Chapter 8 (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There was no one in the golden wheat field that evening.
A lonely scarecrow stood there quietly.
The next second, the scarecrow revealed a strange smile.
[Ding! Binding to the Demon of Fear system.]
[Ding! The novice gift pack has been distributed!]
“It’s been almost a month since I transmigrated here, and the game’s cheat code just arrived!”
Flanders grumbled in dissatisfaction.
However, he was more delighted than dissatisfied.
…
A month ago, Flanders transmigrated to this world, but he could not move at all.
Except for his face…
This scarecrow’s face.
It felt as if one had downloaded a new game only to find the mouse and keyboard were broken, and only the monitor was functioning.
It was a pain in the ass!
However, now that Flanders had obtained the cheat code, there would be a huge difference.
So what if he didn’t have a keyboard and mouse.
He had a cheat!
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With that, Flanders excitedly checked the Demon of Fear system.
[Host] Flanders
[Bloodline] Strange physical system — scarecrow
[Strength] Unable to be detected
[Skill] None
[Item] Newbie gift pack
[Fear Value] 0
[Introduction] While causing fear, it can increase the host’s strength and gain fear value.
…
Flanders wanted to open the newbie gift pack.
However, one message caught his attention.
“System, what’s with the undetectable strength? Could it be that I’m too strong?”
[Because the host’s strength is too weak, the specific value can not be detected.]
Flanders’s scarecrow face twitched twice and did not speak.
Indeed, if the strength was at a value of 0.000000001, then it would indeed be very difficult to detect.
However, this was not important.
Flanders looked at the novice gift bag, and he was immediately not depressed anymore.
“Open the newbie gift bag immediately!”
[Ding! Opening the newbie gift bag, obtained 100 fear points!]
[Ding! As the host has obtained fear points, the skill learning interface has been activated!]
After receiving this notification, Flanders opened the skill learning interface.
Currently, there were only three skills that could be learned.
[Fear] Requires 100 fear points. A fear illusion is implanted into the target’s mind for 2 seconds.
[Demonic God’s Body] Requires 100 fear points. Increases the body’s strength. After the first attempt, you can move freely.
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[Night Cut] Requires 100 fear points. A black sickle is conjured, causing damage to the target.
1
Looking at these three skills, Flanders subconsciously wanted to activate Demonic God’s Body.
However, he hesitated.
According to the system’s detection, his strength was too weak.
Flanders has yet to completely understand what kind of world he was in.
If this place was filled with strong people, then it was obviously very dangerous for him to wander around.
Moreover, if he could not obtain fear points, it would be useless even if he could move.
After thinking about it, Flanders decided.
He would consume 100 fear points to learn [Fear]!
The fear points instantly went to zero, but Flanders did not feel any heartache at all.
Because only with this skill could he obtain fear points continuously.
And he could also become stronger without limits!
Next, all he had to do was wait for his prey to come knocking on his door.
…
Just as he was thinking, a black crow flapped its wings and landed on Flanders’s shoulder.
At this moment, Flanders looked like a regular scarecrow.
If it were any other bird, they might mistake Flanders for a human and would not dare to go near him.
This was the purpose of an ordinary scarecrow.
However, a crow was different.
It was a very smart bird, and it could tell that Flanders was not human at a glance.
However, it was also more convenient for Flanders.
Just as he was worried that no prey would come to him, the crow came to him voluntarily.
…
At this moment, the crow was standing on Flanders’s shoulder, combing its feathers with its sharp beak.
But in the next second, the scarecrow beside it actually revealed a strange smile.
The crow was shocked. Just as it was about to fly away, it realized that it could not move.
[Fear value +10]
“Fear!”
After the skill was activated, a terrifying scene immediately appeared in the crow’s mind.
It saw a huge net appearing in the sky, enough to blot out the sky and cover the sun.
Meanwhile, it was surrounded by countless of its own kind in this huge net.
In the next second, flames appeared out of nowhere in the net.
Countless crows wailed in pain in the net, but they could not escape.
[Fear value + 20]
Flanders smiled in satisfaction when he saw that his fear value was increasing in his account.
Two seconds later, the crow regained its consciousness, but it no longer dared to stay there.
Even the bird could see that this scarecrow was very strange!
Flanders allowed the crow to flutter its wings and leave without stopping it.
One reason was that this fear skill had a limitation.
[Fear] could only be used once against the same target within ten seconds.
So even if Flanders wanted to keep the crow, there was nothing he could do.
Another reason was that the crow gave too little fear value.
“Looks like I still have to harvest the fear of humans!”
The imagination of a human was not something crows could compare to.
