Chapter 33 Sha Tao
"Nightmare Bell?"
Li Ang hesitated imperceptibly for a moment before taking the bell Cheng Juxiu handed him.
The bell was made of bronze, ancient and old, covered with verdigris. He had thought the mottled rust would flake off easily upon touch. However, upon handling it, he discovered the bronze bell was quite heavy and solid, as if an invisible force were pulling it toward the ground.
Mutated Objects. Li Ang, of course, knew what they were.
The Academic Palace classified all Evil into four types: the ’Demon’ of animals and plants, the humanoid ’Devil,’ the lifeless-looking ’Alien,’ and the ambiguous ’Mystery.’
The Academic Palace and the garrison would collect information on, clear out, and hunt down these four types of Evil.
During this process, some aliens were difficult to destroy, or their destruction might cause tremendous damage. Others were simply of practical value. These would be retained by the Academic Palace and garrison and kept in proper containment.
When necessary, the Academic Palace and the garrison could even use these known Mutated Objects to deal with unknown aliens.
The nightmare bell’s code was Alien—Five—Six Seven Four. "Alien" represented its category, "Five" its level, and "Six Seven Four" its serial number.
Below this, a detailed description of the nightmare bell was written on the paper.
[Containment Measures]: Alien—Five—Six Seven Four Nightmare Bell must be placed inside a locked iron box with a diameter of ten inches and stored inside the secret vault of the Yizhou Town Governor’s Office. The use of the nightmare bell must be approved by a Training Commander or a Deputy Commander. In emergencies where neither the Training Commander nor the Deputy Commander can exercise their authority, approval may be escalated to a Judge, but not to anyone of lower rank.
[Description]: The nightmare bell has a structure similar to a bronze bell and is made of a copper, tin, and lead alloy. This Mutated Object remains dormant under normal conditions. However, when held by a humanoid, its top pressed, and shaken continuously six times, it activates. This causes the humanoid nearest to the user to become rigid and immobile.