NOVEL WEB Chapter 904
“The decision has been made, and the execution was swift.”
No, it had to be swift.
Because if there was a delay, one person’s life could vanish.
But time is relative.
Time spent in a boring class feels different from time spent in enjoyable play.
The agent, lying on the ground under the shaman’s control, felt like time was stretching on forever.
If I exaggerated a bit, waiting for the ‘life-infused item’ to arrive felt like an eternity.
‘Cursed shaman brat.’
The agent, who had introduced himself as ‘Ivan’ to the shaman, rolled his eyes and began cursing.
“You went on about guests, then suddenly paralyze me and make me roll on the ground?”
Just a slight roll of the eyes would reveal the cold corpse nearby.
Every time I saw that dirt-covered corpse, it sent chills down my spine.
And look at those empty eyes.
Those vacant stares as if the soul had already departed, those blank gazes!
Ah.
If only I could move my body a bit.
What kind of trickery has been played that the only thing I can move is my eyeballs?
“My entire body is stiff, and my mind is crystal clear. This feels like tetrodotoxin.”
Commonly known as the potent neurotoxin from pufferfish or the blue-ringed octopus.
I remember learning a technique called Gui Xi Da Fa (龜息大法) for playing dead back in school.
It was said that taking a small amount of tetrodotoxin would amplify the effects of that technique, and that’s exactly how I feel right now.
My body is stiff, breathing is tough, and my heart rate is slowing.
Meanwhile, my mind is in such agony that it feels like thousands of ghosts are trying to cut through me.
“It doesn’t seem to be fatal, but I wish it would hurry up and arrive. Before that mad shaman does something weird.”
Is that shaman just any usual crazy person?
For now, the conversation seems to have gone well, so he probably won’t kill me, but he’s definitely the type who would take off a limb or two as a late payment.
Not to mention, he was casually talking about using the dead agent’s corpse as a sacrifice, treating human life like that of a fly.
Or he might just place a curse on me because he doesn’t like the item.
Shamans are often viewed as eccentric people.
But Ivan, being part of an intelligence agency, had a deeper understanding of shamans than the average person.
A madman who turns robbers into wolf food, a crazy person who kills Italian mafia members to trap their souls in his body, a nutjob who sacrifices criminals from prisons thinking he needs to stop earthquakes from hitting the city, a lunatic who toys with people’s shadows, and a weirdo who bathes in human blood… They’re all just mad bastards.
It’s hard to understand what goes through their minds as they live in this world.
Instead of following the laws written in the statutes, they prioritize their own twisted rules.
Using strange and bizarre abilities, they navigate the world while keeping their own bodies safe.
Their words and deeds are absurd, their methods bizarre, and the results uncanny.
These folks called shamans are nothing but bizarre creatures.
It’s lucky that their numbers are small due to the characteristics of magic; if they were as numerous as other ability users, the world would be in chaos.
Of course, even as Ivan listened to accounts of these shamans, he didn’t think much of it.
Just strange people doing their usual strange things, that’s all.
However, when he found himself captured by a shaman, his thoughts changed.
Knowing that an unpredictable madman was holding his life in their hands, he felt a sense of urgency.
“Come on. Hurry up.”
Ivan desperately wished for the ‘package’ to arrive before that shaman had any strange whims.
Thump thump thump.
Was the distant small sound that entered the forest in response to Ivan’s earnest wish?
A small drone flew in, accompanied by a soft sound.
Then it dropped a box neatly wrapped in newspaper right in front of the shaman and spoke through its attached speaker.
[ This item is sufficient to sustain your body, so please receive it and calm your anger. ]
Upon hearing this, the shaman said,
“Oh, receiving food and drinks is always a joyous occasion. Also, examining the contents of the meal is an exciting matter. I will gladly open this with my cheerful heart.”
Without any worry about whether there was a stinger or a bomb inside the box, he opened it up and took out the items inside.
“Pills?”
The item that came out of the box was a few black pills.
At a glance, they appeared unremarkable.
But seeing that, Ivan couldn’t help but widen his eyes.
‘What kind of life-infused item could they possibly be giving me, if they’re offering that?’
Life-infused items are expensive.
To be precise, items crafted for health by witches tend to have significant price tags.
It’s only natural.
Life force is known to be related to birth, aging, illness, and death.
Just look at the ability users like witches who use life force as their main energy source.
Living past 100 years old is standard, and they can maintain their youthful appearance as they age, can’t they?
Had the witches had a bad image like in the Middle Ages, they might have all been captured and used as test subjects.
But the witches skillfully maneuver their way into society, securing social status and power.
