Kill The Old Ones!

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Alex wasn’t in the clan...which was good news for Ren.

Even better is that his room wasn’t locked. In fact, the doors were wide open. It’s practically welcoming everybody in.

Alex’s room looked like what a teenager would have: lots of posters, strewn laundry, a mess of things he owned, and a few empty boxes of takeouts. Alex wasn’t the most hygienic or organized man, that’s for sure.

However, Ren wasn’t here to admire or assess the room. He was here for one thing and one thing only—and that was to take that wooden carving left on Alex’s bedside table.

This is the first time Ren has seen it, but he definitely knows what it is, and it certainly doesn’t belong in Alex’s room or anywhere inside this clan compound. In fact, in Ren’s opinion, it shouldn’t exist at all.

Ren avoided people as he went through Alex’s room. He didn’t want to be seen or be found out sneaking to anybody’s room. Thanks to his recently upgraded technique, he managed just fine.

Before entering the room, Ren made sure to take a deep breath and bolster his mind. He had to keep his guard up and his intent sharp; if he falters here, he becomes a victim, and that’ll be the worst thing that could ever happen.

Ren also wore his leather gloves and made sure to keep his inventory ready. He didn’t want to touch this thing any longer than necessary.

Get in, take the item, toss it in his inventory at the swiftest speed possible, preferably without making any noise, and get out. That’s the plan.

With this in mind, Ren moved.

And when he did, he was quick about it. With a quick swipe, the item was taken and tossed into his inventory. Ren held his breath and got out of Alex’s room, once again, making sure to avoid people on his way back to his room.

The moment he arrived to his room, he swiftly locked the doors, closed the windows, drew the curtains close, and sealed himself in.

That’s only when he allowed himself to breathe. But his actions didn’t end here.

He summoned the world system interface, something that he hasn’t done in a while.

”World System, I need you to appraise this item very closely and carefully. I strongly suspect that this has been smuggled from something beyond this world. If my suspicions are correct, then the government has to be made aware of this.”

In an instant, a drop box appeared before Ren, followed by a system prompt.

[Please place the item you need appraised in the drop box.]

”Transfer the strange wooden idol to the drop box from my inventory. I don’t want to touch it anymore than necessary.”

With a faint ’ding,’ the acknowledgement was passed, and the strange idol he swiped from Alex’s room was tossed into the drop box. The box was then sealed and promptly disappeared from where it appeared.

[Please wait 15 minutes for the appraisal results.]

After Ren received and read this message, the prompt disappeared.

Ren didn’t spend the waiting time idle. He went to the clear space in his room and began cycling through his stances. He closed his eyes and did each one mindfully with clear intent.

He was circulating his chakra while also checking for any possible infections. He was being thorough. He did not dare to miss any area at all. He knows that he can never be too careful with this. If anything, he even has to be wary since that thing was way beyond what he could handle. Its meaning was something he alone couldn’t contain or deal with.

Why else would he need to ask the World System’s help if he could take care of it?

Ren didn’t see any problems. At least, none that he could sense. While it was possible that there could be some infections in areas out of his chakra’s conscious reach just yet, his contact with that thing was so short that the chances are abysmal.

Therefore, he thinks that he’s safe. But he’s not completely satisfied with that.

Fifteen minutes passed just like this. And soon, he got a reply from the world system.

[Thank you for waiting, User Soren.]

[The appraisal results are out.]

**

[Name]: Strange Wooden Idol

[Description]: The idol itself isn’t harmful. It’s what sealed within that is harmful and dangerous. Cross-referencing the source from known items and materials on the world system’s database confirmed that there is an 80.99% chance that the material sealed in this wooden idol is something called ’Zerg Queen’s Essence’ and a bunch of other materials that tweaked its original effects.

[Zerg Queen’s Essence]—a loot drop from killing Zerg Queens. It’s a strange material that is difficult to process since it’s ’technically’ alive and still sentient. Its base instinct is to repair and revive itself eventually.

• The Zerg Queen’s Essence emits psychic pulses, which are weak and invisible to the senses of weak minds. It contains faint psychic suggestions that cause the affected to fall under the material’s control. The longer the person is in contact with this material, the more they’re prone to suggestions. Eventually, they’d become slaves under the material’s control who would work hard to help with the Zerg Queen’s resurrection.

[Changes]: Analyzing the compounds of the other materials aside from the Zerg Queen’s Essence showed that they were used to tweak the original effects of the main material.

• Instead of turning into the essence’s puppet that will help with the queen’s resurrection, those affected will become more prone to violent thoughts. It starts from short bursts of irritation, then irrationality, and finally, turning violent.

• The wooden idol will continue to emit these suggestive pulses so long as there is a sentient lifeform nearby. The wooden carving that sealed it does not contain this effect at all. In fact, the wood serves as a regulation device. It allows the pulses to be released at a stable pace without eroding the main material’s shelf life.

• Destroying the wooden case also ruins the material inside. It’s highly suspected that this is a failsafe to prevent others from discovering what material was inside.

**

[Note: This item is a violation of the World System’s and the Grand Martial Union’s rules.]

[We highly suggest that you surrender this item and submit a detailed report of how you end up with this item.]

[Rest assured, so long as you’re proven innocent, you will receive the World System’s guarantee and protection.]

Ren sighed in relief.

He wasn’t even a little bit surprised that the world system was essentially forcing him to surrender that thing. Hell, that’s exactly what he planned to do from the very beginning.

That thing could go to hell and never come back; Ren would never lose sleep over it. In fact, if it could be destroyed down to the molecular level, even better! Such a thing should never have been made at all.

His suspicions were proven right, meaning that all his previous actions were indeed correct. Had he made extended contact with that thing, he could’ve fallen to its trap, and there would be nothing worse than that.

Ren would rather die a painful death than be a slave for some dead remains of a fucking alien.

”I’ll file a report. But only you, World System, must know my true identity. You’ll send the report on my behalf to the GMU without revealing my real information. I’ll go under an alias. This report should alert them of what’s happening, and I’m pretty sure who’s involved in this.”

Ren was typing his report as he spoke, his fingers flying across the floating keyboard as he did so.

He also directly confessed his involvement to the world system and even allowed it to review his past actions through the world surveillance for confirmation.

Ren was fine with the world system knowing. Hell, he was sure that it already knew. It’s just gauging his sincerity by acting this way.

It’s the GMU that he’s worried about. They had to be involved; there’s no way around that. The main difference between the GMU and the World System was the latter respects his privacy; the former does not.

He will become a prime suspect by simply reporting to them. They will use all sorts of reasons to keep him contained. And even if he had been proven clean and innocent until the end, it matters not since he will be heavily monitored moving forward because of this one offense.

Ren didn’t want to live like that. He’s got so many secrets to hide. He doesn’t want to be observed under a microscope. Although the World System is the same, at the very least, it’s respectful and doesn’t shy away from admitting that.

That’s why he cleared the world system’s review but not the GMU. Yes, he’s siding with an unreliable ally, but this was a better option this time.

”Just to be clear, I absolutely do not want that item back,” he told the interface. ”It can be submitted as proof along with the report.”

”I’ll also trust that you know the reason why I’m hiding my identity, which is also the reason why I’m slightly altering the report.”

”You can send this report to the Martial Gods or any GMU-affiliated people that are concerned, all except someone named Terrence Brian Patterson. In fact, if you can make it so that he’s ignorant about all of this, that would be great, but I’ll leave that decision up to you.”