Chapter 134: Shadow Form! (Part I)

It seems that what seeped out from these stones was naturally Nightmare Fuel as well. If it were merely Nightmare Fuel, the problem could be solved simply by stowing it away in his inventory. Thinking of this, the worry in Qin Fei’s heart eased considerably.

Once the black shadow from the dark purple stone had fully emerged, Qin Fei grabbed it and attempted to place it into his inventory.

[Cannot store living entities in the sample implant!]

Qin Fei was stunned. What was going on? Was this clump of Nightmare Fuel actually alive? He pondered for a moment. The Nightmare Fuel he had stored in his inventory previously had dropped only after he killed a Shadow Creature. It was highly likely that the death of the Shadow Creature rendered the dropped fuel a "dead object" capable of being stored.

However, this shadow seeping from the dark purple stone was different. Perhaps this was not Nightmare Fuel at all, but a living shadow entity. As this thought crossed his mind, the shadow in his palm began to squirm and rapidly increase in volume. Seconds later, it surged from his palm and burrowed directly into his body.

It was over! The shadow’s movements were too fast, and everything happened in the blink of an eye; Qin Fei had no time to react. He did not want to die. As the shadow invaded his body, he became unnervingly calm. He immediately took a sleeping bag from his inventory and tossed it nearby.

Qin Fei had two Effigies in his inventory. If a player holding an Effigy died without having placed a sleeping bag, bed, or similar item in advance, they would respawn at a random location nearby. To avoid being resurrected in a dangerous area, he decisively threw the sleeping bag down while he was still alive to secure his "respawn point."

Once the shadow burrowed into his arm, a chill spread instantly throughout his entire body. The shadow seemed to have the effect of rapidly draining his Sanity. Soon, Qin Fei felt the world spinning. The colors of his surroundings gradually shifted into a eerie, grayish-white hue, and the whispers that had been lingering in his ears began to grow clearer.

The whispers seemed to be calling out a strange name: "Krasin."

As the shadow’s erosion intensified, Qin Fei’s body began to turn black, becoming spectral and translucent. This blackness was not merely a change in color; it was as if he himself were transforming into an eerie shadow—he appeared to be turning into the very same kind of shadow creature.

Qin Fei’s consciousness began to fade. Just as it was about to be consumed by the shadow entity, a flood of memories—not his own—rushed into his mind. These memories seemed to belong to the nightmare creature within him.

It turned out that, long ago in the world of Don't Starve, "Shadow Creatures" did not exist. During that ancient era, a group of "Ancients" lived in the world. Because there was no threat from shadow creatures, they did not need to light torches at night, as they were not preyed upon by shadows in the dark. This era in the history of the world was known as the "Ancient Age."

By chance, the Ancients discovered this Nightmare Fuel deep underground. Its properties were powerful and its uses vast; it could be used to craft wondrous magical items and summon magical Shadow Creatures known as "Shadow Puppets," which performed various labors for the Ancients. Once they fully developed and utilized this fuel, the civilization of the Ancients reached its zenith. To pass down the methods of summoning these shadow beings, they recorded the knowledge in an item called the "Codex Umbra."

However, as the use of Nightmare Fuel became widespread, the resource began to dwindle. To mine more, the Ancients created a device specifically for extraction: the Nightmare Light Socket. These were the stones in the fissures that emitted a strange light. Once placed into the dug-out cracks, they would continuously siphon the precious Nightmare Fuel from deep within the earth.

But good times did not last. Due to over-extraction, the Nightmare Fuel underwent an unknown transformation. It gradually developed its own consciousness. This consciousness began to erode the Ancients who had over-harvested it. By making contact and burrowing into their bodies, it turned them into entities that resembled Nightmare Fuel—the "Shadow Creatures" of the world.

With the extinction of the Ancients, countless Shadow Puppets lost control and transformed into various forms of shadow creatures. As the Ancients vanished and the shadow creatures were born, the Ancient Age of the world officially came to an end. A new era arrived, known in history as the "Old Days." Not long after the fall of the Ancients, a new species of bipedal, intelligent beings—the Pigmen—soon replaced them as the protagonists of the world.

The memories ended there. All the information Qin Fei received came from the shadow entity within him. Of course, a single shadow creature could not know so much; the reason Qin Fei could receive so much information in an instant was that all shadow creatures were controlled by the consciousness born from the Nightmare Fuel. This collective consciousness was known as the "Corrosive Consciousness," and it had named itself "Krasin." Having existed since the Ancient Age, it naturally possessed a clear grasp of the world’s history. As it eroded Qin Fei, he was granted the right to share a portion of its memories.

"The Corrosive Consciousness again?" Qin Fei felt speechless. The Titans in the Ark, the Father of Sharks in the Subnautica world, and now Krasin in the world of Don't Starve—this thing truly was everywhere.

After identifying the "Corrosive Consciousness," Qin Fei immediately recalled his experience in the Subnautica world. At that time, his body and mind had been infected by the precursor fluid and had mutated to a certain extent. However, the "Effigies" created by the future humans in the Ark were the natural enemy of the Corrosive Consciousness.

Therefore, after taking his own life, he used the Effigy to successfully resurrect, which not only completely purged the Corrosive Consciousness from his body but also perfectly preserved the physical enhancements he had gained.

So, as long as he committed suicide, the neutralizing effect of the Effigy could perfectly cleanse the erosion of his consciousness caused by the "Nightmare Fuel."

Thinking of this, Qin Fei did not hesitate to take out his Tentacle Spike from his inventory. He aimed the spiked end at his own neck and thrust it down with all his might.