Chapter 124: Despair Carrier
Bang!
Lin Ye fired again, blowing off Cody's right leg. He refused to believe the other could still stand after that.
Losing support, Cody's upper body fell to the ground, yet he still made no movement, simply remaining there with half his body upright as he stared at Lin Ye.
In a different scenario, Lin Ye might have laughed, but here in the Abyss, it wasn't so funny.
Lin Ye hesitated for half a second before finally aiming at Cody's head. He didn't know what consequences killing Cody would bring, but the shadowy figures seemed capable of converting ordinary people into more shadows at close range—he couldn't allow them to keep approaching.
Bang!
The bullet exploded Cody's head. Without a head, only his upper torso remained standing there.
Seeing Cody so tenacious, Lin Ye simply fired continuously, blasting the remaining upper body to pieces until Cody was completely gone. Afterward, nothing happened.
"What? Just shooting them dead works?"
"It's that simple?" "If we'd known earlier, we could have just opened fire—Cody wouldn't have died outside."
"Damn these monsters!"
Bang!
Seeing this, Cody's friend raised his gun and blew off Hayden's head.
Hayden's headless body turned toward him, then moved into the church at a speed far exceeding that of low-level creatures, positioning itself right in front of him.
Hayden's body and Cody's friend stared at each other for a moment before leaving the church one after another, walking deep into the darkness.
After a while, Hayden's headless body and Cody's friend reappeared outside the church, watching them from a distance.
"What's going on here?"
"Why can Heath kill them, but Eddie couldn't?"
"Maybe because Cody was just recently transformed?"
"Perhaps there's something wrong with Heath."
"Or maybe it's about hitting the right spot—you can't just shoot the head directly?"
"Too many possibilities, and we don't have enough people to test them all."
While the hunters were discussing, Lin Ye was also pondering the reason for this outcome.
But the differences between him and these hunters were far too numerous—every difference could be the cause of this result.
'No choice but to keep experimenting.'
Lin Ye aimed at the head of a rescue team member and fired.
Bang!
The bullet blasted its head apart. Like Cody, it simply turned to face Lin Ye without approaching the church.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Lin Ye fired continuously, shattering the headless body. The remaining shadowy figures moved forward another distance—now they could clearly see the expressionless faces of those figures.
"Although we don't know the reason, it seems only you can kill them. Can you handle eliminating all those remaining figures?"
Hawk walked over to Lin Ye's side and asked.
"I can, but is this really wise? Killing them feels too easy—it makes me somewhat uneasy."
After eliminating the figures, Lin Ye didn't sense anything unusual, but when he shattered them, the remaining figures happened to be approaching the church. Was this really just coincidence?
"But if we don't kill them, once they enter the church, we'll all turn into monsters. So we have to kill them now—I'll bear any consequences."
If Lin Ye refused, Hawk planned to take action himself.
After being attacked, the figures moved so fast that even Hawk would struggle to react, but if they could destroy a figure with a single attack, maybe they could prevent them from entering that extreme speed state.
"Alright, I'll kill one more. Everyone focus—if you notice anything, tell me immediately."
Lin Ye fired at the nearest figure, blasting it apart. The remaining figures moved closer again, with the nearest now less than ten meters from the church entrance.
The figures appeared to be members of the rescue team, identical to when they left the church except for their facial expressions.
"Any discoveries?"
Lin Ye looked toward the weakest first-rank hunter in the group.
"Me? Nothing particular, just feeling... heavy-hearted."
Kuntu replied in a subdued tone.
"Heavy-hearted? Do you often feel this way? Does anyone else have this sensation?"
Lin Ye wouldn't let any clue slip away—only by completely understanding these figures' rules could they survive until morning.
"No, I rarely feel this way. But in this situation, isn't it normal to feel heavy-hearted?"
Kuntu spoke in a voice that was almost a growl.
He didn't know why he was using this tone—just some emotion accumulating in his heart that made him need to express it.
"I also feel somewhat uncomfortable."
"Me too, feeling a bit short of breath."
"Is this influence from those figures?"
Several hunters described their sensations, but a few remained silent, standing motionless in place.
Lin Ye looked at these hunters, then at the figures approaching the church step by step. Regarding the figures' rules, he formed a hypothesis that might not be correct.
"Alright, no need to say more. I'll deal with these figures. Tomorrow morning we'll break out, and by tomorrow noon we'll be completely free of these damned things."
Lin Ye declared loudly.
The figures slowed their pace but continued approaching slowly.
"Did you discover something?"
Seeing the figures reduce their speed after Lin Ye spoke, Hawk immediately understood Lin Ye had made a discovery.
"I'm not certain, but these figures might represent despair."
Lin Ye walked out of the church, approaching the nearest figure. He stared at it for a moment, confirming his hypothesis.
Turning back to the church, Lin Ye addressed the hunters:
"This rescue team represented hope. So when they stand outside the church, it represents hope extinguished and despair growing.
Thus they became vessels of despair.
Attack them, and they will look at the attacker. If they sense despair, they will rapidly approach and transmit that despair to the attacker. If the attacker is overwhelmed by despair, they will be assimilated, becoming new vessels of despair.
Close contact will also transmit despair.
If you kill them, their despair transfers to nearby living beings.
The above explains the essence and behavioral patterns of these figures."
After speaking, Lin Ye began absorbing spiritual energy to replenish ammunition for his Peace rifle.
Now he would never despair—these figures couldn't harm him at all. But those hunters already sinking into despair—that was another matter.
After hearing Lin Ye's words, the hunters fell into silence. They had all felt despair to varying degrees and had no confidence they could stare at the figures without being assimilated.
"Then what if you kill them all before they get close? If we all share the despair together, wouldn't that work?"
Hawk suddenly asked.
"Although they're now vessels of despair, they're essentially your hope. I'm not sure what phenomenon eliminating them all would trigger."
Lin Ye felt that wiping out all the figures would bring trouble, but he also couldn't watch these hunters get assimilated—because after all targets were assimilated, that might also become problematic.
"False hope, nothing more. Eliminate them all—we'll bear the consequences together."
Hawk said resolutely.