Player Reload
Chapter 344: After modification - 316 Aesthetic Sense

Chapter 344: After modification: Chapter 316 Aesthetic Sense

Oh, impressive, there’s actually a containment method like this.

Li Cheng’s eyes lit up. The backpack prohibited the storage of living things, and the space devices that could store live beings all had various limitations — either limited capacity or time-consuming access.

Using talisman nails to draw a dragon into the paper was convenient, practical, and stylish. This was also the advantage of being in a state guild — the power system was clear and complete, with dedicated think tanks, logistics, and medical teams coordinating behind the scenes.

He stored away the macaque painting paper, and the talisman nails drew more dragons, methodically storing the bodies of the hyena and the other six players into the paintings one by one.

Everyone here was an unlucky soul dragged into the killing field. Seeing their comrades die like this, it was hard not to feel a pang of sorrow. Bringing their bodies back to the real Earth for burial was still better than dying in the Otherworld.

After tidying up the scene, the group continued to climb upwards, following the residual scent of perfume. Father Andre volunteered to carry the copper lantern, leading the way.

"By the way, Dragon, aside from drawing Gate Gods and weapons, can you draw anything else?"

Li Cheng dismantled the bottles on his body one by one. Sensing the oppressive atmosphere, he picked a topic to lighten the mood. "It’s nothing strange, just Tifa, D.Va, Chun Li, Laura, Lady Dimitrescu, Mary Rose..."

??? This isn’t considered strange?

"Ahem, you can call me by my full name or just ’Draw Dragon’, Mr. Ant. It feels odd to be called Dragon."

With a twitch at the corner of his eye, the Talisman Drawn Dragon pondered for a moment before saying, "How should I put it? My ability is complicated. The objects I depict with my brush lack self-awareness or intelligence, so there’s no soul to speak of. It’s more like an extension of my imagination and subconscious.

And since it’s ink, it only manifests tangible properties when attacking."

Li Cheng nodded. "Got it, still a paper figurine."

"Yes. Perhaps only when my drawing skills reach the divine realm can I draw something with a soul.

In a way, I should be thankful for the arrival of the killing field."

The Talisman Drawn Dragon smiled wryly. "Nowadays, AI technology is advancing too quickly, driving the art industry into madness. If I hadn’t joined the Mobile Task Force, I’d probably be worrying about finding a job after graduation as well."

"Tell me about it."

Bai Jixiong, who had shapeshifted into a border collie, sighed. "Back in the day, I was unemployed right after graduation."

"Huh?"

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Bai Jixiong. His power system was druidic, which required a love of nature and a passion for flora and fauna.

Druids typically transitioned from foresters, agricultural experts, and zoologists; at the very least, they had to be veterinarians or pet doctors.

These professions shouldn’t have been heavily impacted by AI technology, right?

"I majored in civil engineering."

Bai Jixiong shrugged and sighed deeply. "Right after graduation, I went to work on construction sites, revising blueprints, designing fences, drafting construction plans, working endless overtime, quelling fights among workers at KTV, witnessing tower crane collapses, breaking national defense cables, unearthing Han dynasty tombs, being dispatched to Africa, watching hippos gnash their teeth, drinking with local leaders, getting kidnapped by militants, contracting malaria, fleeing with a bucket back to the country...

In retrospect, I’ll probably never forget those eight months."

At these words, even the typically stern and stoic Father Andre couldn’t help but turn to look at him, "Those eight months... were very fulfilling."

"They were okay. It’s all in the past now."

Bai Jixiong’s expression turned serious. "The perfume scent has changed concentration; it’s just ahead."

The group simultaneously switched off their lights, donned night vision goggles, and heightened their vigilance. Zhao Zijing used telekinesis to lay a silent path on the ground, reducing their footsteps’ noise.

Ahead was a large oval space, more spacious than both the hydroponic room and the embryo chamber combined. In the center hung a gigantic steel cone suspended by hundreds of steel cables—

This thing was called a tuned mass damper, commonly used in high-rise buildings and bridges to absorb oscillations caused by wind, stabilizing the structure and protecting the construction.

The tip of the conical damper pointed downward, the ground around it covered in a pool of green slime.

Like flies stuck to flypaper, Dorling Gray and Camus lay in the goo, their chests and abdomens hollowed out, internal organs missing, barely surviving through their unique skills.

The third kidnapped player wasn’t so lucky. He was picked clean, even his head was missing.

Andre lifted his priest robe and drew six cross short swords from his weapon belt, holding them between his fingers. "Don’t go any closer, it might be a trap."

"I know."

Zhao Zijing took two bottles of micro life potions from his backpack, using telekinesis to float them over and pour directly into Dorling Gray and Camus’s mouths.

As the lowest-level killing field potion, the micro life potion couldn’t regenerate entire internal organs quickly, but it could grow a heart and lungs, giving Dorling Gray the temporary ability to speak.

"Don’t come closer!"

Lying still, Dorling Gray rasped with a pained voice, "It’s on top of the damper!"

On the damper?

Li Cheng activated the Assembly Puppet special effect, connecting a Bluetooth transceiver to his body and throwing a wireless surveillance camera.

The camera traced an arc in the air, capturing the top of the damper. The steel cone’s upper part was not flat but recessed inward slightly.

In the shallow pit lay the shriveled corpse of a Three Heads and Six Arms mutated monster, alongside an oval egg about one and a half meters in size.

The eggshell was dark green and had cracked open, its contents vanished.

Bad news.

So the previously relentless "Nezha" just died out of the blue. When something unusual happens, there’s always something amiss. Good thing I have the Liangyi Blade.

Liangyi Blade, do your magic!

Oh, I forgot I just used Special Effect Two, and the three-hour cooling time hasn’t passed yet.

Never mind then.

The other players only detected subtle changes in Li Cheng’s expression, seeing his gaze gradually sharpen and grow intense.

It was their first time seeing Li Cheng this serious. The oppressive killing atmosphere silently spread, and everyone held their breath—except Camus, whose lungs hadn’t fully regrown.

Tap, tap, tap.

Crisp footsteps echoed from the darkness. A tall figure slowly emerged from the corner, coming into view.

It was a monstrous being filled with an eerie presence, its body resembling a skinless, emaciated humanoid with bat-like wing membranes between its arms and torso, bird-like feet,

and a half-skull head, replaced by horns that extended to the sides.

The Talisman Drawn Dragon’s pupils contracted sharply. Beautiful. The first word that surfaced in his mind after seeing the mutated monster was beautiful.

It wasn’t about some so-called high-level aesthetic in a European and American context, but a pure judgment of biomechanical perfection.

Bees didn’t need mathematics to construct hexagonal cells; sunflowers formed Fibonacci-sequence flower heads without nerves.

In billions of years of evolution, organisms instinctively pursued and optimized stability and adaptability,

like trees developing robust trunks and branched limbs to resist wind and gravity, and the human vascular system growing based on similar biomechanics.

The diameter-to-length ratio of both tree trunks and branches, and major vessels and capillaries, shared a stunning similarity.

To the Talisman Drawn Dragon, every inch of this mutated monster’s muscle and bone showcased biomechanical beauty.

Plop.

The mutated monster stopped, raising the missing third player’s severed head, and from the decapitation stump, a hoarse voice emerged.

"Peace."