The more imagination one had, the more intense the fear would be.
Looking at his fear value, it had already reached 30 points.
Evidently, Flanders had discovered a problem.
That was, before he used his skills, Flanders had already obtained ten fear points.
This seemed to be because he had smiled at the crow, scaring it.
“Looks like obtaining fear points doesn’t have to be obtained through skills.”
Flanders had obtained another key piece of information.
He was quite satisfied with this experiment.
Next, he only needed to wait for the next prey to come knocking on his door.
It would be best if it was a human!
…
The sky gradually darkened and night fell.
A farmer who reeked of alcohol carried a bottle of malt liquor and walked unsteadily on the wheat field.
“A miner’s wife who has never seen the sea.
“Smoke and dust covered the sky.
“The moonlight was hazy and my eyes were full of tears.
“Country road, take me home.”
The drunk farmer hummed a folk song loudly on the wheat field path, looking very satisfied.
The next second, he bumped into a hard object.
“F*ck, what hit me!”
The farmer rubbed his face, which had turned red due to being drunk, and stared at the dark guy in front of him.
However, when he took two steps closer to compete with this guy, he realized that it was actually a scarecrow.
The farmer rubbed his head and laughed self-deprecatingly:
“Old fellow, you’ve really drunk too much. You’re actually playing with a scarecrow.”
Just as he was about to leave, he heard a mutter.
“Yeah, you’ve drunk too much.”
Who was speaking in this empty wheat field?
In an instant, the farmer was startled.
[Fear value + 20]
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At this moment, the farmer’s drunkenness almost disappeared. He looked around.
There was no one!
Then who was talking?
Subconsciously, the farmer looked at the scarecrow in front of him.
Could it be him?
The farmer subconsciously developed such a ridiculous idea.
But then, he shook his head and said with an embarrassed smile, “Hey, I really drank too much. How can a scarecrow talk?
“I must have heard it wrong.”
After muttering this, the farmer planned to continue walking forward and rush home.
He convinced himself with the excuse of hearing it wrongly, but the alcohol had already dissipated. Looking at the pitch-black wheat field, he was more or less flustered.
The most important thing was to leave as soon as possible.
But in the next moment, the so-called auditory hallucination happened again.
“Brother, it’s getting dark. Be careful when you walk at night.”
This time, the farmer froze on the spot.
Cold sweat oozed out from his forehead.
This time, it was definitely not a hallucination!
[Fear + 30]
The farmer looked around in fear, trying to boost his courage with a loud voice.
“Who, who is speaking? Stop pretending, I’m not afraid of you!”
However, no one responded to him in the empty wheat field.
There was only the slight rustling sound of the night wind blowing on the wheat field.
This sound, which was originally pleasant to hear, was now like the whisper of a demon.
Listening to this rustling sound, it was as if there was a tiny claw scratching the farmer’s heart, making his heart palpitate.
This made him more and more flustered, and he desperately wanted to escape.
However, his legs had gone weak.
The wheat field at night made him feel an inexplicable sense of fear.
Rustle, rustle.
A gust of night wind blew past, and the scarecrow next to him rustled like a wheat field.
The farmer followed the sound and turned his gaze to the scarecrow in front of him.
It was a simple-looking scarecrow.
It was a person made of straw as its name suggested. It was covered with a dirty white rag, which could barely be considered a cloth.
However, it was used to scare the birds, and some parts were made a little more ‘delicate’.
For example, the face was cut open with a knife and used as a mouth.
It also had fake toy eyes.
There was even a worn wide-brimmed hat on his head.
It was originally a rather comical image.
But now, in the farmer’s eyes, he felt it was strange.
“Could it be that this fellow said something just now?”
The farmer muttered to himself and could not help but shiver.
If that was really the case, wouldn’t he have met a ghost?
However, he had really seen a ghost.
In the next second, the scarecrow actually grinned and looked at the old farmer.
“Old friend, don’t we see each other every day?”
Looking at the scarecrow in front of him, the farmer’s mind instantly buzzed and went blank.
At this moment, the farmer even felt his ears ringing.
This wasn’t the effect of Flanders’s skill, but a physical reaction caused by the old farmer’s own fear.
[Fear + 30]
The farmer saw this scarecrow every day.
In his impression, this scarecrow had been standing here for a long time.
Who would have thought that this scarecrow, whom he saw every day, would actually speak?
Unknowingly, the farmer was already sweating profusely. A stream of liquid flowed down his thigh, wetting his pants.
This farmer was so scared that he peed himself.
His legs suddenly went weak and he couldn’t stand. He looked at the scarecrow in front of him with fear. He used his hands to support himself on the ground and crawled backward.
