Chapter 272: The Hanging Tree

“What the hell is that?”

After a moment of tense silence chaos erupted inside the truck’s cab.

Angry curses mingled with panicked shouts and the frantic sounds of trying to start the engine.

Inside the cab the uncle and nephew one older one younger were clearly terrified.

Anyone suddenly finding themselves in such a strange eerie red night seeing a place like this a tree like this and what hung from it… would likely react the same.

Frustratingly the truck had stalled sometime earlier. The engine only sputtered trying to turn over while the headlights flickered erratically.

The uncle and nephew’s breathing grew ragged reaching a fever pitch…

Whoosh…

It was like a cool night breeze swept through rustling the waist-high weeds around them sounding like a human sigh.

The bodies hanging from the tree began to sway slowly in unison.

Where the ropes met the branches an unnerving creak echoed as they slowly turned their heads.

Purplish faces tongues lolling out from suffocation twisted expressions of agony… yet somehow each expression seemed subtly adjusted their mouths stretched slightly into faint smiles. It looked like every hanging person was smiling.

It seemed as if pain and pleasure had simultaneously washed over them at the moment of death.

Meeting the gazes of these dead figures the panicked uncle and nephew inside the cab gradually fell silent.

The terrified shouts and curses the frantic attempts to start the truck all faded away.

After sitting quietly in the cab for a moment they pushed open their respective doors and got out.

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Their expressions were visibly wooden now.

Their eyes rolled strangely upwards showing only the barest sliver of black pupil at the bottom.

Yet their movements and perception seemed unaffected. Their steps fell into a strange rhythm as they walked together towards the large tree. Their strides the frequency of their steps even the distance covered with each step were identical.

They reached the base of the tree simultaneously and looked up as if searching for suitable spots.

The uncle found his first a happy expression spreading across his face.

The boy found his too his lips stretching wide.

Then they both silently began to undo their belts…

…

…

“Seriously creepy…”

Lu Xin sat on his motorcycle quietly observing the uncle and nephew starting to loop their belts over branches sighing softly.

At the same time his mind analyzed the specific logic at play.

“So this tree is actually another pollution source?”

“Or maybe not the tree itself but something unknown inside it.”

“And its pollution logic involves making anyone within a certain range susceptible to some mysterious influence causing them to wander in circles in this area. When they’re exhausted or start rushing around frantically they get drawn here?”

“Once they arrive here they enter the second stage of pollution or perhaps the most crucial stage?”

“…”

He’d actually considered this possibility earlier when he decided to find this ‘ghost’.

But he’d ridden his motorcycle around ‘vroom vroom’ for ages circling several times and burning quite a bit of gas yet he couldn’t find this ‘ghost’ or pollution source.

He’d done some analysis on why too. He was undoubtedly under the influence of some pollution.

But he only knew the source wasn’t far he couldn’t pinpoint its location.

Only by finding the logic chain could he analyze its logic and locate the pollution source.

It’s like following bloodstains on the floor to find the psycho killer hiding under the bed…

…Okay maybe that comparison isn’t quite right.

Anyway just as Lu Xin was starting to worry about his gas consumption he encountered this uncle and nephew duo.

That itself was strange.

If he had just been going in circles why would he run into people who weren’t originally in that circle?

The reason was easy enough to figure out:

It looked like he was circling but his route must have changed somehow.

Their two ‘circles’ must have intersected for him to meet the uncle and nephew.

So the second time he encountered them Lu Xin had already thought of a possible method.

Pollution always has a purpose.

Whether it’s assimilation or some form of devouring.

If there’s logic then there’s an endpoint to that logic and that endpoint is the target.

His inability to find the pollution source likely meant he hadn’t yet met the requirements of its pollution logic.

For instance maybe you had to circle around until utterly exhausted and mentally dazed before you could reach the pollution source’s main body. But being young strong and mentally sharp he kept circling and circling without meeting the criteria.

Theoretically he might eventually find it if he kept circling.

But Lu Xin didn’t want to waste time like that especially since his motorcycle burned gas.

So he decided to ask these two for help. After all just looking at them they seemed like they’d been circling for a long time.

They even had underwear pulled over their heads…

These two must have been close to meeting the standard. So just following them should lead him to the pollution source right?

Of course Lu Xin hadn’t expected them to find it so quickly.

Did encountering him make them more anxious thus meeting the conditions faster?

…

…

“Scientific analysis really is the best way to solve problems…”

As he mentally sorted things out the uncle and nephew were already standing on tiptoe trying to fit their heads into the belt loops.

The uncle was shorter so the nephew kindly supported his waist helping him hop up a bit.

Lu Xin stopped his analysis. Glancing at a blinking red dot on his motorcycle’s display he got the confirmation he needed. He then looked up seriously at the large tree. The lens over his left eye began to flicker as numbers jumped rapidly.

