NOVEL WEB 0030 – Tasteless and Murderous Intent!
Evening breeze blows gently. The sky over Hamilton is starting to warm up, and the chill in the air is gradually dissipating. The city's river appears calm and mysterious in the night. The lights along the riverbank reflect on the water, casting swaying shadows.
Zoe Carter stands by the moonlit river, gazing across at a man on the opposite bank. Calling it "gazing" might be inaccurate. Gazing implies standing from a high or distant vantage point, staring at a distant scene.
But for Zoe, to be honest, this doesn't quite qualify as "gazing."
The width of this river, coupled with the cover of night, indeed renders the man on the other side invisible.
At most, only a slender silhouette can be vaguely discerned. However, for Zoe, this is not remotely distant. Her transparent world ability encompasses not only super smell and super hearing but also super vision.
This distance is easily within the range of her super vision. Moreover, the hazy darkness enveloping everything doesn't hinder Zoe. Night vision is the foundation of super vision. She realized this last night.
With her superhuman perception, the man on the opposite bank is as clear as day, as if standing within arm's reach. Coupled with her super hearing, he not only sees every move of the man across the river but also hears his murmurs.
Everything about that man at this moment is like a live TV show broadcast before her.
Watching the man mutter to himself about his fruitful gains of the day while counting the numerous valuables spread on the ground, Zoe smiles faintly. She sees her notebook, confirming that she hasn't tracked the wrong person.
The man across the river is indeed the thief who broke into her house. It wasn't in vain that she spent two hours tracing the scent all the way here.
Tracking scents like a police dog in the dead of night did take some effort.
After all, scent, being more pronounced in open spaces, is harder to retain, and in complex environments, harder to discern. Avoiding various surveillance cameras along the way was also troublesome.
Even though, with her transparent world ability, she could almost entirely evade them, it meant compressing her route. However, it must be admitted that this guy, although blatantly rummaging through things, seemed unprofessional, his skill in evading cameras was commendable.
He was indeed good at his job. The route he chose overlapped with more than ninety percent of Zoe's choices, practically avoiding all cameras.
Of course, no matter how commendable, Zoe wouldn't forgive this guy.
Gazing at the thief's face, Zoe squints slightly, pondering how to deal with him. With her current strength, a single punch could easily send this guy to the ICU.
But... is that enough? Is that acceptable?
Suppressing her emerging desire for combat and killing, Zoe couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Since her body mutated, she gradually found herself yearning for battle, as if her body was rusting in dormancy and she needed to move vigorously.
When she came home to find an intruder, her first instinct was to show her claws and see if she could deal some heavy blows. This was quite different from her past self.
She wasn't exactly a saint before, but she wasn't particularly malicious either. At least she could be considered a normal citizen. In special circumstances, her first instinct was usually to call the police.
But now, faced with a thief breaking into her home, her first reaction was to track down the culprit by scent. Zoe vaguely understood.
Her situation was similar to the setting in many fictional works. It's called wielding a weapon, where the urge to kill arises naturally when one gains the ability.
Once you have the capability, the subconscious desire to use it emerges. It's like the citizens of Liberty Lighthouse, each owning several guns. Encounter dissatisfaction, and the immediate response is a gunshot.
Having a gun makes it hard to resist its use. Zoe's ability works the same way.
Despite constantly admonishing herself to maintain her integrity, at this moment, she feels a slight urge to indulge. After all, various fantasy works have said it: resolute decisiveness in killing is the correct solution!
Contemplating this, Zoe's gaze towards the man on the opposite bank gradually becomes serious.
A momentum, which can be called murderous intent, slowly gathers. As she looks at the man across the river, Zoe is about to take action when suddenly, the man shows extreme panic, looking around frantically.
Trembling, she collapses to the ground, completely at a loss. This makes Zoe instinctively halt her steps, and the burgeoning murderous intent dissipates.
What's going on? Zoe is puzzled.
Could this man have some mental illness?
Before she can delve deeper into this thought, the man immediately recovers, displaying a look of relief mixed with confusion. Observing this, Zoe furrows her brow, then, with a pensive look, directs a hint of murderous intent towards the man.
Suddenly raising murderous intent, theoretically speaking, isn't something one can easily achieve. Not everyone can suddenly and sincerely wish to kill you in the midst of conversation. But for Zoe, who often yearns for battle after her evolution, it's simple.
In the next instant, as Zoe's murderous intent rises, the man once again falls to the ground in terror. A strong sense of fear seems to linger in his heart, and a large patch on his crotch unconsciously wets.
Sensing this foul odor, Zoe faintly realizes something. So she retracts the murderous intent. The man's expression hasn't changed, but Zoe can hear the man's rapidly slowing heartbeat at this moment.
Obviously, the sudden change has left the man's fear unrestrained, showing signs of being played with. In fact, as Zoe withdraws the murderous intent, the man ceases to be fearful. At this moment, Zoe understands. When she raises the murderous intent, an invisible aura descends.
According to many fantasy works, it could be called... murderous intent!
This murderous intent, currently, seems to be able to release from a distance and can cause a strong, mental oppression. It can make a normal adult male instantly terrified and unable to move.
Discovering this thing, Zoe immediately became interested.
Next, she tried various methods more than a dozen times until the man's terrified mind began to babble nonsense before stopping. Watching the man defecate and urinate, with incoherent speech, Zoe gained a deeper understanding of the power of murderous intent.
Repeatedly applying and withdrawing murderous intent seems to directly damage the mental state of adult men. And from the repeated tests just now, it can be roughly inferred that the range of murderous intent's effect can reach up to 50 meters from her.
The intensity of this murderous intent's influence seems to be directly adjustable according to the strength of the murderous intent. Withdrawing the murderous intent, Zoe is satisfied with her new discovery. But looking at the man lying on the opposite bank, defecating and urinating, with a confused mind, Zoe falls silent.
Is this... worth her fighting? Her killing? This man is completely unworthy. Suddenly, Zoe feels blandness. This feeling... is like eagerly preparing for a fight, searching for resources for half the day, only to find out that the protagonist inside is wearing an hero outfit.
Not to mention continuing the fight. Even maintaining readiness for battle deserves praise. Unable to rise, just unable to rise. If there's a next time... it's better to call the police...
Thinking so, Zoe looks at the man. She decides to add another 50 rounds of murderous intent, confirming that the man's mental collapse is permanent, before turning and leaving.
Not wanting to kill is because of the blandness.
Adding 50 rounds of murderous intent is both the caution of an adult and the desire not to let this man live comfortably. The rest of his life... is better spent lying in bed reflecting on where he can go and where he cannot.