But Flanders wouldn’t let go of the prey in front of him.
[Fear!]
Flanders’s eyes focused. The farmer’s expression immediately turned deathly white and his eyes became empty.
The farmer’s mind was instantly filled with horror.
He saw the locusts that blotted out the sky rush into the wheat field and ate the harvest.
He picked up the farm tools and trashed them, trying to drive the locusts away.
However, the locusts rushed at him one after another.
In an instant, he was surrounded by thousands of locusts.
Not only that, the locusts began to eat his flesh!
The excruciating pain made him cry out in pain. The fear of death filled his heart.
…
[Fear + 50]
Back in reality, Flanders did not hesitate and immediately opened the skill learning interface.
He had gained a lot of fear points. Now, his fear points had reached 160. It was enough for him to learn another skill.
Without hesitation, Flanders learned [Demonic God’s Body].
Although [Night Cut] was an offensive skill, [Demonic God’s Body] was more practical at the moment.
After all, Flanders was only a conscious scarecrow. Other than his face, he could not move anything else.
Even after learning [Night Cut], he could not use it.
Two seconds passed quickly. At this moment, the farmer had already been freed from his fantasy.
However, the reality was often more terrifying than fantasy.
Just as he was gasping for breath, he was still immersed in the fear from his fantasy.
His eyes were shocked to see that the scarecrow in front of him was actually walking toward him.
That’s right, it was walking!
Under the dim moonlight, the scarecrow grinned, revealing a terrifying smile.
Although the scarecrow was only about 1.5 meters tall, the farmer was sitting on the ground.
This caused the scarecrow to look very tall in his point of view.
Soon, the scarecrow arrived in front of him.
The tall figure covered the moonlight behind him.
A shadow covered the farmer’s face.
At this time, the farmer’s face had become distorted from fear and shock.
In Flanders’s eyes, this expression had become a work of art.
“What wonderful fear!”
Looking at the farmer in front of him, the scarecrow commented as if he was a connoisseur.
And when this sentence fell into the farmer’s ears, it became the scariest language in the world.
[Fear + 5]
[Fear + 5]
[Fear + 5]
…
The system kept giving out notifications of fear value.
Flanders did not know if this was the follow-up effect of [Fear] or if the farmer was simply frightened.
However, this was no longer important.
The farmer in front of him was like a weak sheep.
And Flanders was like a wolf with a fierce look in his eyes.
When a sheep that was paralyzed from fear met a wolf that was extremely hungry, greedy, and cruel, there was no need to think about what would happen.
In the next second, the farmer’s screams echoed throughout the wheat field.
…
Flanders licked the blood on his hands, savoring the fear he had just harvested.
Fear would increase Flanders’s strength.
And the feeling of strength increasing was incomparably wonderful.
Before the farmer died, he felt an unprecedented fear.
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It provided 100 fear points for Flanders.
This allowed Flanders’s strength to increase by quite a bit. At the same time, he also learned the next skill, [Night Cut].
At this moment, all three skills had been unlocked, and his body could move freely.
However, he slowly cleaned up the bloodstains on his body and stood in his original position.
The moonlight still fell on the ground quietly.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Just that in the wheat field, there was a dead body with a twisted expression.
That was it.
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next morning, the farmer’s body was found.
News soon spread throughout the village.
Everyone gathered in the wheat fields, even those who usually woke up late.
Village Chief Qiao looked at the twisted body on the ground, frowned, and said nothing.
He was smoking an old-fashioned pipe in his mouth.
It had been decades since anyone had died in the village.
In Qiao’s memory, the last time someone died, it was due to a quarrel.
But it wasn’t intentional. It was an accident.
The village had always been very safe and everyone got along well.
But this time, it was different.
John had died a horrible death.
Looking at his twisted face, the villagers found it hard to imagine what happened to John before he died.
“Has the police been notified about this?” Qiao turned around and asked.
“Yes, the police said that our village is relatively remote and will only arrive in half an hour.”
The old village chief nodded and turned around again to look at the body.
The village chief had lived for so many years and was knowledgeable.
At the same time, he had been a police officer when he was younger, so he had some experience.
Although he had retired for several years, he still did not feel any discomfort after seeing the body, let alone panic.
His steadiness was practically carved into his bones.
“There are three bloody holes on John’s body, and the murder weapon looks like a pitchfork.
“Thomas, go to every house and check everyone’s farm tools.
“Remember to check them carefully.”
The young Thomas was slightly stunned when he heard the old village chief’s order, but he still nodded and quickly ran to the village.
