Chapter 135: Types of Doppelgangers |
"Doppelgangers love to hide in crowds, pretending to be normal humans just like us."
"When there are fewer Doppelgangers in a group than normal humans, they will usually disguise themselves and try their best to avoid any suspicious behavior."
"But once the number of Doppelgangers in your home exceeds the number of normal humans, they will strike and kill at night."
"If you notice anyone around you exhibiting Doppelganger traits, please call the Emergency Center at 1-8112.
""
"We will rush to your side immediately and take them away."
"The Emergency Center has the most elite scientists, scholars, and medical experts. We will conduct the most rigorous and professional examinations."
"Additionally, experts have summarized another characteristic of Doppelgangers: they possess perfectly neat, bright white teeth. If you find someone like this around you, please remain vigilant. They might be a Doppelganger."
The news blared on the television, but Bai Mu paid it no mind. He was busy examining the footage captured by the Night Vision Camcorder.
A pitch-black room appeared on the screen, quite a bit larger than the single-occupancy apartment Bai Mu had initially entered.
There were no lights in the room, and the recording was taken quite late in the night, making the footage somewhat grainy and difficult to see clearly.
The faces of the figures in the frame were indistinct, but he could make out a total of three people standing together.
They were the exact same silhouettes of the two men and one woman he had seen from the back of the apartment building. Despite the room clearly having a bed and stools, they remained standing the entire time, facing one another and communicating in some unique language.
They held hands, the scene looking as if they were performing some bizarre ritual.
This room unmistakably belonged to a victim. Bai Mu spotted bloodstains on the bed, yet the door was perfectly intact, showing no signs of being violently smashed open.
Bai Mu had no clue what they were talking about, but he felt that the three of them holding hands was also a method of exchanging information. It seemed they could communicate not only through spoken language but also sense one another through physical contact.
'The number of victims living alone is increasing. Those who live by themselves will definitely try to find more roommates.'
'Perhaps this is exactly why the Doppelgangers prioritize attacking those who live alone.'
'Because everyone wants to group up for safety, allowing these monsters to blend into the crowds much more easily.'
'They must have another way to sense their own kind without the need for verbal communication. After all, the news mentioned they can alter their behavior based on the number of their kind in a crowd.'
'It certainly isn't through superficial traits like physical appearances or verbal secret codes. If one Doppelganger sneaks in first, and a second sneaks in later, even if they look exactly human, they definitely know they are of the same kind the moment they lay eyes on each other.'
Bai Mu pondered the significance of these Doppelgangers' strange behavior, repeatedly studying the one-minute video clip.
Aside from the actions of the Doppelgangers, he meticulously observed the layout and furniture inside the room.
In the darkness, he spotted what appeared to be human bones. Judging by their shape, they looked somewhat like a human pelvis and ribs. Those bones had been casually discarded onto the concrete floor.
On the room's table, however, he clearly saw the carcass of a rat. Before leaving the room, one of the men snatched the rat up and stuffed it into his coat pocket.
Bai Mu suspected the rat was a little snack for the Doppelganger. These creatures clearly needed to eat as well. The original occupant of this room had likely been devoured by the Doppelgangers.
The door hadn't been forced open, which meant the homeowner had willingly opened it and let the Doppelgangers inside.
He must have watched the news and worried that living alone would lead to trouble. So, when someone knocked on the door outside, he opened it and took someone in.
He thought he had found a companion, but it turned out to be a Doppelganger.
Later, more Doppelgangers arrived at his apartment. Completely oblivious, he stayed in the same space as three monsters wearing human skin. During the day, they would talk and laugh together, but when night fell and he went to sleep in his bed, the three Doppelgangers rose up and surrounded him in the dark.
Bai Mu could vividly imagine the scene. In the dead of night, the homeowner jolted awake from his sleep, only to see three people he considered his "friends" staring down at him collectively, perhaps wearing eerie smiles on their faces.
That sight alone would be enough to make a person's heart stop and their breath catch in their throat.
He surely regretted letting those three inside, but regret was useless. The three Doppelgangers ganged up and murdered him. His corpse was cleanly divided and feasted upon by the Doppelgangers, leaving only a few large bones tossed carelessly into a corner.
Such a tragedy did not just happen in this single apartment. In other parts of the city, the exact same scenario was constantly unfolding.
Bai Mu finally knew where the Doppelgangers went during the day. These entities were doing everything they could to enter the homes of normal humans. They lurked, hid, and then, once they had the advantage in numbers, they usurped their victims' homes.
From these limited clues, Bai Mu realized another detail: the Doppelgangers operated with order and a clear division of labor.
The Doppelgangers responsible for infiltrating crowds and those responsible for slaughtering solitary residents were very likely not the same type.
It was much like the difference between worker ants and soldier ants in an ant colony. Although both were ants, soldier ants developed massive mandibles and heads to protect the nest or attack other colonies, while worker ants were responsible for gathering food and caring for the queen and larvae.
Such a distinction likely existed among the Doppelgangers as well.
Bai Mu felt that not all Doppelgangers possessed formidable combat strength. For example, the three Doppelgangers he encountered today actively avoided the soldiers, suggesting their combat capabilities were rather limited.
If every single Doppelganger were truly as strong as a superhuman, they wouldn't need to wait until they outnumbered normal humans in a crowd to strike.
Those three individuals were the "worker ants" among the Doppelgangers, tasked with blending into crowds. The smaller number of "soldier ants" were responsible for creating the conditions for them to infiltrate, while the far more numerous "worker ants" slowly chipped away at the ordinary citizens of the city.
"Doppelgangers are entirely too orderly compared to humans," Bai Mu muttered, his brows knitting together.
He paused the video on the Camcorder at the twenty-six-second mark and used the zoom button to magnify the frozen frame.
He spotted another mushroom, looking very similar to the one he had plucked from beneath a corpse earlier that day.
Bai Mu felt he was inching closer and closer to the true nature of the Doppelgangers. Wasting no time, he prepared to commence his first experiment.
He grabbed his tools and fashioned a metal tin into a larger observation dish.
Inside the tin, he placed a small bowl of water and biscuit crumbs. Then, donning his gas mask, he dropped the grey rat and the rare-grade mushroom in together.
To prevent the grey rat from eating the mushroom completely, he covered the mushroom and its surrounding soil with a breathable wooden board.
Afterward, he placed the metal tin inside a dark cabinet in his bedroom, quietly waiting for the results.