Super Gene Ⅱ: Evolution

"Who is this?" the eldest sister asked, looking at Lin Shen.

"This is my colleague from the Celestial Master Institute, Kong Chuan," Lin Shen simply stated Kong Chuan's identity without making introductions.

"Come and take a look," the eldest sister led them to an old bed outside, lifted the torn bedsheet, and revealed two human corpses underneath.

Both of the human men appeared to be in their thirties, in the prime of their life.

In death, they both had eerie smiles on their faces, with the corners of their mouths split backwards, resembling the laugh-inducing clowns on stage.

The smiles appeared farcical, yet insincere, giving observers a shiver of horror.

Besides the creepy smiles, there was a crimson handprint on the chest of each, dark red like blood, as though made with a blood-covered hand.

"We've already examined them: the bones, flesh, and hearts below are undamaged. This handprint is like a tattoo; it only damaged the skin and has no other effects. We're currently investigating to see if this kind of blood handprint is on anyone else," the eldest sister explained in detail.

It was then that Lin Shen understood why the eldest sister and Yu were stripping people and inspecting them—they were looking for blood handprints.

After listening, Kong Chuan walked up to one of the corpses and rubbed the blood handprint, lifting his fingers to check for red stains, finding none—it was clear that the handprints were not splotched with color.

Kong Chuan frowned slightly and bent down to smell the area of the blood handprint, then looked up at Lin Shen and said, "No need to look any further; I know who did this."

"Who?" everyone's gaze turned to Kong Chuan.

"Have you ever heard of the Night Ghost Tribe?" asked Kong Chuan.

Seeing the blank faces of the others, Kong Chuan continued, "Perhaps seven to eight hundred years ago, the Night Ghost Tribe suddenly rose, causing panic across many planets.

The Night Ghosts are peculiar; during the day, they are no different from regular humans, but one distinctive feature of the Night Ghosts is their eyes—they are born with double pupils, meaning each eye has two pupil openings."

"Their eyeballs can rotate 360 degrees within their sockets—one side has blue pupils, the other side red. During the day, their pupils are the common blue, but at night, they flip their eyeballs to expose the blood-red pupils."

"The Night Ghosts practice only one type of Evolution Skill, called 'Song of Night,' which allows them to gain sound-based supernatural abilities. Therefore, the Night Ghost Tribe is extremely adept at sonic powers. Even low-level Night Ghosts can use sound to bewitch the mind, and the more advanced can kill directly with sound."

"Apart from that, the Night Ghosts have a very cruel habit: when they turn into blood-eyed beings at night, they use a technique called the Ghost Hand Imprint to kill. Those struck by the Ghost Hand Imprint end up like these two men, with a blood handprint on their chest.

This blood handprint, although appearing to be merely printed on the skin and smelling faintly fragrant, is deadly—once you dissect the corpse, you'll find that even in a freshly dead body, there's not a single drop of blood left."

"Why would the Night Ghost Tribe kill people?" the eldest sister asked with a frown.

"Legend has it they use the Ghost Hand Imprint to absorb the vital blood of their victims, sustaining their own life and youth. They are an utterly evil race. The Night Ghosts once caused widespread fear among all tribes hundreds of years ago, leading to a united effort to completely eradicate them. After that, there has been little news about the Night Ghosts.

I only know about them because I once encountered the remnant of a Night Ghost during a case at the Celestial Master Institute, and I looked up some information to become more familiar with them," explained Kong Chuan.

"This blood handprint is the same as the Ghost Hand Imprint I encountered before, and only the Night Ghost Tribe possesses such a method, it must indeed be the doing of the remnant members of the Night Ghost Tribe."

Lin Shen frowned and said, "Are you suggesting that there are escapees of the Night Ghost Tribe on Giant Ring Star?"

"That should be the case, no doubt. It's quite easy to find members of the Night Ghost Tribe. Gather everyone together, then check to see if anyone has anything like invisible contact lenses on their eyes. Confirm that none has them, and when night falls, whoever's pupils turn blood-red, they are the Night Ghost Tribe people, they have no way to control the change in their pupils," Kong Chuan stated.

"This method is indeed workable, it's worth a try," the elder sister nodded and said.

"Let's just try and see for now," Lin Shen didn't think it would be that simple.

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"Does the Chief of the Heavenly Institute doubt my method?" Kong Chuan raised an eyebrow, "If there is a problem, please point it out so I can correct it."

"Your method isn't the problem, it's the night of Giant Ring Star that's problematic. Before you came, you should have researched Giant Ring Star, you should know that the nights here are very dangerous, and one should not venture out in the darkness," Lin Shen explained.

"What does that have to do with us rooting out the remnants of the Night Ghost Tribe? Are you afraid they'll break the houses and perish together with us in the dark? Dean, rest assured, with me here, they won't have that chance," Kong Chuan confidently said.

"The reason you mentioned is only one among others, the thing I worry about the most is that the Night Ghost Tribe can move about freely during the dark nights on Giant Ring Star," Lin Shen shared his concern.

The more he thought about it, the more he believed that the humming woman he had spied through the crack in the wall was potentially from the Night Ghost Tribe.

Yu had said that no one was living in that room, and Yu would check all rooms every day before nightfall, being the last one in. If an outsider had entered, Yu should have noticed.

Since Yu hadn't noticed, it was highly likely that the woman entered the stone house after nightfall. This would mean that the Night Ghost Tribe can indeed move around freely on Giant Ring Star during the nighttime, or at least possesses certain nocturnal capabilities.

Of course, these were all just Lin Shen's own speculations and not necessarily the case; perhaps it was merely a coincidence.

Kong Chuan seemed not to take the concern seriously upon hearing this, "Although the name Night Ghost Tribe contains 'night', and they have night vision, being indeed more ferocious at night than during the day, the darkness of Giant Ring Star is not ordinary darkness, but a manifestation of the power of rules.

Not just ordinary members of the Night Ghost Tribe, even Nirvana Level beings can't just go out at will on Giant Ring Star during the night; they would be harmed by the rule power of the darkness, even killed.

Chief of the Heavenly Institute, you worry too much, the murderer from the Night Ghost Tribe couldn't possibly be a Nirvana Level powerhouse, otherwise, they wouldn't need to kill stealthily in the dead of night."

"Then how do you explain that these people didn't die in their own rooms, nor in anyone else's rooms, but in a room where no one lived?" Lin Shen pondered deeply.

"Isn't that obvious? It must be the Night Ghost Tribe members hidden in the village, taking advantage of the time when the sky was about to darken, or when it had just brightened, when everyone else had gone to their rooms or had not yet come out. They rushed in and killed someone first or threw the bodies into the unoccupied houses," Kong Chuan replied.

"According to what you're saying, wouldn't it be simpler for the killer to just leave after the murder? Why bother to dispose of the bodies specifically?"

Kong Chuan had clearly considered this issue and countered, "This is exactly what the Night Ghost Tribe wants, to mislead others into thinking it was a Base Variant Creature that can walk in the dark night that committed the atrocity, not to cast suspicion on them, allowing them to continue hiding in the village, and even migrate along with the village to more populated areas."

As he said this, his eyes were on Lin Shen, as if to say that Lin Shen was the one being misled.