Immediately, a dissatisfied voice came from the crowd:
“Qiao, what do you mean? Are you suspecting us?”
“Do you still think you’re the police? You have no right to search our personal belongings!”
Hearing these words, the village chief looked at the crowd, his old eyes as sharp as an eagle’s.
Just being looked at by Qiao automatically made people nervous.
“You guys, don’t tell me you have a guilty conscience?”
Qiao looked at the crowd and said in a low voice.
Although this kind of “If you don’t want to be checked means you have a guilty conscience” statement was somewhat overbearing, but under Qiao’s aura, it was indeed effective.
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The few people who had just spoken in the crowd immediately shrank their necks and did not dare to speak anymore.
Seeing this, the old village chief did not continue to dwell on this topic. Instead, he looked at John’s corpse and analyzed it.
“The lividity hasn’t reached its final stages yet. This means that John’s time of death was within 12 hours.
“If an outsider had the intention to murder John, it’s absolutely impossible to predict which path John would take to return.
“Similarly, it would be very unnatural to carry farm tools on the wheat fields of our village.
“Therefore, the person who killed John was most likely a villager.”
Qiao took a puff of his cigarette, held the pipe in his hand, and squatted next to the body.
“The degree of stiffness of the body also tells us the time since John’s death.
“This means that my judgment should not be wrong.”
After saying that, Qiao frowned and turned to look at everyone:
“Think about it. If you have a murderer by your side, and his methods were extremely cruel. As for the police, they will only be here for at least half an hour.
“Can you all still stay here in peace?”
After Qiao finished speaking, the villagers all looked at each other in dismay. Their eyes were filled with watchfulness and suspicion.
Right now, they all looked like murderers.
No one could be trusted.
At this moment, someone frowned and asked,
“Qiao, did you just mention that the methods were cruel?
“May I ask, how did you obtain this information?”
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Although these words were not very clear, the few villagers standing in front reacted one after another. They silently took two steps back and distanced themselves from Qiao.
No one knew who the murderer was, so how did Qiao know about the “cruel methods”?
Could it be that the murderer was Qiao?
Qiao was well-versed in human nature. Naturally, he could tell what everyone was thinking at a glance.
However, he was still very calm. He pointed at the corpse and said,
“Did you see the farmer’s expression?
“If he didn’t experience an extremely terrifying incident, why would he be so frightened.
“This isn’t a simple expression that would appear as someone wanted to kill him.”
After hearing Qiao’s words, many of the villagers nodded in agreement.
Qiao didn’t continue to observe the crowd. Instead, he began to slowly walk around the farmer’s body.
He wanted to see the scene from multiple angles, trying to find some clues.
However, after taking a few steps sideways, he bumped into a hard object.
It was the old scarecrow who had stood on the wheat field for decades.
Judging by his age, this scarecrow was only about ten years younger than him.
However, now was not the time to reminisce about his childhood. Qiao’s face was still full of seriousness.
There was a small clearing around the scarecrow, and there was not much wheat.
This made Qiao have some doubts.
If he was the murderer, he would have hidden the body well after killing.
At least he would have put it in the wheat field so that people would find the body later.
Why did the murderer choose to put the body near the scarecrow?
Was it to let people find the body earlier?
Was this the first crime scene?
Or was it that the killer killed John in another place and specially moved the body over here?
One question after another appeared in the old village chief’s mind.
At this moment, the old village chief seemed to have discovered something and let out a soft “eh”.
A few more courageous young men leaned over and followed the old village chief’s line of sight to look over.
They saw a trace of blood on the scarecrow’s back.
In an instant, a young man boldly guessed:
“Could John have been killed here and then his body was moved over there?”
Another young man also said:
“Perhaps John was attacked here first and then received a fatal blow after escaping there.”
A few young men began to discuss.
But at this moment, two people had a bad feeling in their heart.
One of them, of course, was Flanders.
He had carefully cleaned up the blood on his body last night, but who knew that there was a bloodstain on his back which he had overlooked.
And the other person was Qiao.
Seeing the blood on the scarecrow’s back, Qiao had a bad feeling.
After all, he had worked in the police station for 30 years when he was young.
During that time, he had heard some rumors.
There were strange things in this world.
Many supernatural phenomena were caused by strange things.
Although it was only a legend, Qiao suddenly thought of it.
That was because there were almost no other bloodstains in the area behind the scarecrow.
In the farmland, bloodstains were difficult to deal with unless all the soil stained with blood was dug out.
However, there were no traces of soil being dug out.
At this moment, Qiao couldn’t help but slowly walk to the front of the scarecrow and look at its face.
“This scarecrow seems to be a bit strange.”