They sell life power-infused artifacts, build connections with power holders, and engage in charitable activities like rejuvenating severely injured individuals in hospitals, building a good image for themselves.
Moreover, they actively utilized their young and beautiful appearances to create a celebrity image, gathering countless fans to avoid being kidnapped and turned into test subjects.
In modern times, witches have become safer, which ironically increased the value of items related to life force.
After all, who wouldn’t be interested in living healthily and for a long time?
There’s bound to be enormous demand for reliable products, no matter how expensive.
‘But even so, there must be some bribes hidden among these items. And they decide to give me some mutant concoction?’
However, just because an item relates to life force doesn’t mean it’s a treasure.
Like the saying goes, ‘All that glitters is not gold.’
This product was a collaboration between a researcher notorious for being a mad scientist and a witch.
Taking it would result in wild side effects like getting cancer.
Moreover, the stories even claimed it was made from ‘unknown fetuses.’
‘What do they mean by unknown life forms? Everyone knows they collected them in Chernobyl.’
This isn’t the age of explorers trying to discover Terra Incognita; how many uncharted areas are left on Earth, and how many undiscovered species exist? Unless they dwell in places like the deep ocean or volcanoes, where exploration is tough even with modern technology, there’s no reason to label them as ‘unknown life forms.’
Thus it was highly likely that the life form they used was a new species arising from Chernobyl.
Either adapted to radiation or mutated due to it.
Considering what kind of evolutionary pressure radiation produces, how species adapted and what they contained within…
‘For security reasons they’d say, but seeing as we don’t know what’s going on, it’s obvious. It’s a 100% radiation mutation.’
Even if specializations have been narrowed down, there’s no way these experts wouldn’t have heard about foraging in normal environments like deep-sea or underground areas. But the fact that they too only know the information that it’s made from ‘unknown organisms’ indicates the security level surrounding that organism is astronomically high. And it’s so thoroughly secured that even they can’t obtain the details.
Such places are directly involved with the president, and only abnormal contaminated areas like Chernobyl.
‘Damn it. I feel torn between thinking it’s a waste to give away something I received personally, and feeling lucky to be getting rid of something like this. Thanks to the greedy bastards, it seems I’m the one who’s going to suffer.’
Ivan despaired.
The shaman looked like he’d be eager to cut off Ivan’s arm if he decided he didn’t like the item.
But…
“Oh. To receive such a wonderful item. How can I express my joy!”
As soon as the shaman glanced at the pills, he started praising it.
He wrapped his hands around the pills as if he were a scholar staring at a historical treasure, swiftly safeguarding them as if someone would try to take it away.
Then he approached Ivan, dug a needle-like finger deep into Ivan’s body, and relieved his paralysis.
“Ah, if I had known you were such refined individuals, I would not have treated you so poorly. I see now that my cultivation was lacking for not recognizing my esteemed guests.”
Apologizing for his previous extreme behavior?
Ivan, bewildered by the shaman’s sudden 180-degree shift in attitude, couldn’t maintain his poker face even as a trained agent.
“Ivan. You, the Ivan who came here involuntarily. According to my customs, I guarantee your safety, so feel free to take that corpse as a trophy.”
But does the shaman still act like a shaman, just because he’s suddenly friendly?
Using the term ‘trophy’ regarding the deceased agent’s corpse, he treated it as if it were merely a sacrificial ingredient rather than showing any respect for the dead.
“Understood.”
But Ivan didn’t express any particular dissatisfaction towards the shaman.
In a scenario where he felt like he had just escaped death, it would be madness to voice complaints.
No, there wasn’t that much of a grievance in the first place.
‘In the grand scheme of things, he’s a comrade, but not one from my agency.’
Hadn’t Russia’s intelligence agencies been divided by specialty?
Of course, someone specialized in field tailing would differ from someone skilled in eavesdropping.
They worked in the same department, but neither of them would express enough camaraderie to risk their life and openly show displeasure.
So it made sense he had minimal grievances.
“Well then, I shall take my leave.”
[ If you wish to trade something, please contact us at the number listed in the newspaper. ]
Thus they withdrew with the body in tow.
Leaving behind a hint of possible business relations.
…
And so in the woods where the agents had disappeared.
In the pitch-black darkness, the shaman closed his eyes while holding the black pills.
‘I can feel the life force.’
And with a grin wide enough to split his face, he indulged in the sensation of the life force emanating from the pills.
‘Like a fish returning to its homeland, flowing against the water, like flying creatures soaring across the sky. Even if they are far away, they remain connected, guiding their paths with nostalgia.’
He recited the invocation.