Finally the reading stopped at ‘120’. Next to it a red indicator showed: Level-two pollution source.

The glasses only detected its radiation.

The threat level of the pollution source is judged based on its radiation.

Normally the lower the number the higher the pollution level. However when the Qinggang Cleanup Department or rather the Moon Eclipse Research Institute established the evaluation standards for these sources they considered that many unknown sources might be discovered. So they reversed it: low threats are rated Level 1 and the level increases for each significant jump in magnitude.

This left enough room to evaluate even more powerful pollution sources.

Being this close and the radiation only reading 120… allows for a rough deduction.

Its true psychic power level should be around one thousand.

Unless deliberately controlled the strength of mental radiation is usually about one-tenth of the source’s own magnitude.

…

“Now that the source’s main body is found the problem is easier to solve…”

Having roughly understood its pollution logic and estimated its psychic power Lu Xin breathed a sigh of relief.

As for the solution…

After a moment’s thought Lu Xin took a revolver from his bag. He swung out the cylinder and removed one ordinary bullet replacing it with a pure black one. Its surface was smooth like solidified ink.

This was one of the ten special bullets he’d requisitioned when leaving the city.

Closing the cylinder Lu Xin raised the gun aimed at the large tree and pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

The special bullet flew out striking the trunk squarely. Dazzling electrical light instantly spread across the tree.

The large tree seemed to tremble in unbearable agony. The corpses hanging from it plummeted to the ground.

“Crack…”

Half of the tree was instantly charred black.

But the branches and leaves on the other half suddenly grew wildly.

It was as if this quiet tree had suddenly sprung to life. Beneath the Red Moon it swayed its branches frantically. Mouths sprouted on its leaves turning them into countless tentacles reaching out towards Lu Xin.

“Ah crap…”

Lu Xin suddenly realized a very serious problem.

Shouldn’t he have parked the bike further away? Would the bumper get scratched in a fight like this?

Luckily just as he pondered this a happy ‘Hee hee’ giggle sounded in the air.

Lu Xin turned to see his sister appear in the weeds nearby her eyes round bright and fixed on the front.

“Sister’s the best…”

Lu Xin felt reassured then urged her: “Quick get ’em…”

Father and Mom were too reserved to show up for something like this so he could only urge his sister.

His sister didn’t move at all. She crossed her little arms proudly and glanced at Lu Xin.

Then she stretched out a hand pointing imperiously forward: “Doggy go.”

“Woof woof…”

Lu Xin felt the frame of his glasses grow slightly cold.

Fierce barking erupted behind his sister. A small skinless dog shot out leaving a trail of bloody footprints as it ran. It charged directly at the half-burnt tree then opened its massive jaws and bit down hard.

“Rip!” “Rip!” “Rip!”

Lu Xin hadn’t expected this cute little guy to have such a ferocious side.

It charged straight to the tree biting into the unburnt half its teeth sinking deep into the trunk.

Instantly the intact half of the tree began to tremble as if spasming.

The branches and leaves reaching for Lu Xin immediately retracted. Twigs coiled like thin snakes around the skinless dog’s neck tightening fiercely cutting deep into its constantly bleeding flesh. They yanked it off the ground leaving it dangling mid-air. All the leaves simultaneously ‘bit’ into its body and seemed to burrow inside like living things…

The sight alone was enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

But the skinless dog dangling in mid-air stretched its body opened its mouth wide its pupils dilating slightly.

…It actually showed an expression of extreme enjoyment!

…

Lu Xin was stunned: “Is this dog… for real?”

But perhaps sensing his doubt his sister shouted angrily: “Doggy bad!”

The skinless dog snapped back to reality instantly remembering it wasn’t here to have fun. Its body shuddered. Blood began to ooze profusely from everywhere the branches constricted or burrowed into it. This blood seemed to have a life of its own spreading along the twigs flowing bit by bit towards the entire unburnt half of the tree.

The other half of the tree seemed to realize something shaking violently trying to retract its branches.

But the skinless dog held on tightly preventing the branches touching its body from pulling away. More blood seeped out flowing rapidly onto every branch leaf and the remaining half of the trunk as if trying to dye it completely red.

“Crrrackle…”

The large tree quickly lost all vitality.

The trembling branches and leaves gradually stiffened many of them rustling down.

…

One half of the trunk still burned the other half looked like completely dead dry wood.

“Woosh!” “Woosh!” “Woosh!”

Before Lu Xin could react the skinless dog had already run up to him.

Its eyes were large and innocent its tongue lolled out ingratiatingly its tail wagging like a windmill.

Lu Xin looked seriously at the little dog then back at the tree.

An answer gradually formed in his mind: “This dog really isn’t… quite right!”