The shattered fragments made the sound of breaking glass in midair, then they vanished completely, leaving no trace behind—not even a speck of debris, dust, or gas!
It was as if they had never existed at all!
This scene completely defied Shen Feng’s expectations, leaving him stunned.
He had thought the things would collapse back into a physical state after being destroyed, but he never expected them to just disappear.
’Do these things not have a physical body?’
’But even a Quantum State Life Form should have some kind of physical body to truly exist. Even if, as Jingwei says, ’when in doubt, blame quantum mechanics,’ the basic law of conservation of energy should still apply...’
The surrounding Quantum State Life Forms didn’t give Shen Feng much time to think, swarming toward him with a howl.
Their limbs thrashed about as they desperately tried to touch Shen Feng. However, after numerous enhancements, Shen Feng’s speed, strength, and reflexes were far superior to those of a normal person—and also significantly greater than these Quantum State Life Forms. With a metal rod in hand, he took them down one by one, shattering them into nothingness. They dissipated like the sparks of a Firefly’s light in the darkness.
A few minutes later, only one of the Quantum State Life Forms remained. The field from the Quantum Force Field Core kept it at bay, but it was unwilling to give up and could only let out a hiss at Shen Feng.
Shen Feng frowned and tried using his Silicon-Based Brain to send an inquisitive brainwave to the creature:
"What... are you? Where did you come from? Are you failed test subjects? Or some pitiful creatures born from a natural phenomenon?"
As expected, his inquiry received no response. The blurry figure merely continued its attack motions.
"Xiaofeng, it’s no use," Jingwei’s voice sounded, tinged with a bit of regret. "If they really are Quantum State Life Forms, then their consciousness must be chaotic for them to survive in a quantum state. In other words, while these things are resilient, it comes at the cost of their IQ. They’re basically idiots, probably not even as smart as animals. It’s a miracle they have any instincts left at all. You won’t get anything out of them by asking. It’s a shame we can’t just catch one for research..."
Even if they wanted to, there was no way to catch one. A rope would likely pass right through its body. There was nowhere to contain it; any prison or cell would be useless against a Quantum Life Form like this.
Besides, what would they even study? Dissect it with a scalpel?
You couldn’t even stab it.
Existing research instruments probably wouldn’t be able to see anything inside its body either.
Shen Feng nodded, walked up to the Quantum State Life Form, raised his metal rod, and viciously thrust the Quantum Force Field Core into its body.
With a sound like a soap bubble popping or glass shattering—CRACKLE!—the Quantum State Life Form before him also broke apart into specks of light and dissipated into the air.
The flashlight on the ground flickered a few times and went out completely. The entire street was once again plunged into total darkness, with the only light coming from the faint blue glow of the Quantum Force Field Core on the metal rod in Shen Feng’s hand.
’What on earth are these things?’
’Where did they come from?’
’Why do their silhouettes look like they’re patched together from human limbs?’
’And... from the very beginning, I’ve had a strange sense of familiarity...’
’But no matter how hard I rack my brain, I can’t figure out where that feeling comes from... This is just too weird...’
Shen Feng stood there thinking for a long time, but he couldn’t come up with any leads and finally gave up.
Still, it was highly likely that the dark apocalypse of this world was related to these so-called Quantum State Life Forms.
If he wanted to figure out what really happened here, his only option was to find relevant records from that time or find human survivors and ask them.
Given the True Apocalypse Game system’s usual habits, while the missions it assigned could be absurdly difficult, they were always possible to complete.
Since one of its missions was to find ten thousand human survivors, that meant human survivors still existed in this world...
Having figured this out, Shen Feng didn’t hesitate. He turned and headed toward another part of the city ruins.
The Gray Tide still flowed behind him, swallowing a few more skyscrapers, but it didn’t continue to expand.
He had originally thought that possessing the Gray Tide would allow him to move through this world unimpeded. Now, it seemed things weren’t so simple. A Gray Tide that was too large would easily expose his location.
If some terrifying and powerful existence was behind these Quantum State Life Forms, it would be better for Shen Feng to keep a low profile for now.
"Hahaha, Xiaofeng, you really look like a wizard right now. You’d look even more the part with a pointy hat," Jingwei’s mischievous voice teased.
Shen Feng glanced at the metal rod in his hand, embedded with the Quantum Force Field Core, then at the swirling Gray Tide following behind him, and couldn’t help but scoff.
"Wizard, my ass. I’m one of the Hua Country People. Obviously, I’m the ghost-busting, demon-exorcising combination of Zhong Kui, Yan Chixia, and Uncle Ying."
As he spoke, he flicked the metal rod. The Nanomechanical Cluster swarmed and reformed into the shape of an ancient sword, with the Quantum Force Field Core embedded at the tip of the blade.
At the same time, a portion of the Gray Tide behind him split off and flowed beneath Shen Feng, forming the shape of a horse that lifted him up. It then began to move forward on all fours with a clattering sound.
Shen Feng swung the longsword, patted the mechanical horse that was a bit hard on his rear, and muttered, "Now this is more like it."
"Hmph, you selfish brat. Only thinking about yourself." Jingwei’s voice sounded from the side as she controlled a mass of the Nanomechanical Cluster to form the shape of a beautiful human girl. With a leap, she jumped onto the horse’s back, landing behind Shen Feng.
An awkward expression crossed Shen Feng’s face. He said in a low voice:
"Um... it’s a bit hard... kinda poking me..."
This remark instantly sent Jingwei into a rage. She snapped:
"Then why didn’t you bring my physical body? The one we cultivated a while ago—the stand-in with the biological shell and mechanical core! You just had to bring a pile of useless junk! You think I’m hard, huh? Fine! I’ll poke two holes in your back! I can always just patch you up afterward."
Shen Feng quickly tried to placate her with a smile.
"My bad, my bad! I was just joking! I’m hard as a rock myself, how could I complain about you being hard? Don’t take it seriously, please..."
The two of them bantered and chatted idly as they traveled. In no time, they had crossed nearly half the city ruins. The rushing sound of water reached their ears, and a wave of moist air washed over them.
「The Huangpu River was here.」
Where there’s water, there will be people.