The old village chief said with narrowed eyes.
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As soon as these words were said, everyone subconsciously looked at the scarecrow.
Someone could not help but say, “What’s wrong with the scarecrow? Could the murderer be hiding inside?”
Of course, the scarecrow was not big, and its height was about 1.5 meters, so it seemed like a joke.
Some people laughed after hearing it, while others could not laugh while in front of the corpse.
Qiao was the one who could not laugh.
He held his pipe and took a puff, saying with a serious expression,
“When I was a police officer, I heard some rumors.
“There are strange existences in this world.”
“Strange?” Many people looked puzzled and could not help but ask.
The old village chief, Qiao, nodded and said seriously,
“Although it just a rumor, I have indeed heard of it.
“Many incredible things are actually done by strange things.
“Three years ago, there was the case of Elstan’s corpse being chopped up; five years ago, Nord’s headless corpse, and many other strange cases…
“Until now, the murderer of these cases has not been found yet. Many people say that it is done by strange things.
“It’s said that the country has a department that specializes in dealing with strange cases.”.
“However, I’ve only heard about it. There’s no evidence.”
After hearing these words, many people looked at the scarecrow with a strange expression.
“Qiao, are you saying that this scarecrow might be strange?”
Qiao nodded. His eyes were still staring at the scarecrow in front of him. “That’s right.”
At this moment, someone spoke again,
“That can’t be right. I remember that this scarecrow has been here since I was very young. Nothing has ever happened to it.”
Qiao shook his head and said, “It is precisely because it has been here for a long time that it can become strange.
“Strange things does not appear out of thin air.
“It is either an animal or an item that has been around for a long time.
“Unless there’s a special situation, there’s no way that something would become strange as soon as it was created.”
After hearing what Qiao said, many people actually believed him.
“Then, isn’t this scarecrow very dangerous? Shouldn’t we stay away from it?”
This sentence was practically what everyone was thinking.
If this scarecrow was really a monster, then wouldn’t they be waiting for death if they continued standing here?
However, Qiao said confidently,
“Don’t worry. Strange existences usually do not have any intelligence. It should be asleep now.
“Otherwise, the first person who found John would have been attacked long ago.”
After saying that, he turned around and asked,
“Who was the first to identify this body?”
Two people stood out from the crowd and raised their hands.
Qiao nodded and continued to guess,
“If I’m not wrong, if this scarecrow is really paranormal, then the necessary condition for him to wake up and hurt someone should be when there’s only one person around.”
Hearing this, many people felt relieved.
As for Flanders, although he didn’t show any reaction on the surface, he was secretly shocked.
He didn’t expect that this old village chief had made such accurate guesses.
If he had not obtained the Demon of Fear system, he would be no different from what he had said.
However, there were still people who asked worriedly,
“Qiao, what if you guessed wrong?”
Qiao shook his head and said,
“If he could really hurt people, we would have been attacked long ago. Why wait until now?”
This sentence was also agreed by many people.
Except for Flanders.
At this moment, Flanders was already sneering in his heart.
In the end, this old village chief had made a wrong guess.
He didn’t hurt people, not because he couldn’t, but because he didn’t want to.
Because, Flanders wanted to continue staying here and slowly harvest the fear of the villagers, increasing his strength bit by bit.
If he attacked now, it might cause many villagers to leave, reducing his number of targets.
Then, Flanders wouldn’t be able to obtain the most fear points.
From the looks of it, he should be able to continue staying here and proceed according to the original plan.
This was all thanks to the old village chief’s words just now.
However, after the next murder, he was afraid that he would have to move the corpse further away.
Or he could simply cut the corpse into minced meat and bury it in the ground.
It had to be said that this old village chief had helped him a lot today.
Not only had he obtained a lot of information about this world, he had also let him know how amateur his murder was.
However, just as Flanders calmed down, a talkative person could not help but say,
“Everyone, I think we should burn this scarecrow.
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“If it’s really strange, we won’t be at ease here.”.
“Even if it’s not, we can still burn it.”
Hearing this person’s words, many people nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Qiao also nodded slightly and said in a deep voice,
“Indeed. Although strange things are only in legends, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”.
“If someone accidentally passes by this place in the future, it would be another unjust death.”
The villagers also agreed with this suggestion.
It was just a scarecrow. There was nothing to be reluctant about. Burning it would make people feel more at ease.
However, Flanders’s mood was very heavy at this moment.
The plan to slowly harvest fear here could no longer be carried out.
Even if it would result in his targets escaping, he still had to act immediately to resolve his current situation.
Otherwise, he would probably be burned to ashes.
After making up his mind, Flanders immediately took action.