutes."
"Ten minutes?"
Ivan looked at the group of people who were dying of laughter, causing chaos and targeting the yet-to-be-affected individuals and the arrogant giant beast among the buildings.
He wasn't sure if there would be anything worth saving here ten minutes later.
A sudden gust of wind nearly made it hard for him to breathe. The roar of a rumbling engine shook the sky like the roar of a beast.
Ivan turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound.
A huge pitch-black steel raptor with an advanced structure and streamlined design that resembled a massive bat, it had sharp horns and wings, light blue plasma flames spraying vertically, it looked like a huge bat with wings spread.
He was stunned to see that strange man in a bat suit walking past him, raising a gun, shooting it, and attaching the claws to the aircraft hovering in mid-air.
Ivan was stunned: "What the f*ck is going on?"
Batman ignored him. The rapid contraction of the claw gun pulled his body away from the ground and towards the hovering structure the air.
Ivan was utterly confused.
Who the hell is this bat maniac?
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P.S. Were so close to 50 power stones, if we make it by the end of the day I'll post and extra chap on top to the one promised since this will be the first time we reach 50 in a week so... 3 chaps tomorrow... good